The Patriot Report – October 18, 2019

The purpose of Parent Teacher Interviews is for the teacher and the parent/guardian(s) to discuss the child’s behaviour, habits, attitude, and performance. The conversations are to focus on goals for the child and the strategies to implement at home and at school so that greater learning can happen. It is also an opportunity to raise and address concerns. It is not an opportunity to discuss other children or other teachers. It is true that ten minutes is not a lot of time so the conversation needs to be focused and productive. 

We do not recommend that children attend the interview.

If you have not signed up, please do so by clicking the link below. If none of the times work, please email your child’s teacher to set up an alternate time to meet.  

Parent Teacher Interviews are scheduled for Thursday, October 24–SCHOOL IS NOT IN SESSION THIS DAY.  Please click here to book your time slot.  

Go to:  www.schoolinterviews.ca
Event code:  xcnmy

Please click here to access the Patriot Spirit Wear order form. We have sample sizes available for you to try on at the office.  All orders are due October 21, 2019. 

Are you looking to plan for birthdays? For the approaching Christmas season to avoid the crazy last-minute shopping? Our Gift Card Fundraiser can get you started.

The Fundraising Team has partnered with Indigo. You can purchase e-gift cards of all sizes on line within minutes. And 15% of the proceeds will go to our school to improve the building infrastructure and upgrade technology. 

Begin Ordering: Friday, November 1, 2019
Order deadline: Saturday, November 30, 2019
Delivery: Instant delivery by email. Printable & accessible online

Support the students of St. Jude’s school by clicking the link below. Please share this link with your family and friends to join in the support of your child’s school.
https://indigofundraising.flipgive.com/f/1112739

3 Simple Steps to Purchase Your e-Gift card:
Click the link above to see the St. Jude fundraising page, 
Choose “Shop Online Give Cash Back” 
Click “Buy an Indigo e-gift card”.  
Signing in is not required. You can purchase anonymously as a guest or you can log in instantly with your Facebook account, which makes it easy to invite others to join our fundraising too. 

Thank you so much for your support!

Please contact Rachelle Moshfeghi, Fundraising Sub-committee Chairperson with any questions or concerns at: fundraising@stjude.ca

This year Halloween falls on a Thursday. This presents an opportunity for students to be creative and have fun wearing costumes. As a Catholic school, there are certain precautions we need to take to ensure that wearing costumes is something enjoyable for everyone. Costumes are not allowed to scare children. 

1. Nothing grotesque or horrifying. If in doubt, do not wear it. Examples would include: zombies, vampires, ghoulish characters, etc.
2. No masks. If your costume comes with a mask (i.e., Darth Vader, Ironman, etc.) then the mask must stay at home. This also means that makeup must be minimal. For safety reasons we must be able to identify all students. 
3. No weapons. If your costume has an accessory such as a light saber, a hammer, a gun, a sword, or any other weapon then it must stay home as well. It does not matter if it does not look real. 
4. No costumes promoting anything related to Satan. This means no devil costumes or anything similar. 
5. Nothing sexually provocative. It goes without saying but there are a lot of inappropriate costumes on the market.  

What is allowed? There are lots of opportunities to wear costumes that are suitable. Here are a few creative and fun ideas:

1. Super heroes – there are many superhero costumes out there that can be worn (Costco and Value Village has a selection)
2. Movie characters – dress up as one of your favorite characters (one of the coolest costumes I saw was a student who made their own Bumblebee Transformer costume in which they could actually transform into a car costume)
3. Book characters – have a favorite book? Make the character come to life through your costume
4. Saints – a lot of saints lived in interesting times and would have cool costumes – do some research and you just might be surprised by how cool and inspiring our Saints are
5. Community – dress up like someone from the community – policeman, fireman, doctor, scientist, construction, soldier, etc. 
6. Sports – dress up like your favorite athlete or wear your sports outfit 
7. Religious – dress up like a pastor, a nun, a monk, etc. just remember to keep it respectful and reverent
8. Object – looking for challenge? Invent a costume that looks like an object. (Examples I have seen in the past are: phone booth, dice, umbrella)
9. Imaginative – be creative and invent your own custom handmade costume
10. Group costumes – having trouble thinking of what to be, then group up with your classmates. You could dress up as all characters from a book or movie where each takes on a different character. You could dress up as twins. Be creative!

Any student who is deemed to be wearing something inappropriate will be immediately asked to change into their PE clothes or uniform. If there is no change of clothes, parents will be called to come and pick up their child. 

Some things never change. When I was in elementary school, hockey cards (O-Pee-Chee to be specific) were being collected by kids and we started bringing them to school and trading them. Soon it lead to problems and then hockey cards were banned. Fast forward to today, an Pokemon cards are the flavor of the day. Students enjoy collecting them and trading them and even having battles. Unfortunately, problems are arising and as such we are banning trading cards of any kind on school grounds. I think that there is a lot of positives from collecting and trading but it is best done outside of school. I have spoken to classes about this. Thank you for your cooperation. 
 

The month of October is dedicated to Our Lady. As such, many Catholic schools participate in a prayer service called The Living Rosary. Students take on the role of each rosary bead and lead the school in prayer. This is a powerful and community-building activity. These pictures from last Thursday’s prayer service are a visual reminder of the importance of our Faith here at St. Jude. 

St. Jude Parish will be celebrating their 75th Anniversary this month. For this important occasion, there will be a Mass on October 28th at 4pm. Following the mass, there will be a formal reception at 6pm hosted at the Hilton Metrotown. Tickets are $125 each. The parish is looking for door prizes, sponsorship, and donations. Please contact Richelle Akol or the Parish Office if you have questions or are able to assist in any way. Tickets can be purchased through Richelle Akol.