Lower School Back to School Information

School Supplies: 
Every Lower School student should bring a water bottle and backpack to the first day of school. We provide all other school supplies. We also ask that students bring rain boots and a rain jacket to leave in their locker for Mustard Seeds, the weekly outdoor exploration program.

Please note: Our hallway lockers are narrow; wheeled backpacks with metal frames and other bulky bags will not fit in our lockers so please keep this in mind when looking for a bag. We also recommend a sturdy bag to store PE clothing (goggles,  swimsuit, and bathing cap).

Snack/Lunch: 
All Lower School children receive snacks and lunch as part of their tuition. If you would like to send an additional snack or lunch for your child, you may; however, we ask that you kindly remember that we are a peanut/tree nut-free school and do not permit candy, gum, or soda.

Uniforms: 
A few reminders:
1). On PE days, we ask that your daughter come in uniform and wear her PE shirt and shorts/leggings beneath her uniform jumper. Please fill out the form on the Parent Portal to purchase the PE uniform; it can also be purchased through the online bookstore.
2). The girls should be in uniform on the first day of school. If you have not received your uniform order by the opening day of school, your daughter may wear appropriate substitute clothing until her uniform arrives. One important note: the navy blue cardigan with the School monogram is part of the formal “dress” uniform and a required purchase. Your daughter will be required to wear it at certain school functions. 
3). If your child wears sneakers to school, we ask that they be neutral or subdued colors, such as white or blue.
4). Dress shoes should still be worn for all-school masses and picture day. 
5). Hair bows, hair bands, and barrettes should be simple and coordinated with the uniform; only “stud” earrings may be worn. Lower School children may not wear makeup.

Summer Work: 
Optional summer work and reading recommendations are available on the Parent Portal for your convenience.

Online School Forms: 
Please log in to the Parent Portal (press “expand menu” on the School website and then press “login”) to complete the many school forms due by August 30th. Medical forms should be submitted to Magnus Health, which you can access by clicking the Magnus button in the Parent Portal.

Cell Phone and Smart Watches: 
Cell phones and smart watches may NOT be used during the school day or after-school programs by any Lower School student. Should such a device be discovered outside of a child’s backpack, it will be confiscated and returned only to the child’s parent by the Head of the Lower School.  Please see the Handbook for more information.

Lower School Schedule: 
The Barat Center and kindergarten school day runs from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The rest of the Lower School will be in class from 8:00 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. The Lower School runs on a five-day schedule.

The School does not print a paper version of the master school calendar. Instead, the master calendar can be viewed by logging into the Parent Portal and clicking “Calendar” in the heading. Check back with the calendar often as sometimes dates and times will shift. The calendar can be listed for specific events and printed from there.

Arrival at the Lower School: 
Lower School students may arrive as early as 7:45 a.m. and wait in the “early room” until 8:00 a.m. All students need to report to their classrooms at 8:00 a.m. or will be marked tardy.

Afternoon Car Dismissal: 
Kindergarten girls traveling home by car will be picked up at the bus loop at 3 p.m. each day. Students in grades 1-4 will exit the Lower School at 3:10 p.m. each day.

Families with both Lower School and Middle School daughters will pick up their daughters at 3:10 p.m. at the Science Wing  front entrance to the School.

To be sure that our car pick-up process is both safe and efficient, here are some ways that you can help us to make dismissal as smooth as possible:

●  When approaching the science building, stay to the right and pull up as far as possible to allow multiple cars to load at once. Please remain in your car, and the teachers will help your daughter into the car.

●  Place your “last name tag” on your dashboard to help teachers identify your car. Name tags will be provided to new families during Orientation. If you have lost your name tag from previous years, email Marion Kieltyka by August 15th so that we can have a new one made.

●  Please do not leave your car in the circle to enter the building.

Bus Transportation:
If your daughter is eligible to ride the school bus, it is your responsibility to make bus arrangements with the transportation department of your local Board of Education. We require that you complete a change of departure form if you need to make a change to the usual dismissal and pickup information. To submit a change of departure form: log into the Parent Portal, and select Lower School and Lower School Change of Departure Form.

After-School Programming: Extended Day, Tiger Times, and Music Lessons 
For an additional fee, there are three after-school programs available for families. The first is the Extended Day program that runs Monday through Friday from the end of the school day to 5:00 pm. This program is designed to give parents extended childcare coverage, and it is available as a drop-in or regular sign-up. We kindly ask families not to use Extended Day as a way to schedule playdates. During Extended Day, children in the Barat Center - 1st grade will engage in a variety of different activities while 2nd-4th grade students receive homework assistance. Extended Day programming begins the first day of school, Tuesday, September 5th. 

The second is our after-school Tiger Times enrichment program which is also available to all students in the Barat-fourth grade to engage them in learning experiences beyond the classroom. Offerings range from athletic courses (soccer, squash, etc.) to the arts (mosaics, clay creations, etc.) and run from the end of the school day until 4:10 or 4:30 p.m. Tiger Times programming begins Monday, September 18th. 

