St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
December 1st, 2021
“At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God’s own love and concern.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
I hope that you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break. In the Wednesday folder this week is information about our Home and School Association's Santa Shop for next week, which we are excited to have back! Also in the Wednesday folder is the tuition and registration information for next year; while it is still early in the school year, we want to make sure that we save seats for our current families and new siblings through the end of January when new student registration will begin. Copies of all of this information are also below. The electronic version of the Continuous Enrollment Form will be available in this Sunday's Reminders.
We congratulate our students at St. Jerome Parish who experienced God’s Mercy for the first time at their First Penance and Reconciliation this past Tuesday: Luke Agront, Natacha Aquino, Ryan Chiaccio, Alexandria Cirillo, Giana Clarke, Tyler Czop, Kayla DuBeck, Brayden Evanitsky, Destenee Fallas-Espinoza, Kaden Ewing, Colin Fitzpatrick, Damian Hancock, Vincent Johnson, Kelli Peak, Alexa Pesce, Kodi Preston, Evan Spiker, Austin Steger, Jordan Twegby, Kaden Wiley, Maximus Winkelspecht, and Matthew Wisniewski.
As we journey through the season of Advent, in anticipation of Christmas, each class (K-8th) will be attending the 8:00 AM Mass once a week for Advent.
- Monday: 5th & 2nd
- Tuesday: 4th & KB
- Wednesday: 3rd & KA
- Thursday: 7th & 8th
- Friday: 6th & 1st
Pre-K4 will pick one day to attend the 8:00 AM Mass in anticipation of regularly attending school Masses starting in January. Pre-K3 will attend virtually on 12/8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception).
In addition, we will be attending Mass at 10:00 AM on December 8th (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) and December 17th (our December School Liturgy). The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation will be offered to our 3rd-8th grade classes next week.
This Friday, we will be making Christmas cards for the residents of the Immaculate Mary Home, our neighbor. Then, we plan to go caroling outside their building on December 10th to bring Christmas cheer. Like our Pre-K and Kindergarten classes did for Halloween, we will stay outdoors and the residents will come to their windows.
Please remember to take note of the revised school calendar (posted below). As I wrote in the last newsletter, the only change is an additional teacher in-service on Friday, January 14th. For that week only (the week of January 10th), we will have pizza day on Thursday instead of Friday (a notice will be in that week's Sunday Weekly Reminders and Wednesday Weekly Newsletter to remind you).
Save the Date: Our Home and School Association is sponsoring a family skate night at the Philly SkatePlex on Thursday, December 30th from 6:00 PM-8:30 PM. This event is included in the activity fee, and we hope you can join us! The flyer and RSVSP details will be in this Sunday's reminders, and the flyer will be in next Wednesday's folder.
Finally, the Office of Catholic Education has issued a letter for schools to distribute with their periodic updates about health protocols; the letter has been posted below.
Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome, pray for us!
December St. Jerome Spirit Day
Santa Shop (December 6th-December 10th)
Please use the budget envelope that was sent home with your child. This will allow you and your child to work together to decide how much can be spent on each person on their list. Gift items ranges from $1.00 to $10.00. Cash only no checks.
We invite the SJS community to shop at our community night on Thursday December 9th from 5-7 p.m. Calling ALL elves to help volunteer. We will need volunteers for set-up, day of the events (clearances needed) and clean up. If you are able to volunteer, please email saintjeromeshomeandschool@gmail.com by noon on Friday, December 3rd
Nothing Compares to Being There
Christmas Giveaway Raffle
Open House for Prospective Families
CARES Fun Friday (January)
Executive Board of Elementary Education (EBEE) Survey
Under the direction of Bishop Fitzgerald, a Strategic Planning Task Force for the Executive Board of Elementary Education (EBEE) has been established with co-chairs Sr. Carroll Isselmann and Chris Dezzi for Catholic elementary education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
In an effort to gain a broad perspective on how the EBEE can best support Catholic elementary education, the attached survey seeks your input. If you fill multiple roles within the school system, you may be receiving multiple surveys; it would be most helpful if you would respond from the perspective indicated in the survey. It should take about 15 minutes to complete the survey. The survey link to the survey is pasted here: https://forms.gle/4dyeozUYpHpweKXf8
Thank you for your support of this important endeavor which will assist in planning for the future of Catholic elementary education. The survey will remain open until December 3, 2021.
Toys for Tots
Save the Date: Book Fair
St. Jerome Scrip Program
Support St. Jerome on Amazon Smile:
Student Health Reminders
If your child tests positive for COVID-19 or is a close contact to a person who tests positive for COVID-19, please contact us. We will seek advisement from the Philadelphia Department of Health and give you direction.
Our reopening plan calls on every member of the school community to support our values of mutual respect, integrity, willingness to sacrifice for the common good and foster community bonds across generations. Commitment to the policies will assist in protecting the health and welfare of all members of our school community.
In an effort to keep all children safe, we ask that Parents monitor their children’s Health daily. Below are the expectations related to the health monitoring.
I attest to :
Fever of 100.4 or above,
chills,
Cough,
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
Fatigue,
Muscle or body aches,
Headache,
New loss of taste or smell,
Sore throat,
Congestion or runny nose,
Nausea or vomiting,
Diarrhea,
My child has not had any contact with anyone with COVID
I am following all CDC recommended guidelines and limiting my/my child’s exposure to risks such as above
If any of these symptoms present, please keep your child from school and contact the school. If the symptoms are serious please seek immediate medical attention.
We will keep you informed if the list of symptoms, listed above, changes in any way.