God Bless the Class of 2024!

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2024 GRADUATION AWARDS

         

Last Day of School - That's All, Folks!

St. A's said goodbye to the 2023-2024 school year with a post-dismissal celebration.  Many thanks to the Ramchandani Family of Playa Bowls South Brunswick for providing our Knights with an end of the year smoothie, which was greatly appreciated on this very warm June day. Thank you to Mr. Jacobs, our resident DJ, for the awesome summer tunes. Thank you to Father Bob, Mr. M., Sister Mary Louise, all the faculty & staff, our wonderful parents & families, and most importantly, to our St. A's KNIGHTS!!! We wish you all a blessed, safe and fun-filled summer. SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!!!
   

St. A's Alumna Returns to Speak to Middle School Students

Lt. Commander Chelsea Sheehy, Class of 2006, returned to St. A's to visit with and inspire our Middle School students with her journey from a St. A's graduate to the Coast Guard, and currently working in the White House. Chelsea started her journey here at St. A's, went on to attend and graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison, NJ, and was accepted into the Coast Guard Academy in September 2010. She was recognized by KEYS STYLE MAGAZINE as the only woman currently in command of a Coast Guard Cutter in Key West, Florida, and was selected as the Military Times 2023 Coast Guardsman of the Year. Chelsea is currently assigned to the White House Situation Room as a Senior Duty Officer, where she monitors national security issues, fields phone calls and correspondence that comes through their office. The best advice that Chelsea gave to our Middle School students was the following: "Always thank your parents and tell them you love them, the greatest things in life don't come easy, but if you believe in yourself, you can achieve your dreams and be successful in whatever you do in life."
   

 

4th Graders Run 'Bots Through a Maze in the Makerspace

4th grade students headed to the makerspace to learn coding with our Ozobot robots.  They used the Ozobots' color-coded language to guide their 'bot through a maze and over a bridge they designed.
   

 

Kindergarten Honors Mary, Mother of the Church

Our Kindergarten Kids honored Mary as Mother of the Church by learning about this new feast day instituted by Pope Francis in 2018, and making a Mary medal to hang in their homes, and to pray with. The feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, is celebrated on the Monday following Pentecost, highlighting the fact that the Mother of God was praying alongside her spiritual sons, the Twelve Apostles, at the moment when the Holy Spirit descended upon them at Pentecost.
   

 

6th Grade Visits Sandy Hook to Study Seaside Habitats

Our 6th grade Knights took a field trip to the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium at Sandy Hook and went seining for fish! They caught hermit crabs, fish, horse shoe crabs, shrimp, and a snail.  They also explored the ocean side where they learned about different animals that live in shells, and we even able to collect some as well. 
   

 

8th Grade Students Build Robot Dog for STREAM Faire

Four of our 8th graders volunteered to represent St. A's at the St. Thomas Aquinas High School STREAM FAIRE. In a few short weeks, these Lady Engineers became our Advanced Robotics Team, led by Mr. Tony De Bari, our Tech Coordinator, and learned how to code, wire, and build a 3D printed Robot Dog. They named the dog  "ADA" after Ada Lovelace, one of our Spotlight on Women in STEM that they learned about in Tech Class this year.
    

 

Best Snow Day Snowman Contest

The St. A's Student Council sponsored a contest for students to show off their creativity by building the best snowman during a recent snow day off from school.  The winner would be awarded a free dress-down day for their class.  Here are some of the most creative entries.
   

 

Former Principal Returns for a Special Blessing

Sister Mary Louise Shulas, our former Principal and a member of the Religious Teachers Filippini community, returned to St. A's to appear on our Knights Television Network (KTN).  Sister Mary Louise was invited to come and give the students and staff a special blessing with the relic of Saint Lucy Filippini in honor of her birthday on January 13, 1672.  Joining Sister on KTN were two students who are blessed to share the same birthday as Saint Lucy. 
 

 

Annual Christmas Breakfast

It takes a village to host a Christmas Breakfast for our entire school, and we are so blessed with so many generous families that made this annual event a very special one for all. Although Santa could not make it this year, the Gingerbread Lady showed up in his place to spread the Christmas spirit throughout the gym. 
   

