St. Patrick Catholic School-

It has been a tradition in the Catholic Church to use chalk as part of blessing one’s home in the New Year. The home blessing can be done as follows: Using chalk, mark the current year and the initials of the Maji above the outside doorways of your home. Place a cross between each of the letters. It should look something like this:

20 + C + M + B + 23

The markings over the door should be left all year round, as a sign for all who enter, that this is a Christian space.

Then pray the following prayer with your family:

May all who come to our home this year

rejoice to find Christ living among us;

and may we seek and serve,

in everyone we meet,

that same Jesus who is Lord of all people,

forever and ever.

Amen.

Meaning of inscription:

• 2023 years after Jesus was born

• The “+” reminds us of the cross

• C is for Casper, M is for Melchior, B is for Balthazar (The names traditionally given to the wisemen who visited Jesus)

• The initials CMB also abbreviate the latin words “Christus Mansionem Benedictat” which means “May Christ bless this dwelling”

January

• 12th- Fr.Kris visit-grade 2
• 13th- Nature KG Day
• 19th- School Council Meeting- 7pm at the school
• 20th- Hockey Academy- grade 3 and 4 students signed up
• 26th- Family Literacy Night- SAVE THE DATE
• 27th- Hockey Academy-grade 3 and 4 students signed up
• 30th- PD- No school for students

February

• Friday 3rd- Report cards go home

For our Family Literacy Night coming up at the end of the month we are looking for donations of gently used books of all levels and genres for families to take home and read. Any donated books would be appreciated and can dropped off at the office.

As you have no doubt been watching and experiencing, Alberta has been suffering from high rates of RSV, Influenza and COVID-19. We want to thank you for making the right choice to keep your children home when they are experiencing symptoms. In order to help us have the best possible data and communicate with Alberta Health Services if required, we would ask that you report any flu or cold like symptom under the FLU heading in the School Messenger App. Please report absences to the office or through the School Messenger App.

Using Safe Arrival, parents can report:

• FLU - Illness due to flu and cold like symptoms

• ILL - Other illness or injury.

• EXC - Parent Excused (i.e taking your child on a holiday)

Thanks for your attention to this matter, as always, we are working hard to ensure that all students and staff remain safe.

The office hours are: 8:00 - 3:30 during scheduled school days.

If calling during lunch time (12:00 - 12:30) please leave a message and Ms. Miller will return your call as soon as she can.

Remember to phone and book an appointment if you need to come into the school @ 780-672-2177.

Parent Volunteers

Parents wanting to volunteer at the school or for field trips need to have a Criminal Record Check, Child Intervention Check and sign a Volunteer Confidentiality Undertaking form.

Request forms for these can be picked up at the school office. If you are unsure if you have these documents already completed you can call the office and we can check. These checks can take a while to process so if you are wanting to volunteer please get these done ASAP.

End of day phone messages to students

If you have a message to pass onto your child for end of day arrangements please call the school office no later than 2:45 pm.

It is very difficult to find a child once they have left the classroom at the end of the school day.

Parent/visitor access

All visitors to the school must sign in at the office.

Student absences

Please report student absences to the office or through school messanger.

Twitter-@StPatrickSch2

School Facebook Page(new)- St. Patrick Catholic School Camrose

Facebook School Council Page- St.Pat's School Council

****PLEASE STAY CLEAR FROM BUS LANES AT THE BEGINNING OF OUR DAY AND AT THE END OF OUR DAY. PLEASE STAY CLEAR OF THE STAFF PARKING LOT AT THE START AND END OF THE DAY*****

IMAGINE... BELIEVE... ACHIEVE...

Email: michelle.nanias@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stp.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 4816-53 Avenue Camrose, Alberta T4V 0Y2
Phone: 780-672-2177
Twitter: @StPatrickSch2