The excitement has been building all week! Tomorrow, we celebrate Mass, giving thanks for a great school year and receiving a blessing for a safe and happy summer. How quickly this school year has passed! It has been a good one. I am so thankful to each and every one of you who contributed to that success. Some of you are center stage all the time, others are the back stage crew and then still others push us on from way behind the scenes. We depend on all your support and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Students will be dismissed at 10:30am on Friday. They should wear dress uniform for Mass. If the weather is still very warm, they don’t have to wear their sweaters, but they should have their white shirts. Khaki shorts are okay too. Report cards will be sent home on Friday with your children. Grades 1-7 will also have STAR reading test results. I reiterate my advice to check the lost and found! We still seem to have so many sweater and jackets.
Planning for the 2015-2016 school year is well underway. For the past few months, administration, teachers and the School Commission members have been discussing the instructional minutes per subject recommended by the Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Office. In order to maintain academic excellence and our very necessary recess times, for the 2015-2016 school year, our first bell will ring at 8:15 and instruction will begin soon thereafter. We will also start a very thorough analysis over the year of how we are using the instructional minutes throughout the day.
We have also studied the benefits of flipping lunch and recess. We feel the results are so positive that we are implementing this switch for the coming school year. When children play first, they eat better, they resolve playground ‘crises’ at lunch rather than taking them back to the classroom and that saves the teachers valuable time!
I want to thank everyone who completed the Accreditation survey. Your feedback is appreciated. The next opportunity to participate in the self-study is September 29, 7:00pm, at the Stakeholders meeting. Please save the date.
I also thank you for helping us give Mrs. Kathy Kelly a great send-off! She assures us that she will be back. Again we wish her well and we send all of you our blessings for a safe summer filled with wonderful adventures and great reads!
Beannacht,
Bernadette O’Leary, Principal
