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St. Edmunds November 2019

Celebrating Learning & Eternal Life!

Over the past two months we have enjoyed a productive start to the school year with a wide range of activities that complement our classrooms and extra-curricular activities.  Events such as our school masses and prayer services, student council elections, Walk-a-thon, buddy activities, snail labs, choir, soccer and volleyball are just a few of the opportunities that have helped engage the students in experiential learning and friendship building.

The month of November begins with All Saints’ Day on the 1st followed by All Souls’ Day on the 2nd. It is important for us to remember to pray for the saints and the martyrs who were living examples of Christian witness, especially our patron St. Edmund whose feast day is November 16th.  It is also a time for us to remember the faithful departed on All Souls’ Day. May our prayers continue to bring us together in communion with the saints here on earth and in Heaven.

Congratulations!

  • To our Senior Boys Soccer Team for their development and effort over the season. Thanks to the boys for coming out to practice on cold, rainy mornings, not to mention an extremely rainy game day!  We got a few goals throughout the season as well as fun on and off the pitch.
  • Grade 6 & 7 Volleyball has had a successfull season. Our teams are commended for their efforts throughout the season in which they demonstrated increasing skill and unwavering team spirit. We’re very proud of how much our girls have accomplished this season.
  • Our Grade 5 Girls Volleyball team continues to demonstrate Tbird resilience and grit as they head into the CISVA quarter-finals on November 5th! These T-birds are undefeated in their league and we wish them the very best!

With Gratitude:

  • To all our coaches, volunteer refs, scorekeepers, lines people, parent drivers and fans who supported our fabulous T-birds this season!
  • Walk-a-thon: Thank you for all your efforts in collecting pledges and donating funds for our school programs. We have collectively raised $21,545!

STA Invitation:

“After many years of planning, fundraising and generosity by the vibrant North Shore Catholic communities, the dream of a new St. Thomas Aquinas Regional High School is a reality.

As a thank you to all of the North Shore parishioners and parents, Reverend Augustine Obiwumma, the Archbishop’s Representative of STA, and John Campbell, Principal of STA, invite you to an Open House at STA on Saturday, 23 November from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm.

Join us for coffee/dessert and a student-led tour, or explore the school at your leisure.

If you have any questions, please email us at development@aquinas.org.

We look forward to seeing you there.”

Reminders:

Fine Arts

Choir practice –  every Wednesday lunch hour in the small hall

Cold & Flu Season:

If your child is not feeling well (sore throat, cough, stomach ache, flu, etc.) it is appreciated that you keep your child home or find alternate arrangements until the illness has subsided. An unwell child cannot focus in class and children return to good health much faster when given time to rest a few days. Just as importantly, we would not want your child’s illness to spread throughout the class to other students. It would be greatly appreciated that your child bring a note for their absence on the day that they return to school (An email note is also acceptable.)

It is also important to please send your child to school with appropriate outer wear for our cooler and wetter weather conditions.  Research strongly supports the need for fresh air every day!

Good Shepherd Ministry Candy Drive – St Ed’s students have been asked to collaborate with STA students in collecting some candies for our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community.  This activity gives us a great opportunity to do charitable works. Keep a look out for the paper lunch bags that will be sent home and be sure to sort through candy with your child.

Santa Breakfast – December 7th “Save the Date!”

Stay tuned for more information regarding this fun family event.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to come together for some delicious pancakes, Christmas crafts, raffle, and photos with Santa.

Communicating Student Learning

In our ongoing implementation of the re-designed curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education, we are continuing to refine the manner in which we communicate your children’s progress to you.  Working in partnership with CISVA and the Ministry, we follow the Reporting Policy Guidelines which allows for some variations and flexibility in how schools can communicate with parents/guardians:

  • Proficiency Levels of Performance – We will continue to use the following descriptors to communicate a child’s growth and development in each curricular area: Emerging, Developing, Proficient, Extending.
  • As we continue our transition from letter grades in our intermediate reports, only Grades 6 & 7 will be assigned letter grades in Christian Education, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Socials and Science. Proficiency levels will be reported in other areas of learning.  Due to present policy, letter grades are available upon request for intermediate grades. 

We are working hard to create an optimal learning environment for our students, and that includes giving you the best understanding of your children’s learning over the course of each term.  Our goal is to provide a greater emphasis on communicating individual student learning relative to specific curricular skills and engaging students in personalized opportunities to demonstrate improvements in their learning.

Last week you received a “mid-term” report to inform you about your child’s work habits in school.  We thank you for your continued communication with staff and being available to discuss your child’s learning plans & goals.

First term formal reports will be sent home on December 4th.  Parent-teacher interviews will take place on December 5th & 6th.  Further information on signing up for interview times will be sent out in the next few weeks.

Safe and Active School Travel Program A special thank you to the many families that participated in the Safe and Active Sch Safe and Active School Travel Program during the 2018/2019 school year. To wrap things up, all families are invited to participate in an online Follow-up School Travel Survey. This survey will help us to monitor changes in travel habits over the past year and better understand what influences transportation choices for St. Edmund’s families. The survey is live now and will be open until November 22nd! We appreciate your time and feedback.

You can find the survey online at   https://tinyurl.com/StEdmundsfamilyfollowup