Blessed Sacrament School News

Walpole
Day
Many thanks to all who made our first official participation in
Walpole Day such a big success. We are very grateful especially to Effie and John Fraone for all of the hard work and
coordination of our first Blessed Sacrament School float. It
was a great day of spirit and fun. What a tremendous way to
showcase all that we are as a school and community.
Congratulations
to the BSS Players on their sensational
performances of Annie at
Xaverian Brothers High
School on May 4 and 5!
And thank you to Miss
Jacksina, Mrs. Puccia, and
our parent helpers.
Summer Office Hours
Closed: July 2 – July 6
Open: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 to 1:00, June, July and August.
Christmas Bazaar
The Christmas Bazaar has become a tradition at
BSS and we would be excited to have some new
energy, and Chair(s) for this great holiday event.
Please contact Michele ([email protected])
or Eileen ([email protected]).
Blessed Sacrament School News
...building the City of God on a foundation of faith and knowledge
From the Principal
One of the hardest things about being so invested in a strong school community like BSS is having to say goodbye
each year to some of the people who make a community like ours so special. Next week, we will send forth 45 graduates at
our commencement ceremony. For the past ten years, the Class of 2012 has proudly lived out our school’s core values through
their work inside and outside of the classroom. They are outstanding students who have earned tens of thousands of dollars in
scholarships to local high schools. They are talented athletes, who have filled our trophy case beyond capacity through their
exploits on the field and court. They are young men and women of faith who have been empowered by the Spirit to serve our
world. As they move on from BSS, we know that the lessons they learned here have given them a foundation from which to
build their lives upon. Please join me in praying for our graduates as they proudly move on to this next stage of their lives.
Besides our graduates, it is rare for a year to go by when schools like ours don’t lose valuable and loved faculty members. It is always sad when teachers leave our school community, but some losses are harder on the heart than others. Indeed,
it is difficult for anyone who knows our school well to imagine our Pre-K program without Mrs. Agnew as its leader. Sadly, this
is our reality for next year, as Mrs. Agnew will be returning to work at a nursery school much closer to her home in Braintree—
a school that she first worked at over 20 years ago.
Since 1997, Mrs. Agnew has been the face and the heart of the Pre-K program at BSS. Hundreds of students have been
blessed to have her as their teacher, mentor and friend during their first years of school. Her love, compassion, generosity and
kindness for all people, but especially for our children, are apparent in everything that she does. For 15 years, she has shown us
all what God’s unconditional love looks like through the ways that she has guided, nurtured, challenged, and loved our littlest
ones. As you see Mrs. Agnew over the next two weeks, please thank her for her outstanding years of service to BSS, and wish
her well as she moves on to this next opportunity.
Happy Summer!
The 2012-2013 school year will begin with a ½ day for students
in Grades 1-8 on Wednesday, September 5. September 6 and
7 will be our first two full days of schools. Class placement
information will be mailed out in mid-August, along with any
revisions that have been made to the student-parent handbook.
On behalf of Fr. Tim, Dr. Roy, and our entire faculty and staff, I
wish all of you a relaxing and enjoyable summer vacation.
Important Dates
June 5 – 8th Grade Class Night
June 6 – Field Day
June 8 – 8th Grade Graduation
June 11 – Last Day for Pre-K
June 12 – Last Day for Kindergarten
June 12 – PTO Carnival
June 13 – Last Day for Grades 1-8, 12:00 dismissal
August 29 – New Family Orientation
September 5 – First Day of School
October 13 – Trivia Night
November 17 – Fashion Show
December 1 – Christmas Bazaar
June 2012
Thank You, Ms. Guilfoil, and Congratulations
On Sunday, May 20, Ms. Guilfoil was married to her husband
John Milburn in a beautiful ceremony at St. Mary’s in Dedham.
