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Principal’s Message

The Journal N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7

Principal: Mariette Moss Vice Principals: Jennifer Quinlan Marco Pacione Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:00am—4:00pm Fridays 8:00am– 1:00pm

53 Cimarron Drive Okotoks, AB T1S 2A6 Tel (403) 938-4600 Fax (403) 938-5324

24 Hour Attendance Line: (403) 938-4600

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” -Matthew 7:7

Hello St. JPII Parents, All families are invited to join us for Catholic Education Sunday on November 5th. We believe in the mission of Catholic education and our responsibility to educate the whole child towards their fullest intellectual, social, physical and spiritual formation. This is a day for us to thank God for Catholic Education and to pray that we will continue to have this opportunity in the future. Everyone is welcome to celebrate mass with our community this weekend.

Okotoks – St. James Church – Sunday mass times are 11:00am and a new evening time of 5:30pm Black Diamond – St. Michael’s Church – Sunday mass time at 9:00am.

God Bless, Mariette Moss

New! Slight changes to Honour Roll categories at St. JPII! Twice a year we celebrate academic achievement at St. John Paul II Collegiate by recognizing students on our Honour Roll (end of January/Semester 1 and again in June). We would like to inform all students and parents that we have made slight changes to our Honour Roll categories effective this school year.

Honour Roll 80% - 89% Honours with Distinction 90% - 94% Honours with Highest Distinction 95%+ Note: All marks must be at least 65% or higher to be on the Honour Roll.

Parent Teacher Interviews – Thursday, November 23rd (1:00 – 9:00 pm)

We will be hosting Parent Teacher Interviews on Thursday, November 23rd. Please note that we will not be distributing report cards at this time. Because parents have online access to marks anytime with PowerSchool, we only distribute report cards twice a year (at the end of semester one and the final report card is mailed home the first week of July). We strongly encourage you to check your child’s progress in PowerSchool prior to coming in for interviews. If you have any questions about signing into PowerSchool, please contact Sharlene Sylvestre at 403-938-4600 or ssylvestre@redeemer.ab.ca . More information can also be found below or on our website.

November 23—Please note that we have early dismissal at 11:33 am to accommodate the interviews.

Booking Interviews - Appointments can be booked online through Conference Manager at https://johnpaul-ok.schoolsoft.ca .

Conference Manager opens at 6:00am on Thursday, November 16th and remains available until 11:30am on Thursday, November 23rd. Instructions to set up Conference Manager can be found attached to this newsletter as well as in the Resources section of our website.

NO SCHOOL on Friday, November 24th in-lieu of evening Parent Teacher Interviews

mailto:ssylvestre@redeemer.ab.camailto:llunn@redeemer.ab.cahttps://johnpaul-ok.schoolsoft.ca

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In honour of Remembrance Day, we will offer poppies as well as Lest We Forget bracelets for sale in our main office. Poppies are based on a donation to the Poppy Fund, and bracelets are $3 each.

Friday, November 10th, is our school-wide Remembrance Service. We take this opportunity to remember our Canadian Armed Forces as a faith community, and to also recognize our cadets, members of Guides Canada, and our members of Scouts Canada.

Our students are again encouraged to participate fully in the Legion Literary and Poster contests. Many of our teachers support and encourage their classes in working on these projects. All students are welcome to participate, and may ask any LA teacher or Mrs. McGeachie for details. Many students have won recognition in the past, and we look forward to more beautiful writing and art this year. This is a wonderful way to show our local Legion that we support them!

Should you have any questions please contact Mrs. McGeachie.

Through the Parent Portal, PowerSchool offers parents online access to their child’s grades, attendance, student

forms, and notices.

This is an important connection between you, your child, and your school!

This year we have asked parents to complete the Student Information Update via the Parent Portal. This update is mandated each year by Alberta Education and must be reviewed for each of your children. It is crucial that we have the most

up to date information in regards to our student/parent contact information and any student medical conditions.

If you have not done so please complete your Student Update as soon as possible!

Please contact Sharlene Sylvestre , at (403) 938-4600, if you require any assistance with this process.

To login to the Parent Portal, click the link below:

https://powerschool.redeemer.ab.ca/public/

Powerschool—Parent Portal

https://powerschool.redeemer.ab.ca/public/

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WEEKLY FRUIT BOWL

A few years ago The Healthy School Committee introduced the idea of providing a weekly fruit bowl, and it was a resounding success! This initiative was successful because many parents donated a bag of fruit at least once.

It is our hope that, if possible, each family would consider making a ONE time donation of ONE bag of fruit (of either oranges, apples or bananas) for an assigned week of their choosing. As it is not feasible to provide fruit to every student every day, we would certainly like to have fruit available for the days that a lunch was forgotten or a student missed breakfast.

