Good afternoon SUNS!  We hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend and we hope that your fist week back to school was awesome!  It was so great to see our students back in the building and ready and eager to learn!  We look forward to another great week next week and wanted to share some important information with you.

Is it Bullying?

We often have many parents and students who see a conflict at school and assume that there is bullying happening.  Although this may be the case, it is not always the case.  It is so important to know the difference between a conflict, someone being “mean” and a bullying situation.  Our goal is to send home information to you each month that will help to start conversations with our community and share the facts when it comes to bullying.  At Saint John Paul II, we have a wonderful school and although there are conflicts from time to time, it is a safe and caring school.  Please take a look at the following flyer, created in house, that will help to explain some of the differences and will hopefully get some people using the same language when it comes to conflict and bullying.  A big thank you to our Catholic School Council members for assisting with the creation of these resources.
Parent Information on Bullying – September

Unfortunately, there has already been some situations that have come up this year, and we want to remind all parents and guardians to check your child’s social media accounts.  Please be aware of what they are doing online, and if there are things happening that are inappropriate, please speak to them about this.  Parenting is so hard in today’s day and age, and it is more important than ever that we are being diligent when it comes to online access.

 

Meet the Teacher Night is this week!

On Tuesday, September 12, 2023, we encourage all of our students and families to join us at Saint John Paul II from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm.  We will have several food trucks out the back if you want to grab a bite to eat, and then at 5:00 pm the doors will be open for you to come in and tour the school, see your classroom, and meet your teacher!  We would ask that no food be brought into the school.
It will be an exciting night for everyone and we look forward to showing everyone our new building!
Students, you need to bring your parents to meet the teachers – please do not come without your parents.

 

Opening Liturgy and The Umbrella Assembly are this week!

On Monday at 12:05, we will gather as a whole school community to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.  We will have a liturgy so that we can gather and pray together, and we will offer intentions for a wonderful year.  Please speak to your child about this on Monday night and ask them how it went!

 

Terry Fox Collections start this week!

Once again, Saint John Paul II school will engage in a Terry Fox Run/Walk on Monday, September 18th.  On that day, we will head to the sidewalks in our community to walk and raise awareness and funds for cancer research.  This has been a very successful event in the past and we are looking forward to another successful event this year.  There are some minor changes to the event this year, however.

First, all classes will be challenged to walk around the property as a class each day all week.  They will track their laps and record them on our chart in the foyer of the school.  Our hope is that creating a little competition amongst the classes will encourage more active participation in the Terry Fox Run/Walk and Lap Challenge!  More competition will equate to more active participation, which will equate to more awareness raised!  All for a great cause!

Second, we want to provide our students with the opportunity to “give.”  In the past, our school would collect funds using a direct link to the Terry Fox website or SchoolCash Online only.  Both of these avenues to donate are wonderful, but oftentimes leave the student out of the mix!  We want our students to have the great feeling that comes from giving to a good cause.  This year, both of the previous options are still available.  The link to the Terry Fox website for our school is: https://schools.terryfox.ca/SaintJohnPaulIICESKitchener.  SchoolCash online donations are available in a variety of amounts.  Please check your email for that.

NEW THIS YEAR:  We would also like to have each student bring in a “Toonie for Terry”, so that they have the opportunity to actually give.  Depending on the age of your student and the appropriateness of it, we would encourage this money to come from the student.

Thank you in advance for all of your support!  It is so important for you to all know how generous our community is!  We are so lucky to have the opportunity to work and live in such a wonderful community!

 

Hot Lunch is Back at Saint John Paul II!

Today, Sunday, September 10, 2023, is the last day to order your hot lunches for September.  Please visit SchoolCash Online today to order for September and October.  Remember we have Subway on the second Thursday of the month, Turkey Dogs on the third Thursday of the month, Pita Pit on the fourth Thursday of every month, and Pizza each Friday.  All of these opportunities are optional, so if you would like to take advantage of them, please order today!

 

Coming Up:

  • Our Thanksgiving Food Drive will begin shortly after our Terry Fox Run/Walk!  Thanksgiving will be here before you know it!
  • Our fundraiser for this year will be a Halloween Spook-a-thon!  We will start the process to get ready for that right after Thanksgiving!  Our goal is to use the funds from this year and next year to install TURF on our Soccer Field!  This has been needed for a long time now, and the Catholic School Advisory Council and the staff of SJPII feel that it is time to provide our students with a much nicer place to play!

It will be a great week this week SUNS!  Looking forward to it!