Vision Statement
Inspired by our rich heritage and challenged by the struggles of our past,
we at
St. Thomas the Apostle School are called to express our mission as church,
to
pass on the good news of Jesus Christ, to make it relevant in the world today,
and to be the hope for the future.
Prayer for Our Vision
God our Father, You inspire us through a heritage that is rich in
blessings,
You challenge us to grow, as we remember the struggles of our past,
You call us as partners in the Catholic educational community
To be inclusive of all who seek to learn in the light of faith.
Grant that your Holy Spirit might continue to guide us so that by the
power
of Your grace,
Our share in the Church's mission to spread the Good News of Jesus
May be relevant in a world today, and point to a future that is filled
with hope.
We ask you to bless our work, that it may serve to protect,
Nurture and rightly guide in the Catholic faith those children You have
entrusted
to our care,
To the glory of Your name. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen
WELCOME TO ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE CATHOLIC SCHOOL!!
I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to all of the children
and families of
St. Thomas the Apostle school community. I am looking forward to being your
school
principal this year!! On behalf of the staff of St. Thomas the Apostle, I
would like to
say, "welcome back" to our returning families and "welcome" to the new families
in
our school community. I would also like to welcome several new staff members
who
are joining the school team- Kathleen, Amanda, Emily, Leslie, Louise and
Robert
(see below for more information). We are planning an excellent school year
at
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School! The triad of school, home and parish
need
to work hand in hand in the name of Catholic education. Working together
in the name
of Jesus- who could ask for anything more??!!
School Organization 2003-2004: We have organized our school for the 2003-2004
school year to include -
Junior/Senior Kindergarten .............. Kathleen Prince
Grade One .............. Gail Denault
Grade Two .............. Amanda Warren
Grade Three .............. Susie Pasch
Grade Three/Four .............. Ruth McNulty
Grade Four/Five .............. Annice O'Rourke
Grade Five .............. Stephanie Lennox
Grade Six .............. Heidi Robinson
Grade Seven A .............. Jeff Halk
Grade Seven B .............. Kellie Behm
Grade Seven C .............. Trent Skelhorn
Grade Eight A .............. Steve Jones
Grade Eight B .............. Emily Donohue
Grade Eight C .............. Stacey McGregor
Core French (Gr. JK/SK, 1) .............. Leslie McGee
(shared with St. Joe's Calabogie)
Core French (Gr. 2-6) .............. Ivana Matjasko
Core French (Gr. 7-8) .............. Louise Schryer
Special Education .............. Margaret MacDonald (0.5 p.m.)
Special Education .............. Robert Townsend (occasional basis)
Computer / Resource Lab Teacher .............. Brian Friske
Educational Assistant .............. Nancy Cameron
Educational Assistant Judy Drouillard
Educational Assistant Colleen Hisko
Educational Assistant Brenda Unsworth
Educational Assistant Louise Neville
School Secretary .............. Bev Moran
(sick leave until mid-October; please keep Bev in your prayers)
School Secretary .............. Debby Smaggus
School Secretary .............. Lorraine Thompson
(part-time occasional basis until Bev returns)
School Caretakers .............. Eva and Jim Antler
Lunch hour Supervisor .............. Theresa Cybulski
Lunch hour Supervisor .............. Cathy Freemark
Lunch hour Supervisor .............. Kelly Reynolds
Principal .............. David Giroux
School Social Worker .............. Marie Josee Hull
Supervisory Officer .............. Lorne Keon
Trustee .............. Mike Laverty
Parish Priest (St. Francis Xavier) .............. Rev. Dr. Peter Proulx
School Mass- September 12th: Everyone is welcome to join the students
and staff of St. Francis Xavier Church on Friday, September 12th at 10:45
a.m. as we celebrate the Eucharist and welcome another school year together.
The school staff will be providing leadership at this Mass. Please join
us!!
Message from Father Proulx:
Dear Parents:
As the school year begins I take this opportunity to connect with you
regarding our
School-Church-Family connection. I thank our new principal, Mr. Giroux for
the time
and space.
When you brought your child for Baptism you agreed to become responsible
for the
"Faith Development" of your child. Your Church and Catholic School are here
to
assist you. We cannot do it for you, but we want to do our part. As a parish
we here at
St. Francis provide a Children' s Liturgy Program every Sunday through the
school
year for children who have not yet celebrated First Holy Communion. On the
first
Sunday of the month we celebrate the 11:00 a.m. Family Mass with the assistance
of
one of our classes from St. Thomas. We like to highlight the young people
who
facilitate the Mass but indeed the celebration is for all young people in
a special way
to involve themselves.
