St.

Patrick School

September
Welcome Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year. We trust that the summer has given you this time for relaxation and renewal. We look forward to another wonderful year with many opportunities for learning and growing. We hope you will feel comfortable and involved with your childs learning throughout the year. We welcome your presence at our school, encourage you to become active partners in the education process and invite you to volunteer at our school whenever possible. Please share your ideas, encouragements and concerns with us so that we can provide the best possible learning environment for your child. Prayer for the Beginning of the New School Year Dear Lord, as we begin this new school year, we gather once again as your community if believers. We thank you for the energy and the spirit that you renewed in us through the summer months. We thank you for the time we had had to enjoy our family and friends and to reflect on what is important in our lives. Let this year be marked by our theme to Act Justly; Love Tenderly: Walk Humbly with God. Renew in us an enthusiasm and love so powerful, that with the inspiration of your spirit, we may influence the children that we teach and help them grow in their faith. Let us always be gentle to one another and may we bring laughter, joy and love to everyone who enters St. Patrick School. We ask this in your name. Amen

New Staff We would like to welcome new staff to St.Patrick Elementary School: Kaitlin Basler - Grade 1 Kellie OHagen Prekindergarten Ellen Lutz Kindergarten (pm) St. Patrick Staff 2012-2013 Kellie OHagen - Prekindergarten Jacqueline Siemens Kindergarten (am) Ellen Lutz Kindergarten (pm) Kaitlin Basler - Grade 1 Alison Beckner - Grade 1 Seema Parmar - Grade 2 Sandra Ziegler - grade 2 Nicole Jacobson - grade 3 Kelsey Dickie - Grade 3 Heather Elder - Grade 4 Janice Meyer (.5)/(Vice Principal)/Annette Klevgaard (.5)/LLI Grade 4 Ron Cronan - Grade 4/5 Jana Coward - Grade 5 Gaylene Little - Grade 5 Barb McCrie Math/Social/Science Michelle Kouri - French/Math Collette Andree IC / ELA Suzie Berg - SSST Michelle Vallee - EAL Troy Froehlich - Principal Katherine Meyers (Speech) Debbie Nickel Educational Assistant Angelique Funk Educational Assistant Nicole Spetz Educational Assistant Candace Bugera Educational Assistant Jenelle Matthies Educational Assistant Cheryle Stan Educational Assistant / Noon Hour Supervisor Stephen Anderson Library/ Educational Assistant Sandra Mase Administrative Assistant Karen Booth Noon Hour Supervisor Verdean Gardner Noon Hour Supervisor Tracey Stienley Nutrition Worker Wilf Funk Caretaker Kevin Hussey Caretaker

the progress of the building of the new school. Please plan to attend!

Bouquets To the students who have come back ready and eager to learn and to their parents, who through their love and encouragement have been responsible for the development of positive attitudes. To staff members who spent much of their holiday time during the month of August, preparing classrooms and learning areas or attending inservices in preparation for the new school year. To Mrs. Mase and Mrs Lotochinski who worked in the office to register new students, assisting staff and doing completing other numerous tasks in order to facilitate a smooth transition into the new school year. To the custodial staff Mr. Funk and Mr. Hussey, who have spent the summer cleaning our school; it looks great! Communication 1) Newsletters: Newsletters are written to inform parents of school news and upcoming events. It is very important that parents read them so that they are aware of the monthly activities that may involve their children within St. Patrick School. 2) Continuous Improvement Plan: Every year the staff and School Community Council set and approve goals that assist our students with learning and achievement outcomes. Newsletters will indicate strategies that are being implemented to assist in helping our students learn and obtain specific goal areas. 3) Parent Information Night: Parents will be invited to attend an Information Night (TBA) that will offer information about the programs offered at our school and 4) Home School Communication: Your childs teacher will communicate regularly with you through class emails, phone calls, home reading programs, etc. We believe the home school communication is necessary to help your child learn. Please contact your childs teacher as soon as you have a question or a concern. Child Drop Off in the Morning In order to ensure the safety of all students, it is important that parents ensure a safe dropoff for their child. In the morning buses will be unloading children in front of the school. Sending children across the street to the school between buses is extremely dangerous and must not happen. Please walk your child to the designated crosswalk area and cross the street with them. A reminder also to please not park even momentarily in the bus zone to drop off your children. This area is designated for buses only. As well, child drop off in the staff parking lot is prohibited as staff are entering at this time and it creates a dangerous situation for everyone. Important Points for Parents Arrival in the morning: For their own safety, students should not arrive before 8:15 am. Proper Dress for School: The students should dress warmly and stay outside as they will be expected to stay outside until the bell goes. Play After School: Also, students who do not take the bus are expected to go straight home after school. Only those students whose parents are waiting for them and will be looking after them, will be allowed to stay and play after school. Parent Pick up Time: For safety reasons, we also request that all parents/guardians who pick up their children at school be here promptly at 3:15pm.

they would like them to participate in this morning food program.

