| Dear Grizzly Families,
Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! I am excited to share with you some important information. I apologize in advance for the amount of information included here; however, it is important and will help you and your child start off the year with as much information as possible. Thursday, August 31: first day of school for ONLY GRADE 6 AND GRADE 7 students. Doors will open at 7:45 a.m. We will have homeroom lists posted and help students find their names, their teacher's name, and direct them to the gym where they will gather in their homeroom groupings. Their teachers will take them to their homeroom class and will start the process of welcoming them to the new school year. Later in the day, the Grade 6 and Grade 7 classes will enjoy a welcome back BBQ with all food provided. The caterer will have a burger (beef or vegetarian), chips and a drink for all students. Students will also tour the school and the school grounds and learn about being an Annie Gale Grizzly. We will be sure to throw in some fun activities as well! Friday, September 1: ALL STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL. On this day students will meet with their homerooms and learn about being an Annie Gale Grizzly. Students will also walk through a mini-timetable and meet most of their teachers. The tone of both of the first days is about welcoming everyone to set us all up for success. Parents, Guardians, and students should be aware that Annie Gale is now using an “AWAY FOR THE DAY" policy regarding personal devices such as cell phones, smart watches, and gaming devices. After consultation with other schools, staff, and our school council, we have chosen to utilize this policy to better support teaching and learning—the entire reason we are at school. On the first few days of school, your student will come home with more information regarding this important policy. We want to remind parents and guardians that if they have a family emergency, we ask that you call the office so that we can support your child. We will utilize a two-week grace period at the beginning of the year to help everyone get used to this policy. Note that students, so long as they are out of the building, may use their devices before school, at lunch, or after school. If students need to call home during the day, they can use the student phones provided in or near the office. If students have a personal device out and in sight in the building past the two-week grace period, staff will ask the student to turn the phone into the office for the remainder of the day. Students may retrieve their device at the end of the day after receiving a reminder about the policy. If students have their personal device turned into the office a second time, they will be given a reminder and a warning that on the third time, the device will be kept in the office and the school will ask a parent or guardian to pick up the device at the end of the day. We thank you in advance for supporting this policy and helping your student to understand our focus on teaching and learning! Much work goes into creating class lists for our students and we have to consider many variables in doing so, including but not limited to: class size; balancing individual and group learning needs; student relationships; and individualized program plans. We do not support requests for homeroom changes. We have many new teachers joining our staff this year and we are excited about the diverse experiences and skill sets they bring to our school. Please join me in welcoming: Ms. Amber Donahue (humanities—Learning Leader); Ms. Morgan Dool (math/science); Ms. Dawn Faulconer (humanities—filling in for Ms. Schievink); Ms. Christy Gill (humanities); Ms. Kiran Grewal (math/science—Learning Leader for TLC); Mr. Don Huynh (math/science); Mr. Joseph Iyekepolor (French); Ms. Annish Saini (math/science); Mr. Youssuf Siddiqui (humanities/PE); Ms. Sabrena Stauffer (humanities—filling in for Ms. Lynem); and Mr. Noah Wttewaal-Arteaga (CTF/science—filling in for Ms. McNeil). We also welcome back Ms. Smith (humanities) and Ms. Jones (humanities). As I shared with you last week, Ms. Jodie McNeil will be Acting Assistant Principal as Ms. Papoff is currently the Acting Principal of Chief Justice Milvain. School attendance at the beginning of the year must be accurate in order for schools to staff according to the student population. Please notify the school immediately if you have information to share about attendance including absences for extended vacations, family emergencies, illness, or a move to another school. Interschool athletics will start right away so if your student plans to try out for or join a sports team, they need to listen to the announcements for tryout/practice dates and times. We are pleased to offer wrestling this year, rounding out our ability to offer all interschool sports for our students. We are also delighted to host a cross country meet at our school on September 13. Seasons of play have changed greatly this year and there is some overlap for certain sports. I am including them here for your future reference. Families can expect a form to come home regarding permission to try out for teams. | Athletic Team | Season Dates | | Cross Country | August 31 – October 15 | | Soccer | August 31 – October 29 | | Basketball | September 11 – December 3 | | Wrestling | October 30 – February 4 | | Volleyball | January 8 – March 24 | | Badminton | April 2 – May 21 | | Track and Field | May 13 – June 16 |
