| I
hope everyone had a wonderful Family Day weekend. Our winter break seems so
long ago already. We have had a month of many exciting events and
transitions. Starting with our feeder school tours for incoming grades 5 and 7 on
January 15th. We followed up with an Open House that evening. This
was an opportunity for our prospective students and families to visit our
school community to meet teachers and see students in action. We had over 300
students and parents in attendance at the open house. If you missed this
evening and have questions, please feel free to contact us.
We celebrated the Lunar New Year on January 23rd
with a dragon and lion dance to bring in the year of the Rat. We had an
afternoon of festivities for all students and an evening program to finish off
the day of celebration. We had over 450 guests in attendance for our
performance. We would like to thank all the parents and Colonel Irvine alumni who
volunteered their time to help make the day so successful. We also thank our
students for their energy and support. Thank you to our staff members who
devoted their time into ensuring another successful Lunar New Year celebration.
It was a collective effort from all with special thanks to Ms. Litchfield and
Ms. Zhao.
Reports
cards were distributed at the end of January and all students were asked to
complete a Report Card reflection. Students were asked to see what they could
do to achieve success at school. Both Mr. Bylsma and I are looking forward to
reading their thoughts. We held our second rounds of student/parent interviews
on February 6th and 7th. If you were not able to connect with
teachers at that time, please call or email. Parents are encouraged to log into
PowerSchool on a regular basis to ensure that they stay current on their child’s
progress.
We
are in the midst of helping our grade 9’s register for grade 10 courses for
next year. It is a reminder for parents to ensure that high school transfer
forms are due March 15 should they wish to transfer out of their designated
high school.
Our
basketball season is also underway with four teams shooting and defending
strong. Colonel Irvine students are welcome to come and support our teams
during our home games. A parent or adult supervisor must accompany any student
wanting to support our teams at other schools. Our coaches are not able to supervise
students while coaching at away games.
Pink Shirt Day is Feb. 26. Wearing pink demonstrates an understanding
of the importance of promoting healthy relationships and actively working
toward creating learning and work environments that are safe where bullying
behaviours cannot exist. We encourage all students and staff to wear pink to
support anti-bullying.
I am very pleased to share that Ms. Elkhatib had a
baby boy January 22. Both Mom and baby are doing well. In her absence, I would
like to welcome Ms. Kim Vo as the newest Roadrunner Staff member to Colonel
Irvine School. We are delighted to have her join our school learning community.
Bea Ko
Principal |
| Season’s greetings! We are
entering into the holiday season and with that comes the excitement and
anticipation of the festivities associated with it. For many people, the coming
of a new year provides us with an occasion to slow down long enough to reflect
upon and to be thankful for those things that are important and dear to us. It
also affords us an opportunity to look ahead with a renewed sense of optimism
and hope and to dream about what could be in the world. It is at this time of
year, perhaps more so than at other times, when we recognize the positive
difference that we can make in the lives of others through generosity, good
citizenship and graciousness.
In the Colonel Irvine school
community, citizenship is alive and well. Our students, parents and staff
continue to be actively involved in contributing to the creation of a better
local and global community. This year is no exception as again we continue to
undertake charitable initiatives such as the Mayor’s Food Drive in the weeks
leading up to our winter break. These initiatives speak to the consideration
and compassion that our school community extends to others less fortunate. We
also wrapped up our Terry Fox fundraiser and I am very happy to share that we
exceeded our goal of $2500. Many thanks
to our Student Council team who spearheaded our fundraising activities.
On another note, the first
Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews were in November and many parents visited
with their child’s teachers to help promote the process of effective
communication between home and school. Parents are also encouraged to check Power
School on a regular basis to ensure that they stay current on their child’s
progress at school. As always, if you have questions regarding your child’s
performance, please contact their teachers. Email addresses for all teachers
can be found on the school web site at http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/ColonelIrvine/Pages/default.aspx.
Since the beginning of the school year, staff has been engaged in the process
of school development work. The most current version of our school development
plan, with priorities for the school year, is posted for your perusal on the
school web site. The School Results Report for last year (2018-19) is also
posted on the school web site. If anyone would like to talk to me about either
of these documents, feel free to contact me at the school.
At this time, I’d also like to
share some fantastic news with our school community. Both of our temporary teachers, Ms. Jenny Le
and Mr. Nicholas Wright will be receiving probationary contracts and staying
with us until the end of this school year. Thank you to our parents who were so
supportive and rallied around our staff through this time of uncertainty.
