Dear Banff Trail School Families,
I hope that school start-up has been successful for your child; it has been great to see students and families return to the building. I feel very fortunate to have the families we have at our school, and love to see the vibrancy in the morning and after-school in the field behind the school, as we all get to know each other a bit better.
These connections are also very important between you and your child's teacher. Our upcoming Learning Conferences will serve as an excellent opportunity to initiate this collaboration, where we encourage you to share about your child's gifts and struggles within the learning community. As the year progresses, I encourage you to regularly chat with your child about their experiences at the school. Your child's teacher will be there to work with you and your child through any issues that may arise. Please also let the teacher know when something goes especially well; they spend many, many hours planning for quality learning experiences!
For your consideration:
Caution-It's Wasp Season: Fall often marks a significant increase in the number of wasp stings. We have found a couple wasp nests on our school grounds, which we have marked off with caution tape and pylons. If ever you notice what seems to be a nesting area for wasps, please let us know, so that we can indicate this for others, and call the appropriate CBE Grounds crew to address the issue. They often seem to set up around crevices found in some of the small boulders scattered around our grounds.
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 the past year, we have had too many treasures lost, broken or spoiled. Thank you!
Conferences: Learning Conferences will take place on the evening of Thursday, September 21st, and the morning of Friday, September 22nd. These will be in-person conferences; the purpose is for you to engage in a one-on-one conversation about your child, offering any insights that you may have that could help set both the teacher and your child up for success in working together in the 2023-24 school year. Details about when you can register for conferences will be shared soon.
Virtue Leaves: We are excited to begin handing out Virtue Leaves once again! Students receive Virtue Leaves for demonstrating positive character around our school, and can be given to students by any staff member. Thank you to all students for their numerous positive impacts around the school thus far, and over the past couple years.
Self-Care September: Consider exploring this September calendar of self-care with your family, as we all work towards taking good care of ourselves and others. Some excellent, simple, accessible daily suggestions for everyone.
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, discussed our upcoming focus of storytelling related to the changing seasons, reviewed some norms and expectations for students, and shared the virtue book for the month. 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!
Drop-Off/Pick-Up/Hug and Go Zone: We encourage families to use our Drop-Off Zone in front of the main entrance to the school for pick-up and drop-off. A reminder to pull ahead as far as possible to maintain good traffic flow. Please see this link for more information. Thank you to all parents who are helping to sustain an efficient student drop-off area in front of our school. A reminder that vehicles should not be left unattended in this area. Thank you!
Crosswalks: Our grade 5 students continue to eagerly await their crosswalk training; we anticipate this 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!
Calling the Office: Thank you to all families who have been diligent in calling the office to inform us about absences and/or changes in routine pickup arrangements. This has greatly assisted us in minimizing phone calls home. A reminder that you can let us know about any upcoming absences 24 hours per day, at 403-777-6120 ext. 1.
7 Sacred Teachings: Our monthly virtue focus will again leverage those character traits associated with the 7 Sacred Teachings (Respect, Love, Courage, Honesty, Wisdom, Humility, and Truth). We look forward to modeling and applying these character traits throughout 2023-24! Consider discussing where you see these traits in your daily life as a family!
Spirit Day: Each month, we aim to have a special school spirit day, where we dress to a certain theme. On September 28th, 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 Friday, September 29th). We look forward to another year with both past favourite spirit days and new themes!
Upcoming Dates:
Thurs, Fri September 21, 22: Learning Conferences
Tuesday, September 26: Terry Fox Run
Thursday, September 28: Spirit Day: Orange Shirt Day
Friday September 29: School Closed in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation Day
Monday October 9: School Closed for Thanksgiving Day
Have a wonderful weekend with the family,
Ryan Turner
Principal, Banff Trail School