Message from the Principal

Next Thursday, St. Margaret of Scotland PTA is sponsoring another informational night in partnership with Be SMART.  The presentation will take place in the school Cafeteria, on Thursday, Nov. 21, starting at 7:00 p.m.  There will be childcare available and all parents who participate in the information session will earn their children a dress-down day on Friday,  Nov. 22.

A couple of weeks ago we had a visiting team at St. Margaret of Scotland view our school and our strategic plan.  During the process, they found several commendations in the areas of Catholic Identity, Academics, and Institutional Issues.  I would like to include these commendations for you here.  While we all know that we have a very special school, it is always nice to receive positive feedback from an unbiased, third-party source. 

This week we welcomed our visiting team for our school improvement process.  They will provide commendations for our school which I will share next week. 

On Monday we will be sending home our scores from the NWEA testing period in September.  As you know, our second through eighth-grade students participated in our first round of NWEA testing in September. St. Margaret of Scotland students 2-8 are in the 78% in math, 80% in reading, and 76% in Language Usage. These scores are truly exceptional in regular circumstances without factoring in it was our student’s first time taking the test.

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I was very lucky to serve as the facilitator for…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: This Wednesday, we celebrated one of our great yearly traditions – Sweatshirt Mass.  After all-school Mass…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: As we get into October, this is a great time to check-in on your student’s…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: Recently, I was asked by one of our parents about the influx of Friday half-days…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: I have received several questions about some clarification on standardized testing this year.  I would…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: It was truly awesome seeing our school families so well represented this past weekend at…

Please find attached a letter from Patrick Holley regarding Safe Touch at St. Margaret’s School.

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: I hope to see everyone this Sunday at our Mass in the Grass/Back to School…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: This week I would like to highlight one of our Parish Ministries, the St. Vincent…

One of the first things I did with our new assistant principal, Mrs. Villmer, was to discern a theme for the school year.  The theme is something that we continually come back to in faculty meetings, student meetings, and weekly liturgy.  Our theme for this year is from the song “A Rightful Place” by Steve Angrisano.  Specifically we chose the line – “Let us build Your Kingdom in truth and grace, so that all might know they have a rightful place.”

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: We truly had a wonderful first day of school, and I pray that all of…

Please find attached a letter from Patrick Holley regarding the new receptionist at St. Margaret’s School.

Please find attached a letter from Patrick Holley regarding the results from the Parent Survey for the 2023-2024 school year, which was conducted by the School Board.

Please find attached this Back To School update from Principal Holley which is chock-full of info for families at St. Margaret of Scotland School.

Please find attached a letter from Principal Holley regarding Jennifer Shearer leaving St. Margaret of Scotland School. She will be missed!

We hope that all of our school families are still enjoying their Summer vacation.  Though it is still early in…

Please find attached this Summer update from Principal Holley regarding staffing at St. Margaret of Scotland School.

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: We are hitting the home stretch for the 2023/2024 school year.  Many people have been…

St. Margaret of Scotland Families: I cannot tell you how excited and humbled I was to see the result of…

I can’t believe that it is already May. Not that we are counting down, but after today we only have sixteen days of school left.  

Our students had several opportunities to show off their talents and gifts this past week.

The next couple of weeks are going to be very important to the Sacramental lives of our students at St. Margaret of Scotland.

I hope all of you had an awesome Easter and Spring Break.  We are entering into ‘end of the year’ mode as we only have six weeks left in the school year.  We have had a great week back in school.

I hope everyone has a calm relaxing and refreshing Spring Break. I can unequivocally say that it will be a welcome break.

Lots of stuff going on around school this past week – we had a great week! Living History Museum, upcoming Feast of St. Joseph plans, and forthcoming news about staffing for next year all in today’s message.

This past Friday our faculty spent their afternoon participating in professional learning. We continued our work in creating Units based on standards using Understanding by Design.  

We have had a great first full week of Lent at St. Margaret of Scotland.  We are partnering with the Parish and focusing all of our services on the St. Joseph Housing Initiative. Plus, join us for Stations of the Cross on 3/1 – and Report Cards for 2nd Trimester will be out soon.

Please find attached a letter from Principal Holley regarding the new Assistant Principal for St. Margaret of Scotland School.

It is part of my job as a principal to participate in both formal and informal observations of teachers over the school year. To bring these experiences to you, I would like to introduce a new article in the newsletter.  We are calling this Curriculum Corner.

