Dear St. Giles Families,
Thank you!
Thank you hardly seems enough to express the tremendous gratitude I have for the parent community at St. Giles School. I am so moved by the generosity of your time, talent and treasure to make our annual Black & Gold Pride such a success. While we continue to receive donations and will have more details around final money raised once all the numbers are tallied, we can report that this was the most successful Black & Gold Pride to date, raising over $120K for St. Giles School! We are also so grateful for your patience as we worked through technical difficulties and your kind words via chat throughout the evening. We had fun behind the scenes and hope that you had a wonderful evening with your families as well! Scroll down for more details about the night and how your generosity helped us to surpass our goal and support our heroes - our teachers and students - in this Year Like No Other.
Updated Travel Guidance
Last week, the Archdiocese provided updated guidelines regarding travel and quarantine requirements, which can be found here. What does it mean for our families hoping to travel for Easter break? Here are the details:
- What is required of all travelers?
- All guidelines assume mask compliance and social distancing while traveling
- What if we travel to a yellow state?
- No quarantine is required if traveling to a yellow state.
- What if we travel to an orange state?
- You may test at your location within 72 hours of your return home and return to school with a negative test result
- You may test when you return home but must test within 72 hours of your return to school. Quarantine must be adhered to prior to and until test results are received.
- A third party must administer the testing and a printed test result must be presented to the office prior to returning; at-home testing will not be accepted
- What if a state moves from orange to yellow during my trip or vice versa?
- If a state is orange for any time you are traveling, you must follow the orange state guidelines
- What if we don’t want to test our child?
- If you choose not to test your child, he or she must quarantine for 10 days before returning to St. Giles School.
- What if we travel internationally?
- International travel requires a 10-day quarantine.
While there are revised restrictions that lighten the quarantine around travel, we are kindly asking anyone who travels to an orange state to quarantine for 72 hours after you return home in order to monitor for possible symptoms. While this is above what the Archdiocese is requiring, we feel that taking these extra few days to ensure students do not have symptoms prior to returning to school would be best for our school community. For example, if you return from Easter break travel on Sunday, April 11th, we ask that you quarantine until Wednesday, April 14th and return to school Thursday with your negative test result. If you would like your child to attend school on Monday, April 12th, you could return home from travel on Thursday, April 8 and have 72 hours to quarantine before school resumes. Thank you for considering this request and understanding our efforts to minimize COVID exposure and the quarantining of Prides at St. Giles School.
If you are traveling over Easter, please complete this Easter Break Travel Survey by Wednesday, March 31st in order for us to maintain records of negative tests upon return to school and for our teachers to know who will be out of class following the break. We are required to have a printed copy of all test results. Students who need to quarantine after traveling are asked to bring home their books and materials ahead of travel time and follow the teacher’s webpages for daily lessons.
Stay well,
Meg
CDC Guidance on Social Distancing
Though the CDC has recently updated their guidance to declare that spacing students 3 feet apart rather than 6 feet apart is acceptable, we will not be adjusting our current spacing procedures. At this time, the Archdiocese has not updated their spacing protocols, and we intend to keep the social distancing and protocols we have implemented with success this year. The health and safety of our Lions, faculty and staff are paramount, and thus we will continue with current standards.
Important Calendar Adjustment
Friday, April 30th, we will be participating in an Archdiocesan system-wide staff development day. There will be no school on Friday, April 30th.
iReady Assessments
Last week, I shared information about iReady and how we utilize it at St. Giles School. The letter also updated plans for Aspire Testing this spring (we will not be administering Aspire this year per the Archdiocese). You can read the letter here.
Reminder
Thank you to those who have completed the 5 Essentials Survey from the Archdiocese. Please take a moment to share your input. The survey closes on March 26, 2021.