We are inviting all our current and any new volunteers who are interested in donating to our weekly “Fresh Fruit Bowl” to click on the following browser https://www.volunteersignup.org/XQPKT and follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds.

A BIG thank you to all those parents who generously donate to our weekly “Fresh Fruit Bowl”.

Lorraine Segboer

403 938-4600

We will be organizing a POT LUCK DINNER FOR THE TEACHERS during the evening of Parent Teacher Interviews on

Thursday, November 23.

If you would like to contribute please sign up at www.volunteersignup.org/FF33A. Just click on which food you would

like to contribute and fill in the necessary information. If you have any questions or would like to sign up without us-

ing the link, please email Genelle at jp2-school-council@redeemer.ab.ca .

The teachers are always very appreciative and look forward to this event.

Next School Council Meeting: Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 7:00pm.

Join us to see how some of our students experienced their We Day trip on November 1

ALL PARENTS WELCOME

PARENT COUNCIL NEWS!

Friday, December 1st @ 1:00pm—Scott Seaman Arena

Students wishing to attend must arrange their own transportation.

https://www.volunteersignup.org/XQPKThttps://www.volunteersignup.org/FF33Amailto:jp2-school-council@redeemer.ab.ca

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Included in this submission is a link to an article about raising girls who are “includers” and I invite you to read it, replacing the

‘girls’ with young people. If we can do the best job we can to model ‘includer’ behavior and instill in our children the importance

of treating others with dignity we move towards healthy change in our world. In a time of so many awful things happening in

the world right now our children need to know that there are way more heroes than there are villains and that change begins

with each of us being kind and not accepting or excusing injustice or behaviors that exclude others.

https://www.lisamccrohan.com/2014/09/raising-girls-who-are-includers-instead-of-mean-girls/ For more information on this or any other parenting concern please contact Leah Carter 403-938-4600 or lcarter@redeemer.ab.ca

FRENCH CORNER

Le coin français

Did you know that… Did you know? Savais-tu ?

There are 29 countries around the world with French as one of their official languages.

French is one of the 6 working languages of the United Nations.

French-speaking scientists and technicians are responsible for some of the biggest technological advancements the world has seen.

Parents, are you looking for ways to

support your child in French?

- Ask your child to share some key words that they’ve been learning in French in different subjects.

- Check out the Canadian Parents for French website (CPF) https://cpf.ca/

Because winter weather could arrive any day now….

Families are able to sign up for our automated notification system which will send out text and/or email notiification of any change that is posted to our Route Status section. We ask all bus families to subscribe to this automated system. To sign up for automated notification service please follow the links below:

For e-mail notification - http://www.redeemer.ab.ca/Subscribe%20Email.php; and For text notification - http://www.redeemer.ab.ca/Subscribe%20Text.php

https://www.lisamccrohan.com/2014/09/raising-girls-who-are-includers-instead-of-mean-girls/mailto:lcater@redeemer.ab.cahttp://www.redeemer.ab.ca/Subscribe%20Email.phphttp://www.redeemer.ab.ca/Subscribe%20Text.php

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St. JPII CAFETERIA (jpii.hotlunches.net)

NEW for December: Penne Pasta in Tomato or Meat Sauce (gluten free option available)

December pre-orders will be open from November 3rd – 12th. Please go to https://jpii.hotlunches.net to register in

order to see the menus and get the updates and reminder emails.

Unfortunately, we are unable to refund or replace a pre-ordered lunch if it is missed for any reason. Please feel free to come in

and pick it up if you wish, or arrange for a sibling or friend to get it. We donate any left overs on a daily basis.

Any questions or concerns about the program or ordering process are welcomed at jpiicafe@shaw.ca

Thank you for supporting the JPII Lunch Program.

Liz and Katrina

Monday, November 20 8:30am to 3:30pm

Tuesday, November 21 8:30am to 3:30pm

Wednesday, November 22 8:30am to 3:30pm

Thursday, November 23 8:30am to 8:30pm

(open during Parent/Teacher interviews)

If you have any questions, please contact

Mrs. Garagan at ggaragan@redeemer.ab.ca

Come and check out

books that your kids

want to read:

A Dog’s Way Home

Glass Sword

Refugee

Swing it, Sunny

TBH

The Winnowing

https://jpii.hotlunches.net/mailto:jpiicafe@shaw.ca

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Confirmation PREPARATION 2017-2018

ST. JAMES PARISH

St. James Church / St. Michael’s Church

For Grades 6,7,8 and up.

ALL CLASSES WILL BE MONDAYS 6:30-8pm at St. James Church

Parent and child attend each session.

