Families with a student preparing to receive First Reconciliation and First Communion in May are required to attend the Family Sacrament Preparation days which will be on Sunday, January 21st and Sunday, May 5th, immediately following the 10am Mass at St. Bartholomew Church.  This applies to Catholic students in grade 2, and Catholic students in grades 3 – 8 who have not previously made these sacraments and wish to do so.  At least one parent is required to attend with their child.  If you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s teacher.

We are looking forward to a little friendly competition amongst grades with the return of the Box Tops Dress Down Competition.  Please download the Box Tops App (if you don’t already have it) and each time you purchase products with the Box Tops Logo, take a picture of your receipt using the App.  Box Tops earnings will be automatically credited to your account!  Be sure to have St James School Manchester, CT designated as your child’s school – you will also be able to “Give Credit” to a certain grade after each scan so it will be counted towards the competition!

The grade with the most earnings during the contest period (now through March 31st) will win a free dress down day.

We also have a special Box Tops “Leader Board” that we will post periodically and share over announcements to give updates!

 

As a reminder, there is no school on Monday – January 15th – for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.

National Catholic Schools Week is an annual celebration of Catholic education in our Country.  During Catholic Schools week (which runs January 28th – February 3rd) Catholic schools across the country will be celebrating and highlighting faith-based education in a variety of ways.  Next week our full flyer of events for CSW will be sent home.

As part of the events, we are asking SJS students to represent our school by attending any of the weekend Masses throughout the Parish in their school uniform.  In addition, we are looking for TWO STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES for select Masses occurring the weekend of the 27th & 28th to hand out a special gift from our school as parishioners enter or leave the Church. With them will be other student representatives, from our sister school St. Bridget  (student representatives in middle school will receive service hour credit).

If your child would like to help, please SIGN UP HERE.  In addition to each helper, we are looking for one alternate per Mass in case one of our primary student volunteers is unable to make it last minute.

Student representatives and alternates should be in Grades 2 – 8, please.

Please note that students in grade 3-8 will be taking the next round of MAP Tests on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of THIS week.  Please ensure your student is at school on time, otherwise they will have to wait in the main office until testing is done and make up the test another day.  Thank you!