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Principal's messages can be found in the news stories on the front page of our website. Messages from the office are posted weekly.
Lori Holford
Principal Edgemont School
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|  All kidding aside, it has been wonderful to return to learning in a much more collaborative and creative way. The beginning of this year started with us at the height of the Delta variant. Still wearing masks, social distancing and maintaining cohorts we all wondered what would be possible in our 3rd school year of the pandemic. As always our students amazed and inspired us. They wore their masks, smiled with their eyes and dove into their learning!
We started our year with Coach Dan Taylor of Elev8 Lacrosse. Our first ever athletic residency was a big success. Held outside and observing enhanced sanitizing protocols, students learned to stickhandle, pass and score. There was much cheering and an opportunity for kids to again be kids! While there were times throughout the year when we held our collective breath hoping the different Covid variants would pass quietly, day by day students and teachers returned to more collaborative and interactive learning with even more opportunities for friendships and relationships with classmates.  This year also marked the return of a vibrant and joyous music program in our school. From the first day in September the notes flowed out of the classroom doors and filled up the heart of our building with renewed joy and hope! We got to meet and love our new music teacher, Ms. Georgie Lyons! We posted videos of students performing on Google Classroom streams. We continued to dream of a day when students could sing, dance and play for a real audience and to real applause. 
Looking ahead to next September we have learned so much! We will take many of those lessons with us. Things like making sure that our hand hygiene is strong, soft entry in the morning and use of technology as a way to connect parents with our school in a meaningful way. Other things we hope we will be able to reclaim. There is hope! We had our first fun lunch this month, we welcomed parents to a live Grade 5 Farewell and watched with pride as our Edgemont Ambassadors toured over 100 new students and their families through our beautiful building on the evenings of Kindergarten and Grade 1-5 Orientations.
We are looking forward to next year and the promise of gathering as an extended learning community. We are hopeful to again welcome parents to celebrate learning and volunteer in our school. We kick off our year on August 31st with our Chalk the Walk event the night before the first day of school. Mark your calendars for 5 - 6 pm. Students, parents and staff will gather to write messages on the sidewalks surrounding the school and ring in a positive new year! I have it on good authority that Chalk the Walk will coincide with Food Trucks in the community center parking lot!
Students’ last day of school is Tuesday, June 28th. Parents please watch your child’s Google Classroom stream for our Farewell Video and Celebrations of Learning. The school office will be closed on June 30th at 1:00pm and will remain closed until Thursday, August 25th at 1pm. Please be advised that school voicemail and email accounts will not be monitored over the summer vacation. If you have any pressing questions please contact the CBE main line at (403) 817-4000.
Parents can expect to receive an email from their child’s teacher on or before August 31st to inform them about where to meet on the first day of school. Our day will begin September 1st at 9:05.
I am grateful for all the support parents have provided for our children over the past 2 and a half years. We are fortunate to have such an amazing community to work with. Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you all back for an amazing 2022-2023 school year!
Lori Holford Proud Principal Edgemont School
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| IS YOUR CHILD RETURNING TO EDGEMONT SCHOOL NEXT YEAR? It is the time of year that we are starting to make plans for next year. Please help us to anticipate our enrolment for next year by letting us know if your child is returning for the 2022-23 school year CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE QUICK 1 MINUTE SURVEY
Please fill out one form for EACH child that you have attending Edgemont School.
If you are unsure about your plans for next year that is important information for us to know as well. Please indicate that you are unsure and we can follow up with you at a later date.
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Dear Students and Families,
WE MADE IT! It goes without saying that much has happened since a year ago. Last year we weren’t able to say good bye to our students or staff who would be leaving us. Last year we faced an uncertain situation returning in the fall. Last year we didn’t know what was going to happen to our school or our world. We have overcome much in the past year and through it all it has been our relationships that have carried us forward. The pandemic has focussed our attention on what is truly important in our lives and in our school.
Over the last year students have thrived and made us all so proud. Looking back, we are celebrating teaching and learning that is responsive and honours student growth from their own unique starting points. We have had opportunities to extend our outdoor classroom beyond good weather and see the benefits of getting outdoors and reconnecting with the land. We have included digital technologies to deliver learning and communicate with parents in meaningful and timely ways. Even while we are hopeful for a typical school year next year, we will incorporate many of the things that we have learned and adapted during this unique year. If you haven’t had a chance to visit our student showcase page on our website we hope you will! Here we have shared celebrations of learning in each online and in person classroom through the 2020-2021 school year. We have much to be proud of and to celebrate!
