Dr. J.K. Mulloy School

Mar 23

Spring 2023

Riddell, Judy N on 3/23/2023 8:50 AM

"Spring revitalizes the spirit within us.” Blackfoot Elder Casey Eagle Speaker

March 20th was Spring Equinox and although the weather still feels wintery, we can be confident that new growth is starting under all of the snow and ice, and we will soon be seeing evidence of the first plants and flowers of spring.

As you know, our school’s Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation is centered on learning on, about and from the land. While our students and teachers enjoy learning from the land in all seasons, there is something special about the new growth and the hope of spring. You can expect your children to spend more time in learning spaces outdoors, such as our outdoor classroom, Nosehill Park, and Nosehill Spring Park. Please ensure that your child comes to school prepared for the weather; you might want to consider putting an extra pair of socks in students’ backpacks in case their feet get wet in the melting snow.

The CBE is committed to addressing and improving student well-being, and as such has released the Student Wellbeing Framework. This framework presents a systemic approach to increasing and improving student well-being. This work has already begun at Dr. J.K. Mulloy as a part of our school development plan target on student wellness. As a staff we are committed to engaging and improving our work in supporting student and staff wellness and wellbeing. If you have any questions about our work or this new framework, please speak with your child’s teacher, or contact Ms. Devos or Ms. Lay in the office.

Staffing Updates: We are happy to share with you that Mrs. Janna Roji and Ms. Stephanie Gauthier have returned back to teach the second term of the school year. Mrs. Roji has returned to kindergarten and Ms. Gauthier to second grade. Both are experienced teachers and are thrilled to be returning to teaching for the rest of the school year. We are also excited to welcome Ms. Simran Sekhon as the newest member of our Kindergarten team and she will remain in the classroom until the end of June. We also welcome Ms. Elsayed and Ms. Akhter to our lunchroom team, and Mrs. Wong to our ELL team. We are fortunate to have so many staff who truly love and care for your children, and who are committed to their learning and safety.

Volunteers: please consider becoming a registered volunteer at our school! Volunteers are essential to go on field trips and to support students in the school. In order to be a volunteer, you need to have your CBE police clearance. All you need to do to start this process is come to the office in person with two pieces of government ID (one piece of ID must have a photo.) Volunteer clearance is good for five years, and is transferrable to other CBE schools. This is a great time of year to initiate your volunteer clearance as there is a very quick turnaround time. We love and appreciate our volunteers – thank you to all parents and grandparents who are already are current volunteers at Dr. J.K. Mulloy. We will be having an appreciation tea for our registered volunteers in June – stay tuned for more information to come.

Student Learning Conferences were held on March 9th and March 10th. These conferences are an opportunity to speak about your child’s progress, and we thank all parents who attended these meetings. If you were unable to attend, you are encouraged to email or call your child’s teacher about how they are doing. Please note that you do not have to wait for student learning conferences or report cards to inquire about your child and their learning. We encourage parents to contact your child’s teacher or the office if you ever have questions or concerns. Parents are our partners in student learning and we appreciate opportunities to connect.

Our Scholastic Book Fair during conferences was a huge success! We raised approximately $3000 for our school library! These funds go to replacing old library books and adding new titles to our collection. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a successful fundraiser!

We held our Annual General School Council meeting on Thursday, February 2nd at 6:30pm. We would like to thank the new members of the Council for stepping into their new roles. If you are interested we still have many roles that need to be filled. Due to the Student Learning Conferences falling on the second Thursday of March our next School Council Meeting Thursday, April 6th, 2023. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there.

Our school LOTTERY for the 2023/24 school year was held on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 and was witnessed by a member of our School Council. All “Expression of Interest” forms were received by noon on February 14th, 2023, to be included in the lottery. Any registration packages received after 12:00pm on February 14th were & will continue to be added to the end of our call back list following the lottery. We are grateful so many families are interested in making Dr. J.K. Mulloy their home school.

