The midpoint of the first trimester was yesterday, October 6! I am so proud of all of the hard work put forth by our teachers, staff, students, and families to grow academically, spiritually, emotionally this school year.

Parent/Teacher conferences will be held on Friday, October 8 virtually. The decision to hold conferences virtually again this year was first of all, to keep our teachers and parents as safe as possible and second, to allow flexibility for working parents so parents don't need to rush to school for a scheduled conference time. Sign ups for conferences were emailed last week. If you have any last minute changes, please email your homeroom teacher. Online sign-ups will close at 9:00 AM Friday morning. Review the attached guide for some tips on making the most of your conference time.

The October Baby Bottle Mission will run through October 22. Each student brought home a baby bottle this week to fill with change and return to school. The baby bottles will be returned to the Women's Centers where the funds raised will support mothers and babies.

The Walk-a-Thon is a little over 1 week away! T-shirts have been ordered and we need each family to help us reach our goal of raising $20,000 this year! Keep asking family, friends, and neighbors to pledge. If each St. Edward student can raise at least $75, we can make our goal a reality! To date, we have raised $14,209.91!!! Order forms for Fun Lunch on October 15 were emailed home on Tuesday and paper copies were sent home on Wednesday. Orders for Fun Lunch are due Friday, October 8, and hot lunch will not be served on the 15th.

Picture Day is next Wednesday, October 13. This is a dress up day for all students. Please refer to the uniform policy for appropriate out of uniform options. Color Portraits is accepting online orders for pictures and ordering information went home on Wednesday.

Next week, we will also celebrate the Feast of St. Edward as a school community of Wednesday the 13th. We will celebrate Mass in the morning and a Eucharistic Procession in the afternoon. SEPO has also generously purchased St. Edward decals for each student.

Social media once again rears its ugly head for us as parents and for our children. As students headed back into classrooms this fall, there were challenges shared on TikTok that encouraged students to complete various tasks/challenges at their schools. September's challenge was to vandalize a school bathroom. October's challenge is supposedly to smack a staff member on the backside. While I think that our students here at St. Ed's are far too awesome to participate in these challenges, it is a good opportunity for us as parents to talk to our children about what our children are seeing and sharing on social media, emphasizing how inappropriate these challenges are. Behavior along any of these lines will not be tolerated at St. Ed's and it is important for our children to know that we care enough about them to have these open conversations with them about what they see on social media.

If your student(s) will be attending before and/or after care this year, please complete a family registration form. Because of capacity limits, families must sign up ahead of time for the days that they will be utilizing before/after care.

The Book Fair is back -Online October 4-17! 

https://www.scholastic.com/bf/stedwardschool6