Our office staff is here to help and can direct you to the correct staff member if you have questions or concerns. We welcome back: Ms. MacMurdo (Secretary); Ms. Loewen (Administrative Assistant); Ms. Kat Turner (Lunchroom Supervisor); Ms. Cora Mandadero (Library Assistant); and, Mrs. Lori Withell (Book Keeper). Office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Fridays. We do our best to answer the phone when you call during office hours, and we remind you that for student absences our absence line is available 24/7. Please provide your student's name, homeroom, and reason for absence or late. School administrators are available for support as well, however, it is always best to call for an appointment so that we can assure our availability. We remind families that if you are sending someone to pick up your student for an appointment, we cannot release that student unless we have had confirmation from you. Please call ahead to avoid delaying a student's departure. If you have questions, call the school at 403-777-7680. Students in our Traditional Learning Centre (TLC) will be expected to be in uniform for school each day. Please remember that the TLC requirements state that their shoes should be solid black. In my next message I will share with you more information about upcoming events, including Meet the Teacher Night and our first school council meeting. Until then, enjoy the remaining days of summer vacation. Tammy Quiring (proud) Principal
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| Hello, Grizzly families.
The end of a school year is a bittersweet time. We have to say goodbye to an entire group of students—in our case, our Grade 9s—some of whom have been with us for four years. Today they had their celebration at Calaway Park and from all accounts, it sounds like it was a wonderful day.
Tomorrow will be our last day together and we will have an in-school celebration in the afternoon with our last pep rally of the school year. Additionally, our School Council generously donated Freezie treats for all of our students and they will receive them sometime tomorrow morning. We will also provide preliminary PAT results for our Grade 6 and Grade 9 students. Be sure that your child gives them to you when they get home.
With so many students new to the Calgary Board of Education this year, our Board had an unprecedented number of teaching positions available; many teachers all over the city looked for positions in different settings, often closer to home. This means that our staff will look very different next year, as some of our teachers will be leaving us. We are currently hiring teachers to take the places of the staff that are leaving and I will share the names of our new teachers in the fall. For now, I would like to acknowledge the staff that are leaving us this June, and thank them for their dedication to our students and the school. This, too, is bittersweet. Moving on this year are: Ms. Huma, Mr. Slechta, Ms. Barone, Ms. Penney, Ms. Govind, Ms. Neufeld, Ms. Soriano, Mrs. Matthie, Mr. Lychak, Ms. Libby, and Mr. Dossa.
If your child is staying with us next year, we want to remind you that our first day of school will be Thursday, August 31, for Grade 6 and Grade 7 students only. On that day we will be serving a BBQ lunch. The next day, Friday, September 1, will be for ALL of our students.
On behalf of our staff, I wish you all a safe and happy summer!
Sincerely,
Tammy Quiring (proud) Principal
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| Good afternoon, families! We have many things currently on the go that I want to share with you.
- For Grade Seven families only: have your voice heard by completing the Alberta Education Assurance Survey. The information for this survey was sent by Alberta Education to your home in the mail. The deadline has been extended until Friday, March 24, 2023.
- Our Loonies for Literacy Campaign has started. It’s a unique fundraising initiative for CBE schools run by EducationMatters. All funds donated through our Loonies for Literacy Campaign will help our school provide more literacy resources and opportunities for current and future students. Better yet, for every dollar our school raises, a community sponsor will donate another dollar to a school in need!!! Together we can help students across Calgary as they learn and grow in their own communities. To donate: Text EDMATTERS AGALE to 3033 to contribute $5 or donate here: https://educationmatters.akaraisin.com/ui/looniesforliteracy2023/g/38119. All texts to donate will show up on the donor’s cell bill the following month. The campaign will run until April 23.