All grade 4 students are automatically reassigned and registered to Colonel Macleod. If you would like your child to attend a different school for grade 5, then please follow the transfer process outlined on the CBE website. If you have any questions please contact the office at 403-777-6640.

As we are starting to make plans for next year we would appreciate if you know your child will be attending another school next year, due to a move or any other reason you will let the office know ASAP. This will ensure we have the transfer process done so student records are ready to go at the end of June to their new school.

If you are one of our families considering travel out of the country for extended periods of time, please be sure to let the office know in advance of your trip. If your extended absence coincides with the start of the school year, this can have an unexpected impact on your child's school placement. If a student does not arrive to school before September 30th, due to a family holiday, the student may be withdrawn from Dr. J.K. Mulloy School, and your family will be redirected to your designated school, and you will be able to reapply to the TLC Program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy the following year. We know that many families book travel plans well in advance of their departure date, so we like to let families know this early on in the school year. While it is recognized that enrichment activities or travel present unique learning opportunities for students, excessive or frequent absences can create gaps in student learning and social development. Consequently, it becomes the parent's responsibility to ensure their child is meeting learning expectations during extended absences; the school is unable to provide learning support (i.e. extra homework) while students are away on a family holiday.

Mornings and afternoons at Dr. J.K. Mulloy can be busy as parents drop off and pick up their children. Parents of children in grades 1-4 are encouraged to use the ‘drop and go’ zone just above the playground in the mornings. There is no parking in this area, but there are supervisors there to welcome your child to school. Thank you to all parents who are diligent about modeling safe behaviour for their children. PLEASE take an extra 1-2 minutes to ensure you cross at the crosswalks. We want to be good models for our students, and help them to understand that it is always better to take an extra minute or two to prioritize safety over convenience.

The last day before Spring Break is Friday, March 24th, and classes will resume on Monday, April 3rd, 2023! We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break and look forward to seeing your children in April.

As always, we welcome parent input and feedback. If you every have questions, comments or feedback, please email us or call the office.

Sincerely,

Terrie Lay, Acting Principal

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Mar 23

Spring 2023

Riddell, Judy N on 3/23/2023 8:50 AM

"Spring revitalizes the spirit within us.” Blackfoot Elder Casey Eagle Speaker

As always, we welcome parent input and feedback. If you every have questions, comments or feedback, please email us or call the office.

Sincerely,

Terrie Lay, Acting Principal

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Nov 25

December 2022

Riddell, Judy N on 11/25/2022 2:06 PM

December 1, 2022

Thank you to all of our families for doing what you can to help keep everyone safe & healthy, as our absenteeism seems to be trending downward and that is great news! We were disappointed to have to postpone our APEGA Science Night, and move our Student Learning Conferences online to TEAMS, but we are doing everything we can to keep everyone healthy and reduce the spread of illness in our school. Due to our “Outbreak Status” as declared by AHS, we are reminding parents to please keep your child at home if they are feeling sick, wait until symptoms have resolved, they have not had a fever for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication and they feel well enough to resume normal activities before returning to school.

We hope that we will have the Outbreak lifted in time for our Grade 3 & 4 music concert, but at this point we will have to wait and see. We would like to get things back to normal as soon as possible to help our young students experience more enhancement activities that they may have been missing due to COVID protocols dating back to March of 2020. We have some interesting assemblies & presentations booked this year, and we are all really looking forward to them.

Student learning conferences were very well attended last Thursday and Friday and I would like to remind all parents that you do not ever have to wait for student learning conferences if you or your child have any concerns! Parents, teachers & students are a team and we can best support students when we are all working together.

Student safety is a priority here at Dr. J.K. Mulloy School. I would like to remind all parents that the drop off and pick up of students is prohibited in the school parking lot. Please park on the street, and be sure to remember not to block our neighbour’s driveways, alleys, bus zones or fire hydrants. Please choose to prioritize safety over convenience, and do not cross the street between school buses as this models unsafe behaviour for our young students. In addition, we would like to ask all school bus users to please leave enough space for our school buses to safely pull in and out of the bus stop in your community. This will speed up the drop off and pick up and when the bus can pull right next to the curb it creates a safer environment for all involved. If parents are parked in the bus zone, and the bus can’t safely pull in, the bus is forced to stop out in the traffic lanes which creates many additional safety hazards.

