Dear Families,
After much excitement and community sharing, our annual OLG Festival is finished for another year. It was wonderful to sit together outside for Sunday worship remembering through our celebration of the Mass, that with God’s help anything is possible. One of the beautiful songs selected by the Folk Group was Servant Song. Its first line asks,”What do you want of me, Lord?” If that was our daily focus, I believe the world would have less pain and suffering. The end lines say it all, “You are the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, you are the way.” May we continue to feed off of the joyful spirit found all around us on Festival weekend.
Kudos to Elena Zavala and Colleen Lindberg for another outstanding Festival! Everywhere all weekend there were smiles of joy and people having fun. The weather made it super to stay outside and with all the chair persons and the fantastically decorated booths, it was a Castro Valley Disneyland adventure. Thanks again to all those who stepped up to make this a community event, bar none!
WCEA/WASC
- Just to give you an update on the progress of our Self Study. As you may recall, we began the Self Study in the Fall of last year. Surveys filled out by the pastor, parents, students, staff, faculty, and our board members were tallied and are part of the document. From those surveys it was determined areas we are strong in, such as Catholic Identity, and small reading and math groups. Areas for growth pointed to marketing our school and increasing technology skills. We have had our rough draft read by the Assistant Superintendent and now are working to include her suggestions and comments and write our final draft. School Board members have read the first draft to help us revise points they found important. The process is a great opportunity for us to study closely what is special about our school and what we can do to make it even better. Please know you are always welcome to take a look at the draft and make comments. We will be writing our goals in the next couple of months and I will share those with all of you. Thank you for your input as we move through this process.
WCEA/WASC Survey -
Our annual family survey will be forthcoming the week of September 28 - October 5. The survey aids in planning and allocating resources. The class who has the most parent response will receive an ice cream party and parents with signatures at the end will be credited with a service hour. Please look out for the survey.
Do you know what the Catholic Identity Standards are?
These standards are 8 in number and are our guiding standards for effective catholic elementary and secondary schools. I will give you the first one this week and continue each week with one more until we get all eight published.
Standard 1:
Mission & Philosophy
- The school's mission and philosophy statements reflect the integration of our faith into all aspects of school life.
Office Information
- FYI: Mrs. Sanchez and Mrs. Russell are the marvelous team in our office who handle your many concerns and questions. While Mrs. Sanchez is always willing to assist you when you call or stop in, when it comes to all of the financial aspects of the school including FACTS, Scrip, tuition agreements, etc. it is Mrs. Russell to whom you should address your questions. By directing your call to Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Sanchez is then able to take care of all the myriad of other pertinent office responsibilities.
The Opera Is Coming To OLG -
On October 16, 2017, Our Lady of Grace School has the special opportunity of hosting the San Francisco Opera for a performance of “Cinderella”. What makes this special is that the performance will include the students from our school.
We need your help -
The Opera is requesting a piano for use in the Stack Center. If you would like to donate a piano from home, please contact the school. We are happy to make any transportation arrangements.
Catholic High School Information Night -
Thursday, September 28th - 7:00 -9:00 p.m. in Stack Center:
All parents of students in grades 5-8 and the students interested in hearing about catholic high school programs should attend! Bishop O'Dowd, Holy Names, Moreau Catholic, and St. Joseph Notre Dame High Schools will be here to share information on their various programs. St. John and All Saints will also be coming to hear what the presenters have to say. The high schools always answer questions you have and bring nice mementos from their schools. Let's have a great turn out!
