Sunday, April 11

Good Afternoon Families,

We hope that you all had a great holiday break. We are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and seeing our students this tomorrow.

The weather forecast looks pretty damp, wet and cold for the next week so we encourage all students to dress for the weather.

Please review the hygiene and safety protocols with your children prior to their return tomorrow. The newsletters with these protocols outlined can be found on our school website. We encourage our parent community to regularly check our website for updates and information: https://stms.nlesd.ca/

Handwashing, sanitizing, mask wearing and physical distancing are very important as we return to school this week and continue to keep ourselves and each other safe.

Just a reminder to families that School Lunch ordering for the month of May opens this Wednesday April 14, and closes next Tuesday April 20. Please find attached the School Lunch Menu for April:

April School Lunch Menu

We appreciate the time taken by families who have already completed the School Development Survey for Families. This information is very important and valuable to us in our planning to further assist St. Matthew's School strive for excellence. If you have not already completed the survey, please take some time to complete the attached. We thank you kindly in advance for your participation.

You may access and complete the anonymous survey online - from a computer or mobile device - by visiting the website below:

https://www.research.net/r/SDFamily2021EN

Thank you for your participation and for being a valued member of your school community.

Charmayne & Valerie

Thursday, April 1

Good afternoon families,

We would like to share with you a flyer for an Active Outdoors Challenge. This starts today and runs the entire month of April. You can click on the links in the flyer attached below to view a video with more details and to register as either a family or as an individual. We really value outdoor wellness at St. Matthew’s so we hope that many of you will sign up. There looks to be some very cool prizes!

As well, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Easter/Spring break. We hope that there is much sunshine and that you all enjoy some rest and relaxation with your “Steady Twenty”. It has certainly been a winter like no other, and we truly believe that everyone deserves a holiday!

We will return to school on Monday April 12th. This will be Day 5 on our 7 day Schedule.

For those who celebrate, Happy Easter!

Valerie and Charmayne

Active Outdoors Challenge

Wednesday, March 31

Good Morning Families,

Just a reminder of early dismissal today starting at 11:00 am due to Parent Teacher Interviews.

11:00 am - Kindergarten Grade 2, 2/3

11:07 am - Grade 1, 4FI, 5, 5/6

11:15 am -Grade 3, 4, 6, 7

Please log into OPTIS to access your virtual parent teacher interview appointment using the following link:

http://www.parentinterviews.com/stmatthews

Tomorrow is a full day of school. There is no school lunch services tomorrow due to a PL day for School Lunch Association workers. There is no school on Friday, April 2 as it is a school holiday with Easter break running all next week. Students return to classes on Monday April 12, 2021 and it will be Day 5 on our 7-day schedule.

Warmest Regards,

Charmayne & Valerie

Monday, March 29

Good Afternoon Families,

Please find attached a memo from CEO /Director of Education Anthony Stack regarding extra-curricular activities.

Memo to Families: Extra-Curricular Activities

As well, report cards are being sent home with students today.

Take care,

Charmayne Rumbolt

Principal

Sunday, March 28

Good Afternoon Families,

We hope you are all enjoying the sunshine that is peaking through now after the blast of wintery weather this weekend! Just a couple of reminders for this week:

* OPTIS closes tomorrow at 10:00 am for those wishing to book appointments for virtual parent teacher interviews that will be held on Wednesday March 31. Please use the following link to book appointments: http://www.parentinterviews.com/stmatthews

* There will be no School Lunch services for students on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

* Students will begin being dismissed early on Wednesday March 31 starting at 11:15 am for parent teacher interviews.

* Thank you to those families who have already returned chromebooks. For those who have yet to return them to school, please return chromebooks that were borrowed for online learning at your earliest convenience.

* Please see the following photograph that indicates No Parking zones on our parking lot and school grounds:

No Parking

We would like to thank you all for your continued support throughout this school year and especially over the last few weeks as we adapted to different learning scenarios. We are so proud of all of our students for their amazing efforts to engage in learning, adjust to change and to rebound once back in school. They are truly amazing and are following all of the safety guidelines and new practices. Please commend your kids for their hard work and compliance to so many new things. They have been inspirations during all of this!