- Consider supporting our school by purchasing a fun lunch for your child. Go to HealthyHunger.ca to register or book your next lunch. Upcoming fun lunch dates are: April 20 and May 18.
- Spirit Week is March 20 - 24. Monday is Backwards Day—students can wear their outfits backwards or inside out. Tuesday is Bring Anything but a Backpack Day. Students can be creative to bring their books in something unique. Wednesday is Decade Day, when students can dress in clothing from their favourite decade. Thursday is Scrabble Day—each person in a group can wear a letter and they can spell a word. Friday is Homeroom Theme Dress Day. Points will be awarded to homerooms for participation in Spirit Week events. The week will end with a fun and exciting pep rally, which will also mark the start of Spring Break. School will not be in session from March 27 – March 30.
- School Council is asking for your involvement. Please join us on Tuesday, March 21, at 3:15 in the Library/Learning Commons for our next meeting. We will be sharing important information about fundraising through next year's casino, among other things. Our council meetings are casual but full of information and give you a chance to learn more about what's happening in the school and why. Even if you haven't come to a meeting before, you are welcome to come out.
As always, families, we thank you for your support of Annie Gale School. We are striving to achieve excellence together! Have a great weekend. Sincerely,
Tammy Quiring Proud Principal
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| Welcome to our new and returning students and their families! We have been working hard to be ready for school start up for the 2022-2023 school year. On September 1, our grade six and seven students joined us and on September 2, we will welcome all of our students for their first Friday together. If your child is feeling nervous about the new school year, they are not alone. This is an exciting but sometimes anxiety producing time of year. Never fear—we are ready for your children and we too are excited about what this school year will bring! You should have received a SchoolMessenger from your child's homeroom teacher, if your child was already registered. We are currently processing many new students and adding them to our class lists daily and we will help those students who arrive without a timetable. We have had some staffing changes this year, so if you are a returning family, you may not recognize all of your child's teachers' names. This week we welcomed the following teachers to their new roles: Ms. Black (Learning Leader—Math); Ms. Bumstead (Music) Mr. Chui (Learning Leader—Science/Math/L&L); Ms. Courchesne (Math/Science); Mr. Dass (Learning Leader—Science/Math/Humanities/L&L); Mrs. Easton (Math/Science); Mr. Ellice (Learning Leader—PE and Athletics); Mx. Gill (Humanities/L&L); and Ms. Hansen (Learning Leader—Resource/Guidance). Other Annie Gale teachers changed their teaching assignments as well so you might see some familiar names in different roles. On the first few days your children will be bringing home packages for you to review and sign. Please take the time to go over these carefully, and ensure that they are completed and returned. We ask the same for all online forms as well. Unfortunately I need to remind families about the need to keep all of our students safe when it comes to traffic in our school zone. Our staff parking lot is off limits to parent vehicles during the day, so please use the street and avoid all bus/handicapped zones. Pull over to the side of the street to drop off and pick up your child. Also, make sure to give yourself enough time to arrive and depart safely, so you can avoid any risky behaviour. The safety of our students is important, not to mention that fines for illegal behaviours (U-turns, double-parking, speeding, etc.) in school zones are high. Your child's classroom teachers are the first point of contact for you if you have questions or concerns. You can call them at 403-777-7680 to talk or make an appointment to see them. If you are not sure who to talk to, call the office and we can direct your inquiry to the correct staff member. Alternatively, you can find individual email addresses on our website. Be sure to mark the following dates on your calendar: Thursday, September 22, for our Meet the Teacher evening, and Wednesday, September 28, for our first School Council Meeting. I look forward to working with you and your child this school year. Sincerely, Tammy Quiring |
| Greetings from Annie Gale School!