John serves in the U.S. Navy, and will be stationed in Georgia
in the coming months. As a result, Ms. Guilfoil will be leaving
our community and heading south to live and enjoy married
life. We thank her for three outstanding years of service to our
school community. Through her work, the middle school campus ministry program has developed a strong foundation for us
to continue to build on in the years ahead. We are grateful for
her lively spirit, her deep faith, and for the many ways that she
challenged our students to grow in their own faith lives.
Thank You, Mrs. Bounas & Mrs. Coop
We also thank Mrs. Joan Bounas and Mrs. Eva Coop, two loyal
members of our kitchen staff, who will be moving on from BSS
at the end of the school year. Each of them have shown great
love and care for our students over the last several years, in addition to keeping all of us well fed! Please say thank you to
them if you are near the kitchen before the end of the year.
Strategic Committees
We welcome anyone who is interested in serving on these
committees:
Academics • Advancement • Catholic Identity
Finance • Technology • Student Life
News from the School Board
On behalf of Fr. Tim, Jim Spillman and the Blessed Sacrament School Board, please join me in welcoming our newest
members: Sandra Howe, Seana Dorich and Michael Cronin. In
addition, Mary McNamara-Cullinane has also been selected to
serve on our Board for an additional three years. A heartfelt
thank you to our retiring Board members who have greatly
assisted our community and collectively served for nearly 30
years: Marty Murphy, Chip Eibye, Domenic Colace and Mark
Resnick.
We are preparing for a productive upcoming school
year and have decided to adjust our meeting structure in an
effort to swiftly advance each of our strategic initiatives. Historically, the Board has met ten times each year and gathered
a few times with our committees. Effective this upcoming academic year, the Board will meet six times and Board members
will dedicate more time on the committees that we chair and/
or serve. We are in the process of assembling our strategic committees—Academics, Advancement, Catholic Identity, Finance,
Technology and Student Life—for this upcoming year and welcome anyone who is interested in serving in this capacity to
contact John Gianino at [email protected]. We hope that
the committees will be well representative of the many gifts and
areas of expertise in our parent community.
From the Classroom
The Chicks Are Coming!
As second grade prepared for the hatching of their eggs, they wrote word problems in math and wrote some very
funny stories. Check your mental math skills with these math problems.
Caitlin Panciocco: I had 24 eggs. The farmer gave me a dozen more. How many do I have now?
Sean Kannally: I had 29 eggs. Someone gave me 52 more eggs. How many do I have now?
Alison Strickland: I had 58 eggs. 39 hatched. How many are left to hatch?
Enjoy the creative responses to, “If I had a baby chick…”
If I had a baby chick, I would name him Stylish. He has an Elvis wig, golden sunglasses, and fancy, purple and
blue pants. I would like to give him a microphone. He likes to be on swimming teams across the state. Stylish loves video
games. Oh, how I love my baby chick!
--Tyler Stearns
My baby chick’s name is Sweety. My baby chick has yellow fur and has a hat, dress, sunglasses, and a scarf. She
even carries a purse around a lot. We like to snuggle, go to the park, and play on the playground. When my chick gets
tired, I sing her to bed and she falls asleep. We mostly just like to cuddle together. I love my baby chick, Sweety!
--Laura Carey
PTO News
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of another academic year. We have much to be grateful for in
this community. As we look back on a full year of events that are a reflection of this wonderful school, we are grateful to the many who make these occasions so successful. While our annual affairs, including the Halloween Party,
Christmas Bazaar and Trivia Night, were well attended, the new events, including the Fashion Show, BSS at the Movies and the Paw Sox, and Walpole Day, are fantastic additions to the year. We are also looking forward to our end of
the year Carnival on June 12 to be held in our new courtyard. Thank you to all who made these endeavors possible.
As we look ahead to next year, we say goodbye to Susan Sarto, Chair of the Spirituality Committee. She will be greatly
missed as she made everything appear to be effortless. These will be hard shoes to fill. We also thank Amy Scannell
and Jennifer Griswold for their work with the Mentor Program, and to Cathy Murphy for offering to chair the program going forward.