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It is March which means it is bracket time! That is right, time for the competitive world of March Mindfulness where meditation is the sport and mindfulness is the skill. These past few weeks the children have been learning and practicing a variety of deep breathing techniques from soup breathing to the 4,7,8 breathing promoted on Go Zen. The children have been voting to promote their favorite first step to resolving conflict and solving problems. Meditation has been studied with empirical results pointing towards reduced stress, increased focus and improved relationships. We teach mindfulness at school to help the children focus on the immediate task in the classroom and reduce anxiety about future assessments. It is an important first step Create your own bracket at home based on this article on video gamers in Silicon Valley participating in a March Mindfulness Challenge. Generate excitement by getting competitive in your child’s practice on these important life skills.
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We are delighted to share that the virtual Black & Gold Pride raised more than $120,000 for St. Giles School. It is a testament to you - our generous families – truly making this a “Year Like No Other.”
For those who joined from your homes, we hope you enjoyed the virtual walk down our hallways, and teacher and student presentations. It was our pleasure to give you a glimpse of just how special it is to be a St. Giles Lion. If you weren’t able to watch, you can view the program on YouTube: part one and part two.
Join virtual yoga this Thursday, March 25, 7 - 9 p.m. Sign up HERE and you will receive the Zoom link directly from alumni parent and Yogi, Laura McNamara. Proceeds benefit Black & Gold.
Click HERE and category 'fire sale' items still available to purchase: out-of-uniform passes, gym time (April 10th and 11th), and our SGS monogrammed glasses.
Still want to donate to our paddle raise? Proceeds benefit our heroes - our teachers and students. Funds raised will support a variety of efforts, including improvements in the classroom, new technology, and safety equipment. Click HERE and category 'donations' to donate now!
If you have not picked up your item / certificate, please ring the office bell during school hours. Out of uniform certificates will be sent home with students soon. Gym time reminders will be sent to families each week.
Congratulations to our winners:
Great Tuition Giveaway - Jaeger Family
Opportunity Ticket - Caldarone Family
THANK YOU ALL for your support of this important event! Please save your online invoice from Handbid as your receipt of Black & Gold donations for your 2021 tax return.
Any questions about Black & Gold Pride - please contact Kelly.
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PreK 3 and PreK 4 Virtual Tours and Conversation
Do you have a new PreK 3 or PreK 4 student joining us next year? Mark your calendar for March 25th at noon for a virtual tour and information session led by Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Rominski! Our teachers will take new and prospective families through our early childhood facility, answering questions and showing how we prepare our littlest Lions for their next steps at St. Giles School. Registration can be found here.
If you know someone interested in St. Giles School for PreK, please invite them to join one of our tours to learn more. Limited spots are available for 2021-2022. Please share the virtual tour registration form found here.
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Fun Lunch - THURSDAYS in March!
Mark your calendar for our next Fun Lunch coming up on 3/25. Next up is The Daly Bagel (ordering open until Tuesday morning)!
Click HERE to visit the site and get your order in. Please note, Fun Lunch is being offered on Thursdays this month to allow us to serve meat options during Lent.
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2021-22 Scholarship Information
January 4 through April 15 - St. Giles Scholarship Application Opens. Log on to your Facts account and click on Grant & Aid when available. All applications will be reviewed after the April 15 deadline.
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Looking for a sitter?
With our spring break approaching, some families have asked about babysitters. We do have a list of St. Giles 8th graders and alumni who may be interested in sitting over break or perhaps another time. If you would like a copy of this updated list, please email Kelly.
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Fenwick is doing building tours for 7th grade families
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
Please reach out to Kathleen O'Laughlin at 708.386.0127 X317 or [email protected] to schedule a tour.
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As you begin to explore high school options for your son, we hope you take the time to learn more about Saint Patrick High School! We will be hosting in person tours on (6) different Saturdays this spring: 3/27, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, & 5/15. All tours will begin at 10 am and will consist of a brief presentation followed by a guided tour of our campus. These will be a great opportunity to get a head start on the high school search this spring! To ensure that we continue to follow proper health guidelines, we are asking that all interested families pre-register. To learn more & to register, CLICK HERE.
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Follow and like us on social media. Stay up to date with what's going on at school and see pictures of your children engaging in educational activities with their classmates during the school day. |
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