Message From the Principal
February 1, 2010
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the month of valentines, presidents, and winter break. February is also the month that kicks off the second half of the school year with plenty of time devoted to serious study.
We are in the midst of our Catholic Schools Week celebrations. The Family Mass and Breakfast was a wonderful way to start off our week. Many thanks to Jeanne and Rick Karnath and all of the volunteers who organized, cooked, served, and cleaned up for this event. Also, we are grateful to all those who planned and took part in the 9:00 Liturgy as we proclaimed this year’s theme: “Catholic Schools: Dividends for Life”.
So far this week we have had a mix and match dress up day; a celebration of African culture with our wonderful storyteller, Celes Tisdale; a collection of toiletry items for Reaching Out 2 Africa; and some exciting Spirit Day volleyball competitions. Coming up as we end the week will be our Thursday Liturgy with a Catholic Schools Week theme, Quiz Bowl competitions and Fun Friday.
Yes, Friday is Catholic Charities Fun Day. Activities for the day will include board games, BINGO, a movie, and a roller skating party in the gym. We still need many parents to help keep our littlest skaters on their feet, so if you can help please let us know. Thanks to the many parents who already have signed up to help. We’re looking forward to a great day.
Report cards will be distributed on Monday, February 1st. Please be sure that your tuition account is current so that your child may receive his or her report card. There will be Parent-Teachers conferences on Friday, February 5th for parents of children in pre-school, the transitional program, and kindergarten. The children in these classes will not have school on that day. Grades one through eight will be in session as usual.
On Tuesday, February 9th at 6:30pm, Queen of Heaven School will host an Open House for prospective students and parents. If you know of any family who is considering enrolling a child in pre-school, kindergarten, or any grade, kindly let them know about this event. We will have a slide show highlighting school activities, give tours of our facilities, and have teachers and parents available to talk about programs and answer questions. Our junior high students will provide child care. We hope to have many families come and see all that Queen of Heaven has to offer.
Our 5th graders will host a Grandparents Day celebration on Thursday, February 11th beginning with Mass at 8:30 and followed by breakfast and a patriotic program in the church hall. “Smile Education Day” will take place on February 24th with a presentation on good dental health for our 3rd graders. Our 2nd grade children will be attending a performance of “Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type” at Kleinhan’s Music Hall on February 8th.
The season of Lent begins on February 17th, Ash Wednesday. Our school will be on winter break during that week but all are encouraged to attend Mass on that day and receive ashes as a sign of our need for repentance.
Our annual Scholastic Book Fair will take place on February 24th, 25th, and 26th concluding with the Ice Cream Social on Friday night. This year our Art Club will be hosting the ice cream party to help raise funds for art display boards. There will be a marvelous selection of books and related items served up with delicious ice cream treats. We hope that everyone will be able to attend this special family event.
Congratulations to all of our 8th grade students who took the High School Placement test in November and have all been accepted into their first choice Catholic high schools. Members of the Class of 2010 will be attending Canisius High School, Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School, St. Francis High School, Mount Mercy Academy, Nardin Academy, Holy Angels Academy, and Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart. Special congratulations go out to our 14 scholarship winners who have earned over $215,000 in scholarship awards. They area Caitlin Matuszak, Lauren Szymanski, Elizabeth Walter, Erin McCormick, Matthew Fabian, Brady King, Patrick Harrington, Matthew Unger, Sean Cook, Kyler Lehrbach, Michael Mendola, Matthew Pronko, Marco Gangarossa and Luke Otto. Bravo, students and teachers!
We would also like to acknowledge our handbell choir, Heaven’s Righteous Ringers, who have again been asked to perform at a naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse on February 4th.
A reminder that we are now in the process of registering current school families for next year. Re-registration forms are due into the office by February 8th. We will begin registering new students at Open House on February 9th. There have been some inquiries regarding the increase in the registration fee to $75. The Queen of Heaven Finance Committee authorized this change due to the increased e-school and New York State testing costs. Kindly send in your registration materials as soon as possible so that we know how many spaces we have for new students in each grade.
“Winter Break” will take place from February 15th through the 21st. We have scheduled this in conjunction with our public school districts. School will resume on Monday, February 22nd. We hope that all of our students enjoy this time off and return to school ready to work hard in pursuing their goals.
Sincerely,
Barbara A. RyanPrincipal