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St. Mary Parish School Admission Information
Thank you for choosing St. Mary Parish Catholic School. We are very excited about some of the new possibilities for this coming school year. The greatest possibility, of course, is a spiritual one. It is our hope that your child comes to know his or her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is drawn closer to Him, and willingly seeks His Will. And in leading your child the same happens for all of us as well. God bless you.
Information & Forms required to register at SMPS:
For all families (K-8)
- Complete a Student Data Form
- Complete a Parish Stewardship Commitment
- Pay fees. The fees for K-8 are $160 per year ($80 in the spring, $80 by July 30). There are other fees such as Yearbook, Home and School (per family), Technology fee, etc. See fee schedule in packet.
For New Students, In addition to the above:
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Register in a Catholic parish. If you live within the Derby-Rose Hill boundaries—register at St. Mary’s. If you live outside the Derby boundaries—register within your community parish and ask for sponsorship to St. Mary Parish School. (If the family is not Catholic and/or does not belong to a Catholic parish, then family is asked to pay the cost of educating a child, which is $3700).
- Complete a "New Student Enrollment Form" (download here)
- KCI form---immunization update. Our school nurse keeps this on file.
- A copy of a birth and baptismal certificate.
Open House:
Typical Daily Schedule:
6:30 a.m. Morning Latchkey: This is held in the library. Parents can drop their children off at the north entrance of the school (under the canopy). Feel free to park your car and walk your child in if you wish.
7:30 a.m. Drop off at the gym: Enter from Madison. Traffic is one-way. Pull up past the flag pole and drop your child off. They are supervised in the gym until they are dismissed to class. All students need to enter through the west entrance of the gym in order to ensure they will be supervised.
7:55 a.m. School Begins: On the first day there is nothing wrong with parking your car and walking your child to class. We do want to start on time, however, so please finish taking pictures or saying goodbye before 7:55 a.m.
7:55 a.m. Morning Kindergarten Parent Meeting in the Computer Lab, First Day of School Only: This is an opportunity for parents to be introduced to one another and to meet the principal, Mr. Montgomery. There will be refreshments, bring younger siblings if you wish. The meeting will be very short - 10-15 minutes - so please come if you can.
11:05 Lunch begins:
- 11:05 Grade 1,2 (kindergarten will join them second semester).
- 11:40 Grades 3-5
- 12:10 Grades 6-8.
Parents, grandparents and family members are welcome to eat lunch with the children at the Visitor’s Table. Please keep the visits spread out to keep them special for the children. We do have quiet time for eating the first 15 minutes of lunch (not for the Visitor’s Table, of course). Also, no pop is allowed in the lunchrrom during lunch. We invite you to eat a school lunch with your child. As of now, you are allowed to bring a lunch for you and your child, but the diocesan Health and Wellness policy may change that this year. We will learn more about this during our inservices in August.
Visitors are asked to sign in at the office and receive a Visitor’s Pass; eat with your child at the Visitor’s Table. You may bring a lunch for your child if you wish (again, unless the policy changes).
11:15 Morning Kindergarten Dismisses: They will dismiss at the north entrance (under the canopy). Parents can park their cars and come to the door to meet their child. Please don’t wait in the hallways as this slows down the prcess.
12:00 Afternoon Kindergarten Begins
12:00 Afternoon Kindergarten Parent Meeting in the Computer Lab, First Day of School Only:
Parents are invited to come and be introduced to each other. Again, the meeting is short, 10-15 minutes. Bring younger siblings if you wish.
3:25 p.m. K-4 Dismissal
3:30 p.m. 5-8 Dismissal
Dismissal Procedures: Students walk through the gym and out the west exit. Parents line up in two parallel lines, entering from Madison Ave. Traffic is one-way. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR UNATTENDED. We will have patrol guards and will make sure your child comes to your car safely. If you want to meet your child at the door, park in the north parking lot or across the street in the Valley State Bank lot (on Derby Street) and come to the door to meet your child. In order to expedite dismissal we ask that parents not stay and visit at the west entrance. It makes if difficult for other children to leave the building.
3:40 p.m. Latchkey: Any child not picked up by this time will report to Latchkey in the gym. They will walk as a group, under supervision, to the Annex for Latchkey. If you are late picking up your child, this is where you will find him or her. We do not charge if you are a few minutes late. We just want to make sure your child is supervised and safe.
