Dear Parents & Guardians:

In this post you will find information for the following:

·         Important Dates

·         EPPS Society Minutes Posted

·         School Council AGM next Thursday

·         Invitation: Research Project on Student Resilience

Important Dates –

·         May 4-8 – Aussie Rules Football PE Residency

·         May 6 – Hats on for Mental Health Day

·         May 7 – School Council AGM/EPPS Parent Society (6:30-9:00)

·         May 15 – PD Day – No School

·         May 18 – Victoria Day – No School

·         May 20 – Fun Lunch: McDonald’s

·         May 25 – Gr. 6 ELAL Written PAT

·         May 29 – Parent Appreciation Tea (10-11 a.m.)

·         Subscribe to our updated Web Calendar (link on bottom left)

EPPS Society March Minutes Posted

The minutes from the Parent Society Meeting on March 12 have been posted.

There will be a Society meeting directly following the Council AGM to approve next year’s school residency budget.

Upcoming School Council AGM Elections

Our upcoming Council meeting on May 7 (6:30 p.m.) is our Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) and elections will be held for 2024/2025 School Council.  

This meeting does have a formal agenda that includes executive reports, a Principal’s report, and items submitted to the Chairs for the agenda prior to the meeting. The Principal’s report will highlight:

·         Enrolment & staffing updates

·         Summary of our Parent Survey re: our budget and school planning from March

·         Approval of next year’s school residencies to be funded by EPPS Society

Pursuant to our By-Laws, the business of the AGM shall include the election of any proposed representatives and amendments to Bylaws.  All parents/guardians of current students may attend and are eligible to vote at the AGM.  This meeting requires a quorum of 9 members.  All parents or guardians of students enrolled in EPS are members of Council and are thus eligible to be elected as officers and vote. 

Under the current Bylaws the terms of office on Council are for two-years based on an overlapping model. Current Council members have either been serving the school community for two years or more and are not eligible to stand for re-election, or have decided not to stand for re-election.  Accordingly, the following positions on Council need to be filled for the 2024/25 school year: 

Council Chair:  

·         works in partnership with the Principal and is responsible for planning the agenda for meetings, chairing the meetings, and acting as spokesperson for the Council, generally supervising the Council and contributing to the school newsletter; 

·         oversees the development of an annual school budget for residencies and activities for presentation at the AGM; 

·         oversees parent volunteer opportunities including Room Parents and special event committees

·         Time commitment for this role is attending all meetings (one hour every two months) along with an additional two hours per month in preparation for meetings, assisting volunteering committees and Room Parents

 The Vice-Chair 

·         assists the chair with duties, as assigned, and in the absence of the President, assumes the duties of the President. 

·         This role may be shared with the Chair through the creation of co-chairing positions.

Key Communicator:

·         works to build and enhance communication between parents/school communities and the CBE.

·         Attend three Community of School Councils (COSC) meetings throughout the school year and report information at Council meetings

Any nominations for this meeting may be emailed to: elbowparkschoolcouncil@gmail.com

Invitation: Research Project on Student Resilience

Dr. C. Buzanko has been approved through Athabasca University and the CBE to conduct a meaningful research initiative aimed at strengthening the emotional resilience of school-aged children. The project, Whole Circle Resilience (WCR), is dedicated to developing a practical, prevention-based program that equips children aged 7 to 15 with tools to foster emotional regulation and resilience, both at home and in school.

We are hosting a parent focus group on the evening of May 21 at 6:30 in our school’s Library. This is a parent focus group discussion scheduled for between 60-90 minutes. Elbow Park teachers already participated in a focus group discussion to support this research. Immediately after the focus group, you will be asked to complete a brief survey (~15-20 minutes). This survey will gather further information on perceived barriers and facilitators in supporting emotional resilience and any additional thoughts you had after participating in the group.

If you would like to participate, please download and complete pages 6-7 of the "CBE Informed Consent to Participate Educators" form attached. Please submit the form to the Elbow Park School office.

For more information and to sign a consent form, please click here

The principal investigator is Caroline Buzanko, Ph.D. (Athabasca University, Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology, Assistant Professor, carolinebuzanko@athabascau.ca). Dr. Buzanko did host a parent session at our school last year about student anxiety.