News for the Week of 4/29/20

As directed by Governor Lamont, St. Mary's School will be CLOSED from 3/16/20 through 5/20/20. At this time, the School Office is closed but emails are being checked regularly.

Distance learning continues and we remind you to please notify our school nurse anytime your child(ren) are unable to participate due to illness or other reason.  Nurse Tyrrell can be reached at hoffice@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net or at (860) 856-6811 from 10am-12noon on scheduled school days. NOTE - This is a temporary contact number established for the distance learning period only.  Nurse Tyrrell will respond within 24 hours to parent concerns and questions.

Thank you for all you are doing to support distance learning at home!  We appreciate the help and guidance you are providing at home everyday.  Our faculty remains hard at work to assure children are learning.  Zoom meetings and the creative use of various apps and online resources are helping augment assignments.  Please reach out to teachers as needed for support.  We are anxious to work in partnership with you through this challenge.

2020-21 Family Enrollment Forms and Fees are overdue! Reminder emails were sent out this week. Please keep in mind that the Family Enrollment Forms and Fees were requested to be returned by March 27th. If you have not already sent yours in, please do so at your earliest convenience. Mail is being picked up and processed on a periodic basis. Having this enrollment information helps us finalize our class lists for the upcoming year and allows us to order books, consumables and other supplies so our new school year can get off to a good start! Additionally, if your family uses Smart Tuition for payments, your completed Family Enrollment Form assures that your payments will begin on time in June allowing the maximum number (12) of payment periods.

Second Grade Readers! Pictured here are some of Mrs. Herron's second graders with
the books they have been reading over the last week.
They are reading up a storm during our Distance Learning!

We encourage all to follow & like us on Facebook (St. Mary's School) and Instagram (smssimsburyknights). DID YOU KNOW? IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO HAVE ACCOUNTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, OUR POSTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE TO YOU ON OUR PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE. Simply click here or on the Facebook icon that appears to the right of this blog post. Students (and parents/guardians) are encouraged to join us for Morning Prayer each day and Facebook GoodKNIGHT stories are airing nightly at 7pm! Mrs. Gore is sharing a chapter read aloud at 8pm! Keep an eye out for fun posts from Mr. G. that will keep you moving!

Sharing the Caring - Everyone is invited to make cards for our area Senior Citizen friends.   Mrs. Mortillaro will be picking up cards from the bin at the North (playground) entrance each Wednesday so that the cards can be delivered with lunches.  Last week, Mrs. Mortillaro was surprised and happy to find these beautiful masks made by the Prausa family.  Thanks to the Prausa family for helping keep area Seniors safe!

Thanks for a great reminder, Katarina!

Health Office News - One would think that current social distancing would make head lice less of a concern.  Please be aware, however, that a case of head lice can take one to two months from time of exposure to full present itself.  Parents are the first, middle and last line of defense against head lice.  Routine screening at home is far more effective in terms of prevention and early identification than mass screenings in school can ever be.  St. Mary’s School and Simsbury School system have followed the lead of the American Pediatric Association and continue to encourage frequent screening at home.  For more details, please click here .

Alumni News


This winter, Mason Burhoe, SMS Class of '18, competed in the academic competition at the Future Business Leaders of America’s State Leadership Conference. Mason scored 2nd place in the statewide FBLA testing event and qualifies for the competition at the National Leadership Conference which will take place virtually this summer. Congratulations to Mason and best of luck in the National test!



Community News

St. Mary's Parish Invites You To Stay Connected in Faith - Click here to visit the Parish's Coronavirus update page.  This page includes easy links to "Staying Connected to the Word", Parish updates, Parish outreach and very helpful and supportive messages from Father Matera. 









The Simsbury Public Library is closed right now BUT they have some great "virtual programs" on their calendar!  Click here to see the full list but some examples include:  Stay at Home Storytimes via Zoom and live science demos from the Children's Museum via Zoom!