Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school! We are so excited to be welcoming all of our students and families back to St. Mary’s! This week we had our annual Ice Cream Meet and Greet where students were able to meet their teachers and see many of their classmates. Thank you to Eleen’s Ice Cream truck, who helped to make this event such a success. Thank you also to all of our faculty and staff who have been working so hard to prepare for this school year. It is so nice to have all our students back in their classrooms as we embark on another year of learning and educating.

Come visit our table and say this weekend at Brookline Day in Coolidge Corner! We will be there starting at 11 a.m.

We are looking forward to all that this year has in store for our school, our students, and our entire school community!

September 8

• Brookline Day

September 9

• First Parking Lot Prayers at 8 AM (Grades K2-8) All Families Welcome
• EDP Begins
• Brookline Lunch Program Begins

September 12

• Back to School Mass at 8 AM (Grades K2-8) All Families Welcome

September 17

• Parent Volunteer Council at 8 AM

September 21

• St. Mary's 5K at 9:30 AM

September 24

• Back to School Night (TIME TBA)

September 30

• Fall MAPs Testing Week (Grades K2-8)
• Fall Clubs Begin

October 2

• Mass of the Guardian Angels Mass at 8 AM (Grades K2-8) All Families Welcome

October 3

• No Brookline Lunch Program - Bring Lunch from Home

October 4

• Picture Day (Grades PreK-8)

October 14

• NO SCHOOL - Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day

October 25

• Trimester 1 Progress Reports Released (Grades K2-8)

If you are interested in purchasing Spa Pizza for your child for the next 4 months please send cash payment by Tuesday, Sept 10.

We have 12 Fridays plus 1 Thursdays (12/05) which total 13 days.

1 slice = $40

2 slices = $80

There will not be a hot lunch option on these days.

We are just two weeks away from our second annual St. Mary's 5K on September 21st, 2024!

We hope you are able to join us once again for our race and raffle! There is still time to register and receive an official race t-shirt, a free raffle ticket, and finish line photos. The officially timed course starts and finishes at St. Mary's and includes part of the Boston Marathon course! The 5K will be followed by a kids' sprint and a raffle with prizes from some of our sponsors, including Barre3, Bartaco, Lavinia Borcau Skincare, Power Rowing, Garrison House, Shake Shack, Tongwood, and Vinodivino!

Gather your friends, family, and classmates, and join us for a memorable day of fun and fitness. Register not and run, walk, or job your way through the finish line and toward a healthier and happier school community.

Throughout the year, the Parent Volunteer Council will meet regularly to help plan and prepare for school events. Parents will have the opportunity to chair an event, sit on an event committee, and support individual events throughout the year. Each school year, we ask that every family contributes 10 hours of community service to the school. The Parent Volunteer Council is a great way to be involved in the school community and make our wonderful events such as our Trunk or Treat, Special Someone Dance, and International Family Family the amazing events that they are! All parents and guardians are invited to join. The first Parent Volunteer Council meeting will be on September 17th at 8:00am in the school cafeteria. Coffee and refreshments will be served. If you would like to be part of the Parent Volunteer Council, please complete the Google form below to sign up.

Last week, PreK-Grade 8 lead teachers participated in a PD session led by Sarah Riemens and Andrew Rocca from Cor Creative Partners entitled Curriculum Planning and Responsive Teaching. Faculty and staff continued to work on a multi-year curriculum mapping project, specifically scoping and sequencing the math curriculum at all grade levels. Teachers will continue the process with our Instructional Leadership Team throughout the year!

PreK and K1 lead teachers and aides met with our Director of Early Childhood Education, Suzette Torres-Perrier, to learn about updates to our Program, including the addition of Infant and Toddler classrooms, and to discuss scheduling, curriculum, and important regulations.

Our new mentor teacher team for the 2024-2025 launched as well! New homeroom teachers were paired with mentor teachers to plan for the school year, which will include monthly check-ins and observation and feedback meetings. New teachers also received an orientation and learned about the day to day life at St. Mary’s for faculty, staff, students, and families!

Our school and parish faculty and staff concluded their professional development sessions last week with a wonderful spiritual retreat focused on the call to serve. After starting the day with Mass and adoration, faculty and staff reflected on, prayed about, and discussed the call to serve their students, families, and each other. There was creativity, laughter, deep discussion as all reflected on their personal calls to follow Jesus Christ.

Thank you to the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston for hosting us and for a delicious Greek lunch!

All adults must also attend a VIRTUS Protecting God's Children Training. If you have already attended this in the past then you do not need to repeat it. A little information about this training from the Archdiocese:

As part of our efforts to keep all our children free from abuse, the Archdiocese of Boston requires that all volunteers complete Protecting God’s Children training. Parents who may volunteer in the school also need to complete this training. The training focuses on how to create a Safe Environment for kids, how to recognize risks and indicators of abuse, and what to do if you have concerns.

To register for a training, please go to www.VIRTUSonline.org, Click on “First Time Registrant” then complete the registration, selecting “Boston Archdiocese MA” as the location when asked at the beginning of the process. Once you have completed your registration you will be directed to a list of all of the upcoming trainings in the Archdiocese. You can select any training you choose unless it is specified as closed. Please note that some trainings are in languages other than English. When that is the case it will be noted. Thank you for helping us to keep all children safe.

Please find the links below to our social media pages. We have been constantly uploading posts and stories so if you are interested in seeing more of our day-to-day happenings, please follow us!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/st-mary-of-the-assumption-school

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmaryschoolbrooklinema

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stmaryschoolbrookline/