Happy New Year! Classrooms are alive with talk of new beginnings and resolutions.  Let’s all promise to welcome this new year with a happy spirit and encourage each other to share kind messages with our classmates, read more often, listen well to our teachers, and see the good in others. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everywhere we go we hear and see signs of the season…handcrafted snowflakes hanging from the rafters, Christmas tree lights flashing through classroom windows, the hum of Silent Night streaming through the halls, and the joyful chatter of the children as they anticipate Christmas fun!

We began the week with an all-school Advent prayer service in the lobby.  Surrounding the Advent wreath, we heard readings about hope and light presented by the 8th graders.  Lighting the first candle of the season, all students focused their prayers and thoughts on preparing their hearts for the coming of Jesus by sharing acts of kindness with their classmates.  

As we walk through the halls and classrooms of All Saints, we are greeted with a flurry of November-themed activities that reflect the exceptional creativity and ingenuity of our amazing staff and students. We are truly blessed!

Our AS²A spirit of service was in the air this week.  Generous students and families added to our Thanksgiving food drive and our student council representatives reported 436 cans collected to date!  This school community project will benefit the St. Joseph’s food pantry and continues through next week. Thank you for sharing your blessings with others. 

This past Saturday, the spirit of AS²A was in full force at this year’s Trunk or Treat.  Thank you to our PTO for planning a successful event featuring eighteen creatively decorated trunks and dozens of trick-or-treaters!  A great time was had by all - more fun-raising events coming soon!

Week Seven was a quick yet eventful week with many new developments to share with you. Our Paul Effman Concert Band Music Lessons are going well, the Student Council has begun convening and planning a Fall Festival to take place on October 27 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm for which we will need several PTO Parent Volunteers.

Week Six was a celebratory one with the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assissi, Our Paul Effman Concert Band Music Lessons, our Parent Information Night, and our first PTO Meeting of the school year Tuesday evening The autumn season has arrived and our school is being transformed by our PTO Gardening Club!

Week Five was a celebratory one with many birthdays and our classroom blessing ceremonies with Reverend Father Francis “Frank” O’Loughlin of The Church of Jesus Saviour in Newport, RI. We are very thankful to have our school’s teachers and students blessed to mark our new school year together.

We look forward with much enthusiasm to welcoming everyone on Tuesday, August 30th. For 50 years, All Saints Academy has served the Providence Catholic Diocese, its learners, and their families with a deep commitment to our mission as a school of faith and excellence.  I want to thank every member of our school community for the warm welcome I have received as I begin my first year as your school leader. As a military veteran, I welcome and support our military families and their children. With decades of experience as an elementary, middle school, and resource teacher as well as a social worker and in various educational support roles, I have made a career of helping students and families to flourish, and vow to continue this mission as your principal.

Thank you, for each day that you supported your learner in being prepared for school, and for choosing our wonderful faith community for your child’s education journey. Our prayers and good wishes go to all who are traveling on, and to all who will rejoin us next year. each child is a blessing from God, and it has been our privilege to guide your students.

Our June value of the month is Faithfulness. This is a wonderful value to contemplate as we end this year of learning together. Our students are encouraged daily to be faithful to themselves in developing their talents and abilities. They are reminded to be faithful in showing respect and compassion for others. And they are directed to be faithful in believing that their positivity will make the world a better place for all.

This update comes to you earlier this week, as I will be in North Carolina for the remainder of this week with my Army daughter over Memorial Day weekend. Rest assured, the coming events are in superior hands, starting with Mrs. Villareal hosting the Band Concert today at 1pm for band parents and band siblings only.

  A whiteboard is traveling from classroom to classroom as I write this update, with a message one of our Kindergarten students wanted the world to know.  Everybody be Happy! All of us are signing it, as a commitment to act with justice towards others. This is a great example of the spirit of our All Saints school community. We hear and support the wisdom of our students!

These weeks of May a decade of the Rosary is included in our morning prayers. The students are encouraged to act with respect and justice towards their classmates and teachers. They are encouraged to include others in play, to help others whom they can assist, and to think kindly of others when they make friends.

Did you thank your Teachers on their Appreciation Week?! Throughout this week they received prayers, sweets, and a delish Pickles lunch! But your messages mean the most!

The return week from our Easter vacation has been full of happy rejoining classes and interesting learning! We are reminded in daily prayer to believe that God is guiding us through our lives, and that our faith can be as strong as that of the Risen Jesus’. In these coming thirty-one days together before our last school day on June 14, reach out to your family and community and treat everyone justly. Justice is our May value of the month.

On this Holy Thursday, we reflect on the journey we have made throughout these weeks of Lent. The times we did not think and act positively in our daily lives with ourselves and others are the poor choices that add to suffering in our world.

Today is Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent. Our students have enjoyed an exciting Spirit Week directed by the Student Council. In this value month of Compassion, our student Chaplains, Katie and Quebel, give their time to lead the school in daily prayer and reflection. Our Student Council representatives show good examples to their classmates and acknowledge their service to others with Respect Cards.

Today is Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, and we are reminded to continue to pray, fast and give service to others. We can fast from violence and feast on kindness, charity and compassion. I am blessed with the generous spirit of your children to help when others are in need. Our All Saints community is alive with the spirit of giving!