Dear Banff Trail School Families,
Each year, Principals are asked to speak to the school community about our School Development Plan (SDP), our yearly school budget, and fees that our school charges. Principals then solicit feedback from the community, asking about whether you find value in the fees that we charge, where you feel the priorities should be for the fees that we charge, and some thoughts about our SDP. I presented this information at our School Council meeting on February 28th, but I continue to welcome any feedback that you may have about our school. You are able to see the School Engagement PowerPoint presentation on the main page of our website (http://banfftrail.cbe.ab.ca); within the presentation you will find a link and QR code that will take you to the survey, which will remain open until March 15th at 11:59pm.
Overall, we have been very fortunate to have some large costs paid for by our very supportive School Council/Society. This has gone a long way in limiting any fees that we would otherwise need to charge. Recent residencies that your Council have supported include Trickster, Elev8 Lacrosse, Alien Inline, Sugar Shack, Folklofolie, Fitset Ninja, Sound Kreations and much more. If you have donated money in the past or volunteered your time in support of fundraising or by helping with any of these initiatives, thank you; it all helps to provide engaging, unique experiences for our students.
A reminder as well that our SDP this year focuses upon the overarching theme of French Oral Skill Development. This allows us to target our professional resources and time in improving teaching practice, designing impactful lessons, and looking at student data in creating robust language learning opportunities for our students. The oral focus extends across all curricula, such as how we also examine how we can promote mathematical discourse amongst peers, and look to how students can uplift the well-being of others using positive, supportive language at school. Seeing as we are at the approximate mid-point of the year, teachers recently assessed students to see if this targeted work is making an impact, and initial indications seem to indicate a noted improvement. We look forward to continued growth for the remaining four months as well.
For your consideration:
Conferences: Our final set of School Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, March 21st and Friday, March 22nd. We encourage all families to attend conferences, and we encourage students to attend with you as well. Registration for conferences is scheduled to open at 4:00pm on Friday of next week (March 15th), through your MyCBE account.
Allergies: Please note that we are a ‘nut aware’ school; this does not ban nuts per se, but we simply ask that families make an effort to limit nuts in lunches, in support of the number of students at our school with nut allergies. Thank you!
Registration for 2024-25: If you have any other children in your home who are looking to begin Kindergarten at Banff Trail School, we invite you to complete the registration for the 2024-25 school year. If your child is already at Banff Trail School, there is nothing further for you to do; they automatically roll over to the next grade level.
Next Spirit Day: On Wednesday, March 20, we will host our next Spirit Day. The theme will be “Fête de la tête”, where students are invited to liven up their heads through hats, accessories, hairstyles…anything fun, exiting, unique and/or crazy!
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday, March 19: Spring Equinox
Wednesday, March 20: Spirit Day, Fête de la Tête (see above for theme details)
March 21, 22: School Conferences (no school for students on Friday, March 22)
March 23-April 1, inclusive: Spring Break, school closed
Tuesday, April 2: School Resumes
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan Turner
Principal, Banff Trail School