The Patriot Report – January 19, 2024

“I am not capable of doing big things, but I want to do everything, even the smallest things, for the greater glory of God.” – St. Dominic Savio

St. Dominic Savio was only 15 years old when he died of illness. At the time, he was a student of St. Don Bosco and was on the way to becoming a priest. Many young people, our children included, feel that they have very little control or power in their life. They may think that they cannot possibly change the world and for that matter, we may join them in thinking that the problems of the world are too big. 

St. Dominic crystallizes for us what we need to do with such feelings. By focusing on doing the little things well and doing those littles things for the greater glory of God we can be sure that we are living holy lives and what’s more, leaving the world a better place. 

Like St. Dominic may we continually try live our life for the greater glory of God. 

St. Jude School would like to congratulate Mrs. Sue Ann Wong on a wonderful teaching career. Mrs. Wong started her teaching career in 1984 at Holy Cross Elementary School in Burnaby teaching Gr. 4 and Gr. 6. In 1989, she taught at St. Andrew’s Elementary in Victoria. She then came back to the CISVA in 1990, teaching Learning Assistance at St. Paul’s in Richmond. In the year 2000, she came to St. Jude School. 

In the 6 years I have worked alongside Mrs. Wong, I have seen her commitment and dedication to the students and the school. She is often here long after all the children have gone home for the day. Working part time, Mrs. Wong is often here on her non-teaching days as she also helps with our altar-servers. Having my office next to Kindergarten means I get to hear Mrs. Wong sing all the songs with such enthusiasm. One time I even got to see Mrs. Wong do the Hokey-Pokey with the kids. 

Mrs. Wong is a respected colleague and I know that she will be back as a substitute teacher. Mrs. Wong loves to travel and I am sure her retirement will be filled with lots of trips to Hawaii and competitive games of pickleball!

Congratulations Mrs. Sue Ann Wong on your retirement!

Munchalunch is now open for the January to June ordering period. Please remember to place your order by Wednesday, 7am, the week before.   Please click here to access Munchalunch. 

This month, existing families will receive a re-registration package. We have tried to streamline the amount of paperwork but please understand that there are some mandatory documents we need completed on an annual basis. 

St. Jude School has seen a record number of applicants for kindergarten and for our international students as well. We have also seen a large uptick in applications for other grades. It is imperative that families complete and return the registration package right away to guarantee their spot for 2024-25. Failure to submit a package on time may result in your spot being taken by someone on the waitlist. If you know that you are not planning on returning please let us know as soon as possible and the reason why. 

Rising costs and a new compensation package for staff across the Catholic School System has led to an increase in tuition. All categories (excluding International Education) will see an 8% increase in the monthly tuition amount. 

Here is a breakdown of the tuition costs. 

Category 1 Families will be verified through the St. Jude Parish Office.

Category 2 Families will need their Parish to verify (Pastor to sign) and if a subsidy is to be paid how much the parish will pay. 

Families that pay in full will receive a 3% discount on tuition. (last week’s newsletter contained an error – 3% savings is the accurate amount).

Non Parent Participation fees for 2024-25 remain unchanged at $800 for the year.

Grade 5 girls and boys had their first game of the season this week and they were both thrilling games to watch! We are so proud of both teams and we look forward to more exciting games for all our teams going forward! Go Patriots! 

A reminder to parents that if you change your email, phone number, or address, you need to update our school office. It is imperative that we have accurate contact information. We need to have at least two contacts for children for emergency situations. 

We are now accepting new applications for the 2024-25 school year.  Please get an application form from here or email the school office for one.  

Our Gr. 7 Student Ambassadors are available to provide tours of our school to prospective families. If you know of someone who might be interested in attending St. Jude School, I encourage you to tell them to sign up for a tour. Any interested family can email registrar@stjude.ca to schedule a tour.

A reminder to our families that our referral program is operational. Every student that is referred and enrolls in our school for the year results in a reward of $200 for the the referring family. 

To learn more about the referral program, please click here. 

St. Jude Parish Mass Times
Monday – Saturday: 9 am morning Masses
Novena Mass on Wednesdays: 7:30 pm
Saturday anticipated Mass: 5 pm
Sunday Mass: 9 am, 11 am, 5 pm