It is surprising how quickly the last four and a half months have passed. Students are about to complete the first semester and teachers are completing the last tasks related to sharing our report cards for the first half of the school year. We are excited about what the second semester will bring and we are hopeful that Omicron's effect on us will come to an end quickly. We have some changes to our staffing at the school. Effective February 1, 2022, Dr. Beaton will be returning to work with her students. As such, we are saying farewell to Mx. Gill who had been covering those classes. We thank Mx. Gill for her support of our community and we look forward to welcoming Dr. Beaton back. You may be aware of the operational pressures schools have faced since the beginning of January. Annie Gale School is not immune to some of these difficulties. We have had staff shortages each day since we returned to in-person learning and we expect this will continue for the near future. What this means is that when a teacher is away on a given day, we may not have a guest teacher or substitute assigned to their schedule. As a result, teachers who are present have been covering these classes. For the teachers covering extra classes, it means that they often do not have lunch or a preparation period to plan or assess learning or to connect with parents or guardians. For students this means that the guest teachers they are seeing each day may be different and consistency is difficult to achieve. I thank students and teachers for being understanding and flexible at this time. It is certainly not the norm, but we are asking much of those involved. Keep in mind that if you want to connect with classroom teachers, their ability to respond immediately is limited right now—but that does not hinder their interest in connecting with you. We are also closely monitoring student absences right now. We remind parents and guardians to call the school to notify us if their child is ill or experiencing Covid symptoms. We also want to ensure that students who are ill stay home from school. There have been recent changes to the “Should I Go to School" checklist; you can access the most recent information here: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/topics/Page16998.aspx Please consider attending an upcoming school council meeting. Our council meetings this year are virtual and will offer you much information about the school and our work to support student learning. The next virtual meeting is Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Also, a reminder that Monday, January 31, 2022, is a non-instruction day and students will not be in session. Most of our staff will be doing first aid training on that day. I hope that you and your family stay safe and well. Sincerely, Tammy Quiring Principal
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| Dear Annie Gale families: It is with great pride that I send my first letter to the school community. At the end of June, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to continue to lead the great community at Annie Gale School as the new Principal. I, and the new Assistant Principal, Ruth Papoff, worked throughout the summer to ready ourselves for the last week of August when we started our work with the staff, and to be ready for students' arrival on September 1. And now it is hard to believe that one month has already passed! We are pleased to say that start up went well and students and staff are settled into their routines. We learned recently that Mrs. Hiscock will be moving to another school and we have chosen to have Ms. Giancarlo and Ms. Cunha share her role as Resource Teacher for the remainder of the year. They will be giving up a few of their classes to our new hire, Ms. Courchesne. She'll be starting with students after Thanksgiving. It has been encouraging to see how excited staff and students are as the year has started. Many clubs are up and running and more will be coming. Students can listen to the announcements to hear about what is happening and how they can get involved in the school community. I also would like to remind all families to read the CBE's Student Code of Conduct on our website. This important information will help you understand the expectations set out for your child(ren) as students of the Calgary Board of Education. Last month we held our first School Council meeting of the year and I had a chance to meet and talk with a dedicated group of parents who want to be involved with the school on a deeper level. I encourage you all to come out to our meetings on the third Wednesday of each month, starting at 6:30 p.m. We will send information about the meetings the week of the meeting. The School Council offers you an opportunity to talk with administration and learn directly about the decisions made which will affect your child's education and time at Annie Gale School. In the short time I have been a part of the school community, parents and guardians have shared their appreciation for the school and the work of staff to support their child(ren). I hope to continue to work to sustain those feelings of appreciation. I started the year off with students by sharing some positive news about a significant purchase of fitness equipment to support the school. This equipment will start arriving in the next few months and all students in the school will have a chance to utilize it. For now, we will utilize the equipment on the stage, which has been serving as a flex space for physical education classes. In the future, I hope to create a fully functional fitness centre in another part of the school, which