What's the Buzz?

Upcoming Dates:

Remember to utilize our SMS Google Calendar subscription (click here to view), or view the “Events” page on the SMS website.

Sept. 6: 9am Grand Opening School Mass, grades MCH K-8 (Grand “Persons” welcome to attend!)

Sept. 7: Altar Server Training, 10:30am – 12:30pm, grade 4 & up

Sept. 9: HSA Bills Dress Down Day (bring $2 or purchase pass)

Sept. 9: Montessori Regular Schedules Begin

Sept. 9: HSA Meeting, 7pm in cafeteria

Sept. 10 - Paul Effman Music Assembly (Band recruitment demonstration)

Sept. 11 - Last day to order SMS Spirit Wear

Sept. 11: HSA Room Parent Meeting, 7pm, rooms 106/107

Sept. 13: 9am School Mass

Sept. 13: Catholic Charities Ice Cream Party

Sept. 16: HSA Bills Dress Down Day (bring $2 or purchase pass)

Sept. 17: Meet the Teacher Night & HSA Budget Meeting, 6pm

Sept. 20: HSA “TGIS” Parent Social

Sept. 20: 9am School Mass

Sept. 23: HSA Bills Dress Down Day (bring $2 or purchase pass)

Sept. 27: 9am School Mass

Sept. 30: HSA Bills Dress Down Day (bring $2 or purchase pass)

We are so excited to have our GRAND family and friends join us tomorrow for Mass. If you haven't sent in your registration, please send it in tomorrow on the form that was sent home, send us a note, or email Mrs. Terrill in the office at office@stmaryschoolswormville.org. This will help us to check you in more quickly and efficiently.

Please come in through Door B-1 and you will be directed to your students. When you head over to Mass, please choose a seat. If your student is a reader, cantor, or choir member for the day, please sit in the section by the piano.

Following Mass, we will dismiss to the gym. Please don't leave without enjoying a special little gift from St. Mary School.

JOIN the SMS Drama Club! Starting with the FALL PLAY "Holy Mother of Bingo!" in November!

The Fall Play is open to students in Grades 4-8.

(The Musical will be open to ALL grades, more information to come)

To SIGN UP & LEARN MORE please visit the link here or email Mrs. Baker (lbaker@stmaryschoolswormville.org) for more information.

There are so many ways to stay connected and “BEE in the know” about school news and events. Click here for instructions on how to:

• Download the St. Mary’s App
• Look for “The Buzz” school newsletter direct to your email
• Subscribe to the Digital Calendar
• Like and follow St. Mary School on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
• Join the Parent Facebook Group
• Download the Class DOJO or REMIND app

Important announcements and reminders are also periodically sent out from the office via text message or pre-recorded phone calls, so look for those notifications as well, and please let the office know if you or another parent are NOT receiving the Buzz, or text alerts.

The new lunch program is "chef's kiss"😘

Students really enjoyed our new in-house hot lunch program today! They enjoyed all-beef hot dogs, tater-tots, fruits & veggies together today after outdoor recess. Your students also may tell you that they are incorporating a bit of our Montessori principles at lunchtime now, each student is asked to wipe their own place at the table after eating. Click here to see photos from our school lunch periods today.

At the start of every school year there are sometimes mix-ups, delays or changes with the various District Transportation Departments that bus our students to school. If you need to contact your public school district transportation department for any reason, please find their contact information below. Many of the districts also provide bus tracking apps that you can download and use to track your child’s bus. Please contact your district for more information on how to use/access these apps and for log-in credentials.

Lancaster: https://www.lancasterschools.org/transportation

Lockport (City): https://www.lockportschools.org/page/transportation

Stopfinder Mobile App available

Clarence:https://www.clarenceschools.org/departments/transportation

My Ride K-12 GPS available

Williamsville: https://www.williamsvillek12.org/departments/transportation

My Stop App available

Starpoint: https://www.starpointcsd.org/page/transportation

Alden: https://www.aldenschools.org/page/transportation

Akron: https://www.akronschools.org/Domain/22

Want to coach, go on field trips, be a room parent, volunteer in the lunch room, or work at school events? You need to be VIRTUS trained! Click here to sign up. Choose Buffalo, NY Diocese from the drop down menu to see the list of available sessions. For more information on VIRTUS training, please click here.

