Madonna Catholic School News

Dear Madonna Families,

Welcome to October! Our students and staff have settled into a great routine. It is wonderful to see how much we can grow when our school works together to support our kids.

This weekend's Gospel (October 4) is the Parable of the Tenants. In the story, Jesus talks about a landowner who plants a beautiful vineyard. He trusts his workers to take good care of it so it will grow a great harvest.

This story perfectly matches our school division's theme this year:

• Rooted in Christ's love: We are so thankful for our students and our safe, caring school.

• United as Christ's people: Teachers, parents, and students work together as a team to take care of our school community.

• Sent forth to spread Christ's message: Just like a healthy vineyard grows good fruit, we grow in kindness, hard work, and faith. Then, we take those good things and share them with the world.

We see this "good fruit" every single day. Students help their classmates, teachers make learning fun, and parents support our events. Your actions help our school thrive. Thank you for being such a great team.

Have a blessed and restful weekend,

Fiona Wimmer, Assistant Principal

Cathy Hinger, Principal

October 5 - Whole school picture day

October 6 - ECS classes who missed photo day yesterday - today is your day!

October 6 - Grade 4 Enviroservice presentation (in class)

October 7 - Prayer Club at first recess

October 9 - Hot Lunch - Papa John's

October 12 - THANKSGIVING - No School

October 14 - Parent Council Meeting 6:00pm

October 15 - Cultural Potluck Dinner * sign up below*

October 30 - Madonna Halloween Dance sponsored by Parent Council

Thank you to the students who have already spent time creating some beautiful artwork or writing and submitted their own entry to this annual contest. We have enjoyed collecting them in the office - just remember the deadline is Monday, October 5.

National Custodian Day is celebrated annually on October 2 to recognize the hard work of custodial and facility maintenance staff in keeping schools, offices, and public buildings clean and safe. We appreciate the work that both Mr. Juvie (our daytime custodian) and Ms Alvarez (evening custodian) offer our school community. On Thursday afternoon, Ms Hesse and her grade one students surprised Mr. Juvie with a card and special gift. He was pleasantly surprised!

The class talked about spreading kindness and how it makes you feel:

"My heart feels so happy"

"I think my heart will explode"

"I feel so warm inside now that felt so nice to do"

1H students

Mr. Juvie says,"thanks everyone!"

This week, our school participated in a variety of meaningful in-class and whole-school activities to help students learn and reflect on the importance of Truth and Reconciliation Day.

As part of this ongoing learning journey, our whole-school stained glass project has only just begun! We are waiting with anticipation to see what the beautiful final product will look like—stay tuned! 🧡

🎃A few Parent Council updates and upcoming dates to keep on your radar!

Halloween Dance – October 30 Save the date!

More details will be coming soon, but we’re planning to have dinner available for preorder to make the evening a little easier for families.

Meal options will include:

• Cheese Pizza
• Pepperoni Pizza
• Ham & Pineapple Pizza
• Garden Pizza
• Chicken Bites
• Juice Boxes

The preorder window will be open October 13 -19. Please make sure to get your orders in during this window, as we won’t be able to accommodate late orders.

A couple of quick notes about food orders:

• All orders are final and no refunds will be available.
• Food must be picked up during the dance. Any food not picked up, as well as any leftovers at the end of the evening, will be donated.

We’ll also have ice cream, treats and bottled water available for cash purchase at the dance.

We will definitely need some parent volunteers to help us out that evening! A volunteer sign-up with different roles and time slots will be shared closer to the date.

Our Bake Sale is back on November 4 & 5!

We’ll be looking for help in two ways:

• Baked goods – families can sign up to send in baking for the sale
• Volunteers – we’ll have 30-minute volunteer shifts available during the actual sale

Sign-up sheets for both will be shared closer to the dates.

If you haven’t joined yet, please feel free to join our Parent Council WhatsApp group. We use it for meeting reminders, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, quick updates and just to stay connected throughout the year.

Join here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JB2V5hfggfxLEptGCIiMIB?mode=gi_t

Thanks everyone for your continued support and for always helping us make these events happen!

Madonna Catholic School Parent Council

OLPH (Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish)

Masses at OLPH will be livestreamed. Please join using this link. https://www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark/videos/

Visit OLPH Website for more information about the parish and in regards to sacramental preparation.

Visit www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark