Dear St. Rose School Families:
Creating bonds and building bridges was the theme of this week at St. Rose School.
The Faculty vs. 8th Grade Beach Volleyball game captured the true spirit of our school community -- one of competition and camaraderie where all ages work and play together, honoring tradition and embracing change when it is for the good. It was great fun to participate in the game with my highly respected teammates and our worthy opponents. There was a lot of excitement throughout the two halves and everyone played very well. Congratulations to our 8th graders for the ultimate win...we know they will continue to score high points as they head off to high school and beyond.
In the spirit of Catholic Schools and giving back to the community a group of our Middle School students hosted a Story/Craft time for 2 and 3 year olds at C.H. Booth Library this week. I am pleased to report that the outreach was wonderfully received. Our students represented St. Rose School with poise, warmth and creativity greeting children and their parents/grandparents, reading/acting out stories and helping with a Kindness/Love themed craft. The little ones were enamored, some even made Valentine's cards for their SRS helpers. This is a meaningful way to get our students out in to the community.
Speaking of great impressions, St. Rose 7th graders presented their science projects to outside judges on Thursday. It was apparent that the students put time and effort in to their variety of interesting experiments and I am grateful to Mrs. Petrillo for guiding them through the process. After a careful review, the judges identified six winners:
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Honorable mention
-Thomas Phelan, "Can a Water Filter be Made Using Condensation & Evaporation"
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Fifth Place
- Evie Komninakas, "Which Fruits Have the Most Vitamin C"
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Fourth Place
- Maddy Watson, "Which Bird Feathers Absorb the Most Oil"
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Third Place
- Rohan Carey -- "Does the shape of an aircraft affect it's Speed & Lift"
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Second Place
- Joshua Schumacher, "What type of Water Produces Ice Crystals the Fastest"
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First Place
- Ava Faroul, "What Drinks Contain the Most Glucose"
The top three winners will advance to the Connecticut State Science and Engineering Fair at Quinnipiac University on March 11th; we wish them well and will keep track of their progress.
Thank you to all who attended the HSA meeting Thursday night. I realize it is difficult for many to get out on these cold and busy winter nights but we had a good group gathered and a very productive conversation. Highlights included a recap of the positive results from our parent survey back in November, the status of our security guard search, an update on Open House, Catholic Schools Week and Enrollment (all positive) and information about the pilot testing of our personalized learning initiative. We are moving in a strong direction and much is due to the partnership among faculty, administration and parents.
This week an important issue has been raised about preventing busing for private schools. It is imperative that we speak up about this to ensure that we continue to benefit from these services that are much deserved. I ask that even if your child does not use the bus you lend your voice of support.
We have also been asked to re-address the drop off and pick up procedures for car walk to maximize the safety of our students. I realize that the construction has been ongoing and caused a lot of disruption to the usual routine. Your continued patience is most appreciated;
attached is a map
and
overview of the procedures
so that we are all on the same page.
Today is Officer Mike's last official day with us at St. Rose School but we know that he is a part of our family and will be back to visit so we say...thank you for your service, enjoy your retirement and we will see you soon. Starting on Monday there will be a Newtown Police officer here during school hours until we finalize Officer Mike's replacement.
It has been a very productive week at St. Rose School which means everyone is ready for and entitled to a relaxing weekend. Enjoy!
God Bless,
God Bless,
Mr. Bardhyl Gjoka
Principal