Please contact Lisa Lyons, the program director for Extended Day and Tiger Times, if you have any questions. 

The third is our After-School Music Lessons Program, available on campus or virtually.  These lessons are offered to Sacred Heart students K-12; virtual lessons are also available for siblings. Lessons are taught by highly qualified instructors in piano, voice, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, violin, viola, cello, and flute. To sign up for After-School Music lessons, please go to the Parent Portal and click on the After-School Music button. Please contact Marian Campana, the Music Lesson program director, if you have any questions. 

Additional information about both of these enrichment programs will be sent home with your children during the first week of school and will be available in the Parent Portal.

Please note that there is no after-school enrichment offered on half days or before holiday weekends/breaks. For your convenience, we have listed the days that there will be no Study Hall, Extended Day, or Tiger Time afters for the 2023-24 school year.  

  • Friday, 10/9: Columbus Day Weekend

  • Thursday, 11/8 - 11/9 Parent-Teacher Conferences

  • Tuesday, 11/21 Grandparents & Special Visitors Day

  • Friday, 12/15 Noon Dismissal for Christmas Break

  • Monday 1/15 Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

  • Friday, 2/15 Midwinter Break

  • Friday, 3/1 Parent-Teacher Conferences

  • Friday, 3/8 Spring Break

  • Thursday 3/28 Easter Weekend

  • Friday, 5/3 Last Day of Classes

Mustard Seeds: 
Once a week, each grade explores the great outdoors for an extended recess through our Mustard Seeds program. In order for your student to fully enjoy and participate in our outdoor programming with Mustard Seeds, please send rain boots and a raincoat into school for the fall and spring, and winter boots, gloves, scarf, snow pants, and a coat for the winter. We go out in all weather and take the attitude that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!

Name Tags: 
Please be sure that all of your child’s clothing and personal items are appropriately labeled with name tags or indelible ink. These include lunch boxes, coats, shoes, and boots. Doing so will enable us to return lost items to their rightful owners quickly.

Health Office: 
Please remember that no child may be in school without her appropriate health and emergency forms. If you have not already completed these forms online, please do so prior to August 30th. Also please remember that we cannot administer any medication to your child, non-prescription drugs included, without either the completed Permission to Administer Medication form or a signed note from your physician. All medications must be in their original prescription bottles.

Birthday & Holiday Celebration: 
There is a new policy regarding food for birthdays for the entire Lower School. You will now be able to order cupcakes from FLIK food service. No outside food will be allowed due to allergies.  Each student will get a white t-shirt to decorate and have classmates sign for his/her birthday. He/she will also get to choose from a birthday bin activity and a special in-class activity. In the Barat Center, the birthday girl or boy is also invited to bring her/his favorite story to be read aloud. 

All food for holiday parties, organized by class parents and collaborated with classroom teachers, must be ordered through FLIK in order to protect our students with allergies.

Policy Regarding Students with Severe Peanut and/or Tree Nut Allergies:  
We have developed a peanut/tree nut-aware environment at Sacred Heart. This policy includes all nuts and tree nuts, as well as peanuts and their products. We do not serve peanut butter sandwiches, and the food service provider does not prepare foods that contain peanut/tree nut oil or peanut/tree nut products. For more information on this policy, please consult the Lower School Handbook.

Community Service: 
Community Service is an integral part of a Sacred Heart education as we commit to Goal III: A social awareness that impels to action. Lisa Lyons coordinates our Community Service program and works with both the Middle and Upper Schools, as well as the Lower School homeroom teachers and LS Theology teacher, Michelle Antenucci, to fully engage the students in each month’s service project. Please reach out to Lisa Lyons for more information.

  • October: (Barat Center) Decorate small pumpkins for the Children’s Hospital kids.

  • November: (KA) Collect canned goods for the Carver Center Food Pantry.

  • December: (1A) Make/decorate Christmas cards for Veterans

  • January: (2A/2B) Book drive for Turning Pages

  • February: (3A/3B) Collect recyclable bottles for the Dog Shelter

  • March: (4A/4B) Decorate a flower pot and plant flowers for the Senior Nursing Home

  • April: (All School) JR4U Jump Rope for Uganda 

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES 
Orientation, Thursday, August 31 
Orientation for all new students and all Barat Center children and kindergarteners will be held on August 31st at 9:00 am. Class parents and their children will join new students as they meet their new teachers, see the classrooms, and take a tour of Sacred Heart. Additional information on orientation is available in the Parent Portal under “LS Back-to-School Info.”

Opening Day, Tuesday, September 5" Barat students will be in school until noon during the first week back on campus; all other grades will dismiss at their regular times.

Back-to-School Night, Thursday, September 7: Please save the date Thursday, September 7th at 6:00 p.m. for the Lower School Back-to-School Night for parents. More details will follow.

Lower School Coffee, Friday, September 19: Parents are invited to join the Parents' Association in Hayes Hall for coffee and muffins at 8:30 a.m. The class coffee presents parents with an opportunity to learn valuable information about the upcoming school year and to connect with other parents and members of the faculty and staff.