News for the week of 4/9/14

Today was Open House at St. Mary's & Assistant Principal, Miss Oria Buckley,
was on hand to welcome prospective families to our school and make them feel at home.

Calendar Reminders - 

School is closed for Spring vacation from Monday, April 14 - Friday, April 18.

School will be OPEN Monday, 4/21/14 & relaxed uniforms may be worn beginning on this date.

IOWA testing of students in grades 3 - 7 begins on Monday, 4/28 and continues through Monday, 5/5, with Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 7 reserved for "makeups" due to illness.

Grandparents' & Special Person's Day & our annual May Crowning will be held on Friday, May 9th.  Look for more details coming after vacation.

Our May School Mass will be held on Friday, May 16th at 9am.  All are welcome to join us in worship.  Please remember that no physical education uniforms should be worn to Mass.

Living Stations of the Cross - One of Lent's most beautiful traditions is the Stations of the Cross.  St. Mary's Parish presents the Stations of the Cross on each Friday in Lent at 7pm in the church. Our 8th grade students would also like to invite you to our annual "Living Stations of the Cross".  This year, the Living Stations will be presented on Friday, April 11th at 2pm for the school community and at 7pm for the parish.  You are most welcome to attend either presentation.  The 7pm presentation will be preceded by a simple soup and bread dinner coordinated by the 8th grade.  The dinner begins at 5:30pm in the Parish Center.



 

This year, our spring vacation falls during Holy Week.  We would like to remind everyone that the Chrism Mass will be held at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hartford on Tuesday, 4/15/14 at 11am.  Everyone is welcome to attend this beautiful liturgy.  As noted in the Catholic Transcript on 4/21/11 - " The Chrism Mass manifests the fullness of the bishop's priesthood and signifies the close unity of the priests with him.  During the liturgy, the sacred oils that are used in sacraments are consecrated."  We hope many of you will prayerfully consider attending the Chrism Mass as a special way to prepare for the Easter Triduum.

Holy Week at St. Mary's Parish - We hope many of you will join in the beautiful traditions and liturgies of Holy Week.  Click here for the St. Mary's Parish schedule for Holy Week Services.

School Board Announces New Tuition & CHOICE Program Payment Policy -Ninety percent of the funding for St. Mary’s School comes from tuition and fundraising activities. Effective immediately, St. Mary’s community will put in place a policy regarding delinquent tuition and the Choice school fundraising effort. It is prudent for any institution to have clear policies so that they are clearly understood and can govern those few instances where issues may arise. While these kinds of instances are the exception at our school it is nonetheless important to have appropriate policies in place should they arise. Please click here to read the school board's announcement of this policy and the policy itself.

Grade 7 Munson's Fundraiser - Munson's Chocolates were ready for pick up on Friday, April 4th. If you were unable to pick up your order, it is being held in the school office. Please stop by to pick it up before Friday, 4/11/14 or contact Michele Sherbacow at 860-675-7545 or aemsherbacow@comcast.net to make other arrangements.  Please keep in mind that school office is sorely tempted by the presence of these goodies and cannot be held responsible for snacking. Thanks to everyone who supported this 7th grade fundraiser.

Spring Piano Lessons - Mr. Cosham has a couple of spots open for beginning piano students.  If you have someone interested in beginning the study of piano, please contact Mr. Cosham at bcosham@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.

Lost & Found - So sad.....a bag of snow clothes has been abandoned here at school.  The bag has a "London" print and contains a pair of black size 10 "grow along" Lands' End snowpants, a pair of purple boots, a multicolored scarf and a pair of hot pink gloves.  Even though it is unlikely the owner will needs these things again soon, we hope they will find their way back home.  Please stop by the office if these belong to your child.  They will be donated to charity if not claimed before April break.


Houston, Grade 5 is Ready for Take-Off.  Last week, Mr. Chris Doskos, father of Luke, Gr. 5, visited to enrich and enhance  science studies.  Mr. Doskos brought in a  prototype of a space suit. Mr. Doskos talked  about the evolution of the spacesuit and how and why it changed over the years. He also explained how a space suit is constructed. All of the students tried on a space glove.  Our thanks to Mr. Doskos for sharing his time and experience with our students.