St. Thomas Aquinas
2645 Donald St P7E 5X5 Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

We stand up to Bullying! Pink Shirt Day today at St.Thomas Aquinas- Bullying Prevention- this week -many awareness activities and discussions around Bullying prevention have taken place in our classrooms - For our final day this Friday, we encourage all our school community to wear our gold and blue colours and our Knights wear. We know that our school motto of Love Follows Knowledge and the wearing of our school colours is our representation of St.Thomas Knights take a stand against bullying.

To strengthen school spirit and build community, we are now offering The Knight Wear Apparel Program. It includes an exciting new line of school clothing items for students featuring our colours and logos! Students can choose from top quality clothing items from Sportop. Clothing items will be sold directly through Sportop’s online store and as of today, the store is now live! Simply use the link below to access the store: https://stthomas-2020.itemorder.com/sale... Please know: The Store will close on Sunday, November 29th at midnight ALL orders will be processed the following day. Production should take 2-3 weeks and hopefully (we’re cutting it a bit close) orders will be ready prior to Christmas. Once the orders are completed, Sportop will individually package orders, and will notify families as to when orders are ready for pick-up. Pick-up of orders will be at Sportop, 777 Central Ave. Thank you for helping to build school spirit and our St. Thomas Aquinas School community!

PROJECT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA In the Spirit of Giving, our Grade 1, and 2 classes are going to be doing something very important this year. The students have recognized the importance of giving back to those in our community; as a result, they have decided to be Secret Santas for the clients of St. Joseph’s Care Group. Many of the residents that live at St. Joseph’s do not have family members that can afford to give their loved ones a gift and that is where the students wan...t to help. These are the items we are looking to collect: puzzle books puzzles mandala colouring books new hats and mittens new blankets (this is needed!) new pajamas for both men and women Slippers for both men and women boxes of chocolates We know that these gifts will make the Grandmas and Grandpas feel loved during the Christmas Season. All donations need to be brought to the school no later than November 27th. Thank you for your support and generosity. See more

https://docs.google.com//2PACX-1vRPlmI1_VsIj9lbEbbm1U/pub

This year at St. Thomas Aquinas, we have an exciting new fundraiser, just in time for Christmas. Since Christmas is only two short months away, we have partnered up with Vanderwees Home and Garden. We will be selling beautiful Christmas poinsettias. All monies raised will be used to support student-based programming, activities, and equipment that embrace the curriculum throughout the school year.

Lest we Forget...

Last week we heard a story about Terry Fox- a remarkable, dedicated young person who overcame adversity to try to achieve his goal. He tried and tried everyday to raise money for cancer. Today at St. Thomas we are setting a goal for our school community. Thanksgiving is a special time to give thanks and show our appreciation for what we have: a loving home, delicious food on our table to share with our families and a safe and inclusive school community. Unfortunately, so...me people do not have enough food to eat here in our own community. Our goal is to bring in 1 non perishable food item per student in our school. If every student brought in 1 item we would have 198 items to donate. If you want to donate more than 1 item that would be awesome! Some items to bring would be canned items, and dry foods like sugar, flour and pasta. During the period of September 29 - October 7, let’s try to achieve our goal just like Terry Fox did!

SAVE THE DATE! Picture Day is coming up this week! Wednesday, September 30 - photos will be taken for JK- grade 2 Thursday, October 1 - photos will be taken for grade 3-6!

Dear Families, Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, in the spring of 2013. It grew out of Phyllis' story of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school at the Mission school in BC, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects... of residential schools happening annually across Canada. September 30th is the date that was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to attend residential schools. Due to our school’s picture days on September 30 & October 1, we will be honouring Orange Shirt Day on Friday, October 2. We encourage families to please wear orange clothing of your choice (i.e. shirt, socks, accessories, etc.) in order to help bring awareness and support of Phyllis’ story on October 2. Sincerely, Mr. F. Lacaria, Principal

Please note the following -

Students, Parents and Guardians! We can now bring our own device to school! This means laptops and tablets - cell phones are not included! Students will BYOD to school and return home with their devices at the end of school day! Let's start learning digitally!

