NEW! Thank You - Many thanks to our Hot Lunch volunteers who have been so willing to switch shifts and/or come in as a substitute! Over the past few weeks, we’ve needed a number of changes and everyone has been soooooo wonderful in covering for each other. Thank you!
NEW! Upper Campus Honor Roll - Congratulations to our upper campus students who achieved Honor Roll status for the first quarter! Please click HERE to see the list!
NEXT WEEK! Thanksgiving Break -- We will be out of school next week from November 24-26 for Thanksgiving Break! Enjoy your turkey and your time with friends and family!
December and January Calendar Notes -- Looking ahead to December and January, we have a few schedule notes for your calendar:
- Our last day of school before Christmas vacation will be Friday, December 17.
- Our first day back to school after Christmas vacation will be Monday, January 3.
- We will have NO school on Monday, January 17 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day.
UPDATED! THIS WEEK! Parent-Teacher Conferences - Upper campus parent-teacher conferences will be held this evening, Wednesday, November 17, and lower campus conferences will be held tomorrow evening, Thursday, November 18. PLEASE NOTE: If you are not feeling well, please do not attend any in person conference. Contact your child’s teacher to schedule a virtual conference or schedule an in person meeting once you are feeling better. Thank you!
NEW! Lessons and Carols/Christmas Tree Lighting: Gather the whole family for our Lessons and Carols/Christmas Tree Lighting on Friday, December 3 at 6:00 PM in front of the lower campus building! This event will be a beautiful merging of upper and lower campus traditions, presented by our faculty and staff. Following the blessing and lighting of our school Christmas tree, the story of the promise of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus will be told in short bible readings, interspersed with the singing of traditional Christmas carols. All are invited!
NEW! Grade 5 & 6 CYO Boys Basketball: Last call for 5th and 6th grade boys to play CYO basketball! We are in need of a few more players and also coaches. Without coaches, we will not be able to submit teams into the league. Our team selections will be tonight 7:30 to 8:30 at the upper campus. Practices are weekly on Wednesdays, 7:15 to 8:30 and the first game is this Saturday November 20th. All games will be played on Saturdays in Manchester. Contact Tracy Beauregard ([email protected]) with questions.
School Portraits Update -- A few families have reached out to ask when we will receive our school portraits from O’Connor Studios. In the past we would have received our pictures at about this time. We spoke with our representative at O’Connor who explained that they are experiencing production delays caused by supply shortages for raw materials as well as recent personnel shortages at their lab. These circumstances are very unusual for O’Connor and many other businesses dealing with the same obstacles right now. They share our frustration and are committed to completing our orders as soon as they are able. O’Connor Studios appreciates your patience and hopes to have our print photographs and digital uploads ready sometime between November 26 and November 29. Given how close that is to our scheduled Retake/Absentee Day on December 1, we are pushing that date back one week to allow families enough time to review their photos before deciding whether they want a retake. The new Retake/Absentee Day is on Wednesday, December 8 at both campuses. We will keep you posted if there are any more changes. Please feel free to reach out to Carol Fiore at [email protected] with any questions.
Board of Directors Web Page - We have added a Board of Directors page to our website. The page features short biographies of each of our Board members, as well as meeting minutes and a form for contacting the Board with questions. You can find the page by clicking HERE.
Lower Campus Water Bottles - Installation of our lower campus water bottle fillers is underway! We are waiting on some final installation details and we hope to have them operational after Thanksgiving. We will let you know when they are ready for use!
In the meantime, please be sure to send your child in with a reusable water bottle...or two...FULL of water. Provide water bottles or bottle refills for all students at the lower campus is cost prohibitive and we continue to have all water fountains blocked in accordance with our COVID protocols. Thanks!
Education Freedom Awards - We have been notified that Education Freedom Accounts awards are being actively processed and awarded to eligible families who applied for the program. Parents should look for an email from the Children’s Scholarship Fund for more information.
LIBRARY NEWS - Changes to the Lower Campus Birthday Book Program - This year we will be approaching the Birthday Book program a little differently since the books are taking a very long time to come in! If you would like to order a book for the library in your student's name commemorating their birthday, please send an email to me and let me know. Your student will choose a library bound book and I will send home a slip with the book name and cost, usually between $10-$15. Once the book comes in, I will process it with a bookplate which will include your student's name, their birth month and school year. The bookplate will be placed on the inside cover.Your student will be the first to check it out! I will be sending home notices in November and January. You do not need to wait for a notice. The sooner we get the orders in the better! Thank you so much for supporting our school library. Happy Reading!
SCRIP for Christmas! – Did you know that you can purchase gift cards to most popular retailers and restaurants quickly and easily online through the Shop with Scrip Program…AND benefit St. Chris at the same time? Click HERE, create an account using our school code 751C7D6L13155, order gift cards from a long list of retailers and restaurants and the gift cards will be shipped directly to the school. You’ll usually receive your gift cards in under a week, and the school receives anywhere from 1.25% to 14% of your gift card purchase! Christmas is a perfect time to give the program a try, with gift card options like Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, Target, and Barnes and Noble! SCRIP also has an app for your phone! Makes ordering and managing gift cards soooo easy! Check out RaiseRight by ShopWithScrip!
Donation Drives -- Helping others less fortunate than ourselves is always a priority of our Saint Chris community, especially as the challenges of winter approach. To that end, we have two important donation drives happening over the next few weeks at both campuses:
Socks and Underwear Drive - Student Jack Foster is coordinating a drive to collect new socks and underwear to benefit at-risk veterans and those who are homeless within our community through the Officer Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund. Collection bins are available in both lobbies until November 19. Please see the flyer HERE.
ENDS THIS WEEK! Coat Drive - We are also collecting new or gently used warm coats for children and adults as part of the Coats for Kids and Families Coat Drive hosted by Anton’s Cleaners. There is a box for collections in the lobbies of both campuses from November 8 through November 15. Please see the flyer HERE for more details.
Applications for 2022-2023 - Do you know a family who would like to join the Saint Chris community next year? Do you have a younger child who will be ready for PreK or Kindergarten next year? Applications are now being accepted for new students for the 2022-2023 school year! Veteran families can complete a new student application through their Family Portal. New families should start the process HERE. Note: Reenrollment for all current students will take place starting on January 1, 2022.
Happy Hearts Day Care - Happy Hearts Daycare, located across the street from the lower campus at 12 Cushing Ave, has two openings for extended care. The hours are 6:30 to 8:30 AM and 3:00 to 5:30 PM. They accommodate students on snow days, two hour delay, early release, no school days (except for the major holidays) and even if there is a power outage :) They also provide care on the Christmas, February and April vacation weeks. If interested, please call...880-6575.
NEW! Nashua Blast Lacrosse Registration - Registration is now open for the Nashua Blast Lacrosse program for boys and girls in grades K-8. Indoor practices begin in mid-February. See the flyer HERE for more information.
NEW! Thanksgiving Mass at St. Chris Parish - St. Christopher Parish will hold a Thanksgiving mass on Thursday, November 25 at 8:30 AM. What a wonderful opportunity to give thanks to the Lord for all of his gifts this year!