4 million yen sent to Nakahama & Yamashita Elementary Schools

March  marks the end of the school year in Japan. For Nakahama and Yamashita Elementary Schools to be even better prepared to welcome their students back for the new school year in April, the Saint Maur Relief Committee made the decision to send the remainder of the relief fund (around 4 million yen) to both schools as they said they have many immediate needs. The money will go towards,

• refurbishing the floors
• replacing blackboards
• buying additional library books
• purchasing IT equipment, sports equipment and a heating system

We hope to continue supporting both schools in the future and also look forward to further developing the close bond bewteen Saint Maur and the two schools.

Whole School Photo

With the memory of the March 11, 2011 still fresh on our minds, the Tohoku Relief Fund Committee gathered the entire school on the playground to take a photo of everyone showing our continued support of ‘Pray for Japan’. Come and check out the ‘giant’ photo.

Remembering March 11th

With March 11^th falling on a Sunday this year, the Tohoku Committee of students and staff would like to announce some commemorative events. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday the focus will be “reflection”, while Friday’s Japanese Culture Day is one of “celebration”.

On Tuesday the 13^th the whole school will display their individual and group haiku. Our theme is reflecting upon the hardship & loss of March 11 to the unity & hope that we had some minor part in inspiring. At the end of the week, all our poems will be collected and forwarded to Nakahama & Yamashita Elementary Schools. We have also organized for a continuous slideshow of images from Tohoku running parallel with our own fundraising efforts here at Saint Maur. The screens will be at four different locations throughout the school. Beside each screen, there will be poster paper where students, staff and family members can post messages to Nakahama & Yamashita Elementary Schools.

On Wednesday we’ll be encouraging everybody to wear their Pray for Japan t-shirt, or a red& white t-shirt over their uniform. At 1.15pm we’ll take a whole school photo. During morning recess & lunchtime there will be refection services in the chapel.

And on Thursday afternoon the Student Councils are keen on holding a “No Electricity Hour” in the classrooms. Just 12 months ago some of us were inconvenienced with no electricity for short intervals, but up north many families had to do without indefinitely. Their proposal fits nicely with our week of reflection.

The Tohoku Committee.

Remembering March 11th

A number of events have been planned for next week to mark a year since the disaster.

Tuesday 13^th:

· Class displays of haiku poems

· Continuous slideshow running on 4 screens throughout the school

· Post messages of support to Nakahama & Yamashita Elementary Schools

Wednesday 14^th:

· Wear your Pray for Japan t-shirt, or a red& white t-shirt over your uniform 

· Whole school photo at 12.50pm

· 10 minute reflection service in the chapel morning recess & lunchtime

Thursday 15^th:

· No electricity hour in the afternoon

Christmas Assembly movie

Click here

Sending our Christmas gifts to the children in Tohoku

Christmas gifts for students and staff at Nakahama ES & Yamashita ES

JP & the Cezar's Kitchen crew have volunteered their time and skill to prepare Christmas cake for all the students & staff at both Nakahama/Sakamoto Elementary School & Yamashita Elementary School. The Saint Maur Relief Fund will cover the cost of the ingredients, and will also purchase a large candy cane for each child. We'd like to wrap the cake & candy cane boxes in colourful Christmas wrapping paper, and we're asking students to decorate square paper measuring 25cm x 25cm with joyous cheer! Students/HR teachers can give cards/decorative paper to Mr Morice.