On Thursday, October 24, 2013, Saint James School will be celebrating our annual tradition of Grandparents’ and Special Persons’ Day.  This is an opportunity for our students to share their school with a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other special friend of the family that is a strong supporter of their educational achievements.

The celebration will begin around 10:00am and conclude with the special person participating in an activity in the child’s classroom.  Please keep in mind when thinking about who to invite that our school has three stair levels and no elevators.  Also, please keep in mind there is always a large percentage of students who do not have a visitor on this day due to schedules, distance, etc. and that is perfectly okay as well.

The 2013 Grandparents’ and Special Persons’ Day Committee is hard at work planning this fun event.  Please be on the lookout for more details to be sent home shortly.

There will be a meeting on October 1st at 6:00pm in the Saint James School Gym for any parents who are interested in coaching/assistant coaching for Basketball.  We are in need of many volunteers to help us with this very popular school sport.

There is not currently a coach for the boys 4th & 5th grade so no open gym/clinics are scheduled this week for those grades.  The remaining basketball schedule for the week is as follows (remember, the Saint James School Athletics Health Form 2013-2014 must be submitted to the school before your student can participate in this program (no exceptions will be made):

ST JAMES OPEN GYMS WEEK OF 9-22-13

MONDAY: GIRLS

5 TO 6PM : 4^TH,5^TH AND 6^TH GRADERS

6 TO 8PM: 7^TH AND 8^TH GRADERS

TUESDAY: BOYS

6:30 TO 8:30PM: 6^TH,7^TH AND 8^TH GRADE

WEDNESDAY: GIRLS

5 TO 6PM: 4^TH AND 5^TH GRADE

6 TO 8PM: 6,7,8^TH GRADE

THURSDAY: BOYS

6:30 TO 8:30PM:  6^TH,7^TH AND 8^TH GRADE

This year, Saint James School will again participate in the Frank Rizza Elementary School Cross Country Challenge.  The event is being held on Saturday, October 19th at Manchester High School and is for boys & girls in Kindergarten through grade 5.

More details can be found in the attached Cross Country Challenge Registration Form. If your child is interested in running, please fill out the bottom part of the form and return it to the school office as soon as possible.

We are also in need of several parent volunteers from Saint James School to help out with our registration table, scoring table, racer supervision, and awarding of prizes.  If you are able to help us out in one of these capacities the day of the event (8:00am – 12:30pm), please contact Amy Guenther – who is coordinating this event for our school as a parent volunteer.  She can be reached at jag8699@cox.net.

All runners will receive a participation ribbon.  Individual medals will be awarded to the top 15 finishers in each race.  Trophies will also be awarded to the top placing schools in each race.  It’s a great morning and a lot of fun for the kids.  We hope you will join us!!

Please submit a registration form by Friday, October 4th in order for your child(ren) to receive a participant t-shirt.

Just a reminder that tonight (Tuesday) is Meet The Teachers night for grades Pre-K through 5th.  Students are invited to attend with their parent(s).  Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is meet the teachers night for grades 6-8.  Parents are asked to attend without their student(s).  We look forward to seeing you!

Saint James School will host a VIRTUS (protecting God’s Children) class on September 30th at 6:30pm in the Saint James CHURCH basement.  If you plan to attend, please register by calling the Saint James School office at 860.643.5088 (option #1 on the main menu).

If you are in need of a background check form (required for all school volunteers, along with VIRTUS), please stop in the SJS office for a copy or you can download it here.  You only need to complete the VIRTUS training one time (you do not need to retake the class each year).