Co-ed Swimming, Girls Volleyball, and Boys Baseball have begun at SMS! Thank you to our parent volunteer coaches for your time! Our sports program allows all children to learn, play and compete on our sports teams which are coached by parent volunteers and financially supported by the Home School Association (HSA). If you have a student who’d like to participate in sports for any season, and have not yet signed the Interest Form, please click here to do so now. Be sure to watch our social media accounts for photos and updates on our teams. Click here to learn more about the various sports offered at SMS throughout the year. Go Bees!

Click here for more information on Nardin’s upcoming Open House on Oct. 6th and 7th.

Mr. Mangione is working on the sign ups for lunch room volunteers. If you are interested in helping out and are VIRTUS trained, you can email him at attendance@st.maryschoolswormville.org to let him know when you can help out.

We are so excited to welcome Ms. Maria Anderson to SMS this year as our CCWNY Social Worker. She will be able to work with individual students, small groups, and full classrooms. Her focus for our classrooms is helping students to understand how to work with peers, deal with anxiety, and support the virtue and character education programs of our school. Attached is the opt out letter. It will also come home in hard copy next week.

We have so many wonderful teachers this year and we are really excited for what's ahead. Many of our teachers are also parents in the school. If you are contacting one of these teachers for school concerns, please be sure to use their school contact and not their personal cell phone or personal email. This will make it much easier for them to separate their professional life at school from the personal/social life with school families. Thank you for honoring these boundaries.

We are blessed to have an amazing staff this year! Lots of new faces and lots of familiar faces, but all of us excited to work with your children and make this the best year ever!

Just to keep you in the loop, we are still looking for a music teacher. We are including music in our mornings to ensure that our children are still singing, a school parent has stepped up and will be working with some of our students so that they will be able to cantor at our school (and hopefully even Parish) Masses, and as you can see, Mrs. Baker is ready to get drama club started for the year. Mrs. Bishop has also made arrangements for accompanists during Friday Mass so that we will still be able to enjoy music during our Masses. We continue to search for a classroom music teacher, however, so if you know of anyone who is interested please have them contact Mrs. D'Angelo.

Last Friday, I received a phone call from our new AIS teacher. She reluctantly resigned because she was invited back to the district where she taught last year at double what she would make with us here. We as a staff put our feelers out right away and our team has an interview on Monday. Please pray that God sends us the right person for both of these positions.

The St. Mary’s Home School Association would like to extend a warm welcome to all new families joining our school, and of course a welcome back to our returning families! Please see below for links to forms and paperwork that will go home in your childrens' backpacks this week or already has. Please note our next HSA meetings are Sept. 9th and 17th - the 17th will be the Annual HSA Budget Meeting & Meet the Teacher Night in the SMS Gym @ 6:00 pm. Please plan to attend!

Also, there will be a Room Parent Meeting for all grade levels on Sept. 11th in rooms 106/107. If you are a room parent please attend. The HSA Volunteer Chairs will go through responsibilities/expectations for the year. The revised Room Parent guide/manual will also be passed out.

Family Commitment Form - please review and return by 10/1/24

HSA Sunshine Form (includes Bills Dress Down Pass)- please review and return by 9/9/24

Don't forget to order your Spirit Wear now that school is back in session! The online store will only be open until Sept. 11th, so don't delay! Check out all the gear available, especially the warm weather uniform shirt. Purchase this comfy, moisture-wicking, cotton-touch tee as another option for students to wear from May 1st through October 31st. Tees, hoodies, sweat pants, hats, jackets, fleece blankets, water bottles, tumblers, scarves, bags and more are available. School spirit wear is not considered uniform attire (aside from the warm weather t-shirt) and may be worn to and from school, at sporting events, etc., but not during the school day in lieu of the accepted uniform.