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Charmayne & Valerie

Wednesday, March 24

Good evening families,

We certainly hope you are enjoying this fabulous weather. We have to enjoy every moment of sunshine we can gather in this province and we are certain that we all deserve some glorious weather!

Friday is Purple Day! This is the nationally recognized day of epilepsy awareness in Canada. This is your chance to spread the word about the seizure disorder that affects one in 100 Canadians, and a number of students at St. Matthew’s. We are asking our entire school community to please wear purple on this day.

A reminder as well that the OPTIS system is now open for scheduling parent teacher interviews. Please use this link to schedule an appointment with your child’s teacher if you have not already done so. https://secure.parentinterviews.com/stmatthews. Parent Teacher Interviews will once again be virtual this year, and a reminder that students will be dismissed early on March 31st to accommodate for this reason. We will be utilizing our staggered dismissal on this day with students dismissed at the following times:

11:00 AM Kindergarten , grade 2, 2/3 ,

11:07 AM Grade 1, 4FI, 5, 5/6,

11:15 AM Grade 3, 4Eng, 6, 7

A reminder from the School Lunch Association that there will be no lunch on March 31st due to parent teacher interviews. Those students who have registered for lunch on this day, will have their lunch on March 25th. It will be the same meal as was offered on the 31st (Chicken fajita, rice, carrot sticks, apple sauce).

Finally, a reminder to please complete your school development surveys. This feedback from families is extremely important to us in determining our school development plans. You can complete the school development survey by following this link: https://www.research.net/r/SDFamily2021EN

As always, thank you for your ongoing support and interest in your child’s education.

Valerie and Charmayne

Sunday, March 21

Good Afternoon Families,

We hope that you are all enjoying your weekend, the beginning of Spring and this beautiful sunny day. We would like to thank you all so much for your support and cooperation last week as we welcomed all students and staff back to in-class learning. We certainly were not anticipating a fire alarm on the first day back, but our students and staff were exceptional in their emergency procedures to safely exit the building until things were handled by the Fire Department. We are so very proud of everyone for their conduct and adherence to emergency and evacuation procedures.

We also just want to extend additional thanks to you all for supporting your children during the period of remote learning. We understand that it was a stressful and challenging time for everyone as the pivot to remote learning happened quickly. We are exceptionally grateful to you all for supporting your children, to our teaching staff and student & program assistants for going above and beyond to connect with and continue with learning with their students, and especially to our students who are the true heroes throughout this pandemic year. Their courage, determination and resilience to adapt to the changes in learning over the course of this year and las, is truly remarkable and we commend them. You should all be so very proud as are we.

We ask that you pay careful attention to the following reminders:

Chromebook return:

Chromebooks that were lent to families during remote learning are due back to school tomorrow. Please send along the device(s) with your child to be returned to the office. Staff will be helping students bring items into the school & drop off at a table that will be set up in the foyer upon entry tomorrow morning.

OPTIS Scheduler:

Report cards will be going home with students next Monday March 29. Virtual parent teacher interviews will be held next Wednesday March 31. The OPTIS appointment scheduler will be opening at 9:00 am tomorrow morning for parents to book appointments with teachers. The scheduler will close on Monday March 29 at 10:00 am. Please see the attached memo that was sent home with students this past week.

Report Card/Optis Memo

Parking Lot:

Thank you all for your cooperation in maneuvering the parking lot on our school grounds. We recognize that the parking lot can be cumbersome and busy at arrival and dismissal times and we very much appreciate your patience and respect for all patrons. Please take note of the following:

* Please do not park in the fire lane - alternate transportation drop off lane at any time. This lane is for special transportation drop off and for emergency vehicles only. This lane is prohibited to all other vehicles at all times while school is in session and as well when school is not. Please do not park there after school hours. As well please do not drive into the front area of the school building close to the school doors.

