It's amazing to think that we are halfway through the school year. With that being said, there is a lot more learning to do and fun to be had! We would like to welcome Mr. Watson to our staff. He is a new EA at our school. Please check out our monthly calendar to see what is planned for February. This is always a busy month filled with fun activities for students, but also the time we show our appreciation for our staff. Staff appreciation week is February 7-11. Once again, this year has had its fair share of unpredictability and our staff continues to pivot and handle the changes with grace. The week of February 21-25 is a break from school. We hope you get the opportunity to enjoy time with your family.

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Combres & Mrs. Weber

The sacred teaching for February is Humility. “Humility: Humility is to know yourself as a sacred part of the Creation. Symbolized by the wolf, humility is about being humble and not arrogant. The expression of this humility is manifested through the consideration of others before ourselves. In this way, the Wolf became the teacher of this lesson.

Registration for Kindergarten for the fall is now open!

Kindergarten students must be 5 on or before December 31st. Please stop by the office anytime to pick up a registration form. Registration forms will be sent home with all current four year old Pre-K students in March. Registrations are also available on our school home page. If your family is moving and leaving the school, please provide the office with that information.

New to Holy Family School? You will need to register for the 2022-2023 school year. Registration need only to be completed for all Kindergarten students and only necessary to be filled in for new students to our school from grades 1-7. For students already attending Holy Family School, you are automatically enrolled for the next school year. You therefore, do not need to fill in registration forms.

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We ask that parents use the street to park their vehicles. Parking lots are for staff only. This is a safety concern and therefore we ask that parents do not park in the parking lots designated for the staff. Thank you for your cooperation.

Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week is February 7-11. This is a perfect opportunity to send a note of thanks or discuss with your children, the importance of having caring teachers and staff who truly care about your children and the education they receive.

This year, we will be acknowledging Valentine’s Day a little differently than we have in the past. We will have activities planned for Monday, February 14. Please wear pink, white or red on this day. Please see the changes and guidelines that must be followed on February 14.

Activities:

Classroom teachers can decide how they would like to celebrate Valentine’s Day with their cohort class.

Treats:

Students will be allowed to bring treats to school for their cohort, however, treats must be store bought and individually wrapped. Treats must be brought to school no later than February 9th so that they can sit untouched for three days. Treats also must be nut free. The items must be in a plastic bag with your child’s name and grade clearly written on the outside of the bag. The classroom teacher will be the one to hand out the treats to the students.

Cards:

Students will be allowed to bring Valentine’s Day cards to school, before February 9th. Please have the cards in a plastic zip lock baggie with your child’s name and grade on the bag. The teacher will be the one to hand the cards and treats to each child. Students will not be allowed to hand them out to other students themselves.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the school at 306-445-2360 or message us on Edsby.

Family Day (February 21, 2022 - “A provincial statutory holiday observed on the third Monday in February in most provinces". “This holiday celebrates the importance of families and family life to people and their communities". This is a day we strongly focus on the importance of the family life, not only to enjoy a statutory holiday, but also to show how importance it is to have a special time with the family. During this day, sharing meals together, sitting in the living room to enjoy watching TV, news or reading books, it is wise for us Christians, to choose one good spiritual book to read.

The more we read it, the more we know and learn about spiritual life. Read it much and practise its teachings rather than skipping from one spiritual book to another. In regards to our spiritual exercises, each person should choose some particular practice, for instance, in the Presence of God before the Blessed Sacrament if we come to Church, or purity of intention, or resignation to God's will, or abandonment to Divine Providence, or self-renunciation.

Simplicity and unity are to be aimed at in all things rather than multiplicity. Quality is more important than quantity. St. Francis said, “The longer a bee lingers on a flower, the more honey he will gather." He added: "Those who at a banquet insist upon tasting every dish, spoil their digestion and disturb their sleep. It is the same with a soul which insists in trying every method and spiritual system. Its moral digestion is too weak for so much variety and it never attains that peace and quiet which Mary possessed and which Christ called 'the best part.""

