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St. Edmunds Newsletter – November 2021

november-2021

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 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.

This month we also remember those who fought for peace and those who continue to work to keep our world at peace. Every year on November 11th, Canadians pause in silence for a moment of remembrance for the brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our country during times of conflict. May we focus on our ability to generously forgive others, remain calm in difficult situations, and be peacemakers in our daily lives.

May our prayers continue to bring us together in communion with the saints here on earth and in Heaven.

All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, All Souls Day

Good Shepherd Ministry –  Together with our STA school family, St Ed’s students have been asked to collect 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 lookout for the paper lunch bags that were sent home and be sure to sort through candy with your child. If you do not have candy to donate this Halloween, a simple prayer for those in need would be greatly appreciated.

This weekend brings us the opportunity to have fun, but to also recognize our faith heritage in a special way.  Please take time to pray for our saints and martyrs on November 1st, as well as the faithful departed on November 2nd.

Remembrance Day

Lord our God, this Remembrance Day we entrust all our prayers and needs to your infinite mercy.  Help us to become ever more mindful of the bonds that unite us as a human family despite our differences.  Heal our inner wounds and outward divisions, that one day our world might live in your true and lasting peace. Amen

The Royal Canadian Legion, North Vancouver Branch 118 has again asked us to support our veterans this year.  We will be accepting donations for poppies/stickers beginning next week and teachers will hand these out to students on Wednesday, November 10th when we will have a prayer service prepared by the grade 6 class.

Archbishop’s Charities

On November 10th, the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese Administrators Association (CISVAAA) will be presenting a cheque of $18,935.60 to Archbishop Miller. $7,976.25 was raised specifically for the Door is Open, while the remaining $10,959 will do toward the Archbishop’s other charitable priorities.

The funds contributed are the result of the hard work and generosity of the students, staff, and families of CISVA schools last year.  We are so blessed and very pleased to be able to share our blessings with those in need.

This September 29th’s Orange Shirt Dress Down Day raised $165 towards the RCAV Healing and Reconciliation Initiative.

Communicating Student 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.

Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences: Monday, December 6th

To keep everyone safe, interviews will be held virtually via ZOOM. More details about registering and signing up online will be forthcoming in an email. Please note that there is no school for students on this day.

 

Parent-Teacher Interviews will be held on Monday, December 6th from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

In our ongoing implementation of the BC Ministry curriculum, 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 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 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.

Our Communication of Student Learning reporting timeline for the year is as follows:

  • October (Interim Report)
  • December (Parent Teacher Conference)
  • January (Written Report)
  • February (Student Led/Celebration of Learning Conference)
  • April (Interim Report)
  • June (Final Written Summative Report)

Congratulations & Gratitude

Thank you to the Grade 4 class and Mr. Aguirre for their leadership in preparing our whole school Living Rosary Prayer Service on October 14th.  Thank you as well to all the staff and students who participated in this beautiful celebration.

Calendar of Events

Mon. Nov. 1              All Saints’ Day

                                 Sr. Boys Soccer Finals

                                 Early (Noon) Dismissal

Tues. Nov.2              All Souls Day

                                    Grade 7 Prayer Service

Wed. Nov. 3                Whole School Mass prepared by Grade 6

Fri. Nov. 5                  Photo Retakes

Sun. Nov. 7                 Daylight Savings Time…Set your clocks back 1 hour

Tues. Nov. 10             Remembrance Day Assembly – Prepared by Grade 6 Class

Wed. Nov. 11              Remembrance Day Holiday – NO SCHOOL

Wed. Nov. 17              Grade 1 Class Mass

PEC Meeting – 7 p.m.

Fri. Nov. 19                NO SCHOOL for students – CISVA Professional Day (T & R Focus)

Nov. 22-23                  CISVA School Evaluation

Wed. Nov.24               Grade 7 Class Mass

Thurs. Nov. 25           Grade 6 & 7 Immunizations

Fri. Nov. 26                Dress Down Day – Theme TBA – $2 donation

Sun. Nov. 29               First week of Advent “Hope”

Professional Day

All staff will participate in a Professional Development Day on Friday, November 19th. Please note that there is no school for students on this day.