I just wanted to remind you that our next School Council Meeting is on December 1, at 6:30pm online as a TEAMS meeting. All parents of Dr. J.K. Mulloy students are automatically members of the School Council and School Enhancement Society. Please come and learn more about the learning that is happening at our school, meet some other parents and get answers to any questions that you may have. Each month a few teachers share a little bit of their students’ learning and highlight some interesting things their grade team has been involved in. This year, at each meeting we will be having a draw for a new piece of uniform clothing, so be sure to join us Dec. 1 at 6:30 for your chance to win! We hope to see you then!

Sincerely,

Anne Markovich

Principal Dr. J.K. Mulloy

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Nov 02

November 2022

Riddell, Judy N on 11/2/2022 4:11 PM

November 2, 2022

We are happy to see that our students are coming to school dressed for the ever changing weather in Calgary! Just a reminder that students will go outside every day unless the temperature drops to below -20 degrees Celsius! We know that the weather can be unpredictable, so please take a look at the forecast and dress your child in layers so they will be able to take off or put on a layer if need be.

Here are some suggestions from the CBE website for families to help ensure that students are prepared for all weather conditions.

Children should be well prepared and dressed for the weather.

Children will find it easier to walk through the ice and snow when their school books and lunches are carried in a back pack.
Children should not be left unattended at bus stops for any period of time, under any circumstances.
Families should ensure that they have back-up care arrangements if transportation is delayed. Children should have a warm place to stay before and after school (i.e. with a neighbour or a nearby relative).

During the winter, roads may also be congested and slippery resulting in possible traffic and bus delays. Unusually cold or stormy weather can result in buses being delayed. Unexpected mechanical problems with the bus may also occur more frequently at this time of year. Children should be dressed appropriately for the colder weather as buses may become cold quickly if the bus is not running.

We know the bus driver shortage this school year has had a negative impact on many families. We anticipate the shortage will continue throughout the school year. While we are working with our transportation providers for solutions, the snow and colder weather will make getting to and from school more challenging.

CBE Transportation does not adjust routes or bus stops due to weather conditions.

There are a variety of ways transportation providers provide real time route information for families. Southland Transportation uses MyBusStop App and My School Bus Monitor for messages on delays, we recommend that all families with students riding the bus set up an account for the MyBusStop App.

Now is the time to make sure that your MyCBE account is updated & working correctly, as this is where you will sign up for services like transportation or lunch supervision, pay fees & view your child’s report card. Parents are also required to update their demographics annually, even if there are no changes to information. You will continue to get reminders from our downtown office to complete these forms until they are completed and submitted. Thank you in advance for attending to this if you have not already!

The next School Council meeting will be held this Thursday (tomorrow) at 6:30 pm, in the Learning Commons at the school. School Councils provide a means for members of the school community to consult with and provide advice to the principal and the school board. School councils were legislated in 1995 under Alberta's Education Act and are mandatory for all schools in the public education system, including charter schools. All parents who have children currently attending Dr. J.K. Mulloy are automatically members of our School Council, but we know that it can be difficult for some parents to attend an optional meeting in the evenings, especially because we do not provide childcare and typically children have trouble sitting quietly through such a long meeting after attending school all day. We would like to host at least one meeting here at the school so that parents can come and meet other parents who make time to attend & help make important decisions about how fund raising dollars are spent, as well as learning more about what is happening here at school. It is a great way to feel more connected to your child’s school. The two consecutive meetings (School Council & Program Enhancement Society) typically run about 2 hours total, and to encourage parents to attend, we will be holding a draw for a NEW uniform piece at each meeting this year.

