The Patriot Report – October 28, 2022

“The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”― Pope John Paul II

St. Jude School is launching a Virtues Program starting this November. The Virtues Program is a K to 7 program that has been created by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia out of Nashville. The program has the entire school community focus on a single virtue for the month and learn about saints that exemplified the virtue. Additionally, the students will be expected to practice the virtue at home and at school. 

For the month of November, we will focus on the virtue of Stewardship. Stewardship is taking care of the gifts that have been given to us. At school this looks like careful use of resources such as not wasting paper. It might also look like sharing talents with others. If you have the gift of music, share with others by singing in choirs. If you have the gift of art then share it with others by helping to beautify spaces. It might also look like sharing your time with others. Being a steward of friendships and family is an important virtue for our world today.

We hope that this coming month you will be on board with the school in helping your child to develop the habit of stewardship. Help them to become stewards and in doing so they will learn to take of themselves, others, and our common home.

We are excited to welcome kindergarten sibling registration for children born in 2018, turning 5 in 2023. These children will begin kindergarten in September 2023.  Please pre-register by completing this form. 

Please be sure that your child has a proper raincoat, umbrella, and rubber boots or waterproof shoes so that they are prepared for the weather. 

Remember there is no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing. Only in extreme conditions will we keep kids inside. 

I want to provide further guidelines for this day with respect to Halloween Costumes.

• Costumes may be worn providing that:
  • no violent costumes – no weapons of any kind (swords, guns, knifes, etc) are permitted
  • no grotesque or gruesome costumes – this means no fake blood, no ghoulish masks, no horror costumes
  • no devils or anti-Catholic costumes or images
  • no sexually suggestive costumes – many costumes online are now sexually suggestive and parents must exercise caution here

We want to encourage our students to wear costumes that are age appropriate and school appropriate. Students do not have to wear a costume. Students who do not want to wear costumes are encouraged to wear halloween colors (orange, black, white, purple, lime green) or halloween themed shirts that are appropriate. It is a non-uniform day so jeans and a halloween shirt or halloween colored shirt is more than acceptable.

Any student that is found wearing something deemed by school administration to be inappropriate will be asked to either change or will be sent home. 

We have been answering parent requests to bring in treats for classmates on the day of their child’s birthday. There are a couple of rules to follow for such occasions:

1. Always check in with the classroom teacher. 
2. Food must be store bought and must be from a vendor that practices food safety.
3. Avoid things with high sugar content. 
4. We encourage doing non food treats such as a pencil for each child or a bookmark. 
5. If you are bringing food please ensure it is nut free. Check with your child’s teacher for other food allergies. 

We want to celebrate our children, but please keep things reasonable. 

Students of St. Jude celebrated the feast of St. Jude with an assembly on Monday led by Grade 7 and a Living Rosary prayer assembly today led by Grades 4 and 6. The popularity of St. Jude grew in the 20th century and especially during World War II. People would pray to St. Jude when all hope seemed lost. It is a reminder to us that to have Faith is to have Hope. And Hope is a spark that can never be extinguished. It gives light to all. I encourage you to pray to St. Jude to intercede on your behalf especially if you are dealing with challenging life circumstances. 

St. Jude, Pray for us.

Students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 ventured out to Richmond to the pumpkin patch. A great time was had by all. 

Please be mindful of the following rules:

1. After School Club is from the hours of 3-6pm, please respect Miss Daly’s time and pick up your child within these hours. 
2. Help us keep track of students and remember to sign up for the After School Club through our website: https://stjude.ca/after-school-club/ . Even a last minute registration can make organization easier. 
3. Once you have picked up your child from After School Club, please leave the school grounds. It makes it challenging for children whose parents are not there to see a classmate playing with their parent or to see children not being picked up when their parent is on the property. Please help us prioritize our students mental health and well being.  
4. Once you have picked up your child, you are not allowed to drop them off again. Once a child is signed out, they are remained signed out for the day. There is no back and forth as this makes keeping a clear roster challenging for Miss Daly and our volunteers. 
5. If you have more than one child and you need to pick up one child and not the other, please explain in advance to Miss Daly the reason why. Only legitimate reasons will be accepted. For example, perhaps a sibling may have a school sports game or event that you need to take them to and the other sibling needs to stay at After School Club. 
6. If your child is away absent from school then they do not have access to the After School Club. If a child is too ill to attend school, then they are also too ill to attend After School Club. 
7. When you arrive to pick your child, it is helpful if you always check in with Miss Daly and sign your child out. This helps us maintain logs and it is also very important for the safety of the club.  

Parents are reminded to sign up for the After School Club through our website: https://stjude.ca/after-school-club/ 

Please note that there has been a very small price increase. You can read more below. 

Description of Club: Will run daily Monday-Friday 3:00-6:00 p.m. It will also be in operation from 12 noon to 6 PM on Curriculum Planning (early dismissal) days. It will not operate on professional or conference days or holidays. Students will engage in games, arts and crafts, reading/homework, and outdoor play.

Cost per child is $13.00/day or $55.00/week on regular school days. If the child is picked up before 4:00 pm it will be $6.50. On early dismissal (12 Noon) days the cost will be $25 to 6:00 pm or $13 if the child is picked up before 3 pm. (Those who are attending the whole week and paying $55 a week will not be charged extra for early dismissal days).

Please subscribe to our school calendar for a list of important dates. 

To subscribe to our calendar feed copy the link below and paste it into your calendar app:
https://stjude.ca/events/?ical=1&tribe_display=month

This past year we handed out $1200 in rewards to parents that referred students to our school. Every student that is referred and enrolls in our school for the year results in a reward of $200 for the the referring family. 

We currently have spots available in Kindergarten, Gr. 1, and Gr. 2. 

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