Registration fee $40.00.

COMMITMENT MASS:

Saturday, January 20th—5:30pm –Okotoks

Sunday, January 21st—11:00am OR 7:00pm—Okotoks

Sunday, January 21st—9;00am—Black Diamond

**Please attend one of the commitment masses above**

PARENT AND STUDENT SESSIONS:

Monday, January 15th

Monday, January 29th

Monday, February, 12th

Monday, March 5th

Monday, March 19th

Monday, April 9th

Monday, April 23rd

PARENT AND STUDENT RETREAT:

Saturday, April 28th— 9:00am-2:00pm

CELEBRATION OF CONFIRMATION WITH BISHOP WILLIAM MCGRATTAN

Friday, May 4th at 7:00pm

Please contact the Parish Office at (403) 938-3122 for more information.

Rite of Christian Initiation of Teens (RCIT)

This program is designed for all youth from grades 7-12 who desire to receive the Catholic Sacraments they

have missed and for any youth who wish to be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. Sessions are held the

2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 7:00-9:00pm at St. James Church.

Contact the Parish Office for more details.

https://stjamesparishokotoks.ca/contact-us/#office

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NUT & PEANUT AWARENESS

We have students with severe allergies to nuts and peanuts. We will endeavor to ensure that nut or

peanut products are not served through the school's cafeteria services or used in the Foods classes. John

Paul II Collegiate also requests the assistance and cooperation of staff, students and parents by asking

you to please refrain from bringing peanuts and nuts, or items/products containing peanuts and nuts.

We realize that it is impossible to guarantee an allergen free environment, but it is our hope that if we

can raise awareness of the issue and receive the cooperation of all parties to this policy, the likelihood of

an allergic reaction occurring or someone becoming ill can be significantly reduced.

Hello Parents and Students at JPII.

My name is Amy Heggenstaller-Boon and I am the Youth Ministry Coordinator at St. James Parish. It has been

an honor to be welcomed into your school community.

We are starting up our evening Youth Programming Sunday Evenings at St. James Parish at 7:00pm. All Junior

High students are welcome. We commit to recognizing the Light and Love that lives in every person. St. James

Youth invites you as you are to experience the love of Christ and find kinship through acceptance, awakening

and service.

I will also be spending Thursday lunches at JPII in Ms. MacNeil’s room. I invite anyone who is seeking

belonging, wants to make an impact on Youth programming or has questions about St. James Youth to come and

join me.

I look forward to seeing you,

Blessings,

Amy Heggenstaller-Boon

You may have money in a Family Account at St. JPII! Many families are not aware that they have $$ waiting to be

spent on any school-related activity. If your child has ever sold magazine subscriptions or you have purchased

Sobeys gift cards from the school (friend can also purchase Sobeys card on your child’s behalf), you accumulate

dollars to pay sport or band fees, purchase yearbooks, gym strip, photos or school trips.

Please call Jan-Marie Naccarato to inquire: (403) 938-4600 or email at jnaccarato@redeemer.ab.ca.

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ONLINE SCHOOL APPAREL!!

St. JPII has an online apparel store where families can order hoodies, t-shirts, sweat-

shirts, polos, pants, jackets, hats and more. Items come in a variety of colours and

styles and can be customized with various St. JPII logos. Orders and payments are done

directly online and items are shipped to your house in approximately two weeks. We

have a variety of sample products/sizes available at the school for your convenience.

Click here to access the order page on our website.

St. JPII Backpack Campaign kicks off on November 20th!

Let us celebrate the joyous season of Christmas by assisting those less fortunate families in our

communities!!

St. John Paul II will be collecting items during the month of November/December and look forward to

your support.

See the information bulletin attached to the Newsletter for more information about the campaign and

a list of suggested donation items.

Attendance

For all lates or absences, or if your child must leave for an appointment,

Call 24 hours a day at 403 938-4600, or email BOTH jnaccarato@redeemer.ab.ca and

lsegboer@redeemer.ab.ca.

We thank you for your cooperation with attendance reporting, it is appreciated!!

St. JPII 2017-18 Yearbook

Order now!

Pre-orders accepted until January 31st! $35.00

Click here to order via School Cash Online.

**If you would like to add personalization, CLICK HERE TO PRINT THE FORM,

and have your student return it to the office with applicable payment.

https://grandslamteam.ca/t/st-john-paul-ii-collegiatemailto:jnaccarato@redeemer.ab.camailto:lsegboer@redeemer.ab.cahttps://christtheredeemer.schoolcashonline.com/http://www.stjohnpaul2collegiate.ca/documents/general/Yearbook%20%20Personalization.pdf