St. Mark School E-Newsletter - January 12, 2020

St. Mark School

A National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence

St. Mark School is a Christ-centered learning environment that teaches Gospel values and fosters academic excellence. Aware of the dignity and uniqueness of all students, we are committed to the spiritual, intellectual, moral, social, and physical development of each child.

January 12, 2020

Dear St. Mark Families,

Happy New Year!

Thank you all for joining us at our Annual Christmas Concert. We hope it set the tone for a joyous and faith filled Christmas Break.

With the first full week of school in the 2020 New Year complete, I'm please to share that our students and teachers are back into routine, and the sound of new learning, innovation, and creativity taking place has again filled our hallways and classrooms.

With every New Year, we reflect upon our previous accomplishments and set goals for the future. We are excited to see what 2020 has in store for our Lions!

May God continue to bestow an abundance of blessings upon your family in this New Year!

Yours In Christ,

Melissa Warner

Personalized Learning Information Session

Great News!

At St. Mark School, we have completed the second Edmentum Exact Path Diagnostic Assessment and are currently analyzing the data collected.

Please join us on Wednesday, January 22nd at 7pm in the Parish Center for a Personalized Learning Information Session presented by Stacy Clements, Personalized Learning Coach for Diocese of Bridgeport Catholic Schools.

We are excited to demonstrate growth made by our students, discuss how that growth was achieved, and how targeted use of technology plays a role in our classrooms. Ms. Clements will present information on topics including how to analyze the data collected through the Exact Path Diagnostic Assessments, how to interpret those results, how the data impacts classroom instruction, and next steps.

Individual student data will be shared after the information session.

No child care will be provided at this meeting, but children are welcome to attend.

Registration Update

We are thrilled to announce that St. Mark School has surpassed our goal of registering 85% of our current K-7 families by January 15th, 2020 with 123 of our current students registered!

THANK YOU!

If you have not yet registered for the 2020-2021 school year, Please click here to register online.

Registration fee payment by cash or check can be sent to the Main Office to complete the registration process.

PreK-8

Parking Lot Safety

Please adhere to parking lot traffic patterns outlined in the St. Mark Student and Parent Handbook, most especially for morning arrival.

ENTRANCES TO USE IN THE MORNING:

Please DO NOT use Nemergut Drive as an entrance. This will be the only exit for our school parents.

If your child will remain in the car until you drop off in the car line, please use the Wigwam Lane entrance by the church rectory. The car line will then be able to "hug" the area around the buildings and not extend into the other driveway and block traffic.

If you would like to park your car so that your child will get out of the car in the parking lot and cross to go into school, please use the Wigwam Lane entrance BY THE FARM.

Exit only from the Nemergut Drive gate.

Please review this policy with anyone dropping off your child in the morning, no matter how infrequently this may happen. Again, this applies to PreK-8 for the safety of all our children and families.

Please use extreme caution in our parking lot.

2019-2020 Annual Fund Update

This year, we have set a goal to raise $12,000 for St. Mark School through our Annual Fund. Currently, we are 2/3 of the way to reaching that goal, with a little more than $8,000 raised to date.

Because of the generosity of our current parents, faculty, staff, and St. Mark families, our students continue to benefit from opportunities to learn, grow, and excel.

If you would like to help us reach our goal, please click here to visit our school website and give online.

Gifts to St. Mark School are tax deductible to the extent provide by law and are eligible for matched giving.

New Alter Servers

Congratulations to our newest alter servers (from left to right):

Mila Maiers

Emmett Mallon

Anna Formato

They did an excellent job serving our First Friday Mass of 2020!

Catholic Schools Week

January 26th-February 1st

National Catholic Schools Week (CSW) is an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States.

This year’s theme is

Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.

This theme encompasses the core products and values that can be found at St. Mark School and in Catholic schools across the country. Not only are we teaching students to become future servant leaders, faith-filled disciples and enriched citizens in our communities, we, as educators, are growing with them. In Catholic schools, we are all learners, servants and leaders.

At St. Mark School we will be celebrating our students, faculty and staff, parish, and community through a variety of special events, service projects, and fun! Stay tuned for more details!

Bishop's Scholarship Fund

Bishop’s Scholarship Fund (BSF) provides tuition assistance to help families afford a Catholic Education.

Applications Open Feb 1st!

All Students in grades Kindergarten-Grade 8 are eligible. Families apply online via FACTS Grant & Aid, making certain to complete all questions regarding BSF, submit supporting documentation, and $30 FACTS processing fee.

Application requires the entire 2018 IRS Federal tax returns along with 2019 W2s. If applicants do not receive W-2s, then they must submit 2019 tax return.

Deadline to apply - March 15 for current families; April 15 for new families
Award notifications - early May for current families; late May for new families

For more information visit: www.foundationsineducation.org/bishops-scholarship-fund

Innovation and Leadership Grant Award

I am excited to share with you that St. Mark School is a recipient of an Innovation and Leadership grant award from Foundations in Education in support of our students in the 2020-2021 school year. Through its Innovation and Leadership Grants, Foundations in Education promotes excellence for educators and students alike in the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

With this award, St. Mark School will have the ability to integrate a research based, teacher informed, and classroom tested curriculum program into our Religion education to directly support the social-emotional development, safety, and well-being of our students, PreK-Grade 8. SEL is defined as how children and adults learn to understand and manage emotions, set goals, show empathy, establish healthy relationships, and make responsible decisions. At St. Mark School, part of our mission statement is:

Aware of the dignity and uniqueness of all students, we are committed to the spiritual, intellectual, moral, social, and physical development of each child.

This award will help us to advance in that mission.

Please visit our school website regularly at www.stmarkschool.org . Important school updates including copies of notices, newsletters, HSA links, and school calendars can all be accessed on the website. You can even see updates from our Facebook Page!