Entrance to the School: As a safety precaution, all side and backdoors to the school will remain locked during the day. The front doors will remain unlocked for parents and any students who arrive late. Please reinforce with your child that he/she must come to the front door and report in to Mrs. Mase at the front desk once classes are in session. Threats: Please be reminded that students are not allowed to make threats of any kind. Please talk to your children about he importance of not making threats and reinforce that administration will investigate all threat making behaviour that is reported to us. Scent Free Environment: as several staff members are allergic to perfume, aftershave and other scent products, our school is a scent free environment. Nut Free: St. Patrick School has students who have severe nut allergies. Please do not send any products for lunch or snack that contain peanuts or other nuts. We strive to be a Nut Free School Milk Program St. Patrick School will again be having the Milk Program available to students. Milk is available for the noon hour lunch. Milk cards are 20 drinks for $18.00 (90 cents per drink). The start up date is Thursday, September 6. Breakfast Program St. Patrick Elementary School would like to welcome Mrs. Tracey Stienley back as the Nutrition Worker at our school. She is in charge of the Breakfast for Learning program offered through the school. The program will be available to all children and will run from 8:27-8:40 each morning. We encourage all parents to talk to their child about whether

Hot Lunches The School Community Council will again be providing hot lunches once a month for our school. If you are able to volunteer to assist in any way, please contact the school (778-4645). School Hours 8:27 a.m. Breakfast Bell 8:40 a.m. Bell to go inside 8:45 a.m. Announcements/Classes Begin 10:05 - 10:20 a.m. Recess 11:40 a.m. Noon hour Bell to go outside 12:15 p.m. Bell to go inside for lunch 12:40 p.m. Classes begin 2:00-2:15 p.m. Recess 3:15 p.m. Dismissal Contacting the School for Absentees We ask that you consider the following protocol when your child is absent from school: 1. Parents need to phone the school when their child will be absent or late. (If you do not phone the school, we will attempt to call you to confirm that your child is absent or late for school.) 2. Send a note in your childs agenda at an earlier date to let the teacher know that your child will be absent. Teachers track attendance and greatly appreciate your communication to them through your childs agenda. We Want You At the Library! Here at the library, we are thrilled to begin another year with an open invitation to parents interested in volunteering. Any amount of time you might offer would not only be a tremendous gift to the library but would greatly enhance St. Patrick's literary and imaginative space! And guess what? There is no experience required! If you love books-you're hired!

Please contact Stephen Anderson at stephen.anderson@htcsd.ca for more details.

School Community Council (SCC) St. Patrick School is looking for new membership to our School Community Council. Meetings are once a month and last for about an hour. Please watch for a letter coming out about an upcoming SCC meeting date. School Counselor Welcome Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year at St. Patrick Elementary School! My name is Marla Weppler and I am the School Counselor for Holy Trinity Catholic School Division in Swift Current and Shaunavon. My role at St. Patrick Elementary School includes providing counseling services for students, assisting teachers with classroom support for Restitution, as well as small group and classroom social skills interventions. My main goal is to help promote student success in academic, personal, and social development. I collaborate and consult with teachers, parents, and community agencies to help achieve this goal. Communication between home and school is important in helping our students be successful. I welcome emails and phone calls from parents/guardians regarding any concerns or questions you may have. You can contact me by email at marla.weppler@htcsd.ca or by telephone at 778-4667. I look forward to working with you and the staff at St. Patrick Middle School to help build positive futures for all of our students.

Prekindergarten Schedule: 8:35-8:40 Parent drop-off 8:40 Prekindergarten begins 11:40 - Prekindergarten ends 11:40-11:50 Parent pickup 12:30-12:40 Parent drop-off 12:40 Prekindergarten begins 3:10 - Prekindergarten ends 3:10-3:20 Parent pick-up Protocol Parents/guardians are encouraged to become active partners in their child(ren)s learning. If there are any questions, concerns or encouragements, they are asked to call the school immediately. As the first step, a parent having concerns about school programs or his/her childs interactions with a teacher is requested to discuss this concern with the teacher involved. If the concern is not resolved, the parent/guardian and/or the teacher is encouraged to discuss the matter with the principal or vice principal. The administrator may arrange for a meeting of all parties concerned. If there is still no resolution, the parent is encouraged to discuss the concern with the superintendent. Matters will be treated in a confidential manner at all levels. All parents will be encouraged by the administrative team to follow the correct protocol when problems are brought to their attention. All teachers, administrators and parents are expected to discuss their concerns in a courteous, confidential and respectful manner.

Mrs. Weppler School Fees Payment for school fees can be done by cash, cheque or post-dated cheques. If families need to make arrangements for payments by installments, just call the office at 778-4645.

Troy Froehlich Principal

Early Dismissal The Holy Trinity School Division has designated one Early Dismissal day each month. The early dismissal time will be 2:15pm. Parents are asked to mark Early Dismissal dates on their calendar and make arrangements for their children after school. These dates can be found in the Holy Trinity Calendar online at htcsd.ca or on a monthly basis in our monthly newsletter. Parent Email Parents are encouraged to send in their email address to their childs teacher to be a part of the classroom email parent list. This newsletter will then be available to you electronically to help reduce the amount of paper we use at the school. Thanks! Epi-pen Refresh Parents who have a child who is allergic to wasp stings, etc, will need to replace epinephrine pens at the school. Please have a conversation with your childs homeroom teacher to ensure that a replacement pen is coming early in the new school year. Bus Change Parents please note that Mrs. Dianna Klassen will now be picking up children on

Bus #520 and NOT 453.

Newsletter Online Please feel free to go to the Holy Trinity Website (http://www.htcsd.ca) and click on Schools and St. Patrick Elementary to view the Newsletter online. Please check your email as we will have teachers forward the monthly newsletter out to parents to save on paper. Yours in Education,

St. Patrick School

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR OF EVENTS

\ Sunday 2 Monday 3 Labour Day Tuesday 4 First day of school Welcome Back!!! Wednesday 5 No School for Prekindergarten and Kindergarten students 12 Thursday 6 Milk Start up $18.00 for a Milk card Friday 7 Saturday 8

10 Gospel Assembly 9:25am 17

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25 Picture Day

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20 Joint Opening School Mass 27

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22 Grade 5 Flag Football 29 Grade 5 Flag Football

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