Many thanks to all who have given their time and talents to make BSS such a wonderful community.
Enjoy the restful time of summer, and we look forward to another fulfilling school year.
Sprouting
in the Garden
The garden is brimming with veggies!
White Barn Farms, an organic farm in
Wrentham, donated over 200 beet and
spinach plants to our garden. Mrs. Wright’s 1st
grade and Mrs. Sutton’s 5th grade “Garden Groupies” (think “Book Buddies”, but for the garden)
have planted some of them, and Mrs. Reese’s
Religion classes will be planting some too, as well
as direct-sowing carrot seeds into the garden beds. Mrs. Carroll’s 4th grade planted lettuce seeds on
May 9.
Keep an eye on the garden
we’ve only just begun!
Student Council
2012-2013
Congratulations to the newest members of the
Blessed Sacrament School Student Council:
President – Molly Healy
Vice President – Kevin Bowery
Secretary – Daniel Gioioso
Finance – Cole Howard
Commissioner of Religious Affairs – Mary Rose Corkery
Commissioner of Sports – Evan Wolk
Commissioner of Publicity – Clare DiMillo
Commissioner of Spirit – Conor O’Callaghan
Summer Project Update
Once the students depart for the summer, we will begin work on a few summer projects:
Our school’s internal wireless system will get a major overhaul, so as to provide strong wireless coverage in
every part of our building. The capacity of our wireless network will also be significantly upgraded to facilitate the
addition of new devices onto the network. This is primarily being done to prepare our school for the introduction
of student iPads or other tablet computers onto the network in September 2013. In the coming months, more specific plans for piloting the use of these devices in the middle school will be explored and developed by our School
Board, in conjunction with our faculty and parents.
Plans are currently being drawn up to redevelop the hillside near the parking lot. We anticipate a much
more aesthetically pleasing area to be completed by the start of the school year.
The school’s heating system will be upgraded to provide us with greater control of the temperature level
throughout the building. This upgrade will help us to save quite a bit on heating costs in the coming years.
The parking lot will be resurfaced in the late summer. The new resurfacing will hopefully include some
painted areas near the playground for students to play common outside games (hopscotch, foursquare, etc.).
Four more interactive whiteboards will be added into classrooms, meaning that this technology will now
be present in more than half of our classrooms.
All of these improvements are possible thanks to the great success of our fundraising efforts this year, including our “Raise the Paddle” donations at the Spring Gala. The generosity of our parent community this year has
been simply amazing. On behalf of our students and teachers, we thank you for helping our school to grow and
improve in so many important ways.
Advancement News
Grandparents & Special Friends Day 2012
MORE THAN 350 guests, including grandparents
and special friends, visited BSS on Friday, May 4.
Complete with an opportunity to celebrate Mass, and
enjoy entertaining musical and literary selections,
this annual event provided a venue for our students to
showcase our school to important people outside of
their nuclear families. Grandparents & Grand Friends
Day 2012 was a great success; we welcome feedback
on what works for this important day and what might
be changed so that we may celebrate this day each
year in the most meaningful way.
Please send all ideas and comments to
Maryellen Horgan-Currier at
[email protected].
2012 Annual Fund
WITH A GOAL of 100% parent participation
for the 2012 Annual Fund, we hope that each family
will respond to this important effort’s final request for
the fiscal year. The Annual Fund helps close the 8%
gap in our yearly budget that exists between the tuition
money we collect and the actual costs of operating our
school. This year, we did not target a monetary amount,
and focused instead on moving closer to 100% parent
participation. If you have already given to the Annual
Fund this year, thank you for your generosity to our
students and school. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to respond, I hope that you will give as generously
as you can to this important effort before the close of
this fiscal year.
Advancement Committee
ON BEHALF of the school, thank you to the members of our first Advancement Committee for their time and effort his
past school year. The Advancement Committee is currently comprised of fifteen members of the school community. One
main focus of the committee is to help build consensus for the best ideas and practices to help raise funds for the school.