I would also like to thank our
staff for volunteering their time for our sport teams and clubs that we have at
Colonel Irvine School. I am so proud to be part of our school learning
community that actively engage students in so many different ways. As 2019 draws to a close, I would like to
take this opportunity to thank the many parents and community members that
encourage and support our students and staff. The successes that students experience
at Colonel Irvine would not be possible without your assistance and generosity.
On behalf of all staff, I extend wishes to the entire school community for a
wonderful winter break and a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2020. I hope that
this holiday season will be a time of peace and good will and that you will
have an opportunity to spend as much of it as possible with family and friends.
Thank you for your continued
support of our school community.
Bea Ko |
| I’d like to thank all the parents who came out for our school
council meeting on Tuesday, November 12th. We went over 2 important things, one being
our school development plan (SDP) which is will be posted to our school website
and our budget. We are still working to finalize our budget this year. We will
have more information in the next few weeks as the Calgary Board of Education
(CBE) is looking at different ways to balance the 2019-2020 budget with the
recent cutbacks from the provincial budget. The CBE will carefully review every option
before finalizing our budget in an effort to minimize the impacts to student
learning. Despite the changes we will have to make, our commitment to students
and a strong public education system will not waiver.
School Development Plan (SDP):
The SDP was created through a collaborative effort by staff
over the past couple of months during our early dismissal afternoons and
non-instructional days. We analyzed our Provincial Achievement Test results,
surveys and report card data to set goals and strategies for learning. Teachers
will be using what research has shown are high impact teaching strategies to
support student learning and achievement. Full details of our SDP can be found
on our website on Novemer 30:
Our administrative team, comprised of our learning leaders,
will monitor and re-visit our SDP throughout the school year. We will be using
a learning cycle review process to action, review, and adjust instructional
strategies as we work toward the SDP goals. We will continue to analyze schoolwork
and gather feedback about student progress to assist in determining next steps
for learning.
Progress Reports and Parent-Teacher Interviews:
Progress reports will be sent home for core classes only
(ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies) on Friday, November 15th.
Our parent-teacher interviews will be on Wednesday/Thursday
November 20/21 from 4:20-8:20pm and Friday, November 22 from 9am-12noon. Please note we will also be offering an information
session for grade 9 parents regarding high school programming and registration
on the nights of the parent-teacher interviews:
· 6:30 pm on the Wed/Thurs and
· 10:30 am on the Friday
Interviews can be booked online starting at 4:00pm on
Friday, November 15th.
Staff Update:
We are very pleased to welcome
back Ms. Cherry Zhao returning from her parental leave. We are delighted to have her rejoin our school
learning community. We’d like to thank Ms. Sunny Yang for filling in for Ms.
Zhao during her leave.
Athletics:
Good luck to all
volleyball teams for making into playoffs. Junior girls will be playing at 4:00
pm at Senator Patrick Burns on Monday, November 18th while the
Senior Girls will be playing at home again Sir John A Macdonald athletes. Both
the girls’ matches are semi-finals. Both our Junior and Senior Boys are in the
finals on Tuesday, November 19th. Senior Boys will be at Senator
Patrick Burns and Juniors Boys will be playing at home. Come out and support
our Roadrunners!!
If you have questions or concerns about our SDP or on any
matter, please feel free to contact myself or Mr. Bylsma. |
| September was a busy month with many sport teams
starting their season and activities at the school. We’ve had a great start and we’d like to
thank all of our parents for allowing us to work with your children! We have an
amazing learning community at Colonel Irvine School.
Students
and staff alike have settled well and we have quickly been able to focus on the
important work of teaching and learning. It is
now one month into school and we trust that your child is continuing to learn
and enjoy school. Communication is important to us. As always, you are welcome
to contact your child’s teacher, and/or contact Mr. Bylsma, Assistant Principal
at msbylsma@cbe.ab.ca or
myself, Ms. Ko, Principal at bsko@cbe.ab.ca, or
by phoning the office.
Thanks
to all parents and students that attended “Meet the Teacher” night on September
18. The turnout was fabulous and confirms that parents in the Colonel Irvine
community are committed to building a strong partnership with the school and
their child’s teachers. We still have a couple of vacant spots on our School
Council. Our next meeting is October 8th at 6:30pm. Thanks
to our parents for filling in so many different roles. Should you wish to
volunteer at the school, and you are most welcome, you will need a police
volunteer security clearance and complete an annual volunteer form. Please come
to the office to see our admin assistant Ms. J. Gale to complete these. We
greatly appreciate all of the volunteer assistance we receive at Colonel
Irvine!