Our school Remembrance Day assembly will be held on Thursday, November 10 from 10:45-11:30 a.m. Grade 1 classes will be presenting at the assembly. Due to capacity constraints in the gym, we are only able to invite families of grade 1 children to this assembly. All students must wear their formal uniforms on this day. The ONLY exception will be that students who are in sparks/brownies/guides or beavers/cubs/scouts may wear that uniform instead. Poppies will be distributed to students before the assembly and donations to the Poppy Fund will be accepted from November 7 – November 10. Veterans Food Bank non-perishable food donations will be accepted from November 1 – November 10. Thank you to all of our families for taking good care of our veterans! With inflation rates so high right now, we know that many families are having to be careful with their money, so we really appreciate all of the kindness that our families are showing as our Veteran’s Food Bank boxes are filling up!

We are also looking forward to our upcoming In Person Student Learning Conferences November 24 & 25. Conference booking will open at 8 am on November 19. Please make time to log into your child’s MyCBE account before conferences to check for recent assessments published by your child’s teacher in English Language Arts and Math. You will have an opportunity to discuss these assessments at your child’s Student Learning Conference. To access your MyCBE account please watch this step by step tutorial here. Even if you book your Student Learning Conference for Friday, you are welcome to bring your family to school on Thursday evening from 6 to 8pm to participate in our Science Night!

We are so fortunate to have been selected to host The APEGA Science Night by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta! A Science Night is an evening of fun, hands-on activities and demonstrations! These events are put together to enhance science concepts being learned by students in Grades 1 through 6, but are also a source of fun and interest to adults! We hope to see you then!

Stay warm,

Anne Markovich

Principal

Dr. J.K. Mulloy

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Sep 26

September 2022

Riddell, Judy N on 9/26/2022 1:17 PM

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

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Mar 01

March 2022

Riddell, Judy N on 3/1/2022 3:12 PM

Happy March Everyone!

As you are aware, Alberta entered Step 2 on March 1 (today). The following changes came into effect at that time:

· Any remaining school requirements removed (for example: Kindergarten to grade 6 cohorting).

Youth screening activities for entertainment and sport activities removed.
Capacity on all large venues and entertainment venues lifted.
Restrictions lifted on interactive activities, table limits, liquor sales and closing times for bars, restaurants and other food serving businesses.
Indoor and outdoor social gathering limits lifted, including for all wedding and funeral events.
Mandatory work-from-home requirements lifted.
Provincial mask mandate lifted except:

on municipal and intra-provincial public transit for Albertans 13 and older
at AHS-operated and contracted facilities, and all continuing care settings

With regards to schools,

- Masking is optional for students and staff

- Students and adults must continue to follow Alberta Isolation and Quarantine requirements if testing positive for Covid 19 on PCR or Rapid Antigen Test

- Students are asked to stay home if they are sick

- Cohorting is no longer an expectation – students do not have designated play areas at recess and can play where they would like to play (supervision continues)

- Sanitizing at entry ways not required

- Students continue to be encouraged to wash their hands often especially before eating as a part of regular hygiene routines

- Parents and visitors may come into the school (must continue to check in at the office)

In order to align with the recent lifting of provincial COVID restrictions in schools, parents will now have the option of attending a Student Learning Conference online OR in person next week. For both types of conferences: Please proceed with using our online booking request form. When you book a conference on this page, you will automatically receive a Microsoft TEAMS link for an online conference. If you prefer an in-person conference instead, please book in the same way, and also contact the office to inform us that you will attend your child’s conference in person, so we know to expect you at school at your designated time.

We are working with our CBE team to ensure that we are rolling out any changes to our COVID protocols in a thoughtful manner. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or the main office and we will do our best to respond.

Report cards were available for viewing on February 1, 2022 on your PowerSchool account. Students receive a report card mid-way through the school year and at the end of the school year in June. We know it's important for parents to understand how their children are doing in school. This is one of the ways the school informs parents about their child's progress and achievement. A student's report card corresponds to ongoing assessment done by his or her teacher. Assessing a student's progress is one of the most important ways teachers support the continued learning of their students. It is recommended that you print a copy of the report card at home as it does get removed from your child's account and may not be accessible for parents after that time. If you haven’t already seen it, I strongly encourage you to view your child’s report card before attending Student Learning Conferences this month.

