April Newsletter         

Dear Families,

            God has truly been blessing us with lovely, spring weather, and boy do we deserve it after the record breaking winter we had!  I hope each of you is taking time to enjoy this gift with your loved ones.  Easter will soon be upon us, too, so we will have even more to be thankful for to our Lord Jesus. 

            At IHM School, we have been quite busy making Lenten sacrifices, offering up additional prayers through our weekly Stations of the Cross, and giving Alms.  The students collected over $250 so far for the Holy Child Association and Operation Rice Bowl.  I cannot think of a better way to act as Jesus did than to help those less fortunate than ourselves.  Way to go, boys and girls!

            There was an error on a recent letter from the tuition office, so please make note of this:  CORRECTION-April 1^st is the deadline for ALL 2009-2010 tuition to be paid, not April 30^th.  We are sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused you.

            Our Race for Education is growing closer each day.  Please do your best to help support our school with THIS, our ONLY fundraiser of the year.  The best part is that ALL of the donations are returned directly to IHM School, making for an even better learning environment.  Speaking of support, I would like to thank everyone who supported our 8^th Grade Graduation Committee and our 8^th Grade Class with their recent Claire’s Gourmet Fundraiser.  It was a huge success thanks to all of your participation!  May I also encourage each of you to continue to support our school by participating regularly in our SCRIP program.  Not only does it benefit the school, but it helps you in earning tuition credit. 

            Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to Katie Dolan and Mrs. Grady for making our first Multi Cultural Day such a wonderful experience for all!  It was surely a day filled with fun and learning.  My appreciation also goes out to all of our teachers and students for the interesting contributions they made to our day.  The families who assisted with our day are to commended as well.  Hopefully, this will become an annual event, which gets better each year.

            Thank you for your time and attention.  May God’s blessings be upon you and your family throughout this Holy season of Easter. 

                                                                                      Respectfully in peace & love,

                                                                                       Mrs. Kimberly A. Szypula

JANUARY NEWSLETTER

Dear Families,

            A New Year will soon be upon us!  We have much to be thankful for to our God.  My hope for all of our IHM Families is that our Christmas season and New Year be filled with much peace and love in our minds, bodies, and spirits.  Please be sure to share in the gift of Liturgy and Eucharist with your children over the holidays.  There is no better way to become closer to Jesus, who will lead all of us to such peace and love.

            The winter is quickly coming upon us, too.  Therefore, I would like to remind everyone of our school closing procedures.  When there is snow or other inclement weather, please listen to KYW 1060AM.  If all “parochial schools are closed,” then IHM School is closed.  If all “parochial schools are open,” then please continue to listen for our snow number, which is Philadelphia 118.  Due to our geographic location, we have our own snow number.  There are times when the city of Philadelphia public schools and the Archdiocesan schools are open, but we close, as conditions in Andorra and Roxborough are vastly different than those within other city areas.  Should snow arrive during the morning hours, I advise you to listen to KYW 1060 AM, too.  You would hear an announcement for “early dismissal of all parochial schools.”  This means, we would dismiss the students at noon.  It is in such times that we would implement our emergency phone chain in order to make you aware of your children coming home earlier than expected.  The key for all of us is to be prepared.

            I would like to offer our sincerest congratulations to the following eighth grade students who have maintained academic excellence throughout their educational journey here at IHM.  Due to their diligence and hard work, these young people have qualified to take the Neumann Scholarship test.  Should any of our students score high enough on this test, they would be awarded a full four year scholarship to the Archdiocesan High School of their choice.  Way to go:  Pamela Andreola, Andrea Campanella, Michael Cherry, Katie Dolan, Alanna Easley, Jodi Jansen, Rachel Lyons, Thomas Mahan, K. J. McFarlane, Robert Nolen, Gianna Pinardo, Frankie Rapone, and Billy Schwartz!  We wish you the best of God’s blessings while taking the test and in your High School careers.  Thank you for doing us proud!

            Lastly, I am happy to announce that in the New Year IHM School will try out a new system for our Thursday folder.  We will be doing “Virtual Thursday Folders” in an effort to go green by copying less and in an effort to cut costs down as we will not be using as much paper.  Please look for the PURPLE PAPER in this week’s Thursday folder, which will give you a full explanation and directions for the Virtual Folder. 

            May God and our Blessed Mother shower you with blessings of family time and love.  See you next year!

                                                                                    Respectfully in peace and love,

                                                                                    Mrs. Kimberly A. Szypula

Dear Families,

  The glorious seasons of Advent and Christmas are upon us!  We have so much to be thankful for in our lives.  I am very humbled by the outpouring of love and support our students showed in our recent Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive.  Over 300 pounds were collected and donated to the Nutritional Development Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia!  It is a true testament that the Good News is living within us!  Way to go!

  A big thank you also goes out to EVERYONE involved in the Home and School Christmas Bazaar.  The event was a huge success and a good time was had by all.  Our school community continues to “go green” in small, but important ways.  The paper recycling done parish wide is one of our biggest contributions.  This month we earned $68.69, so keep up the good work for our Earth and our school.

  As you know, we started implementing a program at IHM School last year, Peace Builders.  This year, our school community has fully embraced the program.  The underlying goal of Peace Builders is to help create students who become independent and autonomous adults who are able to solve problems peaceably and treat others with the human dignity they deserve.  Through making our daily, communal Peace Builders’ Pledge, class meetings, and the like, our teachers and students are working quite hard to improve the climate of our school.  You may recall that at the start of the year you, the parents and guardians, were invited to review the components of our Peace Builders’ program with your child in their Peace Builders’ folder.  Then, you signed off on these guidelines.  I seek your assistance in reinforcing the Peace Builders’ principles at home with your child.  It is only through consistency that we can help prepare them for success in adulthood.  Try to work some of our Peace Builders’ concepts into dinner conversations or when you need to correct your child’s behavior.  In working as a team and trusting each other to do our respective jobs (parent & educator), we will surely be most effective in helping our children be their best selves!

  With the winter quickly creeping up on us, I want to take this time to remind everyone about requesting and picking up work for sick children.  You can simply request the work when you call your child out sick on the absentee line.  If you or another family member is picking up the work, then please know it will be ready in the office at 2:30PM, not earlier.  If another student is bringing the work home, then it will be sent to that child by 2:30PM.

  May God bless you and your family during this time of preparation for Baby Jesus.  I will pray that you have times of quiet reflection, contagious laughter, and tranquil peace throughout the month.  Thank you for sharing your most beautiful creations with us each and every day.

                                                                                
Respectfully in peace and love,

Mrs. Kimberly A. Szypula