SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
September 27, 2020
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Love one another as I have loved you
John 15:12
Today we celebrate the largest ministry
of our parish,
St. Philip's Episcopal School.
If you missed this morning's email, we invite you to share in the service by clicking below:
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Notes from the Assistant Head |
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Greetings St. Philip’s Families,
This week, students of all ages arrived on campus in high spirits, eager to learn and reunite with new teachers and old friends. Their smiling faces serve as both a motivation and a reminder for why educators are passionate about impacting children’s lives. As we look toward a successful academic year, I offer a few suggestions to set your child(ren) up for success.
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Routine: There is much to remember when coming to campus each day. Packing backpacks, books, water bottles, masks, name tags, headphones, and iPads, can be cumbersome for students. It helps to establish a routine with your family that includes charging your child’s iPad at bedtime, setting out his/her uniform (including their mask) the night before, and going to bed at the same time each night. Waking up each morning at the same time, and immediately completing the required health check can help create consistency, manage expectations, and reduce stress.
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Breakfast: Food is fuel! Students learn when they start their school day focusing on instruction instead of thinking about snack time.
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Headphones: Because many of our Special Area Classes are taught remotely, we ask that you send your child to school with their headphones daily.
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Homework: Establish a designated place and time for homework. Creating a space that is free of distractions helps children remain focused and complete assignments in the appropriate time frame.
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Empowerment: Allow students to problem-solve when a challenge presents itself. This includes forgetting items and forgetting to complete assignments. These moments are opportunities for students to learn and grow.
I extend my gratitude to our entire community for the punctuality, perseverance, and patience demonstrated this week.
Best,
Orlando Greene
Assistant Head for Academics & Advancement
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Thank you all for doing such a terrific job this week with car queue. The rain made it challenging, but as a community we rose to the challenge and had a terrific week.
As we continue to learn from drop-off and pick-up procedures, we are implementing changes to make this process as safe and efficient as possible. One such change is that of student ID badges. These badges allow all faculty members to escort students to the correct class after drop-off, and to verify that students are being walked to the correct vehicles during pick-up.
To help reinforce this effort, we ask that parents ensure that all students wear their badge to school each day. If your student loses their badge please notify me via email so that I can issue a new one.
Magnus Health App
To avoid delays during the drop-off process, we ask that families complete the Magnus Health App before 7:00 a.m. To expedite drop-off, please have the verification screen ready to display to the faculty member who will assist your child out of their vehicle. For a tutorial on viewing your results, click here.
Early dismissal or changes to pick-up time
If you find that you need to change your pick-up time or you need to pick-up your child early, please notify me or the office so that plans can be made to alter the scheduled pick-up of your child.
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Ed Diaz
Chief Operations Officer
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Overall, I have been so impressed with our students and their resilience these first few weeks on campus, and how easily they have adjusted to new norms. Their use of face masks during the day has gone so much better than I expected, and it has reminded me to never underestimate children.
We remind all of you to please ensure your child’s face mask fits properly, covering their nose and chin, and they should have it on prior to exiting their cars. We also ask that all people in the vehicle wear a face covering to help protect our faculty and staff during drop-off and pick-up.
We also remind you that mask lanyards/chains are not permitted at school. Please see below, for more information regarding our face mask/face covering policies at school:
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Also, if a family member tests positive for COVID-19, please notify either Dr. Harris or myself immediately. The names of the family members who have tested positive will remain confidential, but it is vital that we be aware of this information. |
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Stephanie Begert, BSN, RN
School Nurse
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"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
Blanca Famadas
Chaplain
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Change for Good Day:
Hispanic Heritage
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This coming Friday, we will kick start Change for Good days at St. Philip's. On Change for Good days, students may choose to dress according to the day's theme rather than in uniform. This privilege is one of the ways the Student Council raises money to do good in our community. We are in the process of finalizing our plans for contactless payments. Donations for this week may be submitted at a later time. At this time, please do not send any cash to school.
Date: Friday, October 2nd
Theme: Hispanic Heritage
What to Wear: traditional clothing from a Hispanic country or clothing with the colors of the country's flag; or, a T-shirt that is representative of a Hispanic country.
It will be a wonderful day celebrating Hispanic heritage! Olė
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We are pleased to announce that Picture Day is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th this year. As always, students will be asked to wear their dress uniforms for school pictures. For health reasons, photos will be taken outside this year.
If your child is learning remotely, he/she will be invited to campus for a photo during a designated time.
Steckley Designs will be managing picture sales electronically this year, so please be on the lookout for an email so that you can order pictures of your child.
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On Wednesday, October 7th, we will observe the feast of St. Francis of Assissi during our school Eucharist service. It has been a tradition at St. Philip's that families bring their pets for a blessing on that day. This year, we would like to invite our St. Philip's families to send a picture of themselves with their pet or pets so that we can offer a blessing to all of them in our virtual service.
Please send the picture to Mrs. Blanca Famadas to bfamadas@saintphilips.net no later than Thursday, Oct. 1st.
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Sunday, September 27th
Episcopal School Sunday
Friday, October 2nd
Change for Good Day: Hispanic Heritage
Tuesday, October 6th
8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Picture Day
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: SHA Virtual Meeting
Wednesday, October 7th
Blessing of the Animals
Monday, October 12th
Merry Gifts & More Begins Online
Saturday, October 24th
Halloween Extravaganza: Not-So-Scary Drive-by Parade
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SHA is off to a great start this school year! One of my goals this year is to demystify the SHA - beginning with who we are, what we do and why. Our SHA is made up of all parents and legal guardians of our students - we are all members! Our SHA has over 66 volunteers in leadership roles, and nearly every member participates in some way to enhance the experiences of our children. Without an active membership, we cannot succeed. We will profile and highlight some of the exciting happenings and special activities provided by the SHA so that you all know where our “SHA Donations” go and why the SHA is so important to our community.
On that note - we kicked off the school year with a “funtastic” Supply Pick Up in coordination with Administration. Our SHA also celebrated the Class of 2021's return to campus with a new tradition - senior jackets. We hope that you all enjoyed the festive welcome back, much of which was donated through the SHA.
Additionally, many of our SHA Committee Chairs are already hard at work on fall events that we are “reimagining”. Preparations for beloved St. Philip’s traditions such as Merry Gifts & More (Charleston Wrap and Evergreens), the Halloween Extravaganza and the Book Fair are well underway. Our Merchandising Committee is doing an extraordinary job with the mask sales and we thank all of our families for participating.
We also have some exciting news to share about our SHA Room in the 1140 House. As we all know, the Eagles Nest was repurposed as a temporary infirmary. Our SHA Room upstairs in 1140 will be temporarily transformed into a lounge so that all of our faculty and staff will have a comfortable place to unwind and decompress.
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