As our year comes to completion I want to take a moment to reflect on Panabaker’s 21-22 school year. I want to start by thanking everyone involved in the successes we had this year; our students, parents, teachers, support staff, community supports, local businesses, community residents, administration, Area Office, and of course the Calgary Board of Education in general. This has been a year of transitions, as our Covid-19 response kept everyone on their toes as we learned to pivot through this difficult time. Our school community responded with strength, unity, and pride. We overcame, we showed our resilience, and we found success at every bend. For that I am eternally grateful and proud of our entire school community.
As a school we worked diligently to offer specific, intentional, and meaningful interventions to ensure students were able to recoup skills and concepts that were challenging during the pandemic learning. This intervention is captured in our school development plan, and the success of this is reflected in our student achievement and growth. Our staff committed countless hours to analysis, preparation, and delivery to best serve the educational goals of all our students. Our parents worked closely with us to support the needs of their individual students, and as a group through parent council to support the entire population. We were able, throughout this challenging time, to simultaneously target our school culture and develop a sense of belonging and safety for our student body. Wrapping itself around all of this work was our schools dedication to reconciliation and our goals to recognize and celebrate all cultural diversities in our student population with a particular focus on our Indigenous truth and reconciliation commitments. It has been a busy year, but a fruitful one as our students blossomed academically, socially, and athletically.
We celebrated multiple divisional championships in volleyball, junior boys and girls brought home the title banners, in badminton our senior team won the divisional championship, and in track & field our senior boys finished in first place with our overall team taking third. What an incredible year! Within all of this we ran clubs and intramurals every single day, our gym is always a hub of activity. We at Panabaker are firm believers that strong athletes create strong students and a strong school culture. The successes on the athletic field are reflective of our successes in the classroom. Go Panthers!
With the end of a school year we always face a time of goodbyes and welcomes with staff. This year is no different, we find ourselves with some key staff members moving on, but also being populated with new energy and expertise. We say good bye to our Assistant Principle Mr. Llewellyn, but welcome our new Assistant Principal Ms. Roach. We send off Ms. Crecco, Ms. Locke, and Ms. Poulin as they embark on new positions within the CBE and in the UK. However, we welcome to our team Mr. Doerksen, Mr. Deighton, Ms. Easton and Mr. Halle who all bring unique talents and passion to the halls of Panabaker. We also wish well to our newest staff members on temporary contract Ms. Godwin and Ms. Fedotova as they find their way to new buildings and new positions as their individual careers develop in the CBE.
On behalf of Harold Panabaker School, we wish Mr. Llewellyn all the best in his new personal adventure next year. Mr. Llewellyn has been passionate and dedicated to supporting staff and student success. He connected with the community to build relationships and his legacy as a panther will continue in his absence.
So as with every year we faced many changes and challenges but our Panthers proved up to the task. We look forward to seeing you all in September and ask you to check the school website for back to school information. Please enjoy a summer filled with family and fun, take time to recharge, and enjoy the return of the Calgary Stampede.
Sincerely,
Shelly Li
Principal