We held our annual Terry Fox in September with a
pep rally organized by our Terry Fox committee of teachers that showcased the
history of Terry Fox, his dream and our fundraiser. Thanks to our Terry Fox committee for
organizing our run and pep rally. We raised over $300 in one day through
selling tape strips to make Mr. Cheema and Mr. Pich stick to the wall in our
pep rally. It’s amazing to see everyone work together to support our cancer
fundraiser. We have raised about $8500
for the Terry Fox Foundation for the past 5 years through our fundraising
initiatives. Our goal this year is $2500.00. Keep your ears open for more
fundraising events.
Our professional development day on September 20th
provided valuable time for our staff to collaborate and gather evidence of
student learning. Time was also spent planning the strategies and goals for our
students who are on Individual Program Plans (IPP’s) and English Language Learning
(ELL) Benchmarks. Parents
and guardians of students with an IPP should have been contacted by their
child’s key IPP teacher. Please remember, do not hesitate to contact your
child’s teachers if you have any queries regarding their educational progress.
Teacher email and telephone voicemail information, as well as other useful
educational and school-related information, can be found on the school webpage
(http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/ColonelIrvine/Pages/default.aspx). We
joined other CBE schools, as well as people around the country in commemorating
Orange Shirt Day on Monday, September 30. We held an assembly as a part of this
commemoration as well as to let students know that we are connected with the Gord
Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund as a Legacy School. You can find more about the
Legacy School program at https://downiewenjack.ca/our-work/legacy-schools-programs/ Our first virtue for September, October and
November is Belonging and our first Virtue assembly is on November 29th.
These are wonderful celebrations and you are most welcome to attend. More
information will be sent closer to the date regarding the times. The virtue
program at Colonel Irvine includes a Health/Character block period every 2nd
Friday that alternates with our Math Block on the other Fridays. Please talk to
your child about their daily work in this area.
|
| September 2019
Welcome to the
2019-2020 school year. I hope that everyone had a terrific summer holiday and
that all students and their families are ready for a successful start to this
school year. The start of the school year is a busy and exciting time. As a
staff, we are excited to be partners in students’ learning and education. We
know that working to develop good work habits, taking time to relax when we
can, eating well and getting enough sleep are key factors in being successful.
This message is
intended to let parents know about staff changes from the last school year and
upcoming events. Please feel free to contact the school if you have any
questions.
Staff Updates
I am
pleased to share several new talented staff members that are joining us this
year.
Welcome
to the following individuals that are new to Colonel Irvine School:
- Ms.
Sarah Scott – Science and Options
- Mr.
Scott Claiter - Humanities
- Mr.
Nicholas Wright – Humanities and Options
Returning to Colonel Irvine from
parental leave:
- Ms.
Leah Hughson – Learning Leader - Resource
First Day of School- Tuesday, September
3, 2019
First
day of school for our grade 5, 6 & 7 students will be Tuesday, September 3.
Lunch will be provided to students. We will be serving a hamburger, juice and
bits and bites snacks for lunch. There is a vegetarian option for the burger. If
your son/daughter has any other dietary restrictions, please have him/her pack
their own lunch for that day.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
All
students will be in.
Early Friday Dismissal Reminder
This
is a reminder that on Fridays we will have early dismissals unless it is a
non-instructional day or a statutory holiday. On Friday, September 6, 2019 there is a BBQ lunch for all students and
staff at 11:00 am. We will be serving beef hotdogs and a juice box. A vegetarian
option will be available. If your son/daughter has any other dietary
restrictions, please have him/her pack their own snack for that morning.
Options
Student
options are manually timetabled to ensure students get most of their top
choices. We then integrate those choices into the timetable each student
receives. This is a front-end work intensive process but it does reduce the
number of students requesting changes once they receive their timetable. If
students have questions about the option classes they are scheduled in, they
are encouraged to come to the office to speak with Mr. Bylsma or Ms. Ko.
School Council
The
School Council is very active part of our school community. We’d like to extend
an invitation to all parents who wish to join the School Council. Our first
meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 10 at 6:30. We appreciate the time
and dedication of our parents in supporting students, staff and our community.