We are also starting to make plans for staffing for next year and although we would love for all of our students to be staying with us next year, we know sometimes children will be changing schools for a variety of reasons. If you know your child will be attending another school next year, due to a move or any other reason, we would really appreciate it if you could let the office know by June 1^st. This will ensure we have the transfer process done so student records are ready to go at the end of June to their new school. If you find out after this date, that is fine too…just give us a call in the office and let us know. As we approach the latter half of the school year, students in grade 4 have begun to think about the transition to grade 5. All grade 4 students are automatically reassigned and registered to Colonel Macleod School. If you would like your child to attend a different school for grade 5, then please follow the transfer process outlined on the CBE website CBE transfer process as soon as possible.

Our LOTTERY for the 2022/23 school year (for students who do not currently attend but want to attend Dr. J.K. Mulloy School next year) was held on February 16, 2022, and was witnessed by a member of our School Council. All “Expression of Interest” forms had to be received by noon on February 15, to be included in the lottery. Any registration packages received after 12:00pm on February 15^th were & will continue to be added to the end of our call back list following the lottery. As we are currently over capacity, no grade 1 to 4 spots were vacant to be filled during our lottery this year. We know we have a lot of disappointed parents out there, and we want to assure everyone that we will continue to use our callback list to fill any new vacancies up until September 8, 2022 at which time our call back list will be dissolved.

There is a strong positive correlation between regular attendance and a student's success in school. Regular attendance at school maximizes student learning and success, as well as teaching children how to be part of a community and that school is a priority for your family. While it is recognized that enrichment activities or travel present unique learning opportunities for students, excessive or frequent absences can create gaps in student learning and social development. Consequently, it becomes the parent's responsibility to ensure their child is meeting learning expectations during extended absences; the school is unable to provide learning support (ie extra homework) while students are away on a family holiday.

If you are one of our families considering travel out of the country to visit friends or relatives for extended periods of time, please be sure to let the office know in advance of your trip. We will write a letter to document the absence in the student's file, and will update their attendance record. These absences are recorded as “unexcused" in the student's attendance record. Should your extended absence coincide with the start of the school year, this can have an unexpected impact on your child's school placement. If a student does not arrive to school in September due to a family holiday, and will be returning at some point after September 30, 2022, the student may be withdrawn from Dr. J.K. Mulloy School. Your family will be redirected to your designated school. You will be able to reapply to the TLC Program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy the following year. We know that many families book travel plans well in advance of their departure date, so we like to let families know this early on in the school year.

We know that our parents value our school uniform as an important part of the TLC program. We appreciate your commitment to ensuring your child arrives at school daily in the appropriate uniform. If you are not sure of the expectations, please refer to the TLC Uniform Requirements TLC Uniform Requirements We know that this has been a tough couple of years on some families financially, and if you need help to meet the uniform requirements, please contact the office to make an appointment with Ms. Lay or myself (Ms. Markovich) and we will see what we can do to help you out.

The last day before Spring Break is Friday March 18, and classes will resume on Tuesday March 28, 2022! We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break to spend some quality time with your families. This is an excellent time to have your children bring their indoor shoes (dress &/or gym) home to ensure that they still fit, as we know children typically have growth spurts throughout the school year and often need a new pair of shoes for their growing feet.

For Parents/Legal Guardians of Grade 4 students, by now you will have received a letter from Alberta Education regarding the Alberta Education Assurance (AEA) survey (which replaced the former Accountability Pillar Survey). Your letter contains a Random Access Code (RAC) for completing the survey online and instructions for accessing the survey in other languages. Completing the survey online is the quickest way for Alberta Education to receive a completed response. Families can still choose to complete the survey on paper by requesting a copy from the System Assurance Branch directly (see contact information in your letter), or by contacting your principal. This past 2 years have been unusual, as COVID-19 has brought new challenges, that is why it is more important than ever to hear from parents / legal guardians. Your voice will help shape the future of education in Alberta. Please complete the survey by April 23, 2022, and if you have any questions, please contact me.

