Dear Banff Trail School Families,
At our School Council meeting next week, on February 28, 2024, I will be hosting an online engagement wherein I review some of the work that we are doing as a school in support of ongoing student learning. More specifically, we will look at 2 areas: where we collect and spend money, and our School Development Plan (SDP). I will examine both of these areas in relation to the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. Our SDP is an important piece of the work that we do collectively in our school, as teachers work in grade-level teaching teams to target student learning needs. When working as a grade-level team in 2023-24, teachers have focused their attention on improving students’ French oral capacity, with achievement in 3 areas being considered: Literacy (specifically relating to French oral skill this year), Mathematics (targeting ability to communicate mathematical thinking orally), and Well-being (creating a culture wherein students can communicate their wants and needs more proficiently in French). I will review strategies that we are using to address each of these areas, as teachers at Banff Trail School look intensively at the data that students are producing, and subsequently adjust their teaching practices in response to their findings. Sometimes these adjustments are on an individual level (such as if we see something specific that we can address with the student), yet often trends across the class or grade are synthesized upon analysis of work, leading to a shift in teaching methodology. That cycle of repeatedly looking at student work, designing responsive tasks related to findings, creating opportunities for students to create new evidence of learning, and then re-examining the ‘new’ evidence, continues throughout the year, and is foundational to much of our Friday afternoons’ work. Regardless of the specific areas of focus over the past few years, this structure has served us well in keeping our focus on deepening and broadening student learning.
I encourage as many people as possible to attend the upcoming School Council meeting, which will also be accessible online; we normally share the link to the meeting one or two days beforehand. If you are unable to attend, the PowerPoint will be accessible on our website soon afterwards. I appreciate any feedback, positive or ‘constructive’, that you may have.
For your consideration:
2024-25 School Photos Feedback: Thank you to the 47 families who submitted feedback about next year photography, based on my last Principal’s Message. 43 of the responses preferred outdoor pictures, whereas 4 preferred indoor. After considering these results and accompanying comments, in addition to discussions with staff, we will be returning to outdoor photography (weather permitting, with retakes being indoor). We will also be offering family/sibling photos, tentatively scheduled for the evening of November 28th (coinciding with our likely School Conferences night); thank you to Ken Stewart for personalizing this opportunity in many ways for our community. More information to come about this in the new school year.
Next Spirit Day—Pink Shirt Day: February 28th is recognized as Pink Shirt Day, which will be the theme of our next Spirit Day. We encourage all students, staff, and families to wear a pink top, in support of anti-bullying campaigns across our country and globe. Teachers will be discussing the connection between Pink Shirt Day and anti-bullying in-class, and we encourage you to do the same at home.
Road Safety: During the morning school entry time on Valentine’s Day, a team of 4 Calgary Police Service (CPS) vehicles came out to our school vicinity for traffic law enforcement. In speaking with the CPS afterwards, about 8 tickets were handed out. They informed us that most were of the “U-Turn in the middle of the road” variety. Thank you again to all families who are following the traffic safety rules, for the safety of our community and students. We will continue to invite the Calgary Parking Authority and CPS to assist in keeping the area around our school safe.
Mayor’s Food Drive: In the final couple weeks leading up to the Winter Break, we ran our annual Mayor’s Food Drive. I’m very pleased to announce that we brought in 2,260 pounds of food, along with some cash, to help those in our community facing food insecurity. Each month, an average of 10,000 people receive food through this program, 34% of whom are children. Thank you for this incredible, impactful instance of generosity.
Skating: From March 4 to 12, all students will have the chance to go skating at nearby Triwood Arena. We continue to need volunteers to help with getting skates on and off, hosting the Skate Shack, and some on-ice skaters. Please connect with your child’s teacher if you are able to volunteer. Thank you to Mme Sam and Mme Pascale for coordinating this event for our school!
Carnaval: Last week was a special week at Banff Trail School, as students participated in a range of Francophone cultural events during our annual Carnaval celebration. Sugar Shack, traditional dancing, wooden spoons, snowshoeing, broomball, braiding and much more could be witnessed around the school; Bonhomme Carnaval even made an appearance at our event! Thank you to Mme Stafford, Mme Sophie, Mme Sarah and M Benke for arranging all the events for this special celebration. PICTURESX2
Clubs: We were so excited to see our grade 3 to 5 students enjoying the wide array of clubs over the past 4 weeks; thank you again to all teachers for volunteering their lunch hours to make this happen! Other than some gym conflicts with residencies, the climbing structure, and the basketball club (resulting in rescheduled sessions), all seemed to run quite smoothly, and we hope they were enjoyed by all participants. Next week we begin our grade 1 and 2 clubs. Please note that the beading club has shifted 2 dates, from March 18 and 20 to February 26 and 28.
Registration: Many (most?) schools around the CBE are projected to be nearing, at, or above capacity for the 2024-25 school year. If you have any younger children whom you have not yet registered for the 2024-25 school year and are eligible to register, we would encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Please see CBE’s new student registration page for more information.
Upcoming dates:
February 26: Grade 1 and 2 clubs begin (until March Break)
February 28: Pink Shirt Day
February 28: School Council Meeting, 6:30pm
March 1-31: Francophone Heritage Month
March 1: Troubadour (French Cultural presentation in gym)
March 4-12: Triwood Arena Skating
March 21: Learning conferences 3-7pm
March 22: Non-instructional day, no school for students—Learning conferences 8am-1pm
March 23-April 1, inclusive: Spring Break
April 2 (Tuesday): School Resumes
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan Turner
Principal, Banff Trail School