We encourage all parents/guardians to be involved in some capacity throughout
the year. All positions for council are currently open and elections will be
held at the first meeting of the year.
Meet the Teacher Evening
Parents
are invited to “Meet the Teacher” Night Wednesday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m. This
is your first opportunity to meet your child’s teachers and we look forward to
seeing you there. We will also be offering help sessions for parents to
navigate through Power School, a website to help parents/guardians to view and
monitor student progress at the school. Please note that this is not a
parent-teacher interview evening (November 20, 21 and the 22 will be our first
parent-teacher interviews), but rather a chance for you to put faces to the names
of your child’s teachers and to help in establishing strong communication
connections between school and families.
Photo Day
Photo
day will be on Thursday, September 19. All students will be required to take a
photo for their School ID card.
Terry Fox Run
Our
Terry Fox Run will be on Friday, September 27 in the morning. Fundraising
activities will begin shortly and continue through the fall season as our school
has committed to raising $2000 for the Terry Fox Foundation. Our students have always
shown great leadership and effort in raising funds for charity. I believe that
we will be able to achieve our goal of $2000. Together we can and do make a
difference.
|
| It’s hard to believe that another school year has come and gone. We’ve had a great year with many things to be thankful for. Many highlights throughout the year that include our band concerts, winter movie night, sporting events and Lunar New Year Celebration to name a few. The one that stands out the most was celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day this year as a whole school community. We’d like to give special thanks to Sheena Breaker, Malcolm Cow, Ralph Weasel Fat and Becky Matiowsky for providing us guidance and support in making the day so successful. The day wouldn’t have been possible without their knowledge and guidance.
I would like to thank parents, our educational partners, for all of their support. Parental support has in various ways contributed significantly towards making this year a successful one for students at Colonel Irvine School. Gratitude is extended to all parents and community members that volunteered their time and effort in support of students at school functions this year. Without your support, many of the special events would not be possible. Thank you to those volunteers who joined us for an appreciation lunch, realizing that was only a small fraction of our volunteers. We value and appreciate all of our volunteer’s time and commitment to our schools learning community.
Special thanks to members of this year’s School Council: Windchill Ha (Chairperson), Karen Charlton (Vice-Chair), Jenny Woo, (Treasurer), Megan Limbird (Secretary), Annette Lovan (Sign-up Volunteer Coordinator), and Sarah Wong (Casino and Social Media Coordinator) Wendy Farrance (Band Liaison), Heather McRae (Key Communicator), Nora Low (Special Events Coordinator), Nathalie Callede (Fundraising Coordinator), Mearah Tong and Diane Myers (Auditors), Julie Wu and Tim Suddaby (Directors) for their contributions. Your work has been invaluable to our school learning community.
We will be having our first council meeting September 10, 2019 @ 6:30. School council will be holding an election at that time. Regardless of whether or not you aspire to one of these positions, your attendance and support in school matters would be greatly appreciated. Please join us!!
Staffing Updates
Dr. Ma has taught with the CBE for over 25 years, and has been a strong supporter and advocate of the Mandarin Program. As one of the founding teachers of the Mandarin Program, Dr. Ma has decided to retire. He has reached this very important milestone, and will be embarking onto a new chapter in his life. He has taught many students over the years and will be greatly missed by both students and staff. Thank you to his many years of service to the CBE and in particular the Mandarin Program. We wish him the very best and his Colonel Irvine family will miss him and his dumplings.
Ms. Ramona Cook has accepted a new position as an Indigenous Education Learning Leader for the next school year. We like to thank Ms. Cook for her service to Colonel Irvine School. Students, parents and staff will miss her and we wish her well with her future endeavors.
We’d like to welcome Ms. Sarah Hills and Mr. Scott Claiter to Colonel Irvine School. They both come to us with a variety of experience and we are excited for them to join our family at Colonel Irvine School. We will be finalizing staffing details in late August and early September.
As the 2018-19 school year draws to close, I like to say a special farewell to all students, parents and staff. Changes are never easy but I hope that everyone will see opportunities within change. Whether you will be entering high school, going to another school or staying at Colonel Irvine, I hope that all of you will have a successful transition.
Best wishes to all families for a great finish to the school year.
Bea Ko
Principal |
| We’d like to welcome the newest
member of our Roadrunner family to Colonel Irvine School; Ms. Jennifer Gale.
