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An Epiphany Blessing for Our School and Our School Family....
(Deacon Ed blessed our school, our classrooms and all within while reading this beautiful prayer to our students and teachers on Friday, January 6th - The Feast of the Epiphany.)
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Thursday, January 12 - End of 2nd Marking Period/ 1st Semester
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Friday, January 13 AND Monday, January 14 - NO SCHOOL. ENJOY THE LONG WEEKEND!
Planning Ahead...
- Wednesday, January 18th - Coffee w Mr. Cruess - 4th & 5th Grade Parents - 8:30am, Cafeteria; RSVP Here by Jan. 14th.
- Thursday, January 19 - PTO Meeting (Parents get 1 PTO Hour to Attend!)
- Friday, January 20 - Report Cards post for end of 2nd Marking Period
- Friday, January 27 - Re-enrollment Contracts go home. Due back Feb. 10th.
- Sunday, January 29 - Catholic Schools Week! Stay tuned to next week's newsletter for a lineup of events & dress up days for all of our Comets to enjoy!
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End of the 2nd Marking Period
With the semester coming to a close in just a couple of weeks, I thought it was a good time to mention a few things about grades. Our philosophy about grades is that they are one measure of academic success, but the primary goal of our education is for students to learn and grow. Sometimes that growth is not always reflected in grades, and we never want students (or parents) to think that a person should be defined by their grades. Each of our students is a beautiful and unique child of God with their own gifts and talents as well as areas that need growth. Our goal is to form students who are not just academically successful, but also well-rounded individuals who can form healthy friendships, practice personal virtue, and love the Lord.
Parents sometimes panic when they receive the automated low-grade notifications through our gradebook program. Please remember that you only receive notice of the low grades, so the grade notices don't show the full picture and it can serve as a good prompt to check in with your child. If you have any concerns, just reach out to the teacher and see how things are going overall. We are here to support you and we welcome your emails/calls. We are all on the same team for your child's overall success.
State of the School Follow Up
Thank you to all of the families who were able to join us for Thursday's State of the School Zoom presentation. I'd like to share some of the highlights again, in case you weren't able to join us...
- Our school has been blessed with wonderful admissions, and we are near capacity as a school. We have also been blessed with the highest retention rate amongst all Diocesan schools (96%). Our admissions applications for next year continue to be strong, and we anticipate being at or near capacity in most of our grades for 23-24.
- St. Benedict was given the only A+ rating amongst all Catholic schools in our area, from the independent school-site reviewer, Niche.com for our teachers, diversity, and academics.
- Managing our growth is an important area for our school. It is important to us to preserve the small-school community that we all love about our school, and our goal is to keep all of our classes to a maximum of 25 students.
- This year, we invested in a full-time aide to support our 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. In our planning for next year, our goal is to make sure that our services continue to develop in line with the needs of a school our current size. We look forward to sharing those plans with you in the coming months.
- Our school community has been very busy with the addition of new afterschool activities and clubs. We also are grateful to all of our parents for supporting the community-building events our PTO has put on so far this year, and we look forward to this Spring's Gala at The Science Museum! Teamwork makes the dream work!
- We are so grateful to all of our families who have supported our campaign for a new Playground at SBCS. To date we have raised over $125,000 towards our goal of $300K - so we still need everyone to pitch in and do what you can to help out. We remain hopeful that the remaining funds will come in to help us take on this important project for our school this summer. Once we are able to complete our playground campaign, we look forward to returning to our normal annual fund as a school.
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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED OUR CAMPAIGN EFFORTS TO DATE (Click here). We are grateful for everyone's gifts!
- A few more facts shared about our school and our healthy state of affairs...
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Looking forward, we THANK YOU for being a part of our wonderful Comet Family and we ask you to please...
- ALWAYS keep the lines of communication between home and school open. We are all on the same team, and we are here to support you and your children! (Remember, if we don't know about something, we can't do anything about it.)
- Continue to stay involved in the life of our school - you are AMAZING and your children LOVE your involvement (and so does our PTO). Next meeting is 1/19/23!
- Help us continue to be a joyful, positive and engaged community of FAITH and LEARNING!
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Catechism in a Year - It's NOT too late! | |
It just started last week and it is EXCELLENT and DIGESTIBLE for everyone and anyone curious about the Catholic Faith; desiring a better understanding of Catholicism; wrestling with why the Church teaches certain things, and; deepening your relationship with Christ and His Church! If you are curious about it - check it out! That's the Holy Spirit nudging you!! | |
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Please record all volunteer hours in FACTs before the end of the Christmas break. Volunteer opportunities for the second half of the year will be posted NEXT WEEK!
- Click here to go to Parentsweb on our website.
- On the left-hand sidebar, click on FAMILY.
- In the center of the page, click ADD+ in the SERVICE HOURS section to enter your PTO Hours.
- Please be sure to do this right after you volunteer for an event so you don't lose track of your PTO hours.
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Great things are happening in your school library. Here are some that you should know:
The school-wide Reading Challenge is heating up, with eleven students turning in completed challenge forms in December. Gregory leads the House race with the most finishers so far. Our third grade has the most participants. Nice work, third grade, but EVERYONE should keep reading! The challenge ends in April, so you still have time to participate. Find all the information you need on the school website.
Middle school students have access to the online library catalog, and can place books on hold for checkout. Parents, let your student show you how it works.
The library circulates almost a thousand books each month. Please treat each book with care.
Friends of the Comet Library can help to keep our collection fresh and inviting for every student by donating new books through our wishlist of library-bound books: https://www.btsb.com/sosl/saintbenedictcatholicschool/ For more information on donating, contact Mrs. Clark by email.
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Middle School Youth Group | |
Thank you to everyone who continues to participate in our Middle School Youth Ministry! Our next St. Benedict Middle School Youth Group (Grades 5-8) will meet on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. All those in grades 5-8 are welcome to join us at any time! | |
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Mrs. Herrity's 5th Grade Mammal Projects!
Well done, Comets!!
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Substitute Teachers for 22-23 School Year! | |
Saint Benedict School is looking for substitute teachers for the 2022-2023 academic year. Applicants should have their college degree and will have a background check performed as part of the application process. Please contact Sean Cruess or Pam Autry at 804-254-8850 if you are interested. Thank you! | |
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High School Info
(Click on image for more details)
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For the Health of Our Community | | | | |
