The Patriot Report – March 1st, 2019

Normally I present a reflection for our readers but this week I present to you a reflection on the upcoming liturgical season of Lent composed by one of our Gr. 3 students:

Lent is one of the many liturgical seasons in our Church. Lent is about forgetting about everything holding us back from our one and only God. The three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. Through alms-giving, which is sharing with or giving to the less fortunate, we can fulfill God’s command to love others. Through fasting, we make sacrifices to get closer to God than ever before. Prayer is talking to God and is the easiest way to grow our relationship with God, bit by bit. Even at the saddest of times, you can pray to God. Lent is our opportunity to grow in our faith and to strengthen our relationship with a loving God. 

Our student led conference is quickly approaching. To facilitate the sign up process for the conference we will once again be using our online platform at School Interviews. We have opened up four 30 minute time slots for each session. If you are unable to book a time slot that works for you, please email your classroom teacher to make alternative arrangements. A separate communication will go home outlining the purpose of the conference as well as guidelines for the conference. Please click here to sign up for your Student Led Conference Time Slot. 

Pancakes will be on sale in the cafeteria between 8:00am and 9:00am. Between 8:00am and 8:25am parents must accompany their children as regular school supervision does not start until 8:25am. 

$1.00 per pancake
$1.00 for coffee, tea, or juice

All proceeeds will go to support our school. 

Normally our Care Days fall on the last Friday of the month. However, given that March has a two week Spring Break and the Friday before Spring Break is our Student Led Conferences, we felt that Shrove Tuesday (also referred to some as Mardi Gras) would be an appropriate day to have a dress down day (it is still a full day of classes for the students). Students do not have to wear their uniform to school this day. The students are asked to bring in $2 for support of seminarians who go to Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary of Vancouver. We have supported this Seminary in the past and the Seminary has produced 4 ordained priests. Given that we are about to head into Lent, we felt that this would be a worthy cause. Thank you for your continued support. 

Please come and join us for Ash Wednesday Mass at 9am. 

Our Kindergarten class is representing St. Jude School in Primary Choral Drama and since their piece of literature focuses on “The Very Cranky Bear” they are looking to secure the following costumes that would fit a 5-6 year old:
-Bear, Moose, Zebra, Lion, and Sheep
If you have any questions please email either Mrs. Wong or Mrs. Chao.

A reminder that if you are volunteering for the school (driving students, coaching, chaperoning field trips, reading, etc.) you need to complete a Criminal Record Check (CRC). It is free for volunteers. You will need our school access code so please contact the office if you need to complete a CRC.

St. Jude School cares about the safety of all users of our school building. It is important for our students’ safety that the doors downstairs remain closed and not wedged open, especially after hours. Please also ensure that the door downstairs shuts properly after opening it. A reminder that all visitors to the school need to come in through our main doors that face East 15th Ave and check in at the office.  

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

Students performed a variety of classical songs in their Monday evening performance. The Orchestra has a Junior division starting in Gr. 2 and a Senior division starting in Gr. 5. The Orchestra sounded wonderful and I was very impressed by the students!

Students in Gr. 6 traveled to the Space Center today to learn more about the Solar System and the BC Science Curriculum. The students also got to participate in a variety of hands on experiences to teach them more about the science involved in learning about our Solar System as well as the tools used to explore the universe as shown below:

St. Jude School students did a wonderful job this past week in Speech Arts. I wish to personally congratulate the students and the classes that have been selected to move on to the Regional Competition. The classes that were selected to move on were Gr. 6 in Intermediate Choral Speech (shown above), Gr. 1 in Primary Choral Speech, and Kindergarten in Primary Choral Drama. Congratulations to all the students who qualified for individual categories.