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Set of weekly School Newsletters

St. Henry School Newsletter

May 8, 2009

“By this is my Father glorified,

that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

John 15: 8

Three cheers to God for the beauty around us! He does good work.

Coming up this spring yet are two opportunities for Moms and Dads who are not yet on the diocesan approved list for being chaperones and school helpers to take the required workshop “Protecting God’s Children.” They tend to run about two hours, give or take. Both will be at Christ Methodist Church – which is across the street from Riverside Middle School. It’s that site because they are the ones hosting our ecumenical summer Sports Life Camp and there are some volunteers for that who need the workshop since our parish children participate in that – and we are one of the sponsors for it. One will be Wednesday, May 20, beginning at 5:30 pm and the other will be Sunday, June 14 at 7:00 pm. You can see if others are being offered in other parishes in the vicinity by going to the Virtus.org internet site, choosing the Diocese of Madison, and then checking that out. We will be offering a couple of workshops again in the late summer and early fall at both St. Bernard’s and St. Henry’s if those two times above won’t work for you.

To speed up the three required parts of this diocesan approval process, of which attendance at the workshop is one of them, you can fill out ahead of time the authorization for the diocese to run a criminal background check (the second requirement -- they keep that VERY confidential). You may also ask for the diocesan policy booklet “A Safe Environment for All” which you must read and then return a sheet with your signature saying you read it and agree to abide by all its policies – the third one. You can ask us for these last two things. If any of you reading this will have a child for the first time at St. Henry School in the fall, you might want to go ahead and get a jump on these requirements. It’s a good procedure and certainly has contributed to indeed keeping our children safer.

The eighth graders, along with Mrs. Harms and myself, will be off to Notre Dame, Gettysburg, and Washington, D.C. this coming Monday. We want to thank all of you who helped in any way to make this possible. The parents of the eighth graders deserve a huge hand for helping with so many of the fundraisers and for the financial sacrifices they made to provide this opportunity for their youngsters. God bless each and every one of you. Prayers for a good and safe trip will be appreciated as well.

Since we won’t be back until Saturday the 16th, I won’t be doing a newsletter for next Friday. However, Mrs. Trimborn will send a sheet home with some pretty worthwhile short articles from the Love and Logic folks. Since these are sent over the Internet to anyone who wants them, I don’t think I’m committing any serious copyright infringements. If you like them, feel free to call them and ask them to send you a copy too. Their 800 number will be on the sheet. Enjoy! I hope you find a suggestion or two that makes your life as a parent a little easier and even more fun.

The joint St. Henry and St. Bernard Schools Band and Choir Concert last night was a pure delight! I was smiling from the first choir song to the last band number – and I sure wasn’t alone in that. Thank you, students and Mrs. Oestreicher, for all your hard work. I’m so glad you shared the fruits of it with all of us. Although, I do need to remark on that “slightly” older looking youngster with the gray hair in the saxophone section. He looked amazingly like Fr. Brian.

I really would like to encourage you Moms and/or Dads to consider coming to the last Home and School meeting of this school year Monday night. There are going to be three separate presentations on bids for a possible outdoor sign in which upcoming school and parish events could be posted. HASA is considering helping with the funding of one if approval for it would be gotten from the parish Buildings and Grounds Committee. Since the people at the meetings are the ones who make the decisions, it’s usually better to have the input of more people rather than a few. As always, the meetings are in the rectory hall (downstairs of the priests’ house, entering by way of the back door) and begin at 6:30. You can see the enclosed agenda for more details. And an extra bonus: you get an early jump on 2009-10 service hours by attending! Such a deal.

An important reminder: All tuition aid applications for 2009-2010 are due into the office on or before next Friday, May 15. Please be sure it is complete and all asked for forms are included. If you need us to make a copy of your tax forms, we would be happy to do that for free.

Dates to Mark on Your Calendar

MAY

Friday 08 Mid-quarter reports go home.

Monday 11 St. Henry Eighth Graders leave on their trip to D.C. with St. John Princeton

students. Home Saturday.

Home and School Assn. mtg. at 6:30 pm in the rectory hall.

Tuesday 12 Grade Two field trip to Pick n Save

Education Commission, 6:30 pm

Wednesday 13 Grade One students fill liturgical roles at 8:15 Mass

St. Henry Dress Day

St. Henry/St. Bernard Play Group meets in PC from 9:30 – 11:00 am

Friday 15 Grade Six and Seven Safety Patrol trip to Wisconsin Dells

Grade Four field trip to Old World Wisconsin

Tuition Aid Applications due to school office today.

Fri nite –Sun

15-17 Joint St. Henry/St. Bernard School Families Weekend at the Wilderness

Monday 18 Grade 3 goes to St. Bernard’s for a shared lunch and noon recess; St. B’s Grade 2 come here for the same.

Tuesday 19 Grade 4 goes to St. Bernard’s for a shared lunch and noon recess; St. B’s Grade 5 comes here for the same.

Wednesday 20 Grade Four students fill liturgical roles at 8:15 Mass.

Grade six on field trip to Cave of the Mounds

“Protecting God’s Children” workshop at Christ United Methodist (across from Middle School) at 5:30 pm.

Thursday 21 Grade One to Marquardt Manor in the morning

Grade Two to the Humane Society in the afternoon

Friday 22 Student Council Career/Role Model Day

Second set of fourth quarter AR points due today (Grades 4-8)

Grade Three to Octagon House

Grade Four to Buckskinners Rendezvous

MARKET DAY

Saturday 23 Fr. Brian’s sixth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood

Monday 25 NO SCHOOL – Memorial Day

Wednesday 27 May Crowning after 8:15 Mass – Second Graders do the honors, wearing their First Communion clothes.

JUNE

Thursday 04 Eighth Grade Graduation, 7 pm, St. Henry Church followed by

reception hosted by Grade Seven in the Parish Center

Friday 05 Joint St.Henry/St. Bernard cook out lunch (weather permitting) at Lincoln Park

followed with games for K-7. Dismissal from the park at 2:55!

Tuesday 30 All 2008-09 tuition obligations need to be fulfilled by this date. (See contract please.)

SEPTEMBER

Tuesday 01 First day of school year 2009-2010 (We’ve had questions about this date.)