*U-turns at the entrance of the parking lot is illegal and strictly prohibited. All vehicles must follow the one-way route onto the parking lot and around the perimeter to exit at all times.

* Please do not park in any areas of the parking lot where pylons are located. Pylons are placed in areas that need extra space for lane thoroughfare and turning onto special transportation lane for busses. As well, please refrain from parking along the sidewalk adjacent to the playground. This space in not for parking and is clearly marked with signage. Parking here prevents vehicles from safely exiting the lot turning right onto Cowan avenue as it poses visual obstruction.

School Lunch:

Please note that online ordering for the month of April closes on Tuesday March 23. April lunch will not start until April 12 after Easter break. As well, please note that there will be no school lunch service on March 31 or April 1.

Finally, we want to again thank you all for your continued support to all of us and your children this year. Your children are demonstrating exceptional behaviour, respect and cooperation upon return to in-class learning. Ms. Ryan and I were able to visit all classrooms at lunch time on Friday to check in with students. We noticed that they were calm, happy, compliant to new mask regulations and settled back in their classrooms with their peers. They also provided us with feedback on their remote learning experiences and offered insight and suggestions on ways to continue in the future. We are so proud of their transition back. As well, we thank you all for your compliance with social distancing and mask wearing on school grounds when you drop off and pick up your children. You are all such an amazing part of our school community and we are sincerely grateful for all of your assistance to us during this school year.

Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Charmayne & Valerie

Friday, March 19, 2021

Good afternoon families,

We would first of all like to congratulate all of our students on their first couple of days back at school. We are delighted with how well they are adjusting to our new COVID protocols and we are so happy to see their smiling faces (although hidden) back at school!

We would also like to let you know that School Lunch ordering for the month of April is now open and will close on Tuesday March 23rd. There will be no school lunch available on April 1st and the Easter break will be from April 2nd-9th.

As well, please note that there will now be lunch available on March 25th; however there will be no lunch on March 31st due to the dismissal at 11:15 for Parent Teacher Interviews.

You can order from the School Lunch Association via http://schoollunch.ca/.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Valerie and Charmayne

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Good Day St. Matthew’s families,

This message is to inform you that our school had a fire alarm this morning (Thursday, March 18) which resulted in emergency personnel being present at our school for approximately an hour.

The alarm went off just after 9am and required the evacuation of all students and staff. While the matter was investigated by St. John’s Regional Fire Department and District facilities staff, school staff remained with and reassured students outside for approximately 30 minutes before the all clear was provided and everyone could reenter the building.

At no time was it believed the safety of our students was in jeopardy and everyone is now safe and secure back inside the building within their classes.

It has been determined that there is an issue with an electrical sensor in the fire alarm system that is being addressed today. There remains, however, the possibility that should the alarm sound again today, students and staff may have to evacuate to ensure building safety before re-entry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Charmayne Rumbolt
Principal

Monday, March 15, 2021

Good Afternoon Families,

We hope that you are all enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful. Please find attached the March newsletter with important information as we plan our physical return to school for all students on Thursday, March 18, 2021.

March Newsletter

We are so thankful for your support and cooperation as we connected and learned so much during the last 4 weeks of remote learning. We are so proud of our students for their engagement during this time, but are very eager to get back to and engage with our students in school.

Families are expected to return school-loaned chromebooks on Monday, March 22, 2021. We will be requiring these devices for student learning and engagement in school and they will need to be updated and sanitized.

Online learning will continue tomorrow and Wednesday for students at a less robust schedule and time requirement. We will all be working together to assist in the transition back to in-class learning for our students and staff.

Warmest Regards,

Charmayne & Valerie

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Good Afternoon Families,

Please see attached a very important memo from NLESD regarding our physical return to school on Thursday, March 18, 2021.

NLESD Memo Regarding Return to School (03 11 21)

Online learning will continue for students on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. As you all know there are no classes for any students on Monday March 15, 2021 as this is a school holiday.

We look forward to welcoming all of our students back and working with our school community in the transition back to scenario 1.

Take care and stay safe,

Charmayne & Valerie