Dear Banff Trail School Families,
With about one month to go until summer break, it seems an appropriate time to offer some thank yous to our many volunteers. I mentioned recently at a School Council meeting that I believe that Banff Trail School has one of the most, if not the most, robust volunteer rosters per capita in the CBE, which helped to create a vast amount of opportunities for growth for our students. Despite this rich willingness to donate their time, we welcome all families to continue to register for volunteering, which you can do by bringing government-issued photo ID to our office to begin the process. This way, you can be prepared for any emergent volunteer needs that may arise for your child’s class. Volunteer clearances are valid for five years, and do carry over to other CBE locations.
How have our volunteers helped out around the school? Whether solicited by our School Council, classroom teachers or the office, support for our school is abundant, admirable, noted, and appreciated. Here is just a sample of some of the ways our families have volunteered their time in support of our school:
· Reading at the school with students in French and English
· Organizing our home reading program for students
· Support for a wide range of offsite field trips (such as our skating experience at Triwood Arena and various site visits in and around Calgary)
· Parent-led presentations in-class (such as in relation to the Olympics, PADS dogs)
· Bike to school initiative
· Casino volunteering
· Support with various residencies
· School Dance
· School fundraisers including helping with plant pickup, organizing our annual Art Cards, and much more
· Providing food for potlucks for teachers on Learning Conference evenings
· Helping with making props for our grade 4/5 Musical, and supporting students in rehearsing at home
· Book Fairs
· Welcome back and year-end events
· Veteran’s food bank donations and support
· Affixing Virtue Leaves to our display
· Class community walks
· Helping with our Carnaval
· Tending the school grounds/naturalization space
…and much, much more. Your efforts are highly impactful on the positive learning environment that we strive to create here at Banff Trail School; without your ongoing support, most of these initiatives would not be possible. Thank you for your commitment to sustaining a joyful learning environment for all students and families.
Related to all of the above, we will be hosting our annual Volunteer Tea on Thursday, May 30th, from 9:30am to 10:30am (see the email invitation from the morning of May 13th for details and RSVP information); if you have helped out in any capacity, large or small, please do consider attending, if you are able to do so. It is a great opportunity to connect with other families at our school.
For your consideration:
Welcome Nada El-Sedfy!: A big welcome to Mme Nada El-Sedfy to our staff, who will be with us for the remainder of the school year as an additional Teacher to support learning across all grades in our school. We are very fortunate to have added her positive attitude and care to our team!
School Hours: I have been informed that there will not be any changes to our school start or end times for next year, thus remaining at 7:58am to 2:30pm. Additionally, I anticipate that Kindergarten program start/end times and lunch/recess timings will also remain the same for next year (for the first time in my 4-year tenure here!). Having said this, as I have mentioned previously, Principals across the CBE have been informed that bell times beyond next year are highly likely to be modified, due to changes in the Provincial transportation funding model (city-wide transportation, ie school busing, is the primary factor used to determine bell times). If I hear any further information about this, I’ll be sure to share it with our community.
SoundKreations Residency: We recently completed a two-week residency with SoundKreations, generously funded by our School Council/Society initiatives. Though I was away due to illness for the final day’s performances, seeing student enthusiasm, comfort with dance, and energy levels grow with each session at the school was a great addition to our school during this residency. We were also very fortunate to have, by all accounts thus far, a wonderful, positive, energetic instructor, who was also able to run sessions fully in French. If you have any feedback about this residency, we welcome you to share your thoughts with us at banfftrail@cbe.ab.ca.
Next Spirit/Theme Day Reminder: On Tuesday, May 28th, we will be hosting our next Spirit Day: Western Day! We invite everyone to dress up with Western cowgirl/cowboy theming for this event.
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday, May 28: Theme/Spirit Day—Western Day
Wednesday, May 29: School Council (final of the year), 6:30pm
Thursday, May 30: Volunteer Tea
June 3-June 7: Evergreen Theatre Residency
June 10-20: Elev8 Lacrosse Residency
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan Turner
Principal, Banff Trail School