Saint Peter School Newsletter
October 9, 2025
Picture of the week: Alumn Lily Carpenter, represented Fontbonne Academy at The High School Fair this week. Great to see her reuniting with our grade 8 students.
OCTOBER HAPPENINGS
Monday, October 13, 2025, No School Columbus Day
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 Grades 1-8 Progress Reports will be sent home
Friday, October 24, 2025 - Oktoberfest. See PA section below
CONGRATULATIONS STUDENT COUNCIL
Secretary - Katie Rouse-Irwin, gr 6
Vice President - Mateo Bolton-Vega, gr 7
Treasurer - Sophia Lee, gr 6
President - Winston Christensen, gr 8
FROM THE PARENT ASSOCIATION
While we, parents of our wonderful SPS community, continue to plan our next events and get togethers, please discover a short video from our last Fall Flower Arrangement Social. Also available on SPS social media. (Thank you Stephanie Hales for putting this video together!)
An amazing Christmas Wreath Decoration workshop is in the making.... Keep an eye open for more info and registration coming up soon! :-)
In the meantime, we hope everyone is getting ready for Oktoberfest on October 24th. We look forward to your help and donations. Please use the link to volunteer, donate raffle items and of course.... please sell as many raffle tickets as possible to support our school!!
Upcoming events:
- October 24th 5:30-7:30pm Oktoberfest
- November 5th 8am PA meeting (open to all)
SERVICE LEARNING - SOCK DRIVE FOR HSCMP
We’re teaming up with the Harvard Square Churches Meals Program (HSCMP) to support our unhoused and food-insecure neighbors right here in Cambridge — and we need your help (and your socks)!
We’re holding a Sock Drive for new adult-sized athletic socks — black or white, please. These humble heroes of the wardrobe are in high demand, and every pair makes a difference!
Bring your sock donations to Oktoberfest, or send them in with your student the week after. They can drop them off with their homeroom teacher.
Let’s warm some hearts (and feet)!
FROM THE HEALTH OFFICE
For the protection of your child as well as the entire school community please do not send your child to school if they need fever reducing or cough medicine prior to school. Your student may return after he/she is fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication.
Also, please do not send nut or peanut containing ingredients to school. This includes Nutella and certain granola bars (when in doubt please check ingredients.)
LUNCH MENU
Saint Peter School is hosting an Open House
Help Us Spread the Word!
Open House on Saturday, October 18th, from 9 AM to Noon, and we’d love your help getting the word out.
Word of mouth is our secret sauce—so if you know a friend, neighbor, coworker, or cousin’s-best-friend’s-sister who might be looking for a warm, faith-filled, academically strong school community, send them our way!
You can share this RSVP link with anyone interested:
Open House RSVP Form
Let’s continue to grow the Saint Peter family—one future student at a time!
LAST CALL FOR CYO BASKETBALL
"Registration is open for the 2025-26 St. Peter's Catholic Youth Organization basketball season. Space is limited and priority will be given to St. Peter's School students and church parishioners. Boys and girls in grades 3 through 8 are eligible. Practices will either be on weeknights or Saturday mornings starting around late October or early November. Teams will play games against other parishes throughout the Boston area and most games are on the weekends, with home games on most Sundays starting in early December. The season will go through early March. Basketball experience is helpful but not necessary.
Parents can sign up at this link https://go.teamsnap.com/forms/498902 and can email Michael Hoff (hoffmichaelao@gmail.com) with any questions."
CORI / VIRTUS TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERS
If you wish to volunteer this year for the school, you must be VIRTUS trained and fill out a CORI background check form (see Mrs. Flynn in the front office). You do not have to complete the VIRTUS training at the school, so if you can't make it to this training that's OK. In either case, please register for the training on https://virtusonline.org before coming. Upon completion of your training please forward Mrs. Flynn your certificate.
CONFIRMATION PREPARATION SCHEDULE 25/26
Last call for the St. Peter Parish Confirmation Program!
To register your child, please complete the sign up form below.
Candidates may choose one of the following sessions (held twice a month):
Sundays, 3:30–4:45 PM, starting October 5, 2025
SIGN UP FOR CONFIRMATION CLASSES HERE
THURSDAY Confirmation Schedule
Other Important Links
These links will remain the same each week, please use them as needed!
Student Mass Responsibility Schedule
This year, due to security concerns, we will not be sharing our student mass schedule publicly. However, keep an eye on your homeroom teacher newsletter to know when your student(s) will be helping to lead the mass. We apologize for the inconvenience that this causes.
Information about device use and child development
Specific research or links that I've read on the topic, not comprehensive
American Academy of Pediatrics Summary - Link: https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/screen-time-guidelines/ The focus here is on content quality over screen time limits, emphasizing parent-child shared media use and communication
Recent Research from UK on Smartphone Use Before Age 13 Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29296-3 2024 study of 100,000+ young people found smartphone use before age 13 associated with increased mental health risks, suicidal thoughts, and emotional regulation problems
Wait Until 8th Movement - Community-Based Approach Link: https://www.waituntil8th.org/ A movement for parents to rally together to delay smartphones until 8th grade, reducing peer pressure through collective action
Popular Books (for deeper reading): Note: These are popular works rather than peer-reviewed research, but their findings align with the academic studies cited above
"iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood" by Jean Twenge
"The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" by Jonathan Haidt