SPN Weekly Newsletter #1

At Saint Philip Neri,

All Are Welcome,

Because We All Belong!

Principal's Message

August 24, 2021

What a wonderful start to our 2021-22 school year! We are all so happy to be able to gather together in person, safely, and begin our year of learning together. Our theme of Belonging is very important, and so each day at morning assembly I will greet everyone with this call and response: I will say, “At Saint Philip Neri, All Are Welcome,” and you will reply, “Because We All Belong.” We are focused on our community and especially enhancing our feelings of belonging to this Catholic school community in small and big ways all year, and we know it will make a positive difference for all of us.

One way we emphasize that We All Belong is that our PTG matches new school families with host school families who will help them feel connected and part of our SPN community. We enjoyed getting to know one another last night at our Welcome Event. Many thanks to Helen Bouras, Emily Libby, and all of the host families and volunteers for making this event happen so successfully.

Our School Board gathered together on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Mass. We were blessed by Fr. Joseph, and participated in a mini-retreat and meeting to start the year. Many thanks to Doug Evans, Anna Adams, and the School Board committee members who will be devoting their time this year to supporting the strategic plan and continued school improvements.

Sunday, August 29th, 9:00 A.M. Mass at St. Philip Neri is a special Welcome Back Mass, celebrating our return to in-person worship. At both churches, St. Albert's and St. Philip Neri, you will see welcome back banners made by our students incorporating paper hearts on which parishioners wrote messages of gratitude and celebration. Please join us this Sunday.

Back to School Night, Thursday, September 2nd

With safety being our first priority, we will conduct Back to School Night as a virtual event this year. On Monday, August 30th, each homeroom teacher will send you a Zoom link to her/his Back to School Night presentation. Teachers in grades TK-5 will offer two

sessions: 6:30-6:50p.m. and 6:55 7:15 p.m. to accommodate families who have more than one student in those grade levels. Our middle school, grades 6-8, will offer one session from 7:20-7:50p.m. with all of the homeroom and enrichment teachers for those grade levels. The Principal's presentation will be a separate video link that you will be able to access next Thursday.

Finally, this Friday evening we will have the Ice Cream Social from 6:00-7:00 p.m., hosted by the 8th grade. With our current COVID climate, we have adjusted this event to fit the safety needs required at this time: Masked, Outdoors, and Brief (M.O.B.). This is another lovely event that gathers our community together for the benefit of school programs and events that need community support in order to be successful. Many volunteer opportunities will be available for parents/families to sign up for in order to satisfy volunteer hour requirements and create a stronger community. Please join us for this event. RSVP here if you plan to attend (let us know by Thursday, please!). Thanks!

It was a pleasure to meet so many of you, and I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you. Thank you all for an excellent first day and many more excellent days to come.

Warmly,

Julie Thomas

Additional Updates/Information:

You do not need to submit the Daily Health Screening electronically or in hard copy version. We are asking families to self-asses at home, everyday, using the screening. If any answers are YES, then you report to the office and your doctor.
Remember to pack a lunch tomorrow! For those interested in ordering from our lunch service, Choice Lunch, please see this flyer for information. Lunch service starts on Tuesday, September 7th.
We will not be sending the weekly family envelopes home this year. Flyers will be electronic or sent home with homeroom teachers. Volunteer hours will be tracked on a separate platform (details to come).
Check out the calendar at the end of this newsletter for upcoming events/important dates.

Have a great first week!

First day of School!

The 2021-22 SLC hosts our first Prayer and Pledge with Principal Thomas.

Preschool

After school music program at SPN - registration open

The M.U.S.E. Band program is starting in September for grades 4-8. Please consider this great offering. The class size will be limited so if you are interested, please go to their website to get more info and to register as soon as possible. They are requiring instrumental masks which are designed specifically for the wind instruments they teach. These can be ordered online through a link on their website. You will want to order those as soon as possible to ensure you have one for the first day of class. www.museband.com

Sports Information from our Athletic Co-Directors (re-post)

We are posting this message again here for families just joining us this week:

Hello SPN School Community! My name is Alex Sadie and, along with Erin Manning, I am the co-Athletic Director serving for the 2021-22 school year. We'd like to announce that registration for fall sports (cross country, boys basketball and girls volleyball) is now open!

While we are accepting registrations, we are working closely with CYO to ensure the safety of our student athletes given the pandemic. That said, it is a fluid situation and things can change rapidly. As parents, we also understand the need to plan our children's school and extracurricular activities so it was important that we got the registration portal open.

Registration link can be found here: https://www.spnalameda.org/about/student-life/athletics/

Sports Update

Cross Country: Cross country has been given the green light to move forward with practices beginning on Monday, 8/31/21 from 6-7pm at Crown Memorial Beach located at 8th & Otis Dr. We highly encourage you to begin to condition as soon as possible if you plan to sign up. This is a K-8 co-ed sport. Please note: a parent or guardian of a K-2 MUST stay during the entire practice time for safety.

We meet at the picnic tables closest to the main bath house/beach park restrooms (park in the main lot - parking kiosk is closed and no cost to park). Practices will be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6-7pm. First meet is Friday evening, 9/17/21.

Boys Basketball & Girls Volleyball: We are working with Alameda Recreation and Park District for gym time allocation in addition to guidance from CYO. Stay tuned!

Athletic Board positions open - come join the Spartan team!