| | | | Dear Parents,
Our Catholic faith is central to all that we do at St. Thomas More School. Gospel ideals permeate the substance and structure of lessons prepared by our teachers. Faith is shared through daily prayer and the regular celebration of Mass as a school community and with our families on Sundays. Catholic schools offer an excellent, nurturing, values-centered education in a structured environment. This helps children of all backgrounds realize their fullest potential as human beings.
The Catholic school experience is an unparalleled opportunity to develop a child's mind, heart and soul.
RESPECT LIFE ESSAY CONTEST WINNER: We are proud and pleased to announce that one of our students took a first place prize in the annual Respect Life contest, organized by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Our congratulations go out to Nicoli Panelo, 5th grade, who was awarded first prize in the Fifth and Sixth grade category among San Francisco Catholic schools. Well done Nicoli!
National Catholic Schools Week runs from January 25th through January 31st. Please mark your calendars for our Family Mass, Open House, and Book Fair, and other exciting events this Sunday, January 25th.
As a faith community, we will gather together on Sunday, January 25th, at the 10:00am Family Mass. Let's use this opportunity to reflect on the importance that we all place on Catholic education. Our kindergarten students and families will take the lead in preparing this special Mass, which is the opening activity of the celebration of National Catholic Schools Week. We look forward to seeing you all there.
A schedule of all these events and the times of classroom observation during this week can be downloaded here. Feel free to drop in and see what's going on around the school. Please share the schedule with friends who may be interested in STM.
ONLINE BOOK FAIR: Our Online Book Fair is now LIVE! Click here to purchase books. All orders will ship directly to school for free when the Online Fair has ended. | | REPORT CARDS/HONOR AWARDS: Report cards will be sent home with your child this Friday, January 23rd. We would like to invite everyone to join us at the honor awards ceremony on Friday, January 23rd immediately following the 8:30am mass.
SPELL-A-THON: Just a reminder that pledges for the Spell-a-thon are due to your child's teacher by dismissal on Thursday, January 29th. Keep those pledges coming! | | CIOPPINO 2015: Work continues in preparation for our BIG fundraiser on Saturday, February 28th. Consider getting together with other parents from your child's class to purchase a table. This event is a lot of fun. Remember, childcare is available for a nominal fee. Please respond as soon as possible as we believe this will be a sell out event again this year. To purchase tickets, please use the flyer you received last week.
DONATIONS NEEDED/FREE DRESS PASS: Thank you to those who donated items last week that we can use in our baskets at Cioppino. We depend on your donations, so please keep them coming! As a bonus, every school parent who buys a ticket or makes a donation (value $20 or more) for Cioppino will receive a FREE DRESS PASS for their child/ren to be used on Monday, March 2nd.
PARENT VOLUNTEER HOURS: SIGN UP FOR CIOPPINO NOW! As a reminder, each family is required to volunteer for a minimum of 12 hours for Parents' Club activities. As this is our major fundraiser, we have many volunteer slots available now. Chances to accrue volunteer hours are limited for the rest of the year. | | | SCRIP: As you know, each family is required to generate $100 from our scrip programs for the 2014-2015 school year. Since establishing this Scrip Requirement, it has been great to see so many families enroll in the Great Lakes Scrip (GLS) program and to see so many successful online orders that have generated funds for our school. It's not too late to sign up for Great Lakes Scrip, just click here and use our school enrollment code: 17L5C54E28365. Funds generated from scrip purchases are counted from May 1st, 2014 through April 31st, 2015.
WARRIOR TICKETS: You will find a flyer in the Wednesday envelope for Warriors' Night sponsored by the STM Athletic Board. The game vs. the Utah Jazz will be on Saturday, March 21st at 7:30 PM. The Athletic Board is not using this as a fundraiser and we are passing along the tickets at their actual cost. This event sold out last year and tickets will be reserved on a first come basis, so get you completed order form and payment in ASAP. Until we determine if we will sell our allotment, there will be a six ticket maximum. If you have any questions, please send them to Mr. Kavanagh at JKav@stmsf.org.
TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: Families that applied for the STM TAP will be receiving an application form today. Funds will be distributed on the basis of those families who need the most help. To qualify for temporary tuition assistance, families will need to show proof of financial hardship and funds will be distributed on a discretionary basis by the school administration. Please let Mrs. Fitzpatrick know in writing if you are interested in receiving an application form. We will continue to accept application requests through the end of January.
STUDENT HOLIDAY: Plan ahead - Please remember that the school will be closed on Friday, February 6th. This is the day set for the annual Archdiocese Professional Development for all Catholic school teachers and administrators. | | Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal | | | | | | | |
