| This has been an exciting year of teaching and learning. We
have also faced the challenges of these unprecedented times which resulted in a
virtual learning environment. It is important to acknowledge the work in
the classrooms related to our literacy, numeracy and well being goals of
our School Development Plan. It is also important to recognize the hard work of
the Richmond School Community, especially this spring when we quickly moved to
the google classrooms. Thank you to our students, parents/guardians,
grandparents and all staff members who supported student learning. We have
worked together and in a partnership to ensure that learning in new ways was
successful. We have missed each and everyone of you and look forward to
welcoming you back in the fall.
Stay safe and healthy this summer.
Mary Ann Fullerton Principal
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| Throughout this year, we have continued to work together on the Calgary Board of Education’s Mathematics and Literacy strategies. These strategies are embedded into our School Development Plan. We are very proud of the achievements, progress and growth of all of our students!
We were pleased to offer a number of events and activities at the school this year, including our recent volunteer tea, musical celebration assembly June 6, school leadership. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to parents who served on the School Council this year. As we get closer to the end of the year we have some additional events and celebrations planned.
June 17 – 21 – week long Aussie Rules Football during regular gym times
Thursday June 21- Sports Day, our opening ceremony for all students will be at 9:00 AM. Our Grade 6 students will be helping to run the stations with support from teachers and volunteer parents.
Friday June 22 - Talent Show and Volunteer Appreciation. Our talent show will begin at 10:00 AM.
Tuesday June 25 - Grade 6 Farewell and Celebration at 2:00 PM.
Wednesday, June 26 – Talent Show at1:00 PM
Wednesday June 26 - Last day of school. Report cards go home.
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| Here we are again and December is upon us and with it comes
all the excitement that the season brings. It is a busy time filled with the
hustle and bustle of gift shopping for friends and family near and far. It
means travelling to visit family or opening our homes to receive guests.
Traditions such as visiting Santa, singing carols and
decorating our homes in beautiful lights is all part of the holiday
celebrations. Life at school is also very busy.
We anticipate a wonderful performance on Thursday, December
20th and we are looking forward to our Holiday Lunch (supplied by our School
Council & Association) that is taking place on Thursday December 13th. We
are also working together to raise funds for our Holiday Baskets.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff,
students and parents for their continued support. Our school is truly a
community school and it is at this time of year when the closeness of
friendship shines in our students` faces. The new-year will bring new learning
experiences, new challenges and new fun.
I look forward to what lies ahead for us as a school
community in 2019. I wish you all Peace, Joy, Hope and Happiness during this
Holiday season and throughout the New Year.
Duncan White - Principal
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| Welcome
back to another great year at Richmond School! We have many activities
and initiatives planned that
we believe enrich and engage our learning community. An event we are
very excited about is our Orange Shirt Day theme titled, “Around the
Fire”. This day promises to help build indigenous cultural awareness
and friendship training through hip hop and traditional
arts with Movement with a Message.
At
this time a special welcome to families and children new to our school.
The school’s population has grown
beyond the projections with our Kindergarten program reaching new
heights rarely seen in the past 20 years! We know you will enjoy our
Kindergarten through Grade Six learning environment.
Classes
for the 2018-2019 school year were thoughtfully created by teachers
last June and reviewed again in
August. Teachers looked at special needs, gender, social groupings,
friends, and learner profiles, while keeping the big picture in mind.
Students are matched to teachers and classroom arrangements that will
ensure they are successful learners.
We
succeeded in the month of September to establish routines, review
academic and behavioural expectations,
assess students and build positive relationships so that our students
and families feel a sense of belonging at Richmond School. Your child in
grades 1-6 will bring home a daily communication journal or agenda each
day. Please take time to review and discuss
with your child. The purpose of the agenda is to help your child with
organizational skills and to support communication between the home and
Richmond School.
Additional
teaching supports for students include education assistants, music
specialist, and a school based
Resource Teacher and Learning Leader to assist with diversity and
resource support. This year we are very fortunate to be able to support
literacy with greater intentionality through the provinces Classroom
Improvement Fund. Dr. Robin Parker will be working
with grades 1-6 M-Th morning (and sometimes Friday) to support our
balanced literacy approach.
We
invite parents and volunteers to visit classrooms and help in the
school, only after signing in at the office
and receiving their visitor pass/nametag. Please contact your child’s
teacher if you plan to volunteer at the school, and/or you would like to
be a room parent volunteer. Volunteers are a crucial part of our school
success. Visit our website here for more information
about volunteers: http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/richmond/get-involved/volunteer/pages/default.aspx.
