News for the Week of 9/21/16

PARENTS AND STUDENTS!

St. Mary's School Day 

at St. Mary 's Parish is coming soon! 

For the first time since a Catholic School's Week celebration MANY years ago,  St. Mary's School students are invited to worship together at Sunday Mass. Father Matera has extended this invitation in the hope that we will present a large body of children and families to give witness to the awesome spiritual life here at the school. 

The date for this grand event is Sunday, October 16th at the 11am Mass. We truly hope that as many people as possible will join us. Although we would truly prefer that this be a “regrets only” event, we would like people to let us know that they plan to attend so that we can plan for seating for the students. Students will sit together and teachers will be here to supervise. PreKindergarten students are more than welcome to attend but they will sit with their families. Students in Kindergarten - 8 should attend in the relaxed uniform (pressed and neat, of course).

As part of the celebratory tone of the day, we would like to plan a simple reception in the Parish Center to follow the Mass. This would be a great Home & School Association activity to sponsor and staff.  A Sign Up Genius will be available soon both to RSVP for Mass and to volunteer to help with the reception.

October School Mass
Our October monthly school Mass will be held on Tuesday, October 4 at 9am in the church.  Please remember that no physical education uniforms should be worn to Mass.






Annual Asbestos Notification - Please check your email for our annual Asbestos Notification.  This information is also available on our school website - click here.

IMPORTANT CHANGE TO PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE INFORMATION - Parent/Teacher Conferences for students in grades 1 -8 will be held from Tuesday, October 25 - Thursday, October 27. 

 Each of these days will be a 12:45pm early dismissal for all students.  

PreKindergarten Enrichment is available AND WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT AFTERCARE WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE UNTIL 6PM.  THERE IS A SPECIAL FEE SCHEDULE & RESERVATION FORM FOR STUDENTS IN K-8 DUE TO THE ADDITIONAL LENGTH OF THE AFTERCARE PERIOD.  

CLICK HERE FOR CONFERENCE DAY AFTERCARE FOR STUDENTS IN K-8.  PreKindergarten students should reserve using the regular reservation calendar since they will be transitioning from Enrichment and will not be using the longer care period.

Please click here to schedule your conference(s).

Kindergarten Conferences will be held in January from Tuesday, 1/17/17 - Friday, 1/20/17.  These conferences will be scheduled during the school day and will not be early dimissal days.  A Sign-Up Genius will be provided when the timing is appropriate.

Important Calendar Note - Please note that Friday, October 28 is also a 12:45pm Early Dimissal but will have NO PreKindergarten Enrichment or Aftercare because it is a Faculty In-Service meeting not conferences.

Congratulations! St. Mary's School is pleased to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Jamie and Diana Kalamarides have been selected as the St. John Neumann Award for Volunteer Service recipients for the 2016-17 school year. Both Jamie and Diana have quietly served St. Mary's School for many years in numerous capacities as their children have negotiated the grades here at St. Mary's School. As those who know them will attest, they seek no reward for service, on the contrary they represent so many parents among YOU who give and give of your time, talent and treasure for the benefit of the ultimate treasure, our children! Jamie and Diana will be recognized at next week’s HOPES dinner and we offer our heartfelt congratulations!

Do you know someone wondering if SMS is the right place for their family?  Please encourage them to drop in to St. Mary's School and see the difference a Catholic education makes! There will be a "drop-in" Open House on Monday, October 3rd from 8:30-11:30am.  Walk In Wednesdays will be held on October 12th, 19th and 26th from 9am to 11:30am.  We are currently Accepting applications for PreKindergarten - 8th grade for the 2017-18 school year.  Limited seats are also available for the current school year.

Prospective families are also invited to join us for an evening Open House on Monday, October 3rd from 6:30-8:30 pm. This will be a great opportunity to meet our faculty, staff, parents and alumni and tour our classrooms. Please RSVP to Toni Chagnon,  860-658-9412 or tchagnon@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.

The SMS Spirit Wear Shop is open and stocked with lots of newly designed merchandise.  Click here to learn which Spirit Wear items may be worn as part of our daily uniform and which are suitable for recreational wear only.  Photos of the new spirit wear can also be viewed.   Click here for an order form.

Formal Uniform begins on November 1 for students in Grades K - 7.  Formal uniform begins for Grade 8 on December 1. In case you are ready to begin your shopping for the formal uniform, Lands’ End is running 30% off the entire school store – six days of savings. The promo starts tomorrow, Thursday, 9/22 and runs through next Tuesday, 9/27.  Free shipping is always available on orders over $50.

Grade 8 Fundraising - Thanks to everyone who supported our 8th grade's car wash last Saturday and the mum sale!

Home & School Association News - With our new school year well underway, we are looking forward to several Home & School sponsored activity.  In addition to the reception we are hoping to host after St. Mary's School Day Mass (see at top of post), our annual Fall Bookfair will take place from October 25 - 28.  Volunteers are needed for both of these events and sign up information will be available soon.

Just in time for the upcoming holiday season, Home & School will be running a Lyman Orchards Pie & Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough fundraiser.  Order forms will be coming home next week.  The fundraiser will run from Monday, October 3 - Tuesday, October 18.  Pickup information will be confirmed soon.

Supporting SMS -In addition to our school's CHOICE Program, St. Mary's offers several "painless" ways for you to raise money for our school.  Our Home & School Association coordinates our participation in the Box Tops for Education program.  Click here for more information and start clipping!

Stop & Shop A+ Rewards - Click here to register your card and for more information.

Shoprite for Education - Click here to register your card and for more information.

Alumni News -

Remembering 9/11 -  We are happy to share these pictures of Thomas Howard, SMS Class of '16, at the New York Stock Exchange ringing of the bell and the meal packing service project associated with this year's 9/11 anniversary. Thomas shares a 9/11 birthday with approximately 13,000 other teens  born on Sept. 11, 2001. Many of these teens now celebrate their birthdays with a day of service. Thomas H. had the privilege of ringing the bell because the Joint Chief of Staff couldn't make it. The crew ended up packing 505,738 meals for the needy. 

Northwest Catholic High School has announced their 2016 Advanced Placement Scholars.  Please join us in congratulating the following SMS alumni:

Avery Hatch, Matthew Sottile and Samuel Spak, all SMS Class of '12 have been named AP Scholars with Distinction - Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.

Abigail Herron, SMS Class of '12 & Katharine Jessen, SMS Class of '13 have been named AP Scholars with Honor - Granted to students who receive an average of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

Gabriela Doskos, Sarah Jessen and Allyson Voelker, all SMS Class of '13 and Ann O'Meara, SMS Class of '12 have been named AP Scholars - Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or high on three or more AP Exams.

We are also pleased to share that Katharine Jessen, SMS Class of '13,  has also been named a National Merit Semifinalist. Over 1.6 million students in more than 22,000 high schools across the country entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test), also known as NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). Katharine is among the esteemed group of 16,000 students awarded the title of Semifinalist and will now compete to become a Merit Scholar. The pool of Semifinalists is comprised of less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.  Congratulations, Katharine!