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 HolfordProud PrincipalEdgemont School