The saint said that a single ejaculatory or aspirational prayer repeated a hundred times was far more worthwhile than a hundred different prayers each said once. St. Teresa constantly said, “All that is not God is nothing." We should imitate sculptors and painters who make their works by means of many strokes of the chisel or pencil. We must repeat over and over again the same affection and resolution if we would form a deep impression in our hearts.

Our mental prayer and meditation are rendered more fruitful by the practices of recollection throughout the day. The exercise of mental prayer and the practice of recollection and aspiration are like inhale and exhale our breath in natural life. Mortification without prayer is like a body without a soul; prayer without mortification like a soul without a body. To raise the soul by prayer, we must lower the body by mortification. St. Francis' maxim on this subject was that: “We ought to live in this world as if our soul were in heaven and our body in

the tomb."

Lenten season is coming soon. Meditation on the Passion and Death of Christ is the sweetest and the strongest. And certainly since our Lord's dying for us, as all Scripture testifies, is the climax of his love, it ought also to be the strongest of all our motives for loving Him." Once again in regards to spiritual reading, St. Francis once again emphasised simplicity and unity rather than multiplicity. He said that those who skip lightly over many spiritual books profit little. He thought it wise for everybody to choose a good book ... small and easily carried if possible ... and to read it much and practise its teachings.

We should meditate on our spiritual life by having a spiritual book to digest and meditate, especially in this coming Len. The more we read the Spiritual books the more we can trace in it the groundwork of all of the Saints' teachings. May God continue to guide us on the path of our journey so that we can enter the season of Lent in a specific way: the way of prayer and mortification. (Fr. Joseph)

Congratulations to all of our students who have enrolled into their sacramental preparation program! We pray that as you journey in your faith you will grow in your relationship with your community and with God.

Please remember that Holy Family School is a nut alert school. We also have students with allergies to shellfish. Please do not send food that contain nuts or fish. Thank you.

The SCC has Co-op cards for sale at the school in $25 and $100 denominations. Please contact the office to arrange pick up and payment. Thank you for your support!

Feb. 21- Stat Holiday- No Classes

Feb. 22-25- February Break

Feb. 16- Pink Shirt Day& Early Dismissal 1:50

Feb.17- Hounds Day and Random Act of Kindness Day

8:50 – Entrance bell

8:55—School Day Begins (arriving at 9:00 means your child is late, please be on time!)

11:47-12:10 – Lunch/Recess

12:10-12:30 –Lunch/Recess

3:20 - Dismissal walking home

3:25- Picked up

3:30-bus students

Please make sure your child is aware of the after school plans before they come to school each day. If there is a change in the normal routine, please take a moment and message the teacher or the office on Edsby.

Parents are asked to NOT send your child to school before 8:30am. We want your children to be safe and there are no teachers on supervision until 8:30. All students may arrive then to play until the entrance bell at 8:47. All students, including kindergarten students, should be outside playing while waiting for the bell to ring. Students should line up at their own doors once the bells ring. We ask that students enter and exit the school through their own doors to keep tight cohorts and minimize exposure to other people and areas within the school.

**PLEASE NOTE THAT CLASSES START AT 8:55. PLEASE HAVE STUDENTS ARRIVE BY 8:50 SO THEY ARE NOT LATE.

This year, Pink Shirt Day, or Anti-Bullying Day, is on February 16.

It is a day when people come together by wearing pink shirts to school or work to show they are against bullying.

We would like to remind parents who have not yet paid for student fees that they can be paid at the office in one lump sum or payments can be set up monthly. We thank all those parents who have already paid these fees. The fees cover all the school supplies that students need throughout the year.

Fees are as follows:

K-gr.2= $30.00

Gr.3-6= $35.00

Gr. 7= $40.00

We will be reaching out to families with outstanding fees in the near future. Fees can be paid on line at School Cash Online. You can find the link on our school's homepage.

Edsby continues to be the primary forum of communication between the school and home. If you are new to our school and have not yet signed on to Edsby please call the school to find out how to do so. Through Edsby you can communicate with the teachers, the office and even enter your children's attendance.

The code to enter is loccsd.edsby.com