Senior Boys Soccer Team Rolls into Elite 8 Tournament

Special Feature Article by Mr. Dotto.

The Senior Boy’s Soccer Team authored their own Cinderella story this season by advancing to the Elite 8 Finals for only the second time in T-Bird recorded history!

The boys advanced through a very tough group by winning three of their four games, finishing second only to an undefeated St. Helen’s team. This year’s St. Edmund’s team may have more skillful than past T-Bird squads, but it was their teamwork, determination, and refusal to quit that brought them out of the North Division and into the playoffs!

The first game was a convincingly, 9-1 victory over St. Anthony’s.  Everyone on the team contributed to the win, with a notably impressive performance up front by Karl Tan and a rock solid defense led by Eli Sharp and Bartek Losik, who later formed a dynamic duo at the back all season. New to the team, Weston Alconis also stood out for his strong defensive play and positive attitude.

The boys received a taste of top calibre soccer in their second match, as the T-Birds were beaten convincingly by St. Helen’s, a team full of Metro and HPL club players. Despite the loss, new Grade 7 student, Adrian Panicker shone with a bright and sizzling performance, scoring the Thunderbird’s lone goal and establishing himself throughout the season as one of the most skillful players to ever wear the blue and gold jersey.

The pivotal game came against St. Francis de Sales, a team that had been heavily favoured to qualify.  Despite outplaying de Sales most of the game, the T-Birds trailed 2-0 with ten minutes left. That’s when the “Luka Anicic Show” began. Anicic knocked in two goals before regulation time ended and then put on the goalkeeper shirt for the ensuing tie-breaking shootout.  He saved 3 of 4 shots and scored the winning goal to cap off a historic performance. John Arackal had a strong game on defence and Matteo Salituro established himself as probably the hardest working player on the team with a breathless performance.

The final game set the stage for qualification, but it came vs our oldest rival on the North Shore, St. Pius. As in the previous game, our team found itself trailing by two goals in the first half, but once again the boys refused to quit. Before the half ended, AJ. Gabaon set up our first goal with a great pass to Adrian Panicker. Luka Anicic then scored two of his own to put St. Ed’s ahead 3-2. Goalkeeper Elijah made a key save late in the game to keep the team in front and Noah Dotto iced the game with one of the best goals of the season on an excellent solo effort. Joshua Veltman had easily his best game of the season, and Brent Alvendia was heavily involved in the play, just missing out on two goals of his own.

As the boys prepare to play the very best teams in the CISVA in about a week’s time, we’d like to thank our parent drivers for being the lifesavers that they are, and a special thank you goes to our goalkeeper, Elijah, who sacrificed his own needs for the good of the team.  Elijah is a club player with experience as a forward and midfielder, but it was his unselfish willingness to play in goal that gave our team the edge it needed.

Go T-Birds!!  Good luck to our team as they advance to the finals on November 1st!

St. Edmunds School Fundraisers

St Edmunds is fundraising with Purdy’s Chocolatier, just in time for Christmas!

If you’d like to support us through purchasing some very sweet Christmas gifts for friends, family and yourself, please click the link below:

https://fundraising.purdys.com/1188790-85703

Order by: November 26th, 2021, Pick up by: December 10th, 2021

We are selling beautiful plants to raise money for our school

Order Link: 

https://stedmundsschool.growingsmilesfundraising.com/home

Order Deadline by Tuesday, November 23rd

Pick up: Friday, December 10th

Thank you for all your support!

Congratulations!!!

To all our volleyball teams for the hard work, skill development and team spirit they demonstrated over the season.  Each of our teams played in our CISVA North Shore Zone Round Robin Tournaments.  They displayed our TBird pride and sportsmanship on and off the court!  Many thanks to our coaches Ms. Singer, Ms. Dy, Ms. Grace, Ms. Wong & Mr. Embuido.  We are also grateful to our awesome parent drivers and supporters!

Dress Down Days always bring some extra fun to our school day – We were thrilled to have Fr. Steny join our Kindergartens and teach them his favourite song, “God’s Love is so Wonderful”!