St. Edmunds Newsletter – March 2021
On February 17h we began the season of Lent with an Ash Wednesday prayer service in all our classes.
Lent, the forty days leading up to Easter in the Christian Calendar, is a time for prayer, penance and works of almsgiving and charity for others. During this time, we recognize our need for God’s forgiveness and seek to deepen our relationship with him. The important thing is to find something that will help us focus more on God and what he wants for our lives.
May this upcoming Holy season of Lent be a time for all of us to reflect on what is good in our lives and invite God to help us put right what is wrong and to remember just how much He loves us.
Let us take the time to reflect with our children, the true meaning of this season, so that we may focus on the power of Christ in our lives and strengthen our resolution to follow Jesus even more closely.
Praying for Others:
Lenten Prayers for the Seminarians – Your children have received mite boxes to help support our Seminarians. These young men, with God’s grace, will one day serve as priests in our Archdiocese. In addition, students will receive a prayer card featuring one of the seminarians. We ask that you continue to pray for them and for vocations. Lenten mite boxes can be returned after Easter.
Our Grade 2 and Grade 7 classes have begun preparing for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Communion and Confirmation. Please keep them and their teachers in your prayers during this special time in their faith formation.
Celebrating Student Learning
On Wednesday, February 10th student-led conferences were held virtually. Your children and teachers were excited to reflect and share on their learning throughout the past term and look forward to accomplishing new goals in this next term. Keep an eye out for your teacher emails that highlight many of the upcoming class activities. We are thrilled to have you, our parents, as partners in education.
“R.A.K. it up” with Random Acts of Kindness
The month of February was full of excitement with Catholic Schools Week, Student-Led Conferences, Valentine’s Day and Pink Shirt Day. Throughout all these activities the students were challenged to think of ways to show kindness towards their school peers, staff, families and community members. Let’s continue to focus on “lifting each other up” and making acts of kindness a daily activity!
How can we continue this focus with our children?
- How did you show kindness or love today?
- Did you tell anyone “Thank you?”
- Did everyone have a friend at recess?
- Did you help anyone today?
What a wonderful way to begin a conversation with your children and help them see how easy it is to show love and kindness every day. The importance is to make the time to talk to your children regularly and bring in connections to our faith. Children can thank God for a good friend or ask God for help to remember to think about the words they use because they can make a big difference to someone else!
Hip Hop at St. Edmund’s – March 1st-5th
We are welcoming back 1Vibe Productions into our Physical & Health Education classes for the week of March 1st. Each class will be learning a routine as part of a dance and movement unit for all grades. We are looking forward to the opportunity for the students to build on their previous skills as well as having fun! Although we won’t be able to perform for a “live audience” this year, we will be filming each class routine that will be shared with our Tbird families. Stay tuned!
Parent Support Meeting – Sexuality and your Child
Stay tuned for our upcoming parent support meeting. Parents of Intermediate children will be soon receiving information and a link to access the LoveEd program. The purpose of the Archdiocesan Parent Support Meeting is to support parents as the first and primary educators to transmit the truth and meaning of human sexuality to their children.
Reminders:
Registration for 2021/2022 – due Friday, March 5th.
On behalf of Fr. Steny and the PEC, I would like to thank you for attending our virtual AGM last month on February 18th. We all feel blessed to be learning together and supporting each other in our community. Please remember that you must take your “green forms” to the parish office in order for Fr. Steny to sign the pastor’s authorization for your Category 1 status. Completed registration packages and applicable fees are due back to the school office by Friday March 5th. Please refer to your checklist when completing your registration package to ensure you have signed and returned all necessary documents.
Uniform
It is the expectation that all students come to school dressed in full uniform every day. Please ensure that your child has their school sweater and black school shoes. As many of your children are growing, we also ask that over spring break you take the time to check the fit of your child’s uniform. Remember that you can order uniform pieces online at Cambridge or call the office to enquire about items we may have that are available for a donation.
Covid-19 Provincial Restrictions
As many of us are aware, the provincial restrictions are in effect “indefinitely”. This means that there is no end date at the moment and we are still required to follow the guidelines set out by the Provincial Health Officer in order to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Updates to our Health and Safety Plan will be posted on our school website main page under “Important Information”.
Please remember to continue to complete the ‘Daily Health Check’ and keep children at home if they show any symptoms. Kindly note that St. Edmund’s School must adhere to the guidelines from Vancouver Coastal Health Authority in regard to any COVID-19 related issues (e.g. notifications for exposures, isolations, clearance to return to school, confidentiality & privacy matters).
A kind reminder to all of our families (particularly on days of good weather) that our students should be picked up and brought to the cars as soon as possible in an effort to ensure minimal social gathering and proper social distancing at pick-up times. We are kindly requesting that parents wear their masks in the pick-up area after-school. A very special thank you to those parents who are already doing so.
I continue to commend our school community for their responsible cooperation with our Health & Safety Guidelines and I urge our parents to continue with their diligence in this area. Together we can continue to manage COVID-19 issues at the school level, but it is critical as our Provincial Health Officer regularly mentions that these guidelines are followed outside of the school as well. Thank you for your discretion and effort thus far which has helped to maintain a safe school environment for all of us.