Sacramental Preparation will be an issue for some families this year.
Please note that we will be celebrating Confirmation this fall. Our parish
team and our teachers of grade six and seven will assist you in preparing
your young people for this great moment. The parish likes to kick things
off with a one-day retreat. You will hear more soon from the parish. Anyone
in grade eight who has not yet been, and wishes to be confirmed must contact
the parish you attend immediately.
Here at St. Francis Xavier Parish we have a team of Catechists who assist
parents who are preparing the children for Reconciliation and Eucharist.
The school program is a year long program of catechesis about our coming
to the Lord's table. The parish will assist parents in the specific preparations
for these sacraments. Your will receive a letter from the parish soon.
Already there are two families who have contacted the parish to have their
school-aged children baptized. The R.C.I.C. (the Rite of Christian Initiation
of Children) is a 10 to 12 week program. Without it you cannot prepare for
other sacraments. If you child is not baptized or has been baptized other
than in a Roman Catholic Church, it is your responsibility to contact the
parish NOW. This will be your preparatory step to them
participating fully with their classmates.
Finally, thank you for your thoughtfulness in using the facility of this
school for your child. Together we can see that they come to know God in
their life & to celebrate Him well. Please call myself or Sr. Sheila
Whelan at the rectory (432-5825) if you have any concerns and to register
your child if they need to be baptized at this time.
Let's have a great year working together.
~ Rev. Peter Proulx
Open House: We will be having an Open House at the school on Tuesday,
September 23, 2003. Please plan on coming to the school, meeting the staff,
touring the classrooms and gathering in the gymnasium for a brief presentation.
Visit with the staff from 6:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. We will then proceed to the
gymnasium for introductions and photo presentation (standing room crowd!!).
Finally, our first School Council meeting will take place in the library
beginning at 7:15 p.m. Mark your calendars and plan on attending!!
School Agendas: All students from Grades 2-8 will be using agendas
this year and will receive them on the first day of school. These planning
tools contain important information in the handout at the front of the book.
The school budget has been absorbing the costs of these agendas for the last
few years. With school budgets being reduced by 10% for the 2003-2004 school
year, this is no longer financially feasible. A number of schools in the
Board have been charging for their agendas for years.We are asking you to
please send in $5.00 per agenda (family rate of $10.00 for 2 or more agendas)
to help off set some of the costs of the agenda. Since school supplies have
recently been purchased, we are giving a generous window in which to make
payment. Please send in your payment to the school by Friday, October 3,
2003. Thank you for your understanding and support in this matter.
Milk Program: Thank you so very much to parents Penny Bergin and
Adrianna Krupp for volunteering to look after the milk program at St.Thomas
again this year. Students will be able to order white or chocolate milk on
a monthly basis. Forms will go home by next week and must be returned by
September 18th. Milk will be available beginning
September 22nd.
School Website/Electronic School Newsletters: Thank you to Bev
Ramsden for continuing to look after our school website. Over the coming
weeks and months, we will be making some changes to the school website to
make it even more beneficial to access the site. One of the first changes
that will be happening beginning with the October newsletter is for you,
as parents, to have the opportunity to receive the
newsletter electronically by e-mail. The plan is to build up a bank of parents
who have access to e-mail and a computer to send me an e-mail at
dgiroux@rccdsb.edu.on.ca letting me know that they would like to receive
the newsletter electronically. Each month when Bev posts the newsletter on
the website, she will send out a group e-mail to everyone on the list containing
the url hyperlink to access the school newsletter. I have used this in previous
schools with great success. You are still more than welcome to receive the
paper copy if you choose. Send me an
e-mail and let's get this project rolling!!
Classroom newsletters: In addition to our school newsletters, you
should receive a monthly newsletter from your child's classroom teacher this
year. This newsletter will enhance communication links with
teacher-student-parent about what is happening in the classroom in a given
month. We will be looking for a central place in the school to display all
of the newsletters each month.
Educational Excursions/Photographs: There are two permission forms
at the end of the printed newsletter. One is to cover educational field
trips and the other is for publishing of photos in the newspaper or on our
school website. Remember that the school newsletter will be uploaded to the
school web site and so any photos put in the newsletter will also eventually
be on the school web-site. Any major class trips outside the boundaries of
Renfrew will have a separate permission form. The teachers will still try
to advise of class excursions around town via their monthly newsletters.
Please read, sign and return the permission slips to your child's classroom
teacher as soon as possible.