From the Classroom
The Chicks Are Coming!
As second grade prepared for the hatching of their eggs, they wrote word problems in math and wrote some very
funny stories. Check your mental math skills with these math problems.
Caitlin Panciocco: I had 24 eggs. The farmer gave me a dozen more. How many do I have now?
Sean Kannally: I had 29 eggs. Someone gave me 52 more eggs. How many do I have now?
Alison Strickland: I had 58 eggs. 39 hatched. How many are left to hatch?
Enjoy the creative responses to, “If I had a baby chick…”
If I had a baby chick, I would name him Stylish. He has an Elvis wig, golden sunglasses, and fancy, purple and
blue pants. I would like to give him a microphone. He likes to be on swimming teams across the state. Stylish loves video
games. Oh, how I love my baby chick!
--Tyler Stearns
My baby chick’s name is Sweety. My baby chick has yellow fur and has a hat, dress, sunglasses, and a scarf. She
even carries a purse around a lot. We like to snuggle, go to the park, and play on the playground. When my chick gets
tired, I sing her to bed and she falls asleep. We mostly just like to cuddle together. I love my baby chick, Sweety!
--Laura Carey
PTO News
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of another academic year. We have much to be grateful for in
this community. As we look back on a full year of events that are a reflection of this wonderful school, we are grateful to the many who make these occasions so successful. While our annual affairs, including the Halloween Party,
Christmas Bazaar and Trivia Night, were well attended, the new events, including the Fashion Show, BSS at the Movies and the Paw Sox, and Walpole Day, are fantastic additions to the year. We are also looking forward to our end of
the year Carnival on June 12 to be held in our new courtyard. Thank you to all who made these endeavors possible.
As we look ahead to next year, we say goodbye to Susan Sarto, Chair of the Spirituality Committee. She will be greatly
missed as she made everything appear to be effortless. These will be hard shoes to fill. We also thank Amy Scannell
and Jennifer Griswold for their work with the Mentor Program, and to Cathy Murphy for offering to chair the program going forward.
Many thanks to all who have given their time and talents to make BSS such a wonderful community.
Enjoy the restful time of summer, and we look forward to another fulfilling school year.
Sprouting
in the Garden
The garden is brimming with veggies!
White Barn Farms, an organic farm in
Wrentham, donated over 200 beet and
spinach plants to our garden. Mrs. Wright’s 1st
grade and Mrs. Sutton’s 5th grade “Garden Groupies” (think “Book Buddies”, but for the garden)
have planted some of them, and Mrs. Reese’s
Religion classes will be planting some too, as well
as direct-sowing carrot seeds into the garden beds. Mrs. Carroll’s 4th grade planted lettuce seeds on
May 9.
Keep an eye on the garden
we’ve only just begun!
Student Council
2012-2013
Congratulations to the newest members of the
Blessed Sacrament School Student Council:
President – Molly Healy
Vice President – Kevin Bowery
Secretary – Daniel Gioioso
Finance – Cole Howard
Commissioner of Religious Affairs – Mary Rose Corkery
Commissioner of Sports – Evan Wolk
Commissioner of Publicity – Clare DiMillo
Commissioner of Spirit – Conor O’Callaghan
Summer Project Update
Once the students depart for the summer, we will begin work on a few summer projects:
Our school’s internal wireless system will get a major overhaul, so as to provide strong wireless coverage in
every part of our building. The capacity of our wireless network will also be significantly upgraded to facilitate the
addition of new devices onto the network. This is primarily being done to prepare our school for the introduction
of student iPads or other tablet computers onto the network in September 2013. In the coming months, more specific plans for piloting the use of these devices in the middle school will be explored and developed by our School
Board, in conjunction with our faculty and parents.
Plans are currently being drawn up to redevelop the hillside near the parking lot. We anticipate a much
more aesthetically pleasing area to be completed by the start of the school year.
