All School Mass - This morning's All School Mass was a wonderful success! We had a glorious morning for our lower campus buddies to walk to the upper campus for Mass and back. Thank you to our upper campus hosts and to Fr. David for the beautiful Mass! Check out our Facebook (HERE) and Instagram (HERE) pages for a few photos of the morning!
THANK YOU!
Trivia Night Thank You - Thank you to Mrs. Lowry and Ms. Nott, with Mr. Quiqley’s assistance, for the fabulous Trivia Night for our 5th through 8th grade students last Friday! The kids had a blast and are already looking forward to the next session on Friday, November 15!
Picture Day Thank You - Special thanks to Erica Lilley for volunteering at the lower campus for Picture Day last week!
Oktoberfest Thank You - Thank you to Ms. Bedard for representing us at Immaculate Conception Parish’s Oktoberfest this past Sunday! We were happy to be a part of the festivities as a sponsor and with our display table!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Calendar Raffle Winners - Looking for a list of daily winners? We have a running post HERE on the school website and a pinned list of winners HERE on Facebook!
NEW! Spirit Day - In appreciation to our students for beating our school Calendar Raffle goal, THIS Thursday, October 10th will be a NO HOMEWORK DAY and THIS Friday, October 11 will be a Saint Chris Spirit Day…students may wear their spirit shirts, team shirts/sweatshirts, or blue and white. Bottoms may be student choice, as long as they follow the school Free Dress guidelines.
NEW! Tuition Raffle Drawing! On Friday, we will also hold our Tuition Raffle Drawing LIVE on Facebook HERE at 8:15 AM! Families received one tuition raffle ticket for every 10 calendar raffle tickets sold. The winner of the Tuition Raffle wins their choice of a $1,500 tuition credit for the 2025-2026 school year OR $1,000 in cash!
NEXT WEEK! Columbus Day NO School - Next Monday, October 14 will be a NO school day in observance of Columbus Day!
NEW! School Car Magnets - We have a limited number of the new blue car magnets available! Please email Marta at [email protected] if you would like one sent home. Once we have depleted our supply, we will start a waitlist and order more!
Applications for 2025-2026 - Do you know a family who would like to join the Saint Chris community next year? Applications for new students for the 2025-2026 school year are now OPEN. New families should start the process HERE. Note: Re-enrollment for current students will take place starting on November 1, 2024, but we will be accepting new students for open seats next year based on current enrollment numbers.
NOW OPEN! Planning on PreK, Kindergarten or 1st Grade for Your Little One at Home Next Year? - Applications for new students for the 2025-2026 school year are now OPEN! If you have a child at home who will be joining us for the first time next fall, we highly recommend that you apply immediately so that we may reserve his or her space. With PreK and kindergarten enrollment currently at capacity and high interest from new families in both grades, as well as 1st grade, we encourage you to submit your application right away. Veteran families can complete a new student application through their Family Portal. While siblings of current families do have priority, we can only honor that if we know you are interested! Please reach out to Lorrice Bedard, Enrollment Coordinator, at [email protected] with any questions.
Upper Campus Car Riders - Please note that at the end of the day NO students who are car riders should be going out with walkers to be picked up on Columbia Ave. Car riders should be picked up on Bartlett Avenue, in front of the school, only. Columbia Ave. is reserved for bus student pickup ONLY. We appreciate your cooperation with this as we work to keep our students safe at all times.
Forgotten Lunch at the Lower Campus - Hot Lunch service is underway! Because all of our food is pre-ordered through Boonli.com, there are no extra hot lunches available if a student forgets his or her lunch. If a student forgets to bring a lunch, the student will be asked to call home. If a parent cannot bring in a lunch, the child will be given our standard “forgotten lunch” which consists of a bagel and cream cheese and a fruit cup. Parents will be notified of the forgotten lunch and a $3.50 charge will be added to the family’s Boonli account. Please remember that parents should not rely on this as a replacement lunch on a regular basis. It is ONLY if a child forgets a lunch and the parent cannot bring in a lunch.
Hot Lunch Ordering for November- Hard to believe, but online ordering for November’s Hot Lunch through Boonli.com is now open until midnight on Tuesday, October 15! Since we can not accommodate orders placed after midnight on the 15th, please be sure to log in early just in case you run into technical issues. Important: Orders are not placed until you complete the entire ordering process and receive a confirmation email from Boonli.