Next week marks the beginning of the Lenten Season with our Ash Wednesday celebration.  I encourage all of you to join us for Mass next Wednesday to celebrate with us.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the feast day of St. Blaise.  St. Blaise was a bishop and martyr and the patron saint of throat ailments.  In honor of St. Blaise, we will have throat blessings for all students and faculty tomorrow during the school day.

Thanks to everyone who signed up to volunteer for our school improvement committees. It just goes to show the great spirit of this community at St. Margaret of Scotland which will be on display this weekend at Open House. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Please see the letter from Mr. Holley (below) regarding changes for Preschool at St. Margaret’s School for the next school…

As you may know, we are in the first year of the school improvement process.  This process calls us to create committees to answer questions about our school and create suggestions for improvement.  

It is imperative that members of our parent community join these committees so that we can have your varied perspective in setting goals for our school.

Thank you to everyone for your help with the water main situation today – and we’re gearing up for Open House and Catholic Schools Week – lots more info to come!

In this week’s Principal’s Message, Mr. Holley wishes to thank everyone for the overwhelming show of support for he and his family with the death of his father. Also, you may see evidence of some of our safety projects coming to fruition around the campus.

In this week’s Principal’s Message, Mr. Holley expresses his appreciation for the SMOS Student Council – and all they’re doing during Advent to keep the school in the holiday spirit.

Mr. Holley reports about December 8th – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. All are welcome to join the school Mass that day at 8:15am.

Mr. Holley reports about the start of Advent around School, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation which the students are receiving this week.

Mr. Holley reports about the 4th Grade field trip to Tower Grove Park, as well as the celebration of the Feast of St. Margaret.

Mr. Holley has some updates on facility changes and repairs happening, as well as details about report cards, Feast Day 5K, and the Principal For A Day.

Mr. Holley is happy to report that he was very impressed with St. Margaret of Scotland’s above-average standardized test scores, while noting areas for improvement. And he anticipates a fun week with upcoming activities for Halloween.

Thanks to all who helped make Trivia Night such a huge success – we raised over $16k for safety & security. Also, please try to attend the CVPA/Collegiate Shooting Anniversary Prayer Vigil next week.

Fox 2 News was on the SMOS campus yesterday afternoon to do a story about our new green playground. They interviewed Mr. Holley and caught some of our kindergartners at play on the new surface.

Please find attached a letter from Principal Holley regarding Standardized Test results.

This week I would like to encourage you to attend our parent presentation by BeSMART STL tonight, October 5, at 7pm at school.  It’s a relatively quick event and an important topic that affects the safety of all of our children – Firearm Safety.

This week, I would like to highlight an organization that we partner with during the school year.  Green House Venture works with our fourth, fifth, and sixth grades by pushing to the classroom to teach lessons.   

Please find attached a letter from Principal Holley regarding the soft lockdown of the school that was put in place this afternoon.

I would like to spotlight our Saint of the Month, St. Vincent de Paul. Because the mission of St. Vincent de Paul is so near to our own school mission.  I strongly encourage all of our school families to consider participating in part or all of our St. Vincent de Paul Society day of events this Saturday – the Charity Walk, Mass, and the Pasta Dinner.

We have some staff details and a reminder about standardized testing week starting next Monday.

There are three main themes which come through the data as key takeaways from last year’s survey.

I cannot help but think of all of the opportunities we have to let our light shine during the course of the week.  We have so many kids with different strengths and talents.  It is within this diversity that we find our strength at St. Margaret of Scotland.

What a difference a change of the temperature can bring.  Our teachers and students are using our campus to its full potential to maximize the beautiful weather.

Please see the letter from Mr. Holley (below) regarding gym uniforms.

Update on some of the safety initiatives that are taking place at SMOS this year.

Despite the heat we have been having an awesome second week of school.

Head Lice Screening – Saint Margaret of Scotland School is contracting with Lice Busters to check all of our students…

There are some changes to the SMOS Family Handbook to note this year.

The beginning of the school year is always a special time.

Please see the letter from Mr. Holley (below) regarding an update about the Learning Lab.

Please see the letter from Mr. Holley (below) regarding an info about Back To School.

Please see the letter from Mr. Holley (below) regarding news about Dragon’s Grove.

Mr. Holley is hard at work this Summer getting ready for the next school year to start in August. Feel free to reach out to him anytime!