The school’s heating system will be upgraded to provide us with greater control of the temperature level
throughout the building. This upgrade will help us to save quite a bit on heating costs in the coming years.
The parking lot will be resurfaced in the late summer. The new resurfacing will hopefully include some
painted areas near the playground for students to play common outside games (hopscotch, foursquare, etc.).
Four more interactive whiteboards will be added into classrooms, meaning that this technology will now
be present in more than half of our classrooms.
All of these improvements are possible thanks to the great success of our fundraising efforts this year, including our “Raise the Paddle” donations at the Spring Gala. The generosity of our parent community this year has
been simply amazing. On behalf of our students and teachers, we thank you for helping our school to grow and
improve in so many important ways.
Advancement News
Grandparents & Special Friends Day 2012
MORE THAN 350 guests, including grandparents
and special friends, visited BSS on Friday, May 4.
Complete with an opportunity to celebrate Mass, and
enjoy entertaining musical and literary selections,
this annual event provided a venue for our students to
showcase our school to important people outside of
their nuclear families. Grandparents & Grand Friends
Day 2012 was a great success; we welcome feedback
on what works for this important day and what might
be changed so that we may celebrate this day each
year in the most meaningful way.
Please send all ideas and comments to
Maryellen Horgan-Currier at
[email protected].
2012 Annual Fund
WITH A GOAL of 100% parent participation
for the 2012 Annual Fund, we hope that each family
will respond to this important effort’s final request for
the fiscal year. The Annual Fund helps close the 8%
gap in our yearly budget that exists between the tuition
money we collect and the actual costs of operating our
school. This year, we did not target a monetary amount,
and focused instead on moving closer to 100% parent
participation. If you have already given to the Annual
Fund this year, thank you for your generosity to our
students and school. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to respond, I hope that you will give as generously
as you can to this important effort before the close of
this fiscal year.
Advancement Committee
ON BEHALF of the school, thank you to the members of our first Advancement Committee for their time and effort his
past school year. The Advancement Committee is currently comprised of fifteen members of the school community. One
main focus of the committee is to help build consensus for the best ideas and practices to help raise funds for the school.
Walpole
Day
Many thanks to all who made our first official participation in
Walpole Day such a big success. We are very grateful especially to Effie and John Fraone for all of the hard work and
coordination of our first Blessed Sacrament School float. It
was a great day of spirit and fun. What a tremendous way to
showcase all that we are as a school and community.
Congratulations
to the BSS Players on their sensational
performances of Annie at
Xaverian Brothers High
School on May 4 and 5!
And thank you to Miss
Jacksina, Mrs. Puccia, and
our parent helpers.
Summer Office Hours
Closed: July 2 – July 6
Open: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 to 1:00, June, July and August.
Christmas Bazaar
The Christmas Bazaar has become a tradition at
BSS and we would be excited to have some new
energy, and Chair(s) for this great holiday event.
Please contact Michele ([email protected])
or Eileen ([email protected]).
Blessed Sacrament School News
...building the City of God on a foundation of faith and knowledge
From the Principal
One of the hardest things about being so invested in a strong school community like BSS is having to say goodbye
each year to some of the people who make a community like ours so special. Next week, we will send forth 45 graduates at
our commencement ceremony. For the past ten years, the Class of 2012 has proudly lived out our school’s core values through
their work inside and outside of the classroom. They are outstanding students who have earned tens of thousands of dollars in
scholarships to local high schools. They are talented athletes, who have filled our trophy case beyond capacity through their
exploits on the field and court. They are young men and women of faith who have been empowered by the Spirit to serve our
world. As they move on from BSS, we know that the lessons they learned here have given them a foundation from which to
build their lives upon. Please join me in praying for our graduates as they proudly move on to this next stage of their lives.
Besides our graduates, it is rare for a year to go by when schools like ours don’t lose valuable and loved faculty members. It is always sad when teachers leave our school community, but some losses are harder on the heart than others. Indeed,
it is difficult for anyone who knows our school well to imagine our Pre-K program without Mrs. Agnew as its leader. Sadly, this
is our reality for next year, as Mrs. Agnew will be returning to work at a nursery school much closer to her home in Braintree—
a school that she first worked at over 20 years ago.