We’ve observed our students’ responses to the pandemic and realize the need to pay attention to student (and staff) wellness - nothing is possible without this starting point. We’ve also identified a need for intentional teaching in literacy and numeracy in order to prioritize learning interventions for students. This will be the main work of our school development plan next year. Along with this, we will build student resilience through the lens of Growth Mindsets. We will revisit our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation through land based learning and indigenous pedagogies. We will build students’ creativity and critical thinking through the lens of inquiry. Though it reads as a tall order in a single year. In practice these are the strands that connect and intertwine with each other - braided together to create strong outcomes for students.
It is important to emphasize that the summer's time for families to spend with each other. Don’t stress about schoolwork. In September we will support students to learn from their starting points. Students and families have lived through an extraordinary year. It is important that students spend time relaxing and knowing that they are strong and capable. Reassure them with your calmness, share your strength with them and laugh a lot! This will help students to be centred and regulated when they return to school. - ready to learn!
Reopening information: Our school office will close on Wednesday, June 30th The office reopens on Tuesday, August 24th at 1pm. Your child’s teacher will reach out to you August 31st via school messenger. They will introduce themselves and let you know where your child will meet them on the first day of school. Our first day of school will be September 1st. School starts at 9:05 am. More updates will be posted to our school website at the end of August We will continue to use a “soft entry” system where students come directly into the school between 8:50 and 9:05 each morning. If you have any general questions at that time you can contact the main office at 403-777-6340. Please note that our email and phone messages are not monitored during the summer. We will respond to parent messages within the first few days of school.
As we head into the second summer of the pandemic we are hopeful! I Hope that school will return to more normal operations and that students' learning will not be interrupted in the upcoming school year. We are also planning for safety and will likely continue many of the protocols that have kept our learning environment safe over the past year. More information will be communicated to you at the beginning of the year as our directions from Alberta Health, Alberta Education and the Calgary Board of Education are made clear to schools.
I know that I speak on behalf of all the Edgemont Staff when I say thank you to our wonderful community of parents! You have encouraged us and believed in us throughout this year! Thank you to each and every parent that sent an encouraging email, answered the phone with understanding and created a space where we knew that we had your trust and support. I feel privileged to be a part of this school community and wish all of our families a wonderful summer! 
Lori Holford Proud Principal
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| At the beginning of important gatherings, we pause to remember that this land has a history and that many have walked here before us. I often wonder whether this small act of reconciliation will help to create meaningful change in our world and whether students understand why it is so important for schools to do this. 
I think about my own connection to the land, the places that have been important to me throughout my life, the places where I have grown and become an adult. I realize that the connection I feel to special places in my life is a physical, emotional and spiritual one. I have a deep love for the place where I have grown up and where my own children have grown. I remember fondly the places where I’ve happily celebrated milestones in my life. So many of these places have been schools. As a teacher, I’ve been continually in school for more than 40 years. Schools are where I felt safe, loved, nurtured and where I belonged. My own teachers are among the most influential relationships in my life. 
I know that my experiences in schools are not what everyone has experienced. In fact, many people my age have had very different and sometimes traumatic experiences. This saddens my teacher's heart and makes me want to make sure that our school is one where students are deeply cared for and their gifts are nurtured.
The pictures shown are of Edgemont students interacting with this place in many different ways. The land that Edgemont School was built on is special. A walk around our school, across the ridge and looking out towards the Rocky Mountains is breathtaking. We are so fortunate to be able to come to this place every day to breathe the air that rises on the wind and feel an abundance of space in the city. We have the privilege to belong to this place that is both beautiful and provides a connection with our community.
In the spring when schools closed, I felt the loss of a place like I’ve never experienced before. I have moved homes, changed schools and even relocated to a different province. Each time I have left a space it has been by my choice or knowing that the change was leading forward to the future in some positive way. But in the spring, I felt a profound loss of community and of purpose. In a moment the school stopped being a safe, nurturing center of our community. We were no longer able to come together and learn, laugh and live.
The pandemic has helped me to realize that circumstances change very quickly and unpredictably and that connection to this place and all of the relationships between people in this space can’t be taken for granted. In a moment there can be an event that changes everything.
I also know that the loss that I felt when our school was taken from us is very small in comparison to the suffering of our indigenous people, who have suffered being removed from their lands, children removed from their families. It pains me that schools were the source of trauma and pain inflicted on so many. As a child and even as a student becoming a teacher I did not know about the legacy of residential schools. Now that I do, I can’t go back to not knowing, I am changed by knowing. I struggle to find answers to questions that belong to us all.
The land acknowledgement is a small but potentially powerful act of remembering and revealing the truth. It is important that the history of this place and of the traditional people who once lived here be heard not hidden. Only then can we start to reconcile, heal and build a future that unites all who now make their home on this land.
Always, the land remains.