 

Eighth Graders Help Their Buddies Send Letters to Santa

With lots of Christmas spirit in their hearts, our 8th graders helped their Kindergarten buddies write letters to Santa, and mailed them to The North Pole for Santa to read and to check his naughty and nice list. This tradition of our 8th graders and their Kindergarten buddies, allows the students to develop a strong bond with each other, as they spend quality time getting to know each other and create lifelong memories.
    

 

Kindergarten Classes Visit Seniors at Brandywine Living

From the Trentonian online edition, posted December 20, 2023: "The young and the young-at-heart united this holiday season for a live nativity performance at Brandywine Living at Princeton entitled “The Angel’s Song,” telling the story of the first Christmas, Christ’s birth. Residents of Brandywine Living at Princeton, Brandywine Living at Mountain Ridge, and two kindergarten classes from St. Augustine of Canterbury School in Kendall Park, (a total of 35 students) gathered together to hear the story of the first Christmas. The stage was set with a manger, live sheep, a llama,  a donkey and many more farm animals. The program concluded with all participants joining together to sing “Happy Birthday” to the Newborn King. Santa also made a surprise visit with toys for the children."
    

 

Advent Service Projects

Our Teens Teaching Excellence in Diversity Club and our Middle School students collected and sorted the toys that were donated for Toys for Tots, and designed Christmas cards as well. They also treated our Knights to a sweet treat for their generous response to this worthy cause. 
 
Meanwhile, our Student Council Elves were busy wrapping gifts last week for a family in New Brunswick that we adopted through Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen. Many thanks to Mrs. Borowick, Mrs. O'Connor, and all the faculty and staff that donated gifts and wrapping paper, in order to make this a very Merry Christmas for a family in need, allowing this family the experience and fun of unwrapping gifts and sharing in the holiday spirit. 
   

 

5th Grade Parent Day

Thanks to our 5th grade Class Parents for providing an adorable Christmas craft and a fun game of Minute to Win It!
   

 

The Arm of St. Jude the Apostle Visits St. A's

Our Middle School students and faculty had the honor of meeting Father Carlos Martins, the Director of Treasures of the Church, which is a "Catholic Ministry of Evangelization that uses the relic of the saints to give people the experience of the Living God." Father Carlos brought the Arm of St. Jude the Apostle, which is on a pilgrimage in the United States, making stops in 100 cities.  Father Carlos told of many instances that this relic has brought healing to people these last few weeks while here in the US.  After the presentation by Father Carlos, the students and teachers had the opportunity to venerate the relic of St. Jude, the cousin of Jesus and Patron of the Impossible.
   

 

4th Grade Explores Simple Machines With Kindergarten

Our 4th grade Science Class shared a STEM lesson and their knowledge of simple machines with our Kindergarten Kids.
   

 

7th Grade Parent Day

Our 7th grade parents and students were as busy as Santa's elves on Parent's Day, wrapping presents that they generously purchased for a family in need that they adopted from Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen. Then the parents played against their children in a very competitive game of Jeopardy that ended in a tie. The tie was broken by a sing-off of Christmas Carols, and our students won easily, as they had been practicing all week in homeroom!!! Thanks to Mrs. Pucci, Mr. Tackett, the class parents and our 7th grade families for a very Merry Christmas-themed Parent Day!
    

 

2023-24 Student Council and Class Representatives

St. Augustine School proudly presents the Student Council and Class Representatives for the 2023-24 school year!

President:  Lucas B.
Vice President:  Kendrick M.
Treasurer:  Maeve O.
Secretary:  Zoie M.

8th Grade Representatives:  Sophie K. and Ellie L.
7th Grade Representatives:  Colin D. and Luke B.
6th Grade Representative:  Nicholas D.
5th Grade Representatives:  Sean L. and Victoria B.
4th Grade Representatives:  Ella B. and Francis J.

 

Beloved Former Cafeteria Aide Celebrates 100th Birthday!

