Bus Assignments

Bus assignments for our K-8 students that will utilizing the bus this year were emailed out earlier this week.  If you registered to use the bus and did not receive this, please email aguenther@saintjamesschool.net.

Lands’ End Sale on Pants/Shorts

Lands’ End is offering a 50% off sale this weekend (August 23-25) on uniform pants and shorts.  Please remember that all boys in K-8 will need uniform pants for class picture day on September 18th.  Please use code: SCHOOLPANTS, AND pin: 8180 at checkout.

Cross Country Helpers Needed

While we have a volunteer coach in place to run this year’s Cross Country Team, we are still need of additional parent volunteers to assist on practice days.  Practices will typically occur after school (2:00pm) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  If you like to run and can be available for most practice days please reach out to our our Athletic Director, Mr. Green, at CGreen@SaintJamesSchool.net to get additional details.  Thank you!!

Cross Country Information

Hot Lunch Information

The cost for Hot Lunch at Saint James School for the 2024-2025 school year will be as follows:

Grades K-4: $3.50
Grades 5-8: $4.50
Milk only: $0.40

Please check the balance on your child’s hot lunch (EZSchoolPay) account if they will be purchasing Hot Lunch this school year.

Yesterday, all kindergarten families and any families new to the Saint James School K-8 program should have received an email with their child’s hot lunch account ID.  Returning families are welcome to reach out to the Saint James School office if they have forgotten their child’s lunch account ID.

Please note the following:

* Saint James School is now required by the State to serve lunch on early-dismissal days.  This means that students should bring a lunch from home or be prepared to purchase hot lunch on the 1st day of school (if you were planning to go out to lunch after dismissal perhaps just send a light snack).

* As per our standard protocol, a monthly hot lunch calendar will be sent via our email blast each month, posted on our website homepage (quick links section), and available on the SJS App.

* You may add money to your child’s account online using the EZSchoolPay app (a $3.00 convenience fee will apply) or by sending in cash or a check to the school with your child (no fee).  The check must be made out to “Manchester Public Schools” and please be sure envelopes are labeled with your child’s name.

* An application for Free or Reduced Lunch may be found online at ezmealapp.com.  Details and eligibility income guidelines can be found by clicking this link: MPS Paper FAQ.   If you would like to print a paper copy of the application, you can do that HERE.  Our district for this is Manchester Private Schools.

* Allergies: Students who require hot lunch modifications for food allergies or other dietary restrictions are required to provide the below form, signed by the child’s physician. Please note, this does not refer to dietary preferences but rather a physical condition that restricts the child’s die: Meal Modification in School Lunch Form.  If your child has allergies but will never purchase lunch at school, please just inform the nurse.

Pre-K Program Updates

Congratulations to Mrs. Linda Carpenter on being named the Director of Saint James School’s Pre-Kindergarten program!  Mrs. Carpenter has been working with students at Saint James School for many years, most recently as our Pre-K4 teacher.  In her expanded position, Mrs. Carpenter will continue to be the lead teacher for the Pre-K4 classroom, with Mrs. Rataic returning as her classroom aide.

In other staffing news, Ms. Page (Pre-K3 teacher) and Mrs. Lerner (Pre-K4 aide) have decided to pursue other opportunities for this upcoming school year.   We wish them well in their new endeavors!

With these changes, we are also excited to share that Mrs. Rebecca Duval will be taking on the role of lead teacher in our Pre-K3 program.  Mrs. Duval was originally hired to support Saint James School as an aide, but with her experience running a daycare/preschool program for many years she jumped at the opportunity to teach our youngest Sabers when the position opened up.  Mrs. Davis, who has been part of our Pre-K3 program for 6 years will continue to be part of the Pre-K3 teaching team as a classroom aide.

Also joining our Pre-K team as classroom aides this year will be Ms. Louisa Afoakwa-Abrokwa, who was previously an aide in the Saint Bartholomew preschool program, and Mrs. Fionnuala Purcell, who also works with the Pre-K students in the SJS aftercare program.

We are excited for a great year!

Important Volunteer Information

As a reminder, any parents, grandparents, etc. that would like to volunteer at Saint James School must go through a VIRTUS training session and complete a background check.  This includes volunteers for any field trips or classroom parties.  This process only has to be completed ONE TIME during your family’s time with SJS.

The VIRTUS training session is currently being held online so we encourage families to complete this requirement now while it can be done at your convenience.  The VIRTUS session is focused on identifying signs of abuse in children so you will want to complete this while your children are NOT in the same room.

To register and begin the online session, please go to: https://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/.

Choose the green box titled, “FIRST-TIME REGISTRANT” in the left-most column and follow the prompts including the drop-down menu to choose HARTFORD Archdiocese.  Select the online class option (a link will be emailed to you).  At the end of the course, please print off the CERTIFICATE and send it in to the Saint James School office so we can have a copy in your file.

Please reach out to Mrs. Thornton in the main office to get a copy of the background check form (jthornton@saintjamesschool.net).  Once you complete the form, return it to Mrs. Thornton and Saint James School will send it in for processing.