Miscellaneous Important Details
Upcoming School Masses - All parents are invited to attend our school masses! Parents must enter through the front door of each campus facility, sign in, and receive a nametag to attend. All upper campus masses are at 9:45 AM and lower campus masses will be at 1:45 PM unless otherwise noted. The schedule for the next month is:
- October 24 - 9:45 AM Upper campus (Rain date for all school mass)
- November 1 - All Saints Day Mass - 9:45 AM on BOTH campuses
Student Programs and Activities
NEW! UC Saint Chris’s Kitchen - The next session of Saint Chris's Kitchen will take place on Wednesday, October 16th from 2:45 pm-3:45 pm and consist of making Saint John XXIII's personal pizzas! Those who are interested should reach out to Miss Thompson in person or by email ([email protected]) to get a permission slip and submit their session fee by Tuesday, October 15th. Space is limited to 10 students.
NEW! Ski Club - Registration for this year’s Ski Club is now underway! The Saint Chris Ski Club is a fun opportunity to learn how to ski or snowboard through Crotched Mountain Ski and Ride in Bennington, NH. It is a 6 week program beginning in January. We will ski on Fridays. Students depart school about 2:45 pm to arrive at the mountain for a 4:00 pm lesson. Lessons run an hour long after which students are welcome to enjoy dinner in the lodge and ski the rest of the evening. Buses depart, heading back to school, at 8:00 pm sharp. For more information, please email Mrs. Beauregard at [email protected].
The cost is $408 (including lift/lesson/rentals). There will be a separate charge for the bus which will be posted once we get a final head count. NOTE: Only students in grades 3-8 are permitted to ride the bus. Our younger students are welcome to join Ski Club but must be accompanied by a parent and will need to have transportation to and from the mountain.
* New this year - There is an a la cart option for lessons and rentals if you have an Epic/Epic Local/Northeast Value pass and for those who rent, there will be a fitting night in early November at Crotched Mountain.
SKI BUS TRANSPORTATION: Only students in grades 3-8 are permitted to ride the bus. Our younger students are welcome to join Ski Club but must be accompanied by a parent and will need to have transportation to and from the mountain.
IMPORTANT: All students must be registered for Ski Club using the form HERE by December 1st!
UC Campus Ministry Volunteer Activity - Upper campus students are invited to assist PLUS Company bowling athletes in the Special Olympics at Leda Lanes every Wednesday in October through the month of October! Volunteers will help athletes at Leda Lanes from 4:00 - 5:15 PM. Please contact Ms. Thompson at [email protected] for more information!
STARTS FRIDAY! MathCounts Program for Grades 6 to 8 - Students in grades 6 to 8 are invited to join our new after school MathCounts program! MathCounts is a national math enrichment program and competition series focused on engaging the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of middle school students. Students will gather both in-person and over Zoom with their upper campus peers and coaches to practice math skills and prepare for individual and team competitions later in the year.
Meetings will take place in person at the upper campus on Friday from 2:45 to 3:45 PM. An additional meeting will take place on Zoom on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 PM unless an additional volunteer is available to meet live with the students at another time.
Cost for the MathCounts program is $40, which will be billed through FACTS Incidental Billing. The group will hold its first meeting THIS Friday, October 11. Sign up HERE!
Lower Campus CYO Basketball - Calling all basketball players in grades 3 - 6 to represent Saint Christopher Academy in the CYO Manchester League. The season will run November to March with one weekday practice (days TBD) and games on Saturdays in the Manchester area. Click HERE for more information and to fill out a form to indicate your interest. Contact Mrs. Tracy Beauregard with questions ([email protected]).
UPDATED! Chess, Checkers & Cribbage Club! The Chess, Checkers, and Cribbage Clubs on both campuses are off to a great start! New members are always welcome. To view the schedule for upcoming meetings, please click HERE! (Note: There will be no Upper Campus meeting on October 21.)
Upper Campus Faithful Fridays - Come adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament before school begins on Fridays from 7:00 - 7:30 AM at the Upper Campus Chapel! Parents, teachers and students are welcome to join our Campus Minister, Miss Abbey Thompson, and Mrs. Lester for Faithful Fridays. Stop by and join us as you are able for a moment of prayer. This is a great opportunity to spend quiet time with Jesus as you begin your day and end your week!
Parent Volunteers
TOMORROW NIGHT! Parent Group Meeting - We will be holding our first Parent Group meeting THIS Thursday, October 10 at 7:00 pm at the upper campus. This meeting is for parents on BOTH campuses! Parent Group puts on a variety of school social activities and teacher appreciation opportunities during the school year, including the Father/Daughter Dance, Teacher Appreciation Lunch, and the year-end BBQ. All parents are automatically members of the Parent Group….please join us! Parents interested in getting on the Parent Group email list should sign up HERE.
