October 2021
Principal Message
Thank you for attending our first virtual Student Learning Conferences (Meet the Teacher) in September! We were happy to see most of our families over the 2 days, but if you were unable to attend, please contact your child's teacher to arrange a meeting to share information about your child. We are happy to see that most of our families have become so proficient with Microsoft TEAMS, but hopefully we will be able to meet in person again soon!
We know that mask wearing and physical distancing are two effective measures to reduce transmission of COVID 19. We thank our students for remembering to bring their masks to school on a daily basis. Masks should be clean & dry, and the Alberta Health Mask Guidelines say to change masks when it becomes wet or dirty. Please remember that cloth reusable masks are meant to be washed regularly to ensure that your child remains as healthy as possible as we head into cold and flu season. To avoid an unnecessary trip to bring a mask to your child at school, we recommend that all students have a small baggie with 5 disposable masks labeled with their name, in their backpack in case the student loses the mask they came to school with. We also recommend labeling you child's masks as well as other uniform pieces, so that we can get items back to them should they end up in our lost and found.
Uniforms are an important part of the TLC program. We know that you may be experiencing some difficulty accessing uniform pieces in person at McCarthy Uniform store, and to date we have been understanding when students are missing an item. We have noticed lately an increase in students wearing items that are not a part of our uniform, such as solid blue tunics, leggings, sweat pants or polo shirts without a crest. Knowing that parents have made a choice to send their children to a TLC school with a uniform, we want to ensure that we aligning with TLC expectations so we will be tightening up this process and are now sending home uniform notices. Just a reminder that on formal days students are required to wear a plain, white, long, or short sleeve collared dress shirt under their plaid tunic or tucked into their blue dress pants. Students must also be wearing a crested green cardigan and any hair elastics or hair bands must be white, green, navy, TLC plaid or black. Also uniform shoes must be 100%black including any trim or stitching. Although Monday is a formal uniform day for all students, Tuesdays are formal days for our Tuesday/Thursday kindergarten students only.
We are so happy to see our students back at school after summer break. Our staff are working with our young students and giving lots of reminders of expectations around how we play and interact when in a larger group, as many students may have spent the past 19 months or so with only small family groups or cohorts. Our students seem very happy to see their old friends and make new friends too! If you ever have concerns about your child and how they are interacting with others while here at school, don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher to discuss your concerns, as we know that all of our students will most certainly require different levels of support when getting back in the swing of things.
As the cooler weather arrives in Calgary, please remember that students go outside at lunch and recess every day unless the temperature goes below -20 C, so they will need appropriate clothing. Weather in Calgary can be unpredictable, so please check the forecast and ensure that your child is prepared for the expected daily lows or a sudden change in temperature. This clothing needs to be labelled so that, if lost, we can help the students to find it again. If they do misplace an item, it helps to have them look as soon as possible, so please remind them to look the next day, and send off a quick email to their teacher so they can remind your child to look in the lost & found!
A special thanks to all parents who drive our students to school and are remembering that we need to model for them the virtues that we discuss in school. We need to show respect to our neighbours and our peace officers by abiding by the bylaws that prohibit blocking alleyways or parking in front of driveways and to model safe driving practices by avoiding reversing, and U turns in school zones and crosswalks. We have had some concerns from our neighbours to the north & south of the school that their driveways are being blocked during drop off and pick up times. Please note that for student safety, the City of Calgary and Calgary Police Service will be increasing enforcement in school zones. You may have already seen them around or spoken to them. They will be using photo enforcement with regards to traffic bylaws in and around school zones. We also ask that parents and students use cross walks to get across the street and do not walk through our school parking lot. Please remember that we ALWAYS prioritize safety over convenience.
If you would like to drop your child(ren) off, you can do so at the Student Drop and Go Zone, which is just past the designated bus zone (and driveway) just above the creative playground. As we strive to make things more efficient, we are just waiting for our signs to be delivered that will mark this new & improved student drop & go zone! There will be 2 signs to mark our Drop & Go Zone, which is designed for parents to drive up, and students to independently get out of the vehicle on the school side of the car. We have a staff member supervising this zone, to remind drivers to remain in their car to help keep student drop off as safe and efficient as possible. The drop & go zone will not be available for Kindergarten students, as parents must remain with them until their teacher greets them at their door. There is plenty of room to park on Hunterslea Crescent where there is a long stretch of sidewalk on the green space on the school side of the road. This will help minimize the disruption to our neighbours. Please also note that the gravel driveway by our outdoor classroom is a No Parking zone. It is necessary to keep this area open and accessible for emergency vehicles. Just a reminder that there is no student drop off or pick up in our staff parking lots, as this is a dangerous practice. We know that driving and parking around a school is a busy time, and we thank all parents who take the opportunity to drive and park safely and keep all of our students safe.
We held our first fire drill in September and our students and staff responded favourably! Our first lock down practice is scheduled in November with our School Resource Officer, Constable Kevin leading the drill. Student safety is a top priority and when we practice regularly, students become familiar with the routines.
We had a good turn out for our first school council meeting held on TEAMS. Thank you to all who attended, and we hope to see even more at our next meeting on October 14 @ 6:30 pm. As you are a parent at this school, you are automatically a member of school council and we encourage you to join us and learn more about what is happening at the school. An extra special shout out to the amazing volunteers who helped out at our school's casino until the wee hours of the morning this week! All of our students benefit from the items & programs our School Enhancement Society funds from the casino as well as other fundraisers! A HUGE thank you to anyone who volunteered at the casino this month. We are so appreciative of everyone who gave up their time (and even sleep!) to help raise money for our school.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!
Anne Markovich
Principal