Just a reminder that our School Council meeting will be moved to Thursday March 17 at 6:30pm, as Student Learning Conferences fall on the second Thursday of this month. Hope to see you there! We will continue to meet via TEAMs this month, and will let you know if we plan to move the meetings back to in-person.

Sincerely,

Anne Markovich

Principal

Dr. J.K. Mulloy School

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Dec 03

December 2021

Riddell, Judy N on 12/3/2021 11:51 AM

The cold, wet, winter weather seems to have arrived and seems to be sticking around this time! Just a reminder that all students go outside twice per day for a minimum of 15 minutes each time (longer for our lunch recess) and we do not have any supervision inside during these times. It is important that your child is dressed for the weather, so they are comfortable and able to enjoy this unstructured play time. As the weather can be unpredictable, it is a good idea to check the forecast each morning and send your child to school dressed for the expected low temperature or wet/cold weather. Having a hat or hood is very important, because body heat can be lost by an uncovered head in cold, windy weather. We also recommend dressing your child in layers, as this enables your child to remove a layer if they are too hot, or put on a layer if they are too cold. Please ensure all clothing items are labeled and we will work to get these pieces back to your child should they become lost.

As you are aware, over the past month we have continued to receive notification of positive cases in our school community. We thank all parents for continuing to ensure their child(ren) has a clean & dry mask to wear while they are here at school. 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 or reusable masks labeled with their name, in their backpack in case they lose the mask they came to school with. Please ensure your child's mask fits your child's face as we are seeing many masks that have stretched or are too big and therefore not as effective to keep your child safe & healthy.

Drop off and pick up can be busy times around our school. In an effort to keep our students safe, please ensure that you are following the rules of the road regardless of if you are a pedestrian or a driver of a vehicle. Children do not perceive traffic like adults do, so extra caution is needed in and around playgrounds and schools. Remember that it is important to not double park or park facing the wrong direction as this is a dangerous practice especially near a school and could result in an expensive ticket! Please also consider using our 'drop off' location on 10^th Street, just to the north of the parking lot, and remember that it is not too late to register for yellow school bus transportation!

We have just published our School Development Plan for this year and you can find a copy on our school's website. Our data has informed us that we should continue to focus on literacy, and more specifically building, and focusing on high impact speaking, reading & writing strategies this year. We will also focus on helping our students communicate more clearly and efficiently when solving problems in mathematics. Our wellness goal will focus on helping students gain the skills & vocabulary to attempt to solve problems independently. We will share our plans at our next School Council Meeting on December 9 @ 6:30pm. All parents are automatically members of our School Council & Parent Enhancement Society and we encourage and welcome all parents to attend our monthly meetings and have a voice in what happens at our school!

Have a wonderful winter break and hopefully things will get back to normal in the New Year!

Anne Markovich

Principal

Dr. J.K. Mulloy School

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Nov 01

November 2021

Riddell, Judy N on 11/1/2021 10:05 AM

Principal Message

Thanks to all of our families who are accessing fee payments online through myCBE account, as your child's fees should be uploaded now. We are a cashless school, as it is a faster and more secure way for parents/guardians to make payments. If you ever have trouble accessing your account, please don't hesitate to call the office and we would be happy to help out.

Effective communication practices ensure that parents are regularly informed about how their child is doing at school. In addition to the report card, schools communicate with parents about student progress in a variety of ways, such as student learning conferences. Ongoing communication between teachers, students and parents informs and supports our students' learning. On Thursday, November 25th and Friday, November 26th we will be hosting our Student Learning Conferences (online) so there is no school for students on Friday of that week. Some other ways to learn how your child is doing are informal conversations with your child and your child's teachers, virtual celebrations of learning, student learning conferences, and online tools such as Google Classroom. Don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher if you are concerned about their progress between student learning conferences and/or report cards.