ALLERGY ALLERT!!
Here at St. Thomas the Apostle, we have a fair number of students who
have life threatening allergies to peanuts and nut products, and other students
who are severely allergic to bee/wasp stings. These students, their parents
and the school staff have taken precautions to avoid contact with the offending
items. We ask you to assist us in creating a safe environment for these students.
PLEASE AVOID SENDING NUT PRODUCTS TO SCHOOL FOR SNACKS AND LUNCHES. Research
shows that most anaphylactic injuries and deaths come from cross-contamination,
i.e., a trace of peanut butter that is left on a hand, a knife, a desk, on
playground equipment or on another object. The student who is allergic could
inadvertently touch this trace and a reaction (or even death) could occur.
We understand the inconvenience that this can place when purchasing food
items for daily lunches. The staff will be participating in an anaphylaxis
/ type 1 diabetes workshop next week from the Health Unit. In the October
newsletter, some healthy lunch alternative suggestions will be sent home
to all families. Your support and respect will help to keep all of the students
at St. Thomas the Apostle as safe as possible.
Parents of students who are anaphylactic should be contacting the school
office for the appropriate forms which need to be filled out, signed (by
the parent and allergist), returned to school and placed in the child's Ontario
School Record (O.S.R.). If at all possible, there should be more than one
Epi-pen available at the school for your child. The policy recommends that
all anaphylactic children wear an Epi-pen in a fanny pack at all times and
that a second Epi-pen be kept in the teacher's desk drawer for each child.
Safe Arrival: If your child is going to be absent from school on
a given day, please call the school office and speak to the secretary or
leave a message on the answering machine. It takes a great amount of time
for the office to call all of the families when students are not at school
and we do not have the information. If you know ahead of ime that your child
will be absent, feel free to send a note in to your child's classroom teacher
so that he/she can record the reason for the absence on the attendance charts
and save the office precious time!!
School Council Nomination Forms: Attached to this newsletter is
a nomination form for School Council. Please give consideration for joining
our School Council. The more families that we have working to make this school
the best it can be, the better it will be for everyone!! We encourage
all parents, especially those of younger children who will be able to stay
on council for many years and those just joining us for intermediate from
O.L.O.Fatima to consider joining our School Council. Nomination forms must
be returned to the school office by Friday, September 12, 2003.
End of day Dismissal: Students will be dismissed from school to
the same destination each day unless written permission is received from
parents in advance. The office is a very busy place so please do not wait
until the end of the day and then expect all of the information to be relayed
to your child(ren) and teachers. Under the new busing policy, bus passes
are only to be issued by the principal for emergency situations.
Going to a friend's house for a birthday party, sleepover or to complete
homework is not an emergency and it is the parents' responsibility to arrange
transportation outside of the school venue.
Parking Lot Safety: Parents who pick their children up at the end
of the day or drop them off in the morning are reminded to drive on to the
school property via Muriel Street. Park in the lot adjacent to Muriel Street.
Bolger Lane is to be used by walkers only. The parking lot adjacent to Bolger
Lane is filled with children walking to the cross walk. Only staff vehicles
are permitted in this area.
Visitors to the School: If you are coming to the school for any
reason, you are asked to come through the front doors of the school and present
yourself at the office. If you are staying at the school for any length of
time, you will be asked to sign in and wear an identification badge during
your stay at the school. If you are dropping off or picking up a student,
we recommend that you stay in the Welcome Area and the office staff will
buzz the classroom and have your child come to the office. If you wish to
go beyond the central area of the school, you will be required to sign in
and put on a badge. This is for the safety of all the students in our school.
Thanks for your understanding- we still want you to feel welcome at our
school!!
Student Teacher: We welcome Kevin Friske as a student teacher to
St. Thomas the Apostle. Kevin will be working with Mr. McGregor's Grade 8
class.
Donations to the School: Any person or business that wishes to
make a charitable donation to the school over $25.00 will receive a charitable
donation receipt. This money goes directly to the school budget and would
help to compensate for our budget reduction for the 2003-2004 school year.
Casual Dress Fridays: Just for your information, the staff has
decided to have the option of dressing down on Fridays as a fundraiser for
charity. If you see staff dressed more casually on the last school day of
the week, you will know that is thereason why!!
Did you know ??? Did you know that all of the Ministry of Education
and Training's Ontario elementary curriculum documents are available free
of charge to parents? You can download the information from the Ministry
web site at http:// www.edu.gov.on.ca , order them by phone at 1-800-668-9938
or by writing to Publications Ontario 880 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario M7A
1N8.
