Girls Varsity Banner Night Tonight!

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Last year, the Saint James Girls Varsity Basketball team won the Archdiocese of Hartford State Championships.  This evening, Tuesday, January 23rd at 5:30pm Saint James School will host a short ceremony honoring the team, and a special banner will be hung in the gym to commemorate the win.  Past and current players will be at our school for this special celebration.

We hope to see many SJS parents and students come out for the celebration next Tuesday at 5:30pm, then stay to watch our current Girls Varsity team play Sacred Heart at 6:00pm.  Immediately following the Girl’s game, the Varsity Boys team will play St. Bridget’s.  We hope to see you there for a fun night of Saint James School Basketball!

Volunteer Mass & Reception

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Volunteers play a critical role here at Saint James School.  Volunteers run many of our fundraising events, social events, and classroom parties.  In addition, our sports coaches are all volunteers, many of our after-school activities are run by volunteers, our Saint James School board (and related committees) are all volunteers, along with the Saint James School Foundation members.

Volunteers provide countless hours helping with office-related duties, tutoring students, and helping with Marketing-related duties.  In short, volunteers play a very important role here at Saint James School!!

As such, one of our important activities during Catholic Schools Week is to show our appreciation to our volunteers for their “Service” to Saint James School.  This will be done with a special prayer for volunteers during our 9:15am Mass on Wednesday, January 31st, followed by a special reception in the lower church immediately following Mass.

Please join us so that all the students of Saint James School can see the faces of the dedicated parents and family members who donate their time and talents to helping making Saint James School such a wonderful place for our children to learn and grow.

The below form was sent home with students last week.  If you will be attending the Mass and Reception, please return the form to the office by this Wednesday, January 24th (extended deadline).

Letter Volunteer-Service Recognition

Knights of Columbus Essay Winners

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Saint James School 8 grade students, under the guidance of religion teacher Mrs. Gordon, participated in the 2017-2018  Knights of Columbus Essay contest, focusing on Catholic Citizenship.  The theme of the contest centered on the role of the Catholic Church in “going to the peripheries” and using a current or historical Catholic figure, or someone in the student’s own life, to discuss.

Congratulations to the following students, all from Saint James School:

1st Place – Matthew B.
2nd Place – Katie G.
3rd Place – Lindsay O.

Students are pictured below with Tony DeMarco and Phil Gordon of the Knights of Columbus.

 

Knights of Columbus Free Throw Winners

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Congratulations to the Alexis J. (8th Grade), Aiden L. (7th Grade), and William P. (4th Grade) on winning their respective divisions at this weekend’s Knights of Columbus Free Throw Contest.  Alexis made 19 of 25 free throws, Aiden made 16 of 25, and William 13 of 25.  All three will be heading to the Regional Finals, along with the other 4 winners (who were from from other area schools).

 

Box Tops

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FYI, Box Tops will be counted on March 6th for the next dress down contest.

3rd Grade Career Speakers

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To encourage 3rd grade students to dream big when it comes to their future, teachers have been inviting special guest speakers, from a wide variety of professions, into the classroom to discuss the education, skills, and training needed for a particular job/career.

The objectives of this initiative are to deepen the awareness of what it takes to be successful, allow students to begin examining their own interests, and develop self-confidence for students to achieve their future goals (even though we know those goals could change many times).

Below are a few pictures from Friday’s guest (and SJS parent), Mr. O’Callaghan, a Fire Captain, who talked about about the huge amount of training (physical and educational) that firefighters go through, what a typical day on the job consists of, important skills (like teamwork!), and much more.

As you can see in the pictures, the 3rd graders are really interested in learning from our special guests and enjoying the opportunity to ask questions in a relaxed setting.

Students have also heard talks by a Physical Therapist (who brought a cool skeleton!) and a College Professor, with more special guests being lined up for the weeks to come including a Pediatric ER Nurse, a Corporate Lawyer, and more!  If you (or a relative) would like to come in to share your profession with our 3rd grade students, please reach out to SJS parent/school board member Andrea Piotrowski (ampiotrowski@yahoo.com) who is helping to coordinate this program for our school.

 

 

 

7th Grade Science Fair

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Congratulations to all of our 7th Grade Students on an excellent job at the science fair today. Students did an excellent job presenting their findings to the younger and older grades as well as the many judges, parents, grandparents, and staff in attendance. Special thanks to SJS Science Teacher Mrs. Plante for putting this together, and to the many parents who came in to judge the competition.

Congratulations to the winners:
1st Place: Max I. (Ginkco Beloba)
2nd Place: Kaitlyn N. (Cookie Sheets)  & Michael F. & Nick K. (Earthquake)
3rd Place:  Lauren T. & Jillian V. (Apple Challenge)
Honorable Mentions:  Evan G. & Ben C. (Bendy Bones ),  Ben C. & Alex P. (Climacteric Fruit), Divya P. & Sean L. (Solar Cooker), Batter Up (Mason B. & Andrew A.)

Science Fair

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Monday, January 22nd is the rescheduled 7th Grade Science Fair at Saint James School. SJS parents and other guests are welcome to visit between the hours of 8:30am – 12:00pm to view the various projects and chat with the presenters.  Please enter through the main doors and check in at the SJS Main Office before going down to the Gym.

Rescheduled Middle School Dance

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The annual Middle School “Dressy”  Dance that was originally scheduled for December 15th has been rescheduled to this Friday, January 19th, from 7:00pm – 9:30pm at St. Bridget School.  The school will still be collecting non-perishable items if you wish to bring one.

January 19th Dance Permission Slip

Knights of Columbus Free Throw Competition

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The annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw Contest will take place at Saint James School Gym this Saturday, January 20th from 2:00pm-4:30pm.  The competition is for boys and girls ages 9-14, all children must be accompanied by an adult.  You can pre-register for this event by downloading this form and bringing it with you to the event using the form below.

2018 K of C Free Throw Informational Flyer

2018_Free_Throw_Registration_Form