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 few years 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 require different levels of support getting back in the swing of things.
Uniforms are an important part of the TLC program. We know that parents 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 are aligning with TLC expectations, and so we will be tightening up this process and will be sending home uniform notices this year. 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. Socks must be navy blue. Also uniform shoes must be all 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. If you have any questions or concerns about uniform requirements, please contact the office.
Thank you to all parents who attended our September parent conferences. I would like to acknowledge how frustrating it must have been when trying to book your child's appointment time for Meet the Teacher. On behalf of all our staff, I would like to send my appreciation to all families who were so patient and flexible when facing the technology glitches that they may have encountered when the CBE conference manager application was not working properly. Due to the flexibility and resourcefulness of our families, we were able to meet with most families despite these difficulties. 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.
September is a busy time! This month our students participated in the Terry Fox walk/run and we know that our students will continue to learn about the virtues that Terry exemplified while running across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. On September 29, all staff and students are encouraged to wear an orange shirt to participate in Orange Shirt Day. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for all people to come together in the spirit of reconciliation. Orange Shirt day began in 2013 when residential school survivor, Phyllis Webstad, shared how her orange shirt was taken away on her first day at a residential school. Since Orange Shirt Day is a non-school day, our school will be holding events on Sept. 29. You can show your support for promoting reconciliation in welcoming, caring, respectful, safe, and inclusive school communities by wearing an orange shirt with uniform bottoms that day. Be sure to monitor the calendar on our school website regularly, so you are aware of all the events like these, that will be happening throughout the year at our school.
As the cooler weather arrives in Calgary, please remember that students go outside at lunch and recess unless the temperature hits -20C, 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 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, perhaps in a note to the teacher.
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 where children are crossing the road. We have had some concerns from our neighbours to the north and 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 will be increasing enforcement in school zones. They will be using photo enforcement with regards to traffic bylaws in and around school zones. If you would like to drop your students off, please do so past the designated bus zone (and driveway) just above the creative playground. Signs are posted in this area – please note that this is a 'drop and go' zone and parking will not be permitted here. If you have a Kindergarten student, you 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 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.
We held our first fire drill in September and our students and staff responded favourably! We will practice our lock down procedures when our students are more familiar with emergency drills and the layout of the school. We plan these drills with the Calgary Police Service leading and monitoring the drill. Student safety is a top priority and when we practice regularly, students become familiar with these routines.
We are going to be hosting our first school council meeting in person at the school library on Thursday October 6 @ 6:30 pm. Going forward our School council meetings will take place the first Thursday of the month unless otherwise specified. 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.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!
Anne Markovich
Principal
