Monday Morning Memo

What a glorious week of performances we enjoyed last week!  For those of us who experienced more than one performance, we could see the progression of skills, talent, and even willingness to be up there on the stage.  But some of our toddlers and preschoolers are already ready to take on the world!  Thank you so much for being the appreciative audience that encourages our students to take these risks and to thoroughly enjoy performing.  And thanks, too, to the talented teachers, Mrs. Haskamp, Mrs. Helm, and Mrs. Everly, who teach them the skills they need to share their joy and enthusiasm and talents with us.

Our final Christmas Program is this Thursday evening at 7:00 in the church.  Our sixth graders will be singing and our seventh and eighth grade acting class students will be performing a skit.  Come enjoy the evening with us!  The doors of the church will not be open until 6:00, so please don’t come earlier than that and have to endure the cold until it opens!

Congratulations to our Science Olympiads, who took second place out of 34 competing schools!

We are so proud of them and their sponsors, Mrs. Gruss and Mr. Stewart, for their hard work individually and as a team.  For more information and pictures, please click here:  http://spedsgruss.blogspot.com/

If you are planning to apply for tuition assistance for the 2014-2015 school year, the school is now accepting applications online, via FACTS Grant and Assessment (the company that processes our applications). There are some key differences in this year’s application process, so please read on for this important information:  New Deadline: Current families must complete an online application and submit all necessary supporting documentation to FACTS by December 31, 2013. This is approximately two weeks earlier than previous years, so please plan accordingly. Note that an application is not considered complete until all supporting documentation has been received by FACTS.

New website/login: FACTS has updated their site, including a new website address, so if you applied for assistance last year, you will need to create a new User ID and password in order to access the system this year. You will also have to enter your information (name, address, etc.) again—the updated platform unfortunately did not retain this from last year’s application.

More information, including the amount of assistance you could receive, is available here. If you have not applied for tuition assistance before, start here. To begin the tuition assistance process click here.  

Remember that your application must be completed by December 31, 2013.  If you do not meet the December 31^st deadline you will receive a full tuition re-enrollment contract for the 2014-2015 school year.

Our Annual Admissions Open House will be held on Saturday, January 11th from 10am-noon.  Please extend an invitation to anyone who might be interested in exploring a St. Paul's education for their children.  As you visit with friends and neighbors over the holidays, please remind them that we are currently accepting applications for the 2014-15 school year.  Anyone interested in scheduling an admissions tour or learning more about the Open House may contact Jill McGee in the Admissions Office at 816-268-6542 or Admissions@speds.org.  As a reminder:  Current families do NOT need to reapply for the 2014-15 school year.  Re-enrollment agreements will be mailed to our current families in late January of 2014.

News and Reminders from the Community Learning Center  The CLC (Community Learning Center) has offered several great events so far this year and we are pleased by the number of families taking advantage of the learning opportunities. There are many more events scheduled for the remainder of the school year and we hope you can join us. Click here to view our current calendar of events.

Still Shopping? St. Pauls Spirit wear makes a great gift!  Come by and check a few things off your list! Spirit wear items will be for sale on Friday, December 13th from 8-10 and 2-4 in the ECC commons.  Cuddle up with a St. Pauls blanket and come see the great new sweatshirts!

Monday Morning Memo

We look forward to the return of your children tomorrow and hope that you have enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We are in meetings today on curriculum mapping and differentiation of instruction, as well as spending time planning instruction for the next few, important weeks.

Our Middle School Christmas Program will be held in the church this Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. There will a reception following the performance in the Parish Hall.

This Friday is the deadline for preferential status on the waiting list for siblings and members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. After that, all applicants will be considered without preference so, if you fall into one of these categories or know someone who does, have them contact Miriam Zavagnin, our Admissions Director, before Dec. 3^rd. Thanks!

Please encourage your child to wear red for our Chiefs Red Friday Pep Rally onTuesday, Dec. 6. (We do know that Tuesday is not a Friday, but apparently the event will be filmed and then televised on Red Friday.) All students are encouraged to wear red but only kindergarten through eighth graders will attend the pep rally, due to our half day program, limitations on space, and the amount of noise generated, which is hard on our youngest students.

Journey T. U., one of our fifth graders, is performing in the Coterie Theatre’s production of “Seussical”. Journey will be in the productions on Nov. 29, Dec. 2, 4, 8, 11, 16 (7:00 p.m.), 17, 20, 26, and 29. Tuesday through Friday performances are at 10 a.m. and 12 noon; Saturday performances are at 2:00 and 4:00; and Sunday performances are at 2:00. Congratulations to another budding star!