In Life Science this past week, 6th graders were investigating the effects of various cell sizes using live beets—and answering the question, “Are our cells the same size as that of dinosaurs?”

Mrs. Menzies class celebrated the 100th Day of Kindergarten with some AMAZING projects!

Seminarian Matt Kelly joined Ms. B's Music Classes to present a conversation on Opera and treated our students to a special vocal performance!

Follow us on Instagram to see more images and video from this week!

• Tuesday, February 14 - Valentines Day TAG DAY! $2 to wear RED! Tag Day monies are being collected for our friends at Commonwealth Catholic Charities.

• Friday, February 17 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS; Parent-Teacher Conferences (see below for details); 3rd Quarter Interims

• Monday, February 20 - President's Day Holiday - NO SCHOOL

PLANNING AHEAD:

• Wednesday, February 22 - ASH WEDNESDAY - Lent Begins; Day of Fasting & Abstinence; School Mass 8:30am
• Thursday, February 23 - PTO Special Feature Presentation on Protecting Our Children on the Internet AND Gala Meeting. 6pm - St. Anselm
• March 1: Financial Aid - 1st Round Deadline. See info below.

Special Presentation Feb. 24th -

Please Plan to Attend!

I'd like to invite all of our parents to attend an informative presentation on Internet Safety for Our Children given by one of our parents, Joe Miller. The presentation will take place at 6:00pm on February 23 and will be immediately followed by our Spring Gala PTO meeting, which we also hope you will stay for. The presentation will address some of the current statistics about youth internet usage, dangers to be aware of, specific ways to protect our kids, and how to work as a family to utilize the internet safely and effectively. This is a timely topic, and we hope that at least one parent from each of our families will attend. **SPECIAL NOTE: THE CLASS WITH THE MOST PARENTS IN ATTENDANCE WILL WIN A FREE TAG DAY! This also counts towards your PTO Volunteer Hours.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Friday, February 17th from 7:30am-12pm. There will be NO SCHOOL for students on that day. We especially encourage parents to sign up for a conference if there is an academic or classroom concern. Specials (elective) teachers are not part of Parent-Teacher Conference Day. Please contact them directly if you would like to set up a time to meet. The scheduling system will close on Wednesday, February 15th at 12pm. Call Mrs. Autry in the office if you have any questions, (804) 254-8850. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D49ADA62FA6FF2-parentteacher

PTO Hour Reporting

Families - please remember that we all SHARE a responsibility for contributing to the life of our children's school. If you have earned volunteer hours, please be sure to ENTER THEM IN PARENTSWEB now. The PTO will be sending out notices in February to any family that has not volunteered at least 10 hours so far this year. Please remember, all families are asked to contribute a total of 25 volunteer hours throughout the course of the year and there are MANY, MANY varied ways to do so. Click below NOW to do your part in helping out this Spring with volunteer needs, and remember, if you didn't help at FallFest, you are expected to help out with our upcoming Gala. This is a very important fundraiser for our school and many hands are needed in a variety of ways to make light work.

Thank you for contributing to our Comet Community!

Eating disorders are serious health problems that usually start in childhood or adolescence and affect both girls and boys. With early diagnosis, eating disorders are treatable with a combination of nutritional, medical, and therapeutic supports. Recognizing the importance of early identification of at-risk students, the 2013 Virginia General Assembly passed a law requiring each school board to provide parent educational information regarding eating disorders on an annual basis to students in the fifth through twelfth grades.

Please click here for more information.

Order your exclusive centennial P.E. uniform TODAY! 

Youth and adult sizes available.

This online shop is only available until

February 28th, so order today!

Legacy P.E. uniform designs are still acceptable. Uniform items will be delivered before Easter.

Contact Juliet D'Agostino with any questions @ julietdagostino@yahoo.com

Tuition Assistance - All returning families, seeking to apply for financial aid for the 23-24 school year, without significant business/self-employment income must apply for tuition assistance no later than March 1st. Those with significant business/self-employment income have until June 1st. That being said, the sooner you complete your application, the sooner you will hear from us. You will have two weeks after receiving the tuition assistance decision to cancel your contract and receive your deposit back. Please know that because the tuition assistance model assumes that the only change on your tax return is your W2 income, in years with a lot of changes in your life the model struggles to be accurate; therefore, we may reach out to you and discuss waiting for your 2022 return to be complete before making a final decision. That being said this does not change the deadlines for applying.

• March 1st Deadline:
• Returning Families with W-2 income and without significant business self/employment income (2021/2022 Return and 2022 W2s)
• Returning Families who do not file taxes - March 1 - other documentation of income
• June 1st Deadline:
• Returning Families without W-2 income who file a tax return (2022 Tax Return)
• Returning Families with W-2 income and significant business/self employment income (2022 Tax Return)
• 
  

Contact Brian Wingfield, Director of Finance if you have a unique situation, or questions

about the process (bwingfield@saintbenedictschool.org or 804-254-8810 x 110).

St. Benedict Middle School Youth Group (Grades 5-8) will meet again on Wednesday, February 15 at 6:30pm in St. Anselm Hall. Dinner provided!

Families - whenever you are in need of basic school information, please check our website! We try to keep everything you need to know easily accessible there. Most information is located under our SCHOOL LIFE tab, but here are some ready links:

Calendar

PARENTS WEB 

FACTS

Past Issues of Newsletter

Uniform Guidelines

School Handbook

School Supplies List

Summer Reading & Assignments

Forms

Faculty & Staff Contacts

Online School Directory (log into ParentsWeb, select Directory)

And some other helpful info (non-website)...

Need to book Afterschool or Morning Care?

Need to pick up your child early from school?

Is grandma or someone else picking up your child?

Email Mrs. Autry: pautry@saintbenedictschool.org or call 804-254-8850

Tia Lukanova - School Counselor

And don't forget to follow us on Social Media!

Instagram

Facebook

Executive Order Two requires that as of January 24, 2022 parents make the decision about whether their students wear masks in school.

ONLY COME TO SCHOOL IF….

• Your temperature is under 100.4 degrees.
• You do NOT have other symptoms of COVID-19, without an alternative diagnosis. Other symptoms include chills, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
• Please notify the school about a positive COVID test or possible exposure by sending an email addressed to pautry@saintbenedictschool.org, mmeadows@saintbenedictschool.org and scruess@saintbenedictschool.org.

Helpful resources for our families:

School Covid Guidance as of April 2022

COVID-19 Testing Information

Free At-Home COVID Tests

Richmond/Henrico Testing

Chesterfield Testing

How to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Richmond Health Department