News for the Week of 4/19/17

Celebrating Our School's Anniversary

"A Knight at the Gala"

We are excited to gather on Friday evening at Farmington Gardens to celebrate our school's 60th anniversary and look forward to our next 60 years providing the children of the Farmington Valley with a faith based, academically challenging and technologically relevant education.

While ticket sales for the Gala have closed, you can still be part of this celebration.

  Click here to make a donation.

There will be NO PE club on Friday, 4/21, due to the SMS "Knight at the Gala" celebrating our school's 60th anniversary.

The hot lunch order period for May - End of School in June will open on Thursday, 4/20/17.  Please note that this is the LAST hot order lunch period for this school year. All orders must  be submitted via the Educonnect Parent Portal NO LATER THAN Thursday, April 27.  Payment should be sent into the office as soon as the order is sumbitted.

Snow Day Makeup Days - So far, we have had 5 snow days.  This brings our final day of school to Thursday, June 15th.  Our last day will be a 12:45pm early dismissal with no PreK Enrichment or Aftercare.





Robotics Club starts this Thursday, April 20th!  

Students in grades 6-8 are invited to participate in this year's session of Robotics Club.  The first session will be on Thursday, April 20 from 3:30-5pm.  Sessions will run on Thursdays through Thursday, May 25. There is a $10 fee to participate.  Click here for more information and to download a sign up form.

Mark Your Calendar for the most fun you will have at SMS this year!  Wednesday, April 26th, is our annual Talent Show featuring amazing student performances.  Please join us in the Parish Center beginning at 6PM.

2017-2018 Family Enrollment  & SMARTAID application for Financial Assistance.

 2017-18 Enrollment packets were emailed to all families on Friday, 3/10/17.  All signed Family Enrollment Forms and Fees were requested to be returned by Monday, 4/3/17.  If we have not received your Enrollment Form and fee, a courtesy calls from the office will be made to confirm that you do not wish to re-enroll for the 2017-18 school year.

 If you did not receive your electronic enrollment packet, please contact the school office.  Please carefully review all of the attachments that accompany this email as there are several forms that must be printed, completed and returned. Additionally, there is important information about next year's tuition, financial assistance and your family's CHOICE obligation for 2017-2018.

This year, we are happy to announce that tuition assistance will again be available via several sources.  All requests for tuition assistance must be made via SMARTAID.   Click here for more information regarding the types of tuition assistance available and the SMARTAID application process. Click here for helpful information from SMARTAID regarding completion of the application.  Click here to access the SMARTAID application.  All SMARTAID applications must be submitted no later than April 28, 2017.

An Important Reminder Regarding Today's Technology & Student Safety - As most of you know, our school owned iPads are strictly managed and students are prohibited from downloading any apps to them but  many students have devices of their own (e.g., iPads, iPods, smart phones, tablets, etc.).  We would like to remind all parents and guardians of the importance of carefully reviewing the apps that children may download to these devices and to become familiar with how these apps are being used and how they may interact with the digital world.  For example, an app called Musical.ly has become popular among some young adults but this app has the potential to interact in a nearly limitless way with users across the internet potentially exposing children to internet predators.  A great parental resource is Common Sense Media - Click here.

Looking Ahead to High School - An Opportunity for 7th Grade Students

 It was a fiesta in the Parish Center on Friday, 4/7, as our Middle School students displayed their wonderful projects about Spanish speaking countries.

Student Council officers with our Penny Wars collection.

Thanks to everyone that supported our Penny Wars! 

We raised $1,590.65 to benefit Vie for the Kids.

We also thank everyone who supported our Lenten collection of new adult athletic socks for the House of Bread. 306 pairs of socks were collected!  That's a lot of warm, dry feet!

Community News -

Tickets are available in the school office until Thursday, June 8th.

Granny's Attic & Granny's Boutique - It's everyone's favorite tag sale!  We encourage families to donate unwanted treasures they no longer need. Items must be in good to excellent condition and clean. Last year we made over $19,000. One-half of the proceeds directly benefit St. Mary’s School! This year we will also be accepting clean gently used coats and clothing. Antiques or collectibles will be specially priced. If you are donating an item that has a cord or remote please tape it to the item. Items that we will not accept due to state regulations and/or are not of interest for buyers are: automobile tires, computers, monitors, printers, old computer software, paint, chemicals, fertilizers, batteries, full size appliances, magazines, Reader’s Digest, textbooks, encyclopedias, mattresses, TV’s, skis, car seats, heavy exercise equipment, trunks, dorm refrigerators and disposable or personal items such as cosmetics, electric razors, or toothbrushes. Location will be the Wagner Showroom, thanks to the generosity of Rick and Carole Wagner.  If you have questions and/or would like to volunteer to collect, sort and assist in selling, please contact Jane Stevenson 860-651-5017 stevenje@comcast.net 

Collection dates: Wednesday, 4/19 - Thursday, 4/20 and Friday, 4/21 4pm-7pm 

and Saturday, 4/22 and Sunday, 4/23 9am-4pm

Granny’s Attic will be open to the public: Mon 4/24-Sat 4/29: for times refer to St. Mary’s website www.stmarysimsbury.org.

Volunteers Needed:  There are jobs for everyone, from organizing before the sale, helping customers on sell dates and the “Great Clean Up” after the sale.  Sign up now and plan to spend the day serving our church and school and meeting new friends!  There is a link to the sign up genius on the front page of St. Mary’s Church website or click here. Thanks again!  Remember many hands make light work!

Summer is on the way!   There are going to be lots of opportunities to learn & grow!  See below for some of the great experiences that will be available.

Camp KO at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford is offering 5 weeks of fun with something for everyone!  Click here to learn more.

Xavier High School  in Middletown is offering athletic camps for boys entering grades 6-9 and an enrichment camp featuring sessions focused on biotechnology, archeology, robotics, forensics and more for boys entering grades 5-8.

The 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm in Bloomfield will have sessions open to children entering PreKindergarten through grade 4 that will feature many opportunities to explore the outdoors, learn to identify insects, hike, follow animal tracks and lots more.  Click here for more information and to register.