Today Father Bob, Mr. M., Sister Mary Louise, and the students and faculty celebrated the 100th birthday of our beloved Maria D'Angio, who was joined by her family as we sang Happy Birthday in both English and Italian to our most honored guest. Mario and Maria worked at St. A's from 1972-2010, and then came back from retirement to sell pretzels in the cafeteria, because they missed all their "spiritually adopted" grandchildren that they came to know and love over the more than 40 years working here. Buon centenario Maria! Special thanks to the House of Cupcakes for the memorable and delicious cupcakes!
    

 

5th Grade Parent Day

Our fifth grade parents enjoyed their day with their children during Parent’s Day. They collaborated together to design Native American scenes with Play-Doh, used the Scientific Method to sort states of matter and used ice cream cones to learn figurative language. Thanks to Mrs. O’Connor and Mrs. Borowick for organizing a fun and educational day for our fifth grade families.  Here are a few snapshots.  All of the phots from the event can be found on our Facebook page.
   

 

Class of 2024 Continues First Friday Breakfast Tradition

Many thanks to our 8th grade parents for hosting our first monthly breakfast for our Class of 2024.  It was a delicious way to begin the school day, and our 8th graders were very excited to show off their new Class of 2024 First Friday Breakfast shirts that they have earned the privilege to wear each month.
 

 

Blessing of the (Stuffed) Animals of the Feast of St. Francis

On the Feast of St. Francis, our Knights honored him by showing love and compassion for their favorite stuffed animals, and received this blessing for their treasured pets:  "Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us. Good St. Francis, you loved all of God's creatures. To you they were your brothers and sisters. Help us to follow your example of treating every living thing with kindness. St. Francis, Patron Saint of animals, watch over my pet and keep my companion safe and healthy."
   

 

2nd Grade Honors the Archangels

The 2nd graders in Mrs. Palladino's class made special necklaces today in honor of the Feast of the Archangels. Archangel Raphael, is the Healer, Gabriel is the Messenger, and Michael is known as our Protector. May the Archangels watch over us, bless us and protect us always.


 

Pre-K Celebrates Johnny Appleseed Day

Our Little Knights in Preschool celebrated the birthday of Johnny Appleseed by completing activities and crafts all about apples and trees. Thank you to Johnny Appleseed, an American pioneer who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
    

 

Fine Arts Feature:  Kindergarten

Our Kindergarten Kids are working on their painting skills in Mrs. Minsavage's Art Class. Congrats and job well done to our future artists!
   

 

6th Grade Science Lab with Gummy Bears

On a recent Lab Day in Mr. Tackett's Science Lab, our 6th graders used gummy bears to develop a hypothesis of what will happen when the bears are placed in different types of solutions. They also used Google Sheets to calculate the volume of their gummy bear.
   

 

Red Carpet Book Nook Event in 3rd Grade

Mrs. Duarte's third grade class had their Red Carpet Book Nook event this week! The students walked the red carpet, picked out a stack of five books from their classroom library, built their digital Epic! Library, took a reading interest survey, and designed a bookmark. All the while learning about how to find “just the right books”.
    

 

Integrating Literature and STEM in 5th Grade

Our students in fifth grade read "After the Fall" by Dan Santat, about how Humpty learned how to overcome his fear of falling by making the perfect paper airplane. The students were challenged to make their perfect paper airplane in 10 minutes after checking out information about aerodynamics.  Afterwards, they participated in a community building project by completing puzzles together as a team.
   

  Remembering 9-11-2001 We remember our fallen Americans, their families and loved ones on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. Our 8th grade students laid down 22 roses at our 9/11 memorial; one for each year since the day our country changed forever on that September 11th, 2001. "In God we remember, In God we trust, In God we forgive."
     

 

Happy 60th Birthday, St. A's!

In honor of our school's 60th Anniversary this September, Mr. M., our Middle School faculty and students held a prayer service in front of our beautiful grotto dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. We ask for her blessings upon us as we begin this new school year. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.
  

 

First Day of School 2023!

Our students in grades 1 to 8 returned to school on Tuesday, September 5th.  They were joined by Kindergarten on Friday, September 8th and by our Little Knights in Pre-K on Monday, September 11th.  Below are a few snapshots from the days' activities.  Please visit our Facebook page for many, many more photos.