Attention Parents of Grade 8 Boys

Xavier High School will host an entrance exam on Saturday, November 14 at 8:30 am. The exam will be done online from the comfort of your home.

If you would like your son to take this exam, please complete the entrance exam registration. Start by going to www.xavierhighschool.org and click Apply Now. By applying now, your son will have the opportunity to earn a scholarship to attend Xavier and be eligible to participate in events we have for admitted students throughout the winter and spring.

All application materials are due by November 23. Those include an essay, letters of recommendation, and report cards. Decision letters will be sent out in mid-December. Financial aid applications are now open as well and all materials for financial aid are due by December 30.

HSA Meeting Tonight

There will be a virtual HSA meeting this Thursday, November 12th, at 7:00pm.  All SJS parents/guardians are welcome to join.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76043073769?pwd=NVFDTXU1cmk0QnlmYnVvd2FvbDJYUT09

Meeting ID: 760 4307 3769
Passcode: 5AAyzb

No Hot Lunch Tomorrow

Due to the public schools being closed tomorrow — Wednesday, November 11th — for Veterans’ Day, Saint James School will not have hot lunch available tomorrow.

All students will need to bring a lunch and drink from home tomorrow.

STEM Club

STEM Club starts next week!  The first session will be held after school on Thursday, November 19 from 2:10-3:00pm for students in 4th grade.  If your child would like to attend, please fill out the Permission Form below.  There will be a limit of 9 students in this session.  If more than 9 students are interested, there will be a waitlist and students on the waitlist will be given priority for the next 4th grade session.

Please visit our Virtual Book Fair

Our virtual book fair is well underway and will run until November 15th with 25% of every purchase going towards the purchase of new books for our school library and classrooms!

Book purchases of $25+ will ship to your home for free!

You can enter our book fair HERE.

Please click HERE to view the library and classroom wish lists. Notice that there is a tab for every teacher.  Please check off any books you purchase for them.

Please contact Alicia Poth at aliciapoth@gmail.com with any questions.

Thank you for your support!

Absence & Remote Learner Reminders

This is a republish from a few weeks ago but we wanted to share this again with our families:

As we continue to best meet the educational needs for all our students, we have determined that some clarifications regarding protocols for attendance and reporting of absences is necessary.  This includes all students — those who participate in remote learning as well as those who are in-person learners.

1.  Parents/Guardians must call the school nurse (option #3)  to report any and all absences, regardless of the reason, by 8:00 am.  This includes remote learners.

2. Students who are absent from school for personal reasons (i.e. vacation/travel) should continue to keep up with missing classwork, but are not allowed to attend classes virtually.  Their absence from school will be noted in the school’s daily attendance report.

3. We really appreciate how diligent our parents/guardians have been these past few weeks in keeping students home from school at the sign of any illness (even if students are not experiencing the “high-risk” COVID symptoms).  These students, and students who are remaining home due to a COVID-related issue (quarantining due to close contact with a COVID-positive person, experiencing COVID-related symptoms, or awaiting COVID test results), but are otherwise able to attend school, may sign in remotely and attend classes virtually.  A parent/guardian must call the school nurse to report the student’s absence from in-person learning (please do not email the teacher or the school office of the absence).

With devices now being sent home nightly, it is possible that K – 3 students needing to stay home (not for personal reasons) can be part of the remote learning on their first day of absence.  If the decision is made too close to the start of the school day, teachers will not have time to upload the materials to the Seesaw platform. Students can still live-stream from home beginning at 8:00am as long as all other remote learning protocol are followed.

Please do note, however, if the student is truly not feeling well and is not able to remain online with their class for a full day, they really do need to take the day as a “sick day”.

**It might be helpful to familiarize yourself with the “Student Expectations for Remote Learning” (click to open), also found in the parent/student handbook. in case your student needs to attend class remotely.

**Students who are traveling or are on vacation, will be marked absent, and are expected to complete the classwork posted in their Google Classroom. They may not attend classes virtually. Please refer to the parent/student handbook for additional information regarding attendance and school policy. 

**Reminder: Students (in-person and remote) are tardy if they are not in school when the bell rings at 7:55 am.

Water Bottle Reminder

As a reminder, every student should be bringing a water bottle with them to school each day.  The water fountains are shut off, with the exception of the bottle filling capability.

Virtual Mass for this Weekend

If you do not wish to attend Mass in person this weekend, below is the link for the Saint James Parish Mass for Sunday, November 8th, 2020.

https://youtu.be/yf62PqCe39A

 

Reminders About Afternoon Pick-up

As a reminder, while you are on Saint James School property, to ensure everyone’s safety, masks are required.  Even outside at arrival or dismissal time, we are still in close contact and are trying to be exceptionally vigilant for the health and safety of our staff and students.

Also, as a reminder, at dismissal – adults should form an organized line for the grade in which they are picking up their child.  This allows the teacher to visually connect each child with their caregiver for safety reasons.

The safety of our students, families, and staff continues to be our number one priority.  Please pass this information along to any family members/caregivers not in our email group but take part in dropping off or picking up as these two items have been brought to our attention as concerns from our school community.

Thank you for your cooperation and attention to these items.

 

Book Fair: Important Message

There was a technical issue yesterday with our book fair site.  If you placed an order and do not think you earned 25% for the school, please contact Alicia Poth at aliciapoth@gmail.com.

Remember to enter the Scholastic book fair using our school’s special link:  https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/saintjamesschool and be sure to sign in.

25% of every purchase from now until Nov 15 will go back to our school to purchase books for our library and classrooms!  We appreciate your support!