Friday, September 6th - School Mass at 9am in the Church. All are welcome to join us at Mass. Please remember that no physical education uniforms should be worn to Mass. The Home & School Association will host a coffee prior to Mass in the Parish Center. Please note that this is an updated location.
Wednesday, September 11th - Back to School Night for Parents. This is your opportunity to learn more about your child(ren)'s school day, get acquainted with the teachers and visit in the classrooms. The evening will begin at 6pm in the Parish Center. This will be your first opportunity to sign up for our Parent/Teacher Conferences in November. Important information about the Educonnect Family Portal will be presented to help you understand how you can view your child(ren)'s academic progress and also access school directory information. Please line up a babysitter and plan to join us!
School Board - The dates for 2013/2014 school board meeting are:
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
All meetings will begin at 7pm and held in the school building unless otherwise noted. All are welcome to attend.
School Directory - The 2013-2014 School Directory containing family contact information will be available once all family verification forms are received and school databases are updated. This year the school directory information will be available via the new Educonnect Family Portal. This feature will be explained at Back to School Night for Parents on Wednesday, September 11th.
Faculty Voice Mail is Now Available at SMS! We are happy to announce that one of the benefits of our summer renovation has been the addition of voicemail mailboxes for faculty at SMS. Click here for a list of voice mail extensions. If you are calling during a normal school day, your call will still be answered by the main office and you can request the faculty extension you would like so that you can leave a message. If the office staff is busy or away from the desk when you call, you can follow the automated prompts to leave a message on the desired extension. Faculty will check their voicemail at least daily.
If you are calling with a change for daily dismissal, please do not leave a voice mail for the home room teacher. Please report all dismissal changes directly to the school office. Please remember that whenever possible, dismissal changes should be reported prior to noon. Dismissal notifications that are received late in the afternoon may not be received and can result in students not following the proper procedures.
Click here for a listing of voice mail extensions.
Grade 8 Fundraising - Each year our 8th grade students conduct a number of fundraisers to help defray costs associated with their field trip to NYC and other expenses related to graduation. This year, the 8th grade has some terrific new "school spirit" items available for sale. One of the items is SMS Flannel Pajama Pants!
In addition to flannel pajama
pants, items include nylon backed fleece blankets perfect for fall outings,
baseball caps, cooler bags for grocery shopping or packing snow clothes, and
SMS “fathead” stickers!
Click here for more photos, information and order forms. PLEASE NOTE: FLANNEL PAJAMA PANTS AND BASEBALL CAPS ARE NOT PART OF OUR SMS UNIFORM AND ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE DAILY ATTIRE.
Individual Student Pictures - Lifetouch Photography will be here on Monday, 9/16/13 to take individual student photos of students in Prekindergarten, Kindergarten - 7. Order forms for portrait packages are being sent home with each student on Friday, 9/6/13.
Completed photo order forms and payments should be brought to school on Picture Day, 9/16/13 - Please do not send order forms in early. Please
click here for more information about school photos, including photos for grade 8.
Home & School Association News
2013-2014 H.O.P.E.S. (Help Our Parish Elementary Schools) Volunteers Announced - Congratulations to Tom & Kristin Potter on their selection as the recipients of the H.O.P.E.S. St. John Neumann Award for 2013-2014. Tom and Kristin have generously donated many hours of time and their many talents in support of our school. In addition to coordinating the Used Uniform Exchange, serving in the lunchroom and helping with homeroom activities, Kristin chaired our enormously important school fundraiser - CHOICE, for 2 years. Tom has served on our School Board and has also coordinated the annual raffle associated with our parish spring carnival.
Click here to read more about the St. John Neumann Award and about our recipients, Tom and Kristin. We hope many of you will join us at the annual H.O.P.E.S. dinner at the Aqua Turf in Southington on Sunday, September 22nd. For more information and to reserve seats, please contact Jen Hoffman at
jehoffman@crec.org.
This Friday is the Fall Festival! Join us for family fun! Students in 7th & 8th grade are invited to help at this event with face painting and crafts.
CHOICE Program News - The CHOICE program is now being coordinated by Mrs. Tammy Budnick. If you have questions about CHOICE, please contact Tammy at tbudnick@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net or at 860-658-8412 between 9am and noon. A revised order form is being developed and will be introduced at "Back to School" Night on 9/11. Daily CHOICE sales have now resumed. You may come into the office to purchase cards on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. At this time, there are no afternoon sales. Kid mail orders may still be sent in and will be filled on the next CHOICE sale day.
SMS 7th & 8th Grade Students are invited to learn more about EDGE. EDGE is the middle school Religious Education program at St. Mary's Parish. “It is designed to meet the educational, spiritual, emotional, and social needs of young adolescents.” The introductory program will be held on Sunday, September 8th in the Parish Center from 6-7pm.
The Office of Catholic Schools is focusing on 20/20 Vision for Catholic Schools. Click here to read a press release about the Office of Catholic Schools' plans for implementing the strategic plan,
20/20 Vision: an Eye on Our Future.
Click here to read a press release about their plans.
Again this year, the Archdiocese of Hartford is encouraging participation in "Family Day: A Day to Eat With Your Children". The goal of Family Day is to encourage families to make time for dinner together. Research has shown that the more families sit down for dinner on a regular basis, the less likely it is that children will engage in dangerous activities like smoking or illegal drug use or underage drinking. This year this event is being celebrated on Monday, September 23. The poster chosen by the Archdiocese was designed by a student from St. Mary-St. Michael School in Derby.
Archbishop Henry J. Mansell is encouraging people across the Archdiocese of Hartford to observe a “Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace in Syria” as declared by Pope Francis, on
Saturday, September 7, 2013. The Archbishop will celebrate a special Mass for Peace on WCCT (Channel 20) at
10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 7th. At St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Francis will host a gathering of prayer asking for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world from
1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. E.S.T.
Community News
Are you interested in joining cub scouts? There will be a Recruitment Night next week,
September 12th in the 7th and 8th grade classrooms at St. Mary’s School, from
6:30-8pm. Please stop in to see scouting demonstrations and pick up an application. Find out what scouting is all about! If you can’t make the 12th, then please stop into our Pack meeting on September 20th in the parish center between
6:00 – 7:30. Any questions, please see our website:
www.simsburypack175.com
.jpeg)