For all families with children who are remote learning and would still like to have a fall portrait taken. Please click this link in this message to book your appointment. https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/1dqkbr9s/ If you have any questions or need assistance, please call our office at 683-0922 or email [email protected]

Coming to our school! NRP will be resuming September 29th - a letter will be sent home with your child soon! Watch for it in your child's agenda or school take home notes!

ROUTE SUSPENDED FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 - DRIVER UNAVAILABLE - NO DRIVER TO COVER SOUTH 40 - HFAM AM & PM *** Parents are advised that this may extend into ne...xt week and should be prepared for this *** ROUTE SUSPENDED FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 ONLY - DRIVER UNAVAILABLE - NO DRIVER TO COVER SOUTH 68 - STPA AM, PJP2 AM & PM, STTH AM & PM ROUTE SUSPENDED FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 14 - 18 ONLY - DRIVER UNAVAILABLE - NO DRIVER TO COVER NORTH 62 - STIG AM, ECLV AM, CCHR AM & PM (STIG NOON COVERED) ROUTE SUSPENDED THROUGH FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 - SCHEDULED TO RESUME MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 SOUTH 93 - WHIT & HIGH SCHOOL AM, WHIT PM (WEST NOON COVERED) ROUTE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO DRIVER SHORTAGE: SOUTH 20 - OGDEN AM & PM, MCKELLAR AM & PM (WEST AM & NOON COVERED) As all available driver resources are being used to cover as many of the driver unassigned routes as possible, parents are reminded to be prepared for their child's bus to be suspended at any time should the driver of their child's route be unavailable. It is best to check Reported Delays on our website every morning to confirm your bus is running. #TBayBusDriverShortage

Please note the following regarding COVID-19 protocols for families and schools to follow to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in our community and in our schools.

Friendly Reminder - Bus South #68 route will be cancelled on Monday September 21 for both am and pm routes.

This information should help clarify the steps to follow in the event of an illness. https://www.tbdhu.com/safereturn_parents

Grade 1 Fashion Friday! Featuring some cool Knights from @stthomastbcdsb!... First week - COMPLETE! #tbcdsb #tbcschools #tbay #fashionfriday #cohort #grade1 #funatschool #happiertogether #timeoutside #weloveourschools #returntoschool See more

Please note the following:

https://www.tbnewswatch.com//teachers-count-down-to-unique

Going to have a lotta this and that's okay! Don't forget that social distancing - means a wingspan apart from your friends! Let's make sure we all stay safe and apart by our wingspans!

Ideas for your children's lunches!

A reminder for a safe return to school! PLEASE NOTE! JR- must wear a mask K&PR- encouraged to wear a mask WHAT STUDENTS NEED!... water bottle one good pair of sneakers (no sandals, flip flops, dress shoes et el. ) that they can wear for all activities. INDOOR SHOES WILL BE NEEDED BEGINNING SEPT 10 -14 backpack DON'T FORGET! Don't forget to pack two lunches for both breaks PARENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO DROP LUNCHES REMINDER At this time there are no food programs, Breakfast, Milk and Pizza - We will be informing you as they become available. See more

Welcome back to all St.Thomas Knights students Parents & Guardians! In the next two days your children's teacher will be reaching out to you by phone/email regarding First Day Morning Routine, but in the meantime here are several reminders for a Healthy and Safe return to the school. Parent Reminders of some COVID Protocols : Parents and Visitors are not allowed into building/property Please understand that for physical distancing purposes we can not allow parents onto sch...ool property and especially on the first day. Please review TBCDSB Parent Guide and Operational Guidance documents on the TBCDSB website. Gr.4-6 students must wear a mask; K-3 students are encouraged to wear a mask We look forward to being together again!

Summer Snack Program!

Sometimes words just aren’t enough... Stronger. Than. Ever. https://youtu.be/unle85XybEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBA3Sq6ksLY