We would like to acknowledge the traditional territories and oral practices of the Blackfoot Nations, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai. We also acknowledge the Tsuut'ina and Stoney Nakoda First Nations, The Metis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
Lori Holford
Principal Edgemont School
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|  November 13th, 2020My Trusting Grateful Inspired (Remembrance Week) Friday
Trusting our teachers and community members to follow the new Alberta Health Guidelines. We have been working very hard to make sure that our students at Edgemont School are safe and healthy! I am so proud of the resilience of our students and teachers throughout this year. We are ready to support learning in whatever way we need to in the days and weeks ahead. for the forward thinking and preparedness of all our teachers as we consider the possibility of needing to shift to Scenario 2 or 3. I am grateful that we have had time to adjust to Scenario 1 and that staff have created meaningful learning for students both online and in person. I have every faith in our ability to stay focussed on supporting our learners regardless of what circumstances may arise in the future.
Grateful to live and work in a community and country that honours our history and creates meaningful connections to the sacrifices of our service men and women. The Remembrance Day assembly at school is always profoundly meaningful to me. I a grateful for all the meaning making conversations, big and small, that help children to understand the significance of peace and the profound impact of war. Lest we forget.
Inspired by all of our classrooms who did thoughtful work leading up to Remembrance Day Assembly. Thank you to teachers for sharing your students’ reflections and creative interpretations with us via our virtual Remembrance Day Assembly. War is a difficult topic for young students to sometimes wrap their thinking around. I am grateful for the connects teachers made to student areas of study, prior experiences and rich literature. A real highlight for me was Room 22’s Peace Rap which the the student wrote and performed with passion!   Have a wonderful weekend!
Lori Holford Proud Principal |
|  November 6th, 2020
My Trusting Grateful Inspired Friday
Trusting our provincial health officer to relay timely information to Albertans and lead with incredible calm. Trusting also in the strength and resilience of our Edgemont community that we will all continue to be vigilant in keeping our students and school safe. Grateful to my principal colleagues for sharing their wisdom so that I can learn from their experiences. Also grateful for the strong and compassionate leadership from our Area 1 leadership team including Director Prem Randawa, Director Christine Davies and Area Principal Shelaugh Reading. Even though many parents and staff my not know these names, you need to know that they are actively working to support students in our school. Thank you all for supporting new directions for our school development plan, for creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue and for your incredible ability to shine light in dark places! Inspired our Elder Saa’kokoto who met with our students virtually over 3 days this week. His stories and teachings have profound meaning for our staff and students. Using virtual meeting software presents many challenges and I am grateful to our Assistant Principal for facilitating this important connection for our students. Saa’kokoto you inspire us as a teacher and a learner! Fun! It’s been wonderful to see all the amazing student projects pop up on bulletin boards around the school. Students light up when they see Ms. Dickson come into the classroom with her bright smile boundless enthusiasm. Fine Arts FUN for everyone!
Have a wonderful weekend! 
Lori Holford Proud Principal
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October 26-30My Trusting Grateful Inspired Friday
Trusting teacher collaboration and deep knowledge about student learning and learner outcomes. Our PD day on Friday was full of rich and purposeful conversation starting with student writing assessments and leading to impactful learning strategies to support next steps. The conversations and clarifications about learning targets led us to research based instructional practices that we've all committed to integrating into instruction over the next 6-8 weeks. Simon Breakspear calls these Teaching Sprints. I completely trust in Edgemont Teachers' already strong practice and their commitment to continuous improvement! Honoured to work with and for these incredible people. Grateful to my mentor and retired principal who treated our staff to pizza lunch during our professional development day. She wanted our staff to know that retired teachers stand with us and that we are seen and cared for. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to learn from the heart of this wonderul leader and educator. MJ, our bellies and hearts are full from your generosity! Inspired by kindergarten students demonstrating their literacy skills using loose parts and document cameras. Check out this joyful tweet showing Literacy in Kindergarten. Fun! Wearing Halloween costumes and digital costume parade were a big success. It was a glimpse of kids being kids and finding delight in the unexpected. Thank you teachers and all staff for getting in the spirit and honouring our student voice to bring costumes back for Halloween. 
Have a Happy Halloween weekend! Lori Holford Proud Principal
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| October 26-30My Trusting Grateful Inspired Friday
Trusting the incredible work that our cleaners and facilities team have done to keep our school safe and clean. It is a huge task to repeatedly sanitize touchpoints and respond to requests in the moment. We appreciate their vigilance and hard work. Thank you Yaming, Tammi, Leanne and Surrinder!
Grateful for Ms. Briand who has decorated our front hallway and office. The festive decorations have given us all a lift and a smile! Our Edgemont School Council Executive members are finding their way in new roles in very different ways.