Parents
are welcome at our school at all times. Volunteers are greatly
appreciated and allow for special relationships
between parents, students and teachers. Please come in to the office to
complete Security Clearance requirements, which are valid for five years
with the CBE, and complete the annual volunteer form being sent home
with our School Information
School Council
Wednesday, September 28th
is our Community Potluck in the gym followed by the School Council
Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 6:30 PM. All parents and students are
welcome. Please watch for more information from the School Council.
Our first school council meeting is on Wednesday,
October 3rd
in the music room. We hope to see as many parents who wish to become
more involved in supporting and making decisions for Richmond School.
Don't forget to consent to receive
electronic communications from Parent Council and find out about events,
fundraisers, volunteer opportunities and more! Click on the link to
provide your contact information and consent. https://richmondschool.wufoo.com/forms/z6n0z7n1ml64sx/.
Any
parent of a child attending Richmond School is a member of School
Council. The Council is run by a board
(elected for a one year term at the annual meeting), consisting of a
Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Fundraiser. Committee Chairs and
Coordinators, which include the Key Communicator, Special Events
Coordinator, Casino Volunteer Coordinator, are generally responsible
for attending meetings and sharing reports that pertain to their
mandates. Council also includes the Principal, and throughout the year
Teacher Grade Teams will present to the council.
School
Council meetings offer you a firsthand opportunity to further
understand and appreciate your child’s
learning experience. Studies have shown that when parents are involved
in the educational process, the child shows and increased appreciation
for his/her learning and academic achievement. It is also a great way to
meet other like-minded parents and grow with
our learning community.
We can’t wait to work with you! Thanks for an awesome start to our year.
Sincerely,
Duncan White
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| Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we close out this school year and begin anew as Principal of Richmond
School it has been great working closely with the many members of our
school community. I have many people and groups to thank for making this
year a great success. Richmond Childcare for their continued support of our
program, Nurse Emmi for her support to help us to make healthy choices, and
our incredible school council for graciously sponsoring many field trips,
residencies, library resources, and special events. Additionally, we have had
incredible support at a system level with tremendous professional learning
and support from many area strategists and system specialists. I would also
like to thank the many parents who have come to see me. These interactions
with parents have helped me to have a good understanding of our parent
body. This connection is very important to enable the school to meet the
needs and aspirations of our families and students.
Most importantly our students have enjoyed another fabulous year. They have
excelled in so many fields it is impossible to list them all. Many of our
classrooms are celebrating their learning events in special ways this June,
and I have enjoyed listening in awe as student achievements have been
described. These achievements have been in their academic studies, sport,
music, and the arts to name just a few and we are justly proud of all. We also
learned about many new talents this year at our talent show last week, we do
indeed have many courageous and talented students that attend Richmond.
Over the summer vacation I will be working with colleagues to put into place a
smooth opening to the new academic year and setting the priorities to build
upon the successes of the school so that we can improve still further. We
should always seek to do better; to challenge ourselves and our students to
set the highest standards and achieve our ambitious goals.
I would like to wish you all the very best for the summer vacation and look
forward to welcoming you all back, refreshed, for what will be an exciting, new
academic year.
Best regards,
Mr. Duncan White - Principal
Mr. White’s Top Five
Summer Reads for
Children:
- Elmore by Holly Hobbie
- Islandborn by Junot Díaz,
illustrated by Leo
Espinosa
- Savvy by Ingrid Law
- Love by Matt de la
Peña, illustrated
by Loren Long
- And Then Comes
Summer by Tom Brenner,
illustrated by
Jaime Kim
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| This week students in Grades 3-6
will be swimming at Killarney Pool. Did you know our bodies have to
maintain a streamline, horizontal body position when we swim, so swimming
regularly can help children develop and improve good balance. Once a child
learns to swim, they may hop in a pool at any point in their life to get a
low-risk, high-intensity workout. We would also like to share this swim
message too - click to read this tweet from @richlearningcbe: https://twitter.com/richlearningcbe/status/972194983456382977
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Welcome Back! We do hope you all found some quality family time during this break and are enthusiastic to get back to school! We welcomed a great number of families at our March Student-Led Conferences. We hope that you were able to see that these conferences are an essential element of the assessment process that involve parents, and provide students with important learning opportunities. We look forward to your continued involvement. Additional meeting times may be arranged to accommodate private conversations if parents or teachers require. Personal conversations between teachers and parents are an important part of the relationships we value to support student learning.
