The Patrioteer – December 13, 2024

The third week of Advent and “Gaudete” Sunday is finally here! “Gaudete” means “Rejoice” in Latin. In my house growing up we would sing a song on this week with these lyrics: “Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus ex Maria virgine, gaudete.” The translation from this Latin hymn that originated in Europe around the 16th century is, “Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is born of the Virgin Mary, Rejoice!” 

As we inch closer to the Christmas season, this third week of Advent is a good reminder to keep joy in our lives as we wait in the darkness for the bright Christmas star. 

St. Jude, Pray for us!  

We had our 2024 St. Jude Christmas Concert on Thursday, titled “Shine a Light”. Our students did two wonderful performances for their friends and family members. It was heartwarming to see the joy on each child’s face and the excitement they had while sharing their gift of song! 

After the lovely night there are so many people I would like to thank. 

Our music teacher, Miss O’Gorman for being the genius behind the song selection as well as teaching the students with joy and care. 

Mrs. Chao for her support of the program leading up to and during that day. She sacrificed a lot for our school, even missing two of her own children’s Christmas Concert that just happened to fall on the same night! 

The Teachers and Educational Assistants who put in the time to support our student’s learning of lyrics, dressing in costumes, and providing hallway management. 

Dr. Luchkow for his tireless dedication to our orchestra program. The students always impress me with their performance!

Mr. Dacua and the parent team who build our stage extension every year, it makes a big difference! 

Thank you to all the parents who support these endeavours! You are our partners in education and continually provide support for the Arts at our school. 

Through donations that evening, we raised over $1200.00 for the St. Jude music program and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Thank you for your generosity! 

Wednesday was our third Advent Assembly as we journey to Christmas. Our joyful Primary students led the school prayerfully in an Advent reflection and reminded us about the joy the season brings. Thank you to the Primary team for preparing their students to celebrate this special time of year. Our Advent Assemblies are every Wednesday in December, beginning at 11:30am. Parents are welcome to join.

Next week is Christmas Extravaganza Week! The week before Christmas break at St. Jude is always a super fun week. Each day will bring a new theme and activities. 

Monday: Christmas Sweater Day (no uniform day)

We will have a Christmas sing a long at 2pm in the gym with the Orchestra students. All parents are welcome to join!

Tuesday: Christmas Hat/Hair Day (no uniform day)

St. Thomas More Choir will be visiting the school to give a concert at 10:30 am. 

This is Christmas craft day with all classes getting their craft on! 

Wednesday: Christmas Sock Day (Uniform needed on this day, but wear your fun Christmas socks!)

Advent Assembly at 11:30am. 

Afternoon’s activity is the Winter Wonderland buddy class activity. Consult the handout from your child’s teacher on the instructions. 

Thursday: Dress as your favourite Christmas Character Day. (No Uniform Day)

Students will play Christmas games and enjoy a Christmas movie. 

Friday: Comfy Christmas Clothes Day. (No Uniform Day)

Students will enjoy a special Christmas snack and have a Christmas dance party. Classes may also have a special guest visitor! 

School ends at noon on Friday and the Christmas break begins! 

Check out the website for the current schedule: https://stjude.ca/extracurricular/athletics/basketball/

We are excited to welcome kindergarten sibling registration for children born in 2020, turning 5 in 2025. These children will begin kindergarten in September 2025.  Please pre-register by completing a google form found here:  https://forms.gle/6JxxNYkuWZV2pZGJ9

St. Jude’s parish needs students to participate in the St. Jude Christmas Pageant on December 24th!   Your child would be assigned a part (Mary, Joseph, Gabriel, angels, shepherds, 3 kings, etc.) and given a copy of the play so they can learn their lines (1-3 short lines typically).  Costumes will be provided.    Please bring your child at 3pm on the 24th so that they can get into costume and do a practice.  The pageant is approximately 15mins in length, followed  by Mass at 5pm.   Contact Carolyn Sussey at cglsussey@yahoo.com by December 16 to have your child be part of the play and let her know if your child would like a speaking part or not.  As well, if you are interested in shadowing her this year to take on this initiative for next year, please let her know. Thank you!

We are now accepting new applications for the 2025-2026 school year.  If you know of anyone who would like to attend St Jude’s, please have them contact the office or visit our website for an application form.    They can also contact our office to schedule a school tour, led by a couple of our Grade 7 Student Ambassadors.

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. 

We will have two days this month that After School Club will end early. 

Dec 19–This is the Holiday Party night for the Staff. In order for the staff to attend the party, After School Club will end at 4:30pm. 

Dec 20–This is the last day before Christmas Break, so After School Club will end at 5pm. 

Have a great month!  

The decision making process for closing the school due to snow includes:

– assessment of sidewalks & stairways

– assessment of parking lots

– assessment of staff driving routes

– assessment of general driving conditions

– assessment of weather, current & projections

– consultation with neighbouring schools and principals

– consultation with staff that live in the area

– prayer

Some of the factors which make St. Jude School unique when considering these decisions include the following:

– we’re not a neighbourhood school, but nearly exclusively a commuter school

– students travel from different parts of Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, and Richmond

– staff travel from Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, North Van, and Maple Ridge

– we live in a region that does not get much snow and many drivers are ill prepared (no snow tires) to drive in snow yet do so anyway. The Government of BC has not mandated that winter tires must be used on lower mainland roads during the winter season. As such, the risk of car accidents greatly increases in such conditions and commute times become exceptionally long with many arriving very late or not at all, which reduces our ability to properly staff the school.

Other factors all schools must consider:

– are we able to provide a quality learning experience if we have 1/3? or 1/2 of our students in the building?

– if some teachers aren’t able to make it to school, do we have the support from our Teacher On Call pool to handle the sudden demand? Are we able to provide adequate supervision if staff cannot make it to work?

– can we confidently say that we made the best decision to open if an injury or fatality occurs?

When the school is closed due to inclement weather, communication will be through the Remind App first, Facebook, and the school website by 7am at the latest. It is the responsibility of the parents to sign up for Remind, to check our website, or our Facebook feed, when snow is in the forecast.

If the school is closed due to Snow, there will be no clubs, sports, or after school clubs running that day. 

In difficult weather, our hope is to open our schools as soon as it is possible while considering all educational and safety perspectives. We thank you for your prayers and support!

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