Principal's Weekly Newsletter

Dear Families,

I would like to share a powerful experience I recently had with Ms. Falcone's Grade 8 students. I was honored to be invited to listen to their very first Socratic Seminar of the year, where they reflected on the life and legacy of Welles Crowther after reading The Red Bandanna.

During the seminar, students engaged in a rich, student-led discussion about Welles’s courage, leadership, and ultimate sacrifice as he repeatedly returned to the World Trade Center on 9/11 to save others. Their dialogue explored what it truly means to be a hero especially when no one is watching and how we can carry those lessons into our own lives.

I was deeply moved by the insight, compassion, and maturity of our students’ reflections. Their ability to grapple with such profound questions reminds me how capable they are of deep moral reasoning and empathy. It was an inspiring reminder of the incredible growth happening in our classrooms every day.

Have a restful weekend!

Our Dean of Students, Ms. Kfoury, brought the energy on Friday with a MAP Growth Test RALLY! We discussed test preparation, sang, and danced to get our scholars pumped and ready for their big day taking the MAP! We even had some special well wishes from our Superintendent, Eileen McLaughlin. Grades K2 through 8 will be taking the assessment this Monday, September 29th. Families, your support makes a huge difference! Help your student feel prepared this weekend by making sure they get plenty of rest, engage in brain-boosting activities like reading and writing, stay hydrated with lots of water, and spend the weekend eating nutritious, healthy meals. Thank you for working with us to set our students up for success: you areamazing partners in their learning journey!

This special gathering will be held on Tuesday, September 30th at 8:00 a.m. in the school cafeteria.

Join us for a warm cup of coffee, light refreshments, and a chance to connect with fellow parents, ask questions, and hear important updates about our school community and upcoming events. This is a wonderful opportunity to share ideas, celebrate successes, and strengthen our partnership in supporting your children.

St. Mary’s Picture Day is Thursday, October 2nd. All students from Infant through Grade 8 will be photographed individually and in their respective classes. Students in Grades PreK-8 should wear their regular school uniform, not their PE uniform, even if they have Physical Education on Thursdays. Please arrive at school on time, as the photography schedule begins as early as 8:05 a.m. If your child is late, they may miss their class photo and/or individual photo. Orders are completely digital again this year. Please complete the online ordering process as outlined via email from Dr. Enrique using the password-protected online portal from Photo Charm.

Today is the LAST day to purchase swag from the merch store! Be sure to get your orders in today! This is the perfect chance to restock your merch for the new school year. We love seeing our students and other members of our community wearing their gear. Thank you @airosports for designing these amazing products for us! Scan the QR code or visit the following link to order: www.airosports.com/stmary

Thank you to those who attended our first Parent Volunteer Council meeting of the year! We had a wonderful meeting and are looking forward to everything that our volunteers will do for the school community this year.

All families are required to volunteer 10 hours of time to the school. There is a wide variety of opportunities to complete these throughout the year. Be on the lookout for another email with directions of how to log your family volunteer hours on FACTS.

To opt in to Parent Volunteer Council communication, please complete this Google form. This will allow you to receive emails about all meetings. Also within the form is a place to show interest in being an event co-chair or committee member as well as two ongoing volunteer opportunities. More details are within the form.

Our Third Annual 5K was a huge success! We were thrilled to have over 220 runners, making this our biggest 5K yet! It was wonderful to see so many of our students, alumni, faculty, staff, board members, parents, and parishioners running in the race. Along with our runners, we had many members of our St. Mary's community volunteering and cheering on from the side lines! We are so grateful to all of the local businesses who generously sponsored our race and donated to our raffle. A few of these businesses even came out to run in the race or host tables at the event!

We were excited to have Igloo Productions DJing the event this year, adding a new level of hype and excitement to one of our school's biggest fundraisers!

We are so blessed to have such a supportive community around our school, and we hope you all join us again in 2026!

This past week our Infant through Grade 8 teachers, special subject teachers, and school support staff welcomed parents and guardians back to school for Curriculum Night. The evening began outside with time for parents to connect and socialize with one another over wine and cheese. Dr. Nadjarian welcomed all and highlighted this special first year anniversary of receiving the National Blue Ribbon Award. Parents had the opportunity to visit classrooms and meet with faculty and staff to learn more about the curriculum. It was a wonderful night and St. Mary’s is grateful for the strong home-school connection!

Our K2-8 students attended a school Mass this week celebrated by Fr. Jonathan and Fr. David, and accompanied by Deacon Heyne. It was wonderful to have so many parents join as well. Thank you to our eighth grade students who served by lectoring at the Mass. Middle school students also altar served and our Music and Theatre teacher, Ms. Pereyra, sang beautifully as cantor. The mass of the Holy Spirit prepared students, families and faculty and staff for a wonderful school year. Father Jonathan reflected on the Gospel of the day with students during his Homily, asking them what they bring to school each day in their backpacks. Students eagerly raised their hands to share their thoughts. He contrasted their day to day routine of coming to school to what Jesus told his disciples to carry on their journey following him. The lesson was clear: God provides for his followers all the time, and there is no need to carry anything. The Holy Spirit helps us daily as well, and he taught them a simple prayer to say when they wake up each morning: “Come, Holy Spirit!”

In Miss Tiffany's PreK class, students worked on tracing their name with little blocks. They then practiced and said each letter that was in their names. Miss Tiffany had them get started with identifying big lines, little lines, and curves so they can get familiar with writing letters like “O” “C” “D” “E” etc. They were then able to go to the name building table and grab each letter that goes with their name.

Mrs. Porcello’s Pre-K class met with their 5th-grade buddies for the first time this year! The 5th graders wrote and illustrated their own creative version of The Day the School Supplies Quit. Through their writing and presentations, they modeled the proper ways to care for school supplies and shared helpful tips with their younger friends. Thank you, Grade 5, for being such wonderful role models and leaders for our youngest learners!

Students in Mrs. Curley's K1 class read the book Tap the Magic Tree. Then, they go to make their own fall themed tree using crayons, scissors, glue, and colored paper. Students did a great job practicing their fine motor skills and creating beautiful trees!

Our kindergarteners celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day with a fun hands-on science experiment- apple volcanoes! Using apples, baking soda, and vinegar, they created fizzy eruptions while learning about chemical reactions.

First graders in Ms. Pereyra's drama class played some silly games this week! They worked on their dramatic and improvisational skills by working as a team to come up with one word stories where each student added a word to create a funny take about a dragon unicorn monster.

This week in third grade, students practiced their spelling words by making them out of model magic clay! Earlier in the week students sorted their spelling words into categories and now they are practicing for their spelling test on Friday.

In Ms. Kfoury's Leadership Seminar, students explored the complexities of communication styles: how to effectively communicate, how to communicate to different audiences, and how to get points across respectfully and explicitly. They then did an activity called "Support and Sabotage" where they took working as a team to a new level: they were able to anonymously ask how they can be supported as a middle school cohort as well as admit how they could play a part in "sabotaging" our goals. These activities are in an effort to build a strong foundation that the students will use for the rest of the year, and beyond, as they work together as St. Mary's student leaders.

Please find the links below to our social media pages. We are 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/