2013-2014 Newsletter #4 February 27, 2014

Hello all…

Wow! We are excited to share some wonderful news! One of our eighth graders, Michael Granito, has been named a Neumann Scholar! The Connolly Foundation offers a four-year diocesan high school scholarship to only thirty-seven of the 857 Catholic Elementary School eighth graders who were invited to take their scholarship test. Michael was one of the six students selected from the fourteen Chester County schools this year. We are so proud of Michael for all his hard work in obtaining this scholarship!

Well it’s certainly been a crazy month! I would like to publicly thank all of those parents and staff who made our snow day arrivals and dismissals run so smoothly. I would also like to thank both Dave Gautreau, who helped us contact the Borough on the morning of February 7, and the Borough road crews who used a front end loader to clear the massive amount of snow in front of school in time for our dismissal. It really does take a village!

Our fifth grade students have been offered an opportunity to apply for a scholarship for next year! Thomas Ruggieri has created a foundation to honor the memory of his late wife Martha, a former pre-kindergarten aide at Holy Family. Tom is offering one scholarship for up to $3,500 to a deserving fifth grader who demonstrates integrity, successful academic results, community or social involvement, and financial need. Keep in mind that applications are due in the school office by this Friday, February 28.

Help….
You should have just received the first of four mini-surveys asking for your perspective on various areas of our school. I appreciate your honesty and feedback, and would strongly encourage you to contact me directly if you have any concerns about any of the topics presented.

Did you know that the income from your tuition payments and the parish subsidy alone will not allow us to meet all our expenses for this year? We NEED the Annual Fund money to pay our heating bills, cover insurance costs, and pay for art supplies and security and technology upgrades, for example. Please consider contributing and asking family members to make a charitable, tax deductible contribution. The current total of $17,325 is only 21% of the necessary $80,000 required to keep ourselves debt-free.

While 80% of our staff has contributed, I would ask that if you are one of the 83% of our families who have not yet donated, please consider doing so now by following this link to make a donation. Please consider a matching gift, which occurs when your employer matches the amount donated, and think about forwarding this information to the same people you would have asked to purchase wrapping paper or cookie dough. We are grateful to those families who are listed on the website on the Annual Appeal Page, and we pray for all our benefactors every day.

The Knights of Columbus are once again sponsoring a Scholarship Lottery to benefit HFS and tickets are available in the school office for $5. During the month of March, ticket numbers which match the PA State Lottery daily number which will directly benefit our school and tickets are on sale in the office for $5.

Important Changes...
With the addition of the additional snow days we had in February, the teachers are very anxious to focus on teaching and learning. Each of us has logged many hours of personal time to make our upcoming Middle States visit successful, and this extraordinary effort will allow us to use the March 7 in-service day scheduled for Middle States work as a regular school day. This means school will be in session on Friday, March 7 and all students will be in school that day.

Additionally, due to the 7 snow days, 4 delays, and 1 early dismissal in this trimester and with permission from the diocese, we will be extending the second trimester to March 13, with report cards distribution on March 21. Finally, the diocese has informed us that if necessary, we can count the school year by hours instead of days; we will be investigating this option. If anything changes, I will let you know in advance, but know that no matter what else changes, the eighth grade graduation will remain June 11.

The Home and School March meeting has been changed to March 27 to allow for a speaker who will present the topic of children and social media. Are you using Kik, Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, Oovoo, or Tumblr? Your children probably are. I HIGHLY encourage you to research these (try: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/11-sites-and-apps-kids-are-heading-to-after-facebook) and attend the meeting to learn how you can and SHOULD learn about and monitor your student’s use of these and other programs!

As we tighten our safe environment procedures, please be aware that the teachers have been asked to follow diocesan policy regarding field trip chaperones. As it states on our website under Policies and Procedures / Safe Environment, all field trip chaperones must have the safe environment clearances. You can follow the directions and links on this page to obtain the necessary clearances. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding of the importance of this procedure, as many times chaperones are indeed alone with your children on trips.

Due to issues with the weather, the school-check-in system is not yet up and running, but we are in the process of making that happen.

Look What We Did…..
Thanks to your generosity, the students collected $432 during Catholic Schools Week for St. Mary’s Franciscan Shelter here in Phoenixville. Sister Chris accepted the money from some of our eighth grade Open Arms Club members to help pay their heating costs this month.

On Valentine’s Day, students brought in canned goods to help local residents. The Open Arms Mission Club students will be delivering the food to PACS on Friday, February 28. Thank you for helping those in need during this severe winter!

Shout outs go to the four HFS students who took part in the Archdiocesan 4 ^th – 6 ^th grade Choral Festival on February 19. Abigail B, Emily H, Francis M, and Arianna S spent hours practicing and represented HFS at Bishop Shanahan. Holy Family was one of only thirty-five schools in the diocese who participated in the event.