Lands’ End Flash Sale

If you are still in need of uniform items, Lands’ End just announced a 30% off flash sale for August 16 – 18 with Code: BOOKBAG and Pin: 5321 at checkout.

Please remember, as per our published SJS Dress Code all items except gym sweatpants, gym sweatshirts, gym shorts, socks, belts, and shoes MUST be purchased from either Lands’ End or Dennis Uniform company.

 

 

First Day Reminders & Back to School Open House

As a reminder, the first day of school for the 2024-2025 school year is as follows:

*K-8 students:  Thursday, August 29th (12:05pm dismissal day, aftercare will be in session);

*Pre-K4 Full-Day students: Thursday, August 29th (12:05pm dismissal day, aftercare will be in session);

*Pre-K4 Part-Time students:  Thursday, August 29th;

*Pre-K3 Full-Day students: Thursday, August 29th (12:05pm dismissal day, aftercare will be in session);

*Pre-K3 Part-Time students:  Friday, August 30th.

Back to School Classroom Visits/Supply Drop-Off:
On Wednesday, August 28th, all Pre-K through Grade 8 parents/guardians and their student(s) are invited to stop by the school between the hours of 8:30am and 11:30am to visit the classrooms, meet the teachers, and drop off their child’s school supplies.  This is a drop-in event, please come at whatever time works for your schedule. Please note, K – 8 students DO NOT need to be in their uniforms for these visits.

Teacher Assignments:
Teacher assignments for 1st – 8th grade students will be sent via email about a week before the first day of school.  Please note, as of today all teacher assignments have been finalized.  Requests for changes cannot be accommodated.

Medicine Drop Off:
Mrs. Pennington, our school nurse, will have availability to accept student medicines and medicine authorization forms on August 23rd (Friday) and August 27th (Tuesday).  Please email her at kpennington@mpspride.org to schedule an appointment if you would like to come on one of these two dates.  She will also be available during the Back to School Open House event on August 28th, but the line to see the nurse can be quite long on that day.

Welcome New Faculty and Staff!

Saint James School is excited to welcome the following faculty and staff to SJS for the upcoming school year:

Ms. Sara Boyle – Middle School Teacher

Please join us in welcoming Ms. Sara Boyle to our middle school teaching team.  Ms. Boyle comes to us from Granby High School and brings a wealth of experience teaching math, English language arts, social studies, and science.  Ms. Boyle received her Master’s in Education in New York City, where she taught for five years prior to moving to Connecticut.  At Saint James School, Ms. Boyle will be teaching Grade 8 English, 7th Grade religion, and one math group in both Grades 6 & 8.  Ms. Boyle will also oversee an 8th Grade homeroom.

Mrs. Brianna Hawkins – Middle School Teacher

Also joining our teaching faculty for this upcoming school year is Mrs. Brianna Hawkins, who will be teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade science.  Mrs. Hawkins comes to us from Northwest Catholic High School where she taught several science classes.  Prior to teaching at Northwest, Mrs. Hawkins taught middle school science at St. Gabriel school in Windsor.  Mrs. Hawkins will be taking over the classes previously taught by Mrs. Oei, who will be teaching engineering at East Catholic High School in the fall.  Mrs. Hawkins will also oversee an 8th Grade homeroom.

Mrs. Stephanie Thomas – Middle School Teacher

Rounding out the new members of our middle school teaching team is Mrs. Stephanie Thomas, who will be joining us as our Middle School Math teacher for Grades 6 – 8, replacing Ms. Starnick who has also taken a teaching position at East Catholic High School starting this fall.  Mrs. Thomas comes to us from Corpus Christi school in Wethersfield and previously taught high school math in Virginia after receiving her Master’s in Education from UVA.  Of interesting note, prior to her teaching career, Mrs. Thomas spent many years as a Research Assistant for NASA.  Mrs. Thomas will oversee a 6th grade homeroom.

Extended Day Program – Mrs. Jodi Talaga

As previously announced, our Extended Day Program Director has retired after 33 years of service to Saint James School.  Taking over for her will be Mrs. Jodi Talaga, who has served our school in a variety of capacities – both as an employee and a volunteer.  Any questions regarding the before and after school care program can be directed to Mrs. Talaga at jtalaga@saintjamesschool.net.

Classroom Aide – Mrs. Duval

Taking over Mrs. Talaga’s previous position will be Mrs. Rebecca Duval who many of our families may know from her involvement with Cast Children’s Theatre here in Manchester.  Mrs. Duval also ran a home-based daycare for many years and is looking forward to assisting our teachers and students here at Saint James School.

Summer Work Reminder

As we head into the month of August, just a quick reminder that all students entering 1st – 8th grade have a summer assignment that is due on the first day of school.  For students entering grades 1-5, this is a math review packet;  for students entering grades 6 – 8 this is a math review packet AND a reading assignment.

For returning students, hard copies of these assignments were sent home on the last week of school.  For new families joining us in grades 1 – 8, these assignments were emailed to you with your welcome letter.  Extra copies are available in the SJS main office if you need one.