5:30 p.m. Latchkey Ends: All children must be picked up by this time. An extra charge will be added for late pick-ups. Latchkey is run by our teachers and they need to leave by 5:30 p.m. If meeting this time becomes a problem, then parents will be asked to find other arrangements.
Useful Links The following links will provide you with useful information that can be found on our website regarding St. Mary Parish School:
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Uniform requirements Parker Uniform in Wichita handles all uniform needs for the Wichita Diocese.
We also have a good selection of used uniforms at the school. These will be available to view in August. The display will be located in the gym in front of the bleachers and will be there at Open House (August 12) and throughout the first two weeks of school.
Payments:
All lunch payments, Preschool fees, Band fees, etc. are made through the school office. When paying by check, please do not combine lunch payments with any others.
Bus Services:
Services are provided by the Derby School District to those families that meet the distance guidelines. Please contact the bus office for questions. If your child rides the bus, it is the parent responsibility to notify the bus office and St. Mary school office on exceptions when he or she will not ride. Please do not expect the child to do this. Your phone calls will save delays and confusion.
Extra-curricular Activities:
You will have an opportunity to learn about these at Open House, but there are several opportunities to participate in activities outside of the regular classroom.
Band
Last year we had over 50 students participate in either Beginning or Advanced Band. We expect that number to be between 60-70 this next year. Advanced Band has performing opportunities outside the school day. Last year they attended Band Day at Kansas State University. This year they have been accepted to attend Band Day at the University of Kansas (if parents approve). Two years ago they performed at State Fair in Hutchinson. We plan to march in the Derby Christmas parade and one other parade this year.
The cost is $10 per month. Students must bring their own instruments. The school has some that can be rented throughout the year, but not enough for everyone.
Athletics
Cross Country, Football, Volleyball, Basketball and Track are available every year for grades 6-8. Students must have an updated physical on file and pay the $65 fee ($30 for track) in order to participate. No one will be denied participation due to inability to pay.
Spelling Bee, Geography Bee
Our school participates in both county competitions. The school winner advances to the county level. This is open to grades 4-8.
Scholar, Religion Bowl
These are competitions for grades 7 and 8. Teams are chosen and then compete with schools of other sizes in the Wichita diocese. If they do well, they are invited to the diocesan competition.
Choir
With the addition of a second (part-time) music teacher, we plan to offer some type of children’s choir this year. Details will be coming later in August.
Class Rosters:
As you look at your child’s class roster you will see that some extra effort has been made to keep the class sizes low to provide the best learning environment for your child. For the first time, we are trying to do the same at the Middle School level. This is only possible because of the generous giving of our parish and tremendous budgeting skills from our Parish Finance Council. The entire parish shares in the success of the school.
Bullying Program: Second Step is the name of the program we have used for the last four years. One of the objectives of our school council will be to review and help improve this program.
There are simply two parts to any “bully proofing” program: Teach children to be respectful of others and teach children how to respectfully stand up for themselves and one another. You will notice that we do not have posters in the school reminding us of our policies and program. The crucifix is our poster. It is prevalent throughout the school. The more Christ-like we are, the fewer problems we will have. The teaching comes from home as much as from school. With your cooperation and help, this problem will be greatly diminished.
Volunteering at School:
Many parents (and grandparents) volunteer at the school and we would love to have more. Volunteer forms will be available at Open House. Vicky Tully is the coordinator for the school and parish and can be reached at the parish office at 788-5525. Contact the school office or Mrs. Tully if you have questions.
Powerschool:
This program is more than just our administrative tool. It is also a way for you to check on your child’s academic progress at any time (for grades 3-8). If you wish to have a weekly report sent to you, this can easily be done. Stop by the Computer Lab during Open House to see how simple and user friendly this system is for parents.
Test Scores:
Every Spring grades 3-8 take various state assessments. We will discuss specifics at Back to School Night. However, in general St. Mary’s did very well again. Of all students taking the test, 96% scored Proficient or better in Reading and 90% did so in math. Our goal is 100% on all tests. The goal is to some day tell parents that before their child graduates from our school they will show proficiency in the academic areas as measured by the state of Kansas. Our goal is every student. In Reading and now in Math, we are getting very close to that goal.
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