She will be taking over the role of Administrative Secretary. Ms. Gale is
excited to join our team and has a few days of overlap this week with Ms.
Elliott-Suliak to assist in the transition to her new role. We’d
also like to extend our gratitude to Ms. Elliott-Suliak for her dedication and
work over the past 3 years at Colonel Irvine. We are excited for her as she
begins a new journey on her well-earned retirement.
Upcoming
sport events include our badminton divisional meets coming next week. The grade
7’s will be on May 13, grade 8’s on
the 15 and grade 9’s on the 16. Divisional play will be Sir Winston
Churchill High School. Games will all start at 4 pm. Track and field is underway and it is a great
school-wide activity and affords many, many students the opportunity to have a
competitive athletic experience in an educational and fun setting. Our school
meet is scheduled for the May 15 at
Glenmore Athletic Park and our in-school track meet will be on June 18.
Volunteers will be needed for both track meet days.
We
still have a very busy couple months of school. Our grade 9 farewell will be on
June 6th. Grade 9 students will be spending time at the new YMCA in Rocky Ridge
and come back to the school for an evening of celebration. Our grade 8 Mandarin
program students are off to visit the Confucius Institute and a bi-lingual
Mandarin school in Edmonton on May 27-28. Our spring Band concert will be on June 4th
and we have a group of students and staff going on the West Coast trip from May
29 – June 2.
As
a reminder, we ask that students adhere to our dress code listed in the student
handbook. It is easy for students’
thoughts and priorities to wander from the rigors of school. While this may be
the case, I encourage students to keep their eye on the finish line (June 27)
and parents to help their children maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle that
includes a strong focus on being successful at school. As students prepare to
complete the school year, it is crucial that they attend regularly and
punctually, put forth a positive effort while at school and maintain a regular
homework and study regime. Parents, please be sure to continue to keep yourself
updated as to your child’s academic progress by checking PowerSchool on a
regular basis. If you have any questions regarding how you can help your child
be successful at school, do not hesitate to contact their teachers.
Thanks
for your continued support.
Bea
Ko, Principal |
| I hope that everyone had a restful Spring break. I can’t believe we are in the final few months of the school year. It is time to set our sights on bringing the school year to a successful conclusion. Students and staff alike are extremely busy both completing the current school year and preparing for next year.
First and foremost on the mind of staff is ensuring that all curriculum is covered and that students are as prepared as possible for the completion of their current grade. For grade six and nine, this includes being ready to write the provincial achievement exams in May and June.
In addition to their teaching assignments, teachers are engaged in planning and organizing numerous year-end activities. These events make Colonel Irvine an extra special place to attend school and include things such as the Spring band concert, in-school track and field meet and the grade nine farewell activities.
We realize that activities of this nature are essential to a well-rounded educational experience and are valued by students. We still have a few more field trips planned for the rest of the year. Our grade 6’s just finished their outdoor education school and our grade 7 band students were at River’s Edge. We also had “Mobile Escape” room at the school. Grade 6 and 7 students had the opportunity to work with peers and exercise problem solving, reasoning and communication skills to solve various puzzles in hopes to break themselves out of a locked room. They also made use of our Maker Space to create their own riddles, codes, puzzles and prototypes.
On the athletic scene, we just wrapped up our basketball season. Congratulations to all our teams who made the playoffs. Special kudos to our Junior Girls Basketball team for placing first for the past 2 consecutive years. Thank you to all of our teachers and student teachers supporting our teams. Our badminton will be starting up this week. We always get a fantastic turnout for our badminton teams. I am hopeful we will have a smashing season.
As the hours of daylight lengthen and the weather warms (hopefully soon), we ask that student adhere to our dress code listed in the student handbook. It is easy for students’ thoughts and priorities to wander from the rigors of school. While this may be the case, I encourage students to keep their eye on the finish line (June 27) and parents to help their children maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle that includes a strong focus on being successful at school. As students prepare to complete the school year, it is crucial that they attend regularly and punctually, put forth a positive effort while at school and maintain a regular homework and study regime. Parents, please be sure to continue to keep yourself updated as to your child’s academic progress by checking PowerSchool on a regular basis. If you have any questions regarding how you can help your child be most successful at school, do not hesitate to contact their teachers.
Also a reminder to all students that cell phones are not permitted during class time. Students are allowed to use their phones at lunch, and before and after school.
Thank you for your continued support.
Bea Ko, Principal
|
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