Ski Club Volunteers - Winter will be here before we know it…and that means it will be time for Ski Club! Our Ski Club is open to all students and takes place for six weeks starting in January at Crotched Mountain. Grades PreK to 2 must be transported to the mountain and accompanied by parents while there. Grades 3 to 8 have the option to ride a bus between school and Crotched. This year, we are in need of several volunteers to make this program a success for the over 100 students who participate! If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Clarke at [email protected]!
NEW! Hot Lunch Volunteer Schedule - Thank you to our fabulous Hot Lunch volunteers! The schedule for the next week is:
Thursday, October 10
LC: Kelly Ciardelli, Jill Queenan
UC: Nadra Bell, Lori Gordon
Friday, October 11
LC: Jaclyn Leland, Erica Lilley, Caitlyn Deblasio
UC: Stacy Cardinale, Nadra Bell
Monday, October 14
LC: No School - Columbus Day
UC: No School - Columbus Day
Tuesday, October 15
LC: Taylor Barry, Leslie Bellows
UC: Nadra Bell
Wednesday, October 16
LC: Courtney Duran, Melanie Marcu
UC: Teresa Carlton, Stephanie St. Jean
Cheer Coach - Goooooo Saint Chris! Our cheer squads raise the spirit at our CYO basketball games throughout the winter season. We are looking to have TWO squads this year, one for grades 3-5 and one for grades 6-8. Coaches would begin meeting with students once or twice a week in October and continue through the season until approximately late-February. For more information, please contact Mrs. Clarke at [email protected].
NEW! Popcorn - Our popcorn poppers this week will be:
Lower Campus: Tarrah Ledoux, LIsa Blanchard, Diane Perault
Upper Campus: Nadra Bell, Jennifer Squillance
CATHOLIC SCHOOL NEWS
Trinity Open House - 8th grade students and their families are invited to join Trinity High School in Manchester for their 2023 Open House for 8th graders and transfer students on Wednesday, November 15th, from 7 pm - 8:30 pm. During the Open House, you will have a chance to meet administrators, faculty, students, visit classrooms, learn about the curriculum and meet members of the club advisors and athletics. Join their admissions mailing list to learn more about upcoming Trinity Admissions events, click here. Please email our Admissions Office with any questions- [email protected] or call 603.668.2910 ext. 220.
Bishop Guertin Open Houses: Bishop Guertin High School will hold two upcoming Open Houses for prospective students and their families in October. The first will take place from October 20 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm and the second will take place on October 24 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Students and families will tour the building, meet faculty and staff, and discover the BG difference. Registration for the event can be completed HERE.
COMMUNITY NEWS
UPDATED! Bishop Guertin SHE BELIEVES Soccer Night - Mark your calendars for a very special soccer night with the Bishop Guertin Girls Varsity soccer team. The team is excited to invite our local elementary and middle school soccer players to their home game on October 8th where they will be walking out with the players to start the game and take a photo in this special theme night of, SHE BELIEVES. Due to the closure of Stellos Stadium, there is a new location and time for the game.
New Date - 10/14/24
New Time - 10:00am start time (please arrive between 9:30-9:40)
New Location - Rivier University
Mrs. Hickey will meet all athletes out front and escort them onto the field to the BG players.
If you have any questions please email Jessica Hickey at [email protected].
NH Knights of Columbus Respect Life Essay Contest - The New Hampshire Knights of Columbus is once again sponsoring a Student Respect Life Essay Contest. The contest is open to any 6-12 grade students in NH. The NH Knights of Columbus will make up to six cash awards of $100. Applicants do not have to be a member of the Knights or a Catholic.
The theme for this year’s contest is: “What does the Catechism say about our cooperation with evil (para # 2271,1868,1869) and how does this correct Catholics who have given scandal by supporting abortion and infanticide?”
Essays should be no longer than 500 words, typed, and submitted as a PDF or Word document. It should be emailed to [email protected] by midnight on Sunday, Dec. 15.
Happy Hearts Day Care - Happy Hearts Day Care, located across the street from the lower campus at 12 Cushing Ave, has one opening for before and after care. The hours are 6:30 to 8:30 AM and 3:00 to 5:30 PM. We accommodate on snow days, two hour delays, 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 Linda at 603-321-9320.