As we return from a short break, this is a great time to revisit your child’s level of preparation for school on a daily basis. Our teachers expect students to be prepared daily for learning. Establishing regular daily home reading and/or homework routines at home is also an important tool to support your child’s success.
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| School Website
Our school website has recently been given a complete refurbish and has lots of
information about our school including upcoming events, student behaviour, the school
calendar and even a school showcase. Be sure to mark our website address in your
favourites (http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/richmond/).
Twitter
Please follow our school #richlearningcbe or @richlearningcbe. Here you will find
pictures and various learning provocations that your child is involved. This has replaced
blogs from previous years. You can also follow your child’s teacher by clicking on the
Twitter link on our school website.
School Messenger
Be sure to sign up for school messenger - www.cbe.ab.ca/subscribe. This is the way
teachers and administration communicate with families. We are being ever so mindful of
photocoping and the excess use of paper so there will be limited paper copies of notices
and news sent home.
Volunteers
Please take time to read our updated Volunteer Handbook attached to this newsletter. This
is an important document for parents who are involved with volunteer opportunities at
Richmond School. If you need help with your volunteer application, we are happy to
support you in the office. Read on to learn about two other learning applications that
Richmond School has invested in for the 2017-2018 school year.
And finally a special invitation for all of our families to join us on the morning of Nov.
10 at 10:00 AM for our traditional Remembrance Day Assesmbly. We welcome a special
guest from the Calgary Police Pipe Band.
“Be kind, be thoughtful, be genuine, but most of all, be thankful.”
Duncan White – Principal
See more in our November/December Newsletter.
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| “There is a difference between not knowing and not knowing yet.” Sheila Tobias
Welcome back! We have had a really great start to our school year.
This year we are excited about building community through literacy. This work will kick-off
on September 21 during our Meet the Teacher Family Literacy Night. Several strategist
and specialists from our system have been working with us to help make this an extra
special event. Be sure to check out the resources we’ve posted on our website to help
support your child in their literacy efforts.
Another school-wide lens that we will be focusing on this year is exploring math literacy. We
have a group of teachers who attended our CBE math literacy workshops and we will be
working with CBE’s math specialist throughout the year. We will continue to dive into Jo
Boaler’s work with Mathematical Mindsets. Here are some parent resources:
https://www.youcubed.org/resource/parent-resources/.
During our first assembly we introduced our amazing staff and reviewed our Pillars of Care.
This assembly also set the tone for the monthly assemblies to come. We were warmed by
the presence of a small vibrant group of parents that attended. Many thanks!
Leon Legothetis will kick off our Yurt Week- Sept. 25 -29. Kindness will be a theme
that will flow through our classrooms this year – Leon will speak about his global initatives
on spreading kindness – check him out on Twitter.
Our Terry Fox
run will culminate– Sept. 25 -29 – please be sure to come out and run! We will be
starting with an assembly in the gym at 9:45AM and then out for our run. We will continue
our tradition of bringing “Toonies for Terry”. Please feel free to join us as we support this
important cause.
Our Meet the Teacher night will be on Sept. 21, 2017. Make sure you are signed up to
School Messenger as administration and teachers will be using messenger for
communicating over the coming months.
Regards, Duncan White - Principal
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“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” — William Arthur Ward
CBE Values: Students come first Learning is our central purpose Public education serves the common good
As our Chief Superintendent, David Stevenson notes, our organization is strong and clear on its core purpose. We are recognized for our excellent results in student learning and our focus on continuous improvement. Together with families and students our staff play an important role in making the Calgary Board of Education a wonderful learning organization.
The number of staffing changes that occur each year is highly dependent on Alberta Education’s budget, the number of staff returning from leaves (medical, personal and maternity) as well as retirements. As a result of these factors, its been only in the past couple of years that teachers in the Calgary Board of Education have been able to apply for any classroom teaching jobs - with the exception of positions that opened as the result of several new schools opening. This year we will have “two open rounds of teaching postings” with each round offering an estimated 300 teaching positions and as a school board, we have experienced significant staffing changes throughout our system.
As discussed, there are a number of key factors impacting our budget for next year. The key factors include:
- A reduction in the number of registrations at Richmond School
- Reduced enrolment results in a reduced teaching staff – loss of an AssistantPrincipal when a school is under 10 teaching staff.
