Dear Banff Trail School Families,
I hope that you and your children are as excited as I am about starting the new school year, and that any initial nerves are becoming more tempered as teachers begin to establish rapport and routines. The process of setting up a foundation of effective relationships between the teachers and students, as well as the teachers and parents, takes time, but it is time very well spent. Rest assured, academic achievement continues while a safe, warm, welcoming environment is nurtured; we have already begun crafting this year’s School Development Plan, and look forward to sharing details of our year plan once it is finalized.
Related to the establishment of strong classroom relationships, this is a good time to remind families that if you ever have any questions, concerns or simply some information to share that may be helpful to the school, please share these details with your child’s teacher. The more information teachers have about your child, the better we can tailor their learning experience in a joyful, positive, productive way for them. We also schedule one-on-one conference opportunities with teachers in late September, to allow for information sharing and personalized collaboration about your child. Note that this year, due to CBE scheduling constraints, these initial meetings cannot be held in the evening, and are scheduled instead for Friday, September 26 (1-4pm) and Monday, September 29 (8-1pm); this is a departure from past years, but will return to more typical scheduling for our November and March conferences. Further information about these conferences will be forthcoming.
I wish all families a wonderful year of learning and wonder; we once again have an amazing group of teachers and support staff that are ready to do their best to continue your child’s learning journey in a positive, caring way over the course of the next year. I also encourage you to pay close attention to your child’s French ability between now and the end of the year, as this is a time of their life where growth can happen very quickly!!
For your consideration:
New To Our School: A big welcome to a few staff who are new to Banff Trail School. Welcome to James Smith (Grade 5 Teacher), Sakshi Malhotra (Educational Assistant), Rhonda Walt (Lunch Supervisor) and Shannon Williams (Lunch Supervisor). A welcome as well to our new School Secretary, Oksana Kaye, who will be joining the office staff as of Monday. More fine people joining our amazing Banff Trail Team!
Labour Action: Information about any potential, upcoming labour action is dynamic and evolving, seemingly daily. I am very hopeful that the bargaining process will be successful, and that a new collective agreement can be reached without any school disruption. I encourage everyone to pay close attention to CBE’s dedicated Labour Action page for any updates.
Toys and Treasures: A reminder that toys, valuables and anything that your child treasures should remain at home, and not come to school. We want to be proactive in avoiding student disappointment; in past years, we have had too many treasures lost, broken or spoiled. Thank you!
Assemblies: Yesterday, the Admin Team hosted our first whole-school assembly of the year. It was great to be able to come together as a learning community; we reviewed the virtues that we will explore for the year and reviewed some norms and expectations for students (such as relating to safety and kindness). In the future, we will continue to invite parents to these short assemblies when their child’s grade-level is hosting the event. Details to come!
Crosswalks: We anticipate the grade 5 crossing guard training to begin in late September, and hope to have the Patrols program set up some time in October. In the meantime, we ask you to be mindful about modelling proper crosswalk usage with your child, including looking both ways, not jaywalking, etc. Of course, please also obey all traffic laws when driving, such as avoiding u-turns, etc. Thank you for looking out for everyone’s safety!
Parking, Pickup and Drop-off: Thank you to the vast majority of families who abide by the traffic signage and rules. A reminder that for the safety of all families and to maintain proper traffic flow, please avoid even momentarily stopping in the bus zone, do not park in or within 5 metres of our crosswalk, and do not leave your car unattended in the Passenger Loading Zone in front of the school (ie the Student Drop-Off stretch along Cochrane Road). Note that Passenger Loading Zones are different than Loading Zones; cars cannot be left unattended in Passenger Loading Zones, and are meant for a quick pickup or drop-off (with accompanying hugs, of course :) ).
Help from office: Our office is here to help you however they can, and is open from 7:45am to 3:15pm. We ask that when possible and except in emergency situations, please avoid contacting the office during our peak times, which are the 10 minutes before and after both school entry and exit, since those are exceptionally busy times around here; our focus during those time frames are getting students where they need to be, safely and quickly! Thank you for this consideration.
Spirit Day: Each month, we aim to have a special school spirit day, where we encourage everyone to dress to a certain theme. On Friday, September 26th, we encourage everyone to wear orange, in honour of September 30th’s Orange Shirt Day (Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—note that the school is closed on September 30th). We look forward to another year with both past favourite spirit days and new themes!
Picture Day: Student Pictures Day will take place on September 10 and 11 this year (this coming week!).
Upcoming School Dates:
Sep 10,11: Student Photo Days
Sep 24: School Council, 6:30pm
Sep 26: Theme Day--Orange Shirt Day
Sep 26, 29: Learning Conferences
Sep 30: National Day of Truth & Reconciliation (School Closed)
Many other Dates of Significance for this month and beyond can be found here.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan Turner
Principal, Banff Trail School