Dear Banff Trail School Families,

With the improvement of the weather comes more varied opportunities for family time, with a renewed slate of activities that can be done together.  This is the time to engage in and engrain some cherished family traditions, which all help to strengthen family bonds.  What is it that you want to engage in with your children now, for them to think back fondly upon later in their life?  It often does not need to be complex, but rather focused on shared moments together, where you can be fully present with them  (with limited, or ideally no, distractions!). 

• Are there family recipes that your children could begin to learn, and then take the lead on making?  Perhaps there are new recipes that you can try to make, or a dessert that you can attempt.
• What recreational activities can you do together?  Perhaps walking a familiar route, going for family bike rides, planning a picnic, swimming or anything else that you all might enjoy.  Consider finding a sporting event, concert or theatre production (such as Loose Moose Theatre for Kids) that you could attend all together.
• What sports could play together in an improved way? You don’t need to know all the rules, be an expert, or even be any good—children are excellent at diving right into new activities, so show that same enthusiasm!  Sometimes it is just a purchase of an item (such as a basketball, some baseball gloves, a couple lacrosse sticks) that can spur a life-long love for the game…just make sure you get enough for you to play as well!
• Consider making your own fun and games.  We used to create a mini-Olympics in our backyard every summer, and even made gold/silver/bronze medals (using ribbon, cardboard and foil) to hand out to the winners of each event…some of the most fun can be made by showing excitement for a plan that you make together.  Have a look at the events that will take place in the Paris Olympic Summer Games, and see how you could create modified versions yourself (and build excitement for Team Canada and the Olympics in general in the process).
• See what resources are out there for you to try for free.  For example, Home Depot has offered some free Kids Workshops for ages 5 to 12.  Sport Calgary also hosts their All Sport One Day event each summer (a VERY popular and fun day), where you register to trial some sports that your child may be interested in exploring (information here, with registration opening in early June—many sessions fill up within minutes).  Just be sure to be there, watching them participate and encouraging them along the way.
• What can you learn about our community and region, while you explore it?  For example, what are all these storefronts/businesses/agency locations that we are walking by, and what do they do?  What are the names of our nearby streets and/or highways?  What are these trees, flowers and bushes growing around us? Great resources to accompany these explorations are the various apps found in Android and Apple phones that can take pictures and subsequently identify the image, or the Kainai Plant Index to read about the significance and use of some plants from our region with an Indigenous lens, and the City of Calgary’s map of our city’s millions of trees.  Zoom right in to your area to see which trees are city-owned, and discover, or confirm, the tree’s type.
• If you have extended family or family-friends in the city, invite them to a nearby park, or your home, for a meal.  Plan with your family what will be needed, who should bring what, etc.

The key here is much less ‘what’ you do, but rather to do something together, as often as you can.  If the event doesn’t work out as planned, no problem, other opportunities for family togetherness exist, just keep strengthening that family bond with hugs, shared laughter and wonder.

For your consideration:

Leaving Banff Trail for 2024-25: Please let us know as soon as possible, if you have not already done so, if you intend to leave Banff Trail School for the coming school year (such as if moving to another school, province or country).  This helps immensely in projecting student numbers and budgets for the coming school year.  This can be done via an email to banfftrail@cbe.ab.ca.  Note that this is NOT necessary for our current grade 5 students, who will automatically be enrolled in their designated grade 6 school (This would be Branton School, unless you live outside of Banff Trail School’s designated catchment area).  To check your designated grades 6-12 schools, you can visit this page, then enter your address and change the “View Program Options” to “Early French Immersion”.

Nut-free snacks/lunches: A few weeks ago, I included a reminder in my Principal’s message about packing lunches or snacks that do not include nuts, in support of those in our school who are highly allergic to them.  I thought it worth clarifying that although my wording indicated to ‘limit’ nuts being sent, ultimately we ask of our families that snacks/lunches be packed without any nuts/peanuts.  Thank you for your help with this!

Next Spirit/Theme Day: In keeping with the improving weather, our next theme day will be: C'est le temps du printemps / It's Time for Spring! It will be held on the last day of this month: Tuesday, April 30, 2024.   We encourage students and staff to welcome the new season by accessorizing or dressing like, or for, 'Spring’.  Be as creative with this as you like! 

Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday, April 17: School Council 6:30pm

Friday, April 19: No school for students (Languages Symposium Day for Teachers)

Tuesday, April 30: C’est le temps du printemps/It’s Time for Spring! Spirit Day

May 6 to 16: Sound Kreations Dance residency, K-5.

 Have a wonderful weekend,

Ryan Turner

Principal, Banff Trail School