will be a hub of activity and allow for improved use of all other indoor physical education facilities for our students. Much of the interior of the school will be painted this year; look for the information letter that I will be sending your way to learn more. It will outline the time frame, among other things. We expect to have a new mural painted in the lunchroom as part of this project. Last week our students spent time learning and discussing the concept of Truth and Reconciliation, and our week culminated with a whole school virtual assembly in which we listened to music and reflected on the Seven Sacred Teachings. I encourage you to ask your child about what they learned. I reminded our school community on the following Monday that the concept that “every child matters" is not one to consider solely on Orange Shirt Day, but every day. Students can demonstrate this belief by being kind to one another and supporting those in need. I ask all of you to help keep your children and all connected to the Annie Gale community safe—one way to do this is to use the daily health checks and to keep your child home if they are unwell. I hope that you have a safe and restful Thanksgiving weekend. Typically the first point of contact with the school should be the classroom teacher, so I encourage you to reach out to your child(ren)'s teachers at 403-777-7680. If you have other questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at the school. I look forward to working with you and your child(ren) as we strive to meet their learning needs. Sincerely, Tammy Quiring, Principal 403-777-7680
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| Welcome back to a new school year, 2019-2020 and
for those who are new, we are excited to have you join our school family. I
trust everyone has had a magnificent summer break filled with lots of rest and
opportunities to enjoy family and friends. The staff
and I are looking forward to an exciting, productive and successful school
year. We have a number of new teachers and support staff and are excited to
have them join us at Annie Gale School.
While we were having a well-deserved break, many
people have been very busy preparing the school for the new school year. I want
to make a special thank you to Mr. Chang and the rest of the facilities staff.
They have been hard at work maintaining the building, waxing the floors, and as
usual, they have done an excellent job! Our school sparkles and we to try our
best and keep it that way.
As teachers and support staff we look forward to
educating your children, and appreciate that you are entrusting them in our
care. This privilege, we accept with great responsibility. I believe that if the
Annie Gale School staff, parent council and students work closely
together to maintain open communication, we will continue to grow as a strong
and vibrant learning community. We know that you, as parents and guardians,
are your child’s first vital teacher and the interactions you have from spending time together, are significant
in helping your child experience success. We look forward to seeing all our
families at our ‘Meet-The-Teacher’ evening on September
19th @ 6:30 in the gym.
We will continue to use School Messenger to share information. Teachers will also continue to send out weekly School Messenger to parents. In order to get these
emails, text or voice messages you need to “opt-in”. Please visit our website
on how to do this. Please look forward to receiving a welcome email from your
child’s grade team that will provide further information about the upcoming
year.
Again, we are excited about the new school year and
all the awesome possibilities for learning, desiging, exploring and sharing
together. See you Tuesday, September 3 at 7:45 AM.
Please do not
hesitate to contact us with any questions or feedback. |
| Please join us for our Open House on March 6, 2019 from 6:00 p.pm to 7:30 p.pm. We will start with introduction in the gym and from there you are welcome to tour the school and participate in all the activities we have planned. |
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Happy New Year!
We had an amazing first four months of school. We ended our December with our Virtues Assembly and everyone's favorite; Pie the teacher in the face! Most of our teachers, myself included participated in this event. Students had to bring in a food donation if they wanted a chance to throw a pie at a teacher. Thank you to all of our students who brought in food donations. A great time was had by all!
Basketball has already begun! Tryouts for all our basketball teams started on Monday and teams will be set soon. Our first Home game is January 28th, come on out and cheer on our Junior Girls Team!
Monday, January 14th, is a non-instructional day. There is no school for students.
Teachers are extremely busy completing Report Cards this month. Report Cards will go home on Monday, January 28th. Term 2, with new complimentary classes also begins on January 28th.
January 29th and 30th is our Science Fair Showcase - more information will go home.
February 1st, is a non-instructional day. There is no school for students. February 14 and 15th is Teachers' Convention, there is no school for students. February 18th is Family Day - no school. Students can enjoy a long weekend!
March 1, we have our Area 4 Career and Technology Foundations Skills Showcase hosted by Nelson Mandela High School. We will have several students and teachers participate in this event and demonstrate their skills in cooking, construction and robotics.
We look forward to a new term!
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