Inspired by our teaching staff who are finding rich and authentic ways to engage students in learning tasks within the “new normal”. I admire their commitment to students and their tenacity in showing up physically and mentally for their kids! I am also inspired by our outdoor learning. This has been a great success and even as the weather turns cold, we breathe fresh air, move our bodies and become more healthy and resilient day by day. Finally by author Brené Brown. She is a research professor and writer who studies vulnerability, courage, and authenticity. TGIF is her format!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lori Holford Proud Principal
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Our first few weeks have been different, challenging but also wonderful! We have truly missed our students and our community! I am sure that we all have had moments of doubt as we approached September 1st. Our first week was spent welcoming and acclimating small groups of students at a time to the new health and safety protocols in our school. Parents can access our Edgemont School Re-Entry Plan here. Our students have been nothing short of amazing in our first 2 weeks! They have listened and practiced and have found ways to learn and laugh even through masked faces! We can tell that students are excited to be back, to interact with their peers and engage in rich learning activities at school. 
Thank you to each of you who has taken time to share a positive experience your child has had returning to school. Your encouagement means the world to us! Our theme for the year is “What is Our Story? “. If you would like to share your child’s back to school story you can do so here.
A huge shout out our teaching and support staff who continue to ensure that students are safe at school. We are truly blessed to have a group of dedicated people caring for and inspiring the hearts and minds of our students. The constraints of our “new normal” at school have not stopped our staff from caring for and nurturing students social, emotional and mental well-being.
Whether your child is returning to school in person or online in the hub, I want you to know that every student has a teacher committed to making sure that they are seen and supported in their learning. As a parent myself I know that the decision whether to return to in-person classes or enroll in hub learning was a difficult one. Whichever option you’ve chosen, we are aware of the huge trust that you have put in us to meet the needs of your child. Please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher at any time during the year.
As I write this blog post our in-person students are at last starting to work with their own teachers. Our hub teachers have now been identified and have spent much of the last week training for learning online. Hub students will begin working with their teachers using Google Classroom in the week to come. We appreciate the patience and expressions of support over the first few uncertain weeks.
There have been only a few changes on our staff this year, though some of our teachers are taking up different roles. As you know our wonderful Mrs. Lang retired last year. As Covid -19 restrictions do not allow us to do many of the things we would like to do in music, this year we will be approaching the arts more generally. Ms. Corrine Dickson will be teaching fine arts, integrating music, drama, dance and visual arts into her learning experiences.
Ms. Vahaaho will continue to engage students in physical education and has been planning for programming that takes full advantage of our beautiful outside spaces. We are also excited to announce that students will have longer physical education classes (40 minutes) this year. If you have been to our school in the last few days you may have also noticed that many of our playground games have been repainted and look marvelous! We are looking forward to teaching students new ways to use the playground games for learning and for fun.
We are excited to welcome Hub Teachers who will be working with Edgemont Students Online. Teachers for our Edgemont Hub students are: Kelli Gibb and Laureen Plaxton - Grade 1 Kara Medlicott and Kim Rai - Grade 2 Danielle deNance and Madison Wilcox- Grade 3 Tony Tang and Jeff Watt - Grade 4 Karissa Peters and Ye Zhang - Grade 5
A few reminders: Parents, students, and school staff must review the self-screening questionnaire each day before entering the school. A copy of the questionnaire will be in your child’s Welcome Package due to be sent out later this week. Students are to come to school wearing a mask. We encourage families to send a spare mask in students’ backpacks just in case. We will be going outside as much as possible for learning and for body breaks. Please make sure that your child dresses in layers and is prepared to go outside even when it is wet or cold. Remember, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing! We are using a soft entry model for the beginning of the day. Students may arrive and go directly to their classrooms anytime between 8:55 and 9:10 am. Please remember that our playgrounds are not open immediately before or after school. During school hours students will be able to use the playground in their cohorts but limiting use after school will help us to also limit the number of contacts each student has with others outside their cohorts. We would appreciate if parents take their children directly home afterschool and do not stay to play. Demographic information forms will be sent home next week. It is important that you review your child’s in formation carefully and update any information that may have changed. We ask that parents ensure that all emergency contacts are correct so that we can reach you in case of an emergency or important change at our school. It is import that we have more than one emergency for your child.
 We know this year will bring us challenges. Within those challenges there will also be opportunities! We will embrace the possibilities for things to be done a little differently. I am certain that this will allow us to grow and evolve as a school and for us to model resilience for our students. Our school’s focus will continue be on best practices in teaching and learning, with a strong emphasis on academic success.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I may be reached at llholford@cbe.ab.ca The staff of Edgemont looks forward to a fantastic year of learning together!
#EdgemontStrong Lori Holford Proud Principal, Edgemont School
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