Lunch hour: Students may leave the school grounds over lunch with
a written note of permission dated and signed by their parent. Food or drink
are not permitted on the school yard so students who leave the school grounds
must not return to school property with food/drink or else they must go inside
the front doors of the school to finish eating. Leaving the school property
over the lunch hour is a privilege for students. Any student caught abusing
that privilege will lose the privilege!! Students
below grades 7 and 8 are discouraged from leaving the school yard over the
lunch hour. In fact, for obvious safety reasons, we encourage all students
to stay at school over the lunch hour. **This year we will not accept a blanket
lunch note for the year. Individual notes must be written, dated and signed
by the parent/guardian each day your child is given permission to leave the
school.
Hot lunch program: This year, we would like to expand the hot lunch
program as a service being provided to the school community. The framework
is being worked out with staff and will be presented to School Council for
input. We will begin our hot lunch program sometime in October.
Head lice: If you detect head lice in your child, please notify
the school office right away. Keep your child at home until they have been
thoroughly treated. Upon their return to school, they should come to the
office to be checked before re-entering the classroom. If we are made aware
of a situation in a particular class, we then check all of the heads in that
classroom and send home a notice informing parents that head lice has been
found on at least one child in the classroom. We strive to maintain the privacy
and dignity of the families involved while still informing others of its
presence. As parents, it is a good habit to check your child(ren)'s head
on a weekly basis as part of your family routine. More detailed information
is outlined below.
What are lice? Head lice are tiny, wingless bugs about the size of a sesame
seed or smaller. They have six legs with tiny claws and live on human scalps.
Head lice can range in colour from light brown to gray. While annoying, head
lice are not life threatening.
How do you get lice? Head lice do not hop, jump or fly. They migrate through
direct contact with an infested person and their belongings. Pets do not
transmit head lice, and poor personal hygiene does not cause an infestation.
In fact, head lice prefer clean, healthy heads.
What are the symptoms of head lice? The most common symptom of a head
lice infestation is persistent itching, particularly around the ears, back
of the neck and crown (but some people never itch at all). Diagnosis of head
lice is usually made by finding nits (lice eggs). Nits are tiny, whitish
oval eggs firmly attached to one side of the hair shaft at an angle. Viable
nits are usually, but not always, found within ahalf-inch of the scalp. Hint-
if you can blow or flick it off, or if it crumbles in your
fingers, it is not a nit. (From Follicel- The Natural Solution for Lice)
Dr. Moshe Ipp from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto recommends
a solution of 50:50 of mineral oil and vinegar. Massage the solution into
the hair, cover for one hour with a shower cap and then shampoo out with
regular shampoo. This treatment can be repeated as often as necessary.
Reading Corner: This section of the newsletter is dedicated with
reading strategies to assist you as parents working with children on their
reading. Most of the strategies are designed for beginning readers but learning
is never wasted.
ü CHECK OUT THE BOOK: This simply involves reinforcing the understanding
of how to approach a book (i.e., Where is the front cover? Where is the title?
Where is the back cover? Where do you open the book to start?). Pass the
book to the child and ask them to show you the parts of the book.
ü WHICH WAY DO YOU GO?: Young readers need to recognize where to
start when a book is opened. They need to know that it is the print that
they will be interpreting or reading and that the message goes from left
to right on the page. Finger pointing/following the words is beneficial to
young readers.
(Some students are very reluctant to finger follow along with the print.
Try 1) "hitchhiking"- child's finger sits on adult finger as it tracks the
print, or
2) put a mini-sticker on the child's following finger to encourage proper
tracking.)
* If the child is unable to finger track, adult should model and follow through
for the child.
Watch for your next Newsletter: beginning of October
(or updates sooner if necessary)
Mark your Calendars:
September 5 Grade 5 students visit the Renfrew Fair (a.m.)
September 12 School Mass 10:45 a.m. St. Francis Xavier Church
September 12 School Council Nomination forms due at the office
September 18 Milk order forms due
September 22 Milk order begins
September 23 Open House 6:15 p.m.
September 23 School Council Meeting 7:15 p.m.
October 1 ICE Symposium (School Team) St. James Parish Hall 5:00 p.m.
- 9:00 p.m.
October 3 Ronald McDonald Self-Esteem show 1:00 p.m., 2:15 p.m.
October 3 Agenda money due ($5.00 per agenda, $10.00 family rate)
October 8 Picture Day- Grades JK/SK (A group), 1-6
October 9 Picture Day- Grades JK/SK (B group), 7-8
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