If you are one of our families considering travel out of the country to visit friends or relatives for extended periods of time, please be sure to let the office know in advance of your trip. We will write a letter to document the absence in the student's file, and will update their attendance record. These absences are recorded as “unexcused" in the student's attendance record. Should your extended absence coincide with the start of the school year, this can have an unexpected impact on your child's school placement. As we are an alternative program, and have a large number of students wishing to attend, we must follow the CBE guidelines specific to the lottery process. If a student does not arrive to school in September due to a family holiday, and will be returning at some point after September 30, 2022, the student may be withdrawn from Dr. J.K. Mulloy School. Your family will be redirected to your designated school. You will be able to reapply to the TLC Program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy the following year. We know that many families book travel plans well in advance of their departure date, so we like to let families know this early on in the school year.

We have been working on tweaking our safety measures and protocols as we strive to create and maintain structured and healthy environment in our school during this pandemic. We have noticed that our staggered entry from 8:55 is working to avoid congestion in the doorways and mudrooms. It has also been a great addition, as we are able to start teaching & learning right at 9:10, so it is very important that your child arrives to school on time. We also have implemented a lunchbreak where some students will play first, then come in to eat and some will eat first and then go out to play. These measures are added to help limit the number of students entering and exiting the building at one time.

Drop off and pick up can be busy times around our school. In an effort to keep our students safe, please ensure that you are following the rules of the road regardless of if you are a pedestrian or a driver of a vehicle. Children do not perceive traffic like adults do, so extra caution is needed in and around playgrounds and schools. Remember that it is important to not double park or park facing the wrong direction as this is a dangerous practice especially near a school and could result in an expensive ticket! Please also consider using our 'drop off' location on 10^th Street, just to the north of the parking lot. Be careful NEVER to walk between parked buses as that is a very serious safety issue. Take the extra minute to cross at the corner. Remember to prioritize safety over convenience, and help students to learn this lesson as well.

We are proud to report that from our Terry Fox Run event, we were able to donate $ 6200 to the Terry Fox Foundation to fund cancer research this year, and now we have shifted our attention to helping our veterans. We will be collecting donations for the Veterans' Foodbank starting November 1^st. If you are interested in donating items, please send in a non-perishable item with your child, to be donated on behalf of our school! On November 10, when we host our virtual Remembrance Day assembly, we also encourage your child to bring a quarter (25¢) to donate to the Poppy Fund. Through your generosity, the Legion helps Canada's Veterans and their families. All donations to the Poppy Fund are placed in trust to be used for the care and benevolent support of Veterans and their dependents.

There is no school on Thursday Nov. 11^th as it is Remembrance Day, and Wednesday, November 10^th is a formal uniform day, as we will have our Remembrance Assembly Day!

We are currently working on developing our School Development Plan for this year. The data has informed us that we should to continue to focus on literacy, and more specifically building, and focusing on high impact speaking, reading & writing strategies this year. We will also focus on helping our students communicate more clearly and efficiently when solving problems in mathematics. Our wellness goal will focus on helping students gain the skills & vocabulary to attempt to solve problems independently. We will share our plans at our next School Council Meeting on November 18 @ 6:30pm. All parents are automatically members of our School Council & Parent Enhancement Society and we encourage and welcome all parents to attend our monthly meetings and have a voice in what happens at our school!

Anne Markovich

Principal

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Oct 01

October 2021

Riddell, Judy N on 10/1/2021 8:33 AM

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!

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

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Aug 27

September 2021

Riddell, Judy N on 8/27/2021 4:00 PM

Welcome back to the 2021-22 school year!!

We hope you had a healthy and restful summer break and are refreshed and ready for the new school year! We are excited and can't wait to see all of our returning students, students returning from the Hub, as well as welcome back any newcomers to our wonderful school community!

We have had some staffing changes over the summer that we would like you to be aware of. After a long, amazing career, Mr. Gord Martens has made the difficult decision to retire and we will certainly miss him around here! Mr. Andrew Little who taught kindergarten last year will be joining us to teach grade 2, so welcome back Mr. Little! Ms. Shae Frisby will be joining our kindergarten team this fall.

