The Patriot Report – January 11th, 2019

With basketball season fully underway, there are many lessons we can draw upon. Sports can be a wonderful teacher of life lessons. Perhaps one of the more important lessons is that of learning through failure. In any given game there are many failures. Missed shots, missed passes, infractions, losing a check, being scored on, and turning the ball over are just a few of the many mistakes that can occur in the game. It is important for all of us to reflect on how we respond to failure. Do we grow from it? Do we try to improve and accept the challenge? Do we keep trying? Or do we become bitter, angry and resentful? Do we blame others for our own failures? Do we give up and quit? And as a teammate, how should we respond to those who make mistakes and fail? Should we grow angry and impatient or should we encourage and support?

Sports is one of many activities that can teach resilience. But we have to be open to the lessons and look to apply it to our own lives. For life is hard and we all fail from time to time. And when we fail in life, we need to have the ability to learn from it and to move forward in continual self improvement. 

Next week, re-registration forms will be sent home to our existing families. There are some changes this year to our re-registration procedures and to our forms. Here is a summary of important information:

1. Re-registration will happen on February 6, 2019 following our AGM. The AGM is at 6:30pm. All families need to attend the AGM. As soon as the AGM is over, we will have tables set up to accept re-registration packages. It is very important that you bring all your re-registration forms filled out and required documents copied. There will be a $20 administration fee for late re-registration packages received after February 6. 

2. All parishioners of St. Jude Parish will need to have Fr. Jun sign a form indicating that they are to receive Category 1 tuition rates. This form will be in the registration package for those who are parishioners of St. Jude Parish. 

3. We have added a Category 3, which is in alignment with other Catholic schools in our Archdiocese. Category 3 is for those families who are Non-Catholic. 

Our 3-Way Conferences are scheduled for January 24, 2019. Similar to our Parent-Teacher Interviews, we will be using an online platform to schedule appointments. Please be advised that students need to attend the conference with their parent(s) and they need to be in school uniform. Please click here to sign up for your time slot(s).

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming! During the week of January 21-24 students and families will be able to purchase books! Please click here to read more about the Scholastic Book Fair!

We have received several complaints from parents and neighbours about the speed of cars along East 15th. I would like to remind all of our parents to drive cautiously and obey the 30km per hour school zone speed limit. We all need to just slow down and be safe! Thank you. 

Remind has informed me that beginning January 28, 2019, it will no longer be sending text messages as notifications due to changes to Rogers and Bell (and their subsidiaries). However, Remind will send out email notifications and so we will continue to use Remind here at the school. 

Click a href=”https://stjude.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1332c29c9c67b951f34e0d55c&id=ae1963c16d&e=9e764d39fb” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>here to sign up for Remind with your email address. You can also download the app and enter the class code of @cvanderpa ; you can also email cvanderpa@mail.remind.com (the subject can be blank).  

St. Jude School is starting to field registration questions from interested new families. In order for us to know how many spots we have available we need to hear from our existing families that have children who will be entering kindergarten. Some families have already contacted Ms. Goh at the office with this information. We ask that if you have a child who will be entering Kindergarten in September 2019, please email Ms. Goh at office@stjude.ca.  Please also include the child’s name and date of birth in the email.  

As an administrator it is my desire to always have school be in session. However, I cannot put students and staff at risk in the event that road conditions become treacherous. Our school is a commuter school in that the majority of our students are driven to the school and our staff comes from various neighbourhoods. This presents unique conditions for our school that must be considered when discerning whether to close the school due to weather.
The school will communicate a closure due to weather through the school website and through email using our MailChimp service as well as Remind. Please understand that the decision to close is never an easy decision and numerous factors are taken into consideration.

Parents are responsible for checking email and the website on cold weather days when snow is in the forecast. 

Grades 1, 2, and 3 were treated to an art lesson from the Burnaby Art Gallery on Thursday! We learned about the symbols and subjects of Coast Salish artwork. Then we were able to create their own prints using Coast Salish symbols and animals. Thank you Burnaby Art Gallery for coming to our school, we had a great time!