A BIG round of applause goes to those who participated in the second Annual Rotary Club Spelling Bee on February 22 with students from the Phoenixville and Spring-Ford school districts. Holy Family was well represented and took home trophies in Division I for Grades 1 & 2 (first place – Jennifer H), Division III for Grades 5 & 6 (first place Maddie W, third place Jacob P, and fourth place Arianna S), and Division IV for Grades 7 & 8 (first place Christian S, second place Devon G, third place Andrew D, and fourth place Nate S). We are proud of these and all of our students who gave up their Saturday to participate!

Please join me in congratulating the 6 ^th through 8 ^th grade students who were winners in our Science Research Competition. The top five in each grade received trophies today and will move on to the Chester County Science Fair.
8th Grade: 1st Place-Christian S; 2nd-Krislyn M; 3rd-Kelly S; 4th- Julianne C & Emma C; 5th-Sofia R & Gianna M; Honorable Mention-Katie M.
7th Grade: 1st Place-Andrew D; 2nd-Wade G; 3rd-Matt M; 4th- Nate S; 5th-Patrick D; Honorable Mention-Lucas K.
6th Grade: 1st Place-Maria F; 2nd-Mia V; 3rd-Maddie W; 4th-Mark A; 5th-Shannon B; Honorable Mention-Garrett T and Kyle K.

In case you haven’t looked, our website now contains the SchoolTube links to our talent show! Hopefully you will take the time to watch the videos which showcase our youngest to our oldest and include performances by the eighth grade class and our staff.

Come See Us…..
Our Middle States evaluation, which will take place from March 9-12, will open with a Prayer Service on Sunday, March 9 at 5:00 in St. Ann’s Church (NOT the Chapel). Hopefully you saw the email inviting you and your students to join us as we welcome our Middle States Evaluation Team to our school through prayer and song. We are in need of children to form an event choir for this special occasion, so please RSVP to Cathie Toth or the school office if your child is willing to participate.

Registration
Registration for the upcoming school year continues. If you have not re-registered, it would be helpful if you would do so now. You can find additional forms by following the links on the front page or the Admissions page of our website.

Please continue to encourage your neighbors to come and see who we are, as no class is yet closed! We could especially use the help in marketing our kindergarten. Please tell anyone who has a kindergarten-aged child that our full day kindergarten has certified teachers all day long, and the students will remain in the classroom, not move to a trailer. We would love to give a personal tour to anyone who is interested.

Scholarships – Significant Money is Available
I STRONGLY encourage you to apply for scholarship money if you need it. Please do not let tuition be the reason you leave our school. For further instructions and to obtain the necessary forms please go to our website . This year you may complete the entire application online. Remember that applications must be submitted by March 15 ^th.

Marketing
Please continue to encourage your neighbors to come and see who we are, as no class is yet closed. We could especially use the help in marketing our kindergarten. Please tell anyone who has a kindergarten-aged child that our full day kindergarten has certified teachers all day long, and the students will remain in the classroom, not move to a trailer. We would love to give a personal tour to anyone who is interested. Remember, more students keep our tuition costs down!

FYI…
I will be sharing much of our Middle States self-study results with you over the next several weeks. You might have already noticed that I updated the “About HFS” page of our website with the history of our school. It makes for interesting reading if you get a chance to look it over ( http://www.myholyfamilyschool.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=8).

As part of the self-study, I am currently working on summarizing our excellent Terra Nova results and thought you might like a little background knowledge. Did you know that the Terra Novas are norm-referenced achievement tests that measure basic concepts and skills commonly taught in schools throughout the country? Terra Nova is not a proficiency test such as the public school administers; proficiency tests are those in which students have been taught all the content and are now being tested on whether or not they “got” it. This test is, therefore, not designed as a precise measure of any given curriculum or single instructional program. Terra Nova includes content students may not have been specifically taught, but that they could be expected to have mastered according to their cognitive ability.

Results from norm-referenced tests provide information that compares students' achievement with that of a representative national sample. This gives teachers the opportunity to compare their students with other students. So, when a teacher says that a student scored at the 82nd percentile, that student's score was equal to or better than 81 percent of the scores of all the students who took the same norm-referenced test during the norming process. I’ll discuss more on this subject later!

Speaking of Terra Nova, the testing comes up quickly on the heels of our Middle States visit. Please be sure your students are in school from Friday, March 14 through Friday, March 21. Please do not schedule any doctor or orthodontist appointments on these days, particularly in the mornings.

Please keep all of us in your prayers as we keep you in ours. And… stay safe and warm!

Ann Marie
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Mrs. Ann Marie Braca
Principal
Holy Family School
Christ Centered...Student Focused... Family Driven
221 Third Avenue
Phoenixville, PA 19460
610-933-7562 (school office)
610-933-8823 (fax)