Since 1997, Mrs. Agnew has been the face and the heart of the Pre-K program at BSS. Hundreds of students have been
blessed to have her as their teacher, mentor and friend during their first years of school. Her love, compassion, generosity and
kindness for all people, but especially for our children, are apparent in everything that she does. For 15 years, she has shown us
all what God’s unconditional love looks like through the ways that she has guided, nurtured, challenged, and loved our littlest
ones. As you see Mrs. Agnew over the next two weeks, please thank her for her outstanding years of service to BSS, and wish
her well as she moves on to this next opportunity.
Happy Summer!
The 2012-2013 school year will begin with a ½ day for students
in Grades 1-8 on Wednesday, September 5. September 6 and
7 will be our first two full days of schools. Class placement
information will be mailed out in mid-August, along with any
revisions that have been made to the student-parent handbook.
On behalf of Fr. Tim, Dr. Roy, and our entire faculty and staff, I
wish all of you a relaxing and enjoyable summer vacation.
Important Dates
June 5 – 8th Grade Class Night
June 6 – Field Day
June 8 – 8th Grade Graduation
June 11 – Last Day for Pre-K
June 12 – Last Day for Kindergarten
June 12 – PTO Carnival
June 13 – Last Day for Grades 1-8, 12:00 dismissal
August 29 – New Family Orientation
September 5 – First Day of School
October 13 – Trivia Night
November 17 – Fashion Show
December 1 – Christmas Bazaar
June 2012
Thank You, Ms. Guilfoil, and Congratulations
On Sunday, May 20, Ms. Guilfoil was married to her husband
John Milburn in a beautiful ceremony at St. Mary’s in Dedham.
John serves in the U.S. Navy, and will be stationed in Georgia
in the coming months. As a result, Ms. Guilfoil will be leaving
our community and heading south to live and enjoy married
life. We thank her for three outstanding years of service to our
school community. Through her work, the middle school campus ministry program has developed a strong foundation for us
to continue to build on in the years ahead. We are grateful for
her lively spirit, her deep faith, and for the many ways that she
challenged our students to grow in their own faith lives.
Thank You, Mrs. Bounas & Mrs. Coop
We also thank Mrs. Joan Bounas and Mrs. Eva Coop, two loyal
members of our kitchen staff, who will be moving on from BSS
at the end of the school year. Each of them have shown great
love and care for our students over the last several years, in addition to keeping all of us well fed! Please say thank you to
them if you are near the kitchen before the end of the year.
Strategic Committees
We welcome anyone who is interested in serving on these
committees:
Academics • Advancement • Catholic Identity
Finance • Technology • Student Life
News from the School Board
On behalf of Fr. Tim, Jim Spillman and the Blessed Sacrament School Board, please join me in welcoming our newest
members: Sandra Howe, Seana Dorich and Michael Cronin. In
addition, Mary McNamara-Cullinane has also been selected to
serve on our Board for an additional three years. A heartfelt
thank you to our retiring Board members who have greatly
assisted our community and collectively served for nearly 30
years: Marty Murphy, Chip Eibye, Domenic Colace and Mark
Resnick.
We are preparing for a productive upcoming school
year and have decided to adjust our meeting structure in an
effort to swiftly advance each of our strategic initiatives. Historically, the Board has met ten times each year and gathered
a few times with our committees. Effective this upcoming academic year, the Board will meet six times and Board members
will dedicate more time on the committees that we chair and/
or serve. We are in the process of assembling our strategic committees—Academics, Advancement, Catholic Identity, Finance,
Technology and Student Life—for this upcoming year and welcome anyone who is interested in serving in this capacity to
contact John Gianino at [email protected]. We hope that
the committees will be well representative of the many gifts and
areas of expertise in our parent community.