- A reduction in English Language Learner (ELL) enrolment
Pending our final numbers on September 30th, our budget allows us to fund the following staff allocation for the fall of 2017.
- 1 Principal
- 1 Administrative Secretary
- 9 Full time Teachers
- 1 0.4 Music Teacher
- 1 Behaviour Support Worker
- 3 Educational Assistants (3 hours per day)
- 1 ELL Assistant (3 hours/day)
- 1 Library Assistant (3 hours/day)
The staffing process in all school boards can be complex. As a unionized environment, the CBE has a number of different processes in place to support teachers and support staff who hold a variety of different types of contracts. Sometimes this means that staff who do not have seniority may not necessarily be able to stay as part of a school community and should funding or student enrolment change in a school, this can further impact a school’s staffing complement. To add to this complexity, sometimes policies prevent us from sharing the sensitivities around this process directly and transparently with our school community. Every employee plays an important role at Richmond School. We all contribute to student success, whether we work in the classroom or support the work of our schools and losing staff this year will notably have a significant impact on our community. Losing one member of our community can be like losing a family member.
It is difficult to be saying goodbye to our valued staff members that are leaving Richmond School at the end of this year. Their commitment to continuous improvement, constant focus on student success and dedication to public education are all qualities that the staff, parents and students of their new schools will treasure.
As you know, on Friday, June 23, 2017 we celebrated the staff and students that will be leaving us during our Grade Six Farewell assembly. It was our honour to pay tribute to our Assistant Principal, Mr. Kenneth Perrone. He has dedicated many years of service to Richmond School and we are better learning community because of his contributions. We wish Mr. Perrone all the best as he begins a new Assistant Principal position at Balmoral School.
According to student projections for next year we will plan for approximately 193 students. Given this information the following School Organization is planned for the 2017-2018 school year. See table below for our grade configuration and teacher teams.
Kindergarten - one morning class Mrs. Carol Craig will teach this morning Kindergarten class. Carol has many years of experience teaching Kindergarten. Mrs. Craig has developed methods to make her Kindergarten classrooms effective and fun, she was integral to the success of this past years program and looks forward to inspiring all K students to achieve great things!
Grade 1/2 - Three classrooms – Room 15, 16 and 10 Mrs. Birkholz, Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Ng – have been a spectacular teaching team for the past four months. Building on this awesome momentum seems only natural! We welcome Mrs. Martin back for the entire year! Grade three /four Two classrooms – Room 1 and 2 Mrs. Robin Parker and Mrs. Stacy Hutchens will be our newest teaching team for next year. This dynamite teacher team has already worked together on the Richmond School Admin team this past year and together have elevated our schools focus on student leadership agency, and the development of our maker space.
Grade 5/6 - Two classrooms – Room 4 and 5 Ms. Karen Alderson and Mrs. Shelley Jarvis – have made a terrific teacher team this past year and can’t wait to build upon their successes. This team knows and understands the importance of building a community of learners! Bridges - Grade four/five/six One Classroom – Room 3 Mrs. Despina Chrisohou – continues in this brilliantly complex role working to assist each student to achieve academic success and behavioural competence through personalized programming, parental involvement, and supported transitions to regular classrooms.
Key to providing our Richmond Students with a rewarding music program, we welcome the return of Mrs. Heather Skulski. Mrs. Skulski’s music program will include many opportunities to explore and discover the properties of sound through singing, moving, speech, playing instruments, listening, and manipulating sounds in various ways. We also look forward to Mrs. Skulski’s directed group musical experiences that integrate movement, music and speech. Through these great performances, Richmond students develop musical skills such as in-tune singing, keeping a steady beat, clapping rhythmic patterns and acquiring a repertoire of poems, songs and dances.
As this is our June and final newsletter message for for 2016-2017 I thought it would be relevant to innumerate a few of the ontological stances that have been foundational to my work as your Principal:
- All children arrive at school every day wanting to be their best selves.
- Behavior is a sign of an unmet need – let’s get curious about the motivation behind it.
- Schools need to be organized around the needs of the children – not the needs of the adults.
- Everyone wants to have a sense of value and belonging – the complicated part is that we all want to be valued for different things.
- Humans only go into conflict over things that are important to them – pay attention to what people will get upset or vocal about as it will give you clues as to what they value.
I know that the positive, student centered school climate we have created this year will continue and flourish for our 2017-2018 school year.
Have a wonderful summer filled with lots of learning, curiosity and discovery!
Sincerely, Duncan White
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