St. Edumnds Newsletter – October 2024
As October ushers in cooler mornings, vibrant leaves, and shorter days, we are reminded of the beauty of Fall and the spirit of gratitude that comes with it. This month, our staff will encourage your children not only to celebrate Thanksgiving but also to reflect on the deeper meaning of gratitude and how we can extend care to those in need. Along with prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for the less fortunate, you can inspire your child to write thank-you notes, donate to a local food bank, or help create care packages with essential items for a homeless shelter. Engaging in these acts of service as a family helps foster compassion, empathy, and an appreciation for the true meaning of gratitude. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the season with a spirit of giving.
We are also deeply thankful to everyone who attended our Meet the Teacher Evening. If you were unable to join us, we encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher to stay informed about classroom routines and school updates. It takes a collaborative effort to guide your child(ren) on their educational journey, and we are truly blessed to be part of such a supportive and dedicated community of families and educators.
St. Edmund School Uniform
Thank you for all your help in ensuring that your children are ready each day with their school uniform. At morning assemblies, we have discussed how our uniform is an outward sign that we are all part of a special community and a way to show school pride. A reminder that:
- All clothing items should be labelled with your child’s name.
- School sweaters are to be worn daily and should be in good condition.
- Hemlines of tunics, skirts & dress shorts should not be more than 4 inches/10 cm above the knee.
- School dress shoes are all black, non-marking
- Hair should not be dyed or coloured in any way. Hair accessories that tie back long hair should be subdued in nature. (Plain black, blue or tartan pattern)
- Jewelry must be subdued in nature. Only stud earrings are permitted.
- Nails should be clear (no colour polish) and make-up is not to be worn.
Thank you for supporting our uniform policy and keeping our students looking their best.
School Lunch Program
Thank you to Ms. Van Eck for setting up our hot lunch program and to our PPP hot lunch volunteers. A reminder that utensils are not provided for online orders. Children must bring utensils from home. Please ensure that your child brings a healthy recess snack and healthy lunch to school each day. Reusable water bottles should also be brought daily and should be labelled with your child’s name. In the interest of being stewards of the Earth as well as not having the ability to handle large amounts of food waste in our garbage, we will continue to ask students to bring all leftover food back home so that it can be put into the compost. Please send school lunches in reusable, labelled plastic (no glass) containers, helping to reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.
For parents who are interested in ordering lunch, please see the Hot Lunch Link on our school website. Please order and pay for the full month. Orders close every Tuesday for the following week’s orders. Late orders can unfortunately not be accepted due to order cut-off dates from our suppliers.
Thank you for supporting our school lunch program.
Extra-Curricular Programs:
Congratulations to our Student Council candidates who have been campaigning to earn a seat on the Council as an executive member. The election will take place on Friday September 27th after the presentation of candidate speeches. Let us pray for them and their efforts in this upcoming year. Everyone is enthusiastic for a new leadership team to plan fun and memorable events for the student body. We would also like to thank Ms. Salituro, Mr. Grossi and Ms. Lorezca for assisting all our candidates with their campaigns.
We are also proud of our student athletes in cross country and volleyball who have had a great start to their seasons! Please see our school calendar for upcoming meets, home and away games.
Prayers for Peace has also started and takes place on Thursday afternoons (3:00-3:15) with Ms. Salituro in our church. We look forward to having more students join us this year to grow in their prayer practice and to pray for others.
Registration for the North Shore Intermediate Speech Arts Festival was emailed on Friday Sept. 20th. The deadline for entries (no late entries will be accepted) is October 1, 2024.
The school hosting the Speech Arts Festival is St. Anthony’s in West Vancouver.
Please encourage your child/children to participate as this is a wonderful opportunity to experience public speaking.
Please return your entry form with either cash or a cheque made out to St. Edmund’s School, and a photocopy of the poem with a copy of the book cover. Please remember no online poems, your child must have a hard copy book.
If your book comes from the city library please ask them to extend the return date as your child needs the original book on the day of their presentation.
Individual Photo Day – Monday morning, Oct. 7
Mark your calendars! Artona Photography will be taking individual student photos on Monday, October 7th. All students are to wear their full school uniform on this day (school sweaters, hair accessories in school colours only). If your child misses the October 7th date, photo retake day is November 14th.
Communicating Student Learning – Thursday Oct. 24
As a way of keeping you informed about the effort your child is making this term, parent teacher interviews are taking place on Oct. 24. Please note there are no classes on this day, but you are asked to make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss observable strengths, work habits, and possible areas of improvement. Formal written reports will be going home on Friday December 6th.
Information on setting an appointment via our online portal was emailed home last week and we are grateful to many of you who have already booked your session!
Professional Day – No School on Friday, Oct. 25
St. Edmund’s Staff is participating in the province-wide professional day. There is no school for students on this day and the office will be closed.
All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, All Souls Day – October 31st
With the approach of All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) on October 31st, All Saints’ Day on November 1st, and All Souls Day on November 2nd, it is important to recognize our faith heritage in a special way, while also recognizing the aspects of fun and school spirit.
As a Catholic school, we will be reminding the students of the origin of All Hallows Eve. Students are welcome to wear orange and black or dress in appropriate costumes.
Please ensure that costumes are safe and appropriate for a Catholic elementary school. No full masks or “weapons” of any kind are permitted at school and no make-up resembling blood.
Be aware that your child will be in a costume all day – if this is a very special or elaborate costume, you may wish to consider something more “outside friendly” as students will still be outside for play, and may get dirty, or your child can wear orange and black!
Fundraising Apple Sales
We are very pleased to announce that this year we will be running our first fundraiser selling apples!
These are not just the ordinary apples we are used to buy in our grocery stores: we are talking about the century-old family farm Sun-Oka fruit farm: they won the prize for growing the BEST APPLES IN CANADA For 8 straight years!!!!!
Their prices are incredible as much as the quality of their apples! You are going to save money and the only thing to do is to open this link here:
https://fundraising.sunokafruit.com/st-edmunds-elementary-school–harvest-2024 and just order your apples!!
Orders are due October 9th
Pick up day is October 30th!
An e-mail will be sent to you the day before so you can’t forget!
The funds we raise are so important for providing additional resources that will enrich and upgrade our kid’s academic, physical and social work.
Also, we ask you to please consider sharing this link below with neighbors, friends, family through e-mail or text messages!
https://fundraising.sunokafruit.com/st-edmunds-elementary-school–harvest-2024
Thank you for your kindness and God bless you!
St. Edmunds PAC thanks anyone who wants or needs to volunteer on the delivery day: Wednesday, October the 30th!! You are welcome to join us!