Mrs. Shaw (lunchroom) is leaving us, and Mrs.T retired from our lunchroom team after many years at DJKM. Mrs. Munro also made the difficult decision to retire from her role in the library.

Ms.Crystal Gleeson will be in during Ms. Eagen's leave, and Ms. Faryal Khan will be in for Ms. Petrie while she is on leave. Although we will miss all of our departing colleagues, we welcome our new arrivals. We also welcome Mrs. Tausif and Mrs. Kniss as well as welcoming back Ms. Holowchuck and Ms. Asad to lunchroom.

We know you may be wondering what has changed with regards to Covid, so here is a summary of Covid updates and reminders:

Students and staff will still be expected to use the daily checklist to identify if they should attend or stay home
Staying home when sick – students and staff who present with COVID-19 symptoms must stay at home until symptoms resolve
Proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of high traffic/touch areas
Enhanced ventilation in schools
Classroom cohorts in kindergarten to Grade 6
No unscheduled visitors, volunteers or external partners will be permitted in schools at the start of the school year
Public use or rentals of school facilities outside of school hours will be limited until January 2022

Some health restrictions will be lifted, including:

At the direction of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, schools will no longer inform close contacts of positive cases, but additional health measures may be implemented as the COVID-19 situation evolves, or if outbreaks occur
Lockers and change rooms can be used
Band and sports activities can proceed
Limited off-site activities will be allowed
Schools can be occupied for evening and weekend school activities

This is just an excerpt from the CBE Re-entry Information page…if you would like to see the entire back to school plan please visit the CBE Covid page [CBE%20School%20Re-entry%20Information]CBE School Re-entry Information

Although the first day of classes isn't until Wednesday September 1^st, we wanted to send you a little information to help that day go smoothly for your child(ren).

The first day of school is a formal day! Please be sure to send your child in their formal uniform. After Wednesday, formal uniforms are to be worn every Monday, assembly days and any other “special" day that is communicated with you. Our website is kept up to date and formal days are also posted on the calendar. Your child will wear their formal or informal uniform every other day.
Children must wear masks on the school bus to and from school and are expected to wear them in the school. Please be sure to send your child with a mask, as well as a couple of extras (kept in a Ziploc bag in their backpack) in case something happens and they need to replace the one they were wearing. We prefer not to inconvenience you to bring a mask if they don't have one.
Please be sure to send your child(ren) with a lunch and multiple snacks as our students require healthy snacks to fuel their learning & playing. Just a reminder that we do not have food for children at the school and we will have call you to bring them food if they forget their snack or lunch.
Please send your child with appropriate outdoor clothing for the forecasted weather throughout the day. Students go outside every day (unless it's colder than -20 degrees Celsius) and it's important that they are prepared to do so, no matter what the crazy Calgary weather brings.
If your child takes the yellow school bus and you plan to pick them up at the end of the day, you must let the office know by 3pm and sign them out on the clipboard at the front door before you leave with them. We take bus attendance every day and if your child is not on the bus and not signed out, it delays all bus riders departure.
If your child is going to be absent, it is very important that you let us know. The absence line is 403-777-6640, ext. 1. Please leave a message, before 9:10am, with your child's name, teacher and their reason for absence. More information regarding attendance can be found on our website.

You should have received a welcoming email from your child's teacher by 3:30 on Friday August 27 (today). If you did not receive this email, first check your junk mail and all other email addresses that you might have on file with the school, but if you still can't find it, please contact the school during business hours (8:15am – 4:30pm Mondays-Thursdays & 8:15am – 3:45pm Fridays) on Monday and we will look into why.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. The office can be reached by email (Mrs. Van Oosten or Miss Judy) or by telephone (403-777-6640).

We look forward to seeing your children on Wednesday (or their staggered entry day if they are in kindergarten)!!

Anne Markovich

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