Dear Parents & Guardians:
In this post you will find information for the following:
· Important Dates
· Dress for Inclement Weather
· Tickets & Volunteers: Spring Fling 2024 (4:30-6:30 pm)
· Parent Appreciation Tea – RSVP
· Next Year Class Configurations
· Next Year Friend Suggestions (Due: Sun., June 2, midnight)
· Next Year Class Placement
· School Council Vacant Positions
· Lost & Found – New Items Arriving Daily!
· Intent to Return to EPS Next Year
· School Calendar – Download or Subscribe
Important Dates –
· May 13-30 – Gymnastics unit in Phys. Ed.
· May 17 – Professional Development Day (No School)
· May 20 – Victoria Day (No School)
· May 22 – Fun Lunch (Boston Pizza)
· May 23 – School Council AGM (6:30-8:00 p.m.) & EPPS Parent Society (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
· May 30 – Spring Fling Carnival (5:00-7:00 p.m.)
· June 3-6 & 10th Alien Inline Skating PE Residency
· June 7 Parent Appreciation Tea (10-11 a.m.)
· June 14 Next Year Kindergarten Student Orientation (9-10 a.m.)
Dress for Inclement Weather
Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather as many children came to school this week without rain jackets or appropriate footwear despite the rainy forecast.
We do go outside everyday unless it is absolutely pouring rain and/or it is -20C including wind chill.
Tickets & Volunteers: Spring Fling 2024 – May 30 (4:30-6:30)
· Tickets may be purchased using this link
· Sign up for volunteering using this link
· Sign up for the bake sale using this link.
Elbow Park School Council is pleased to once again bring our school community together to celebrate the arrival of spring and the coming end of the school year. Please join us on Thursday, May 30 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Pizza, Drinks and Marble Slab ice cream will be served! This years activities include:
· Butterfield Acres petting zoo;
· Mini Golf; and
· Field Games
This is a weather permitting, parent volunteer run event.
We require parent volunteers to support the above activities at the event. Volunteering is a great way to connect with parents in our school community and help build school spirit!
A sign-up Genius will be distributed closer to the event.
Parent Appreciation Tea - RSVP
On Friday, June 7 at 10:00 a.m., we will begin our Appreciation Tea. Each homeroom will be doing a short presentation as an appreciation of thanks for all of the support that our parent community offers in our classrooms and with various events that make this such a wonderful school.
Please RSVP to Mrs. Hodgson (mahodgson@cbe.ab.ca) if you plan to attend our Tea. We need to know how many seats to provide. Please arrive by 9:50 so you can be seated for our presentation.
Next Year Class Configurations
Last night at our School Council meeting, we shared our class configurations for next year. Based on the feedback from both our parent community and teachers, we have prioritized class size and as many straight-grade opportunities for instruction as we are able, given our building size and budget. You can read full details and see survey results in the Principal’s Report on our School Council webpage.
- Next year staffing budget:
i. 232 students for $1.7 million
ii. 12.3 teachers + 1 EA (25 hours) +1 EA (20 hours) + School Asst in Kindergarten (15 hours)
iii. Grade Counts have increased since our initial budget approval and parent workshops to a total of 236:
- Kindergarten – 29
- Grade 1 – 30
- Grade 2 – 39
- Grade 3 – 35
- Grade 4 – 33
- Grade 5 – 33
- Grade 6 – 37
- Total = 236
- Next Year – Class Configurations
- Principal + Assistant Principal position maintained with 0.5 supporting student resource
- Limited with 9 classrooms + small-size Music room. Configuration:
- K: one class at 29 with support of School Assistant
- Gr. 1-2: three classes at 23
- fourth literacy class for 1/3 of day
- Education Assistant supports classes
- Straight grade PE, Science, and Social Studies instruction
- Gr. 3-4:
- three classes at 23
- Straight grade PE, Science, and Social Studies instruction
- EA Support
- Gr. 5-6: three multi-age homerooms at 23 (three full-time teachers + 1 EA)
- ELAL (Literacy) taught multi-age as three multi-age homeroom classes
- Math taught straight-grade by three teachers
- Science and Social Studies taught straight grade by three teachers
- Maintain Music Teacher (all grades) taught every other day
- Physical Education:- Grade group teachers for Grades K-6
- No Art specialist – will be taught by homeroom teachers
Next Year Friend Suggestions – Due: Sunday, June 2 (midnight)
For current Kindergarten to Grade 5 students, parents and/or students may use this online form to make 5 friend suggestions for next school year. Our goal is to have students with at least one of their suggested friends for next year.
- We are using Microsoft Forms for this survey. You can log in with any email.
- Please submit one form per child.
- When making suggestions, consider friends from other grades (ie. someone in the lower grade moving into your grade combination or someone who is already in the older grade combination that your child is joining).
- **Forms submitted with less than 5 different students and/or teacher requests may NOT be guaranteed or considered**
· Click here to submit your child’s requests for next school year.
Due by Sunday, June 2, midnight
Next Year Class Placement
As was shared at our last School Council meeting, we begin creating class lists for next school year through the spring, and it is a very intentional and thoughtful process. We focus on the learning conditions and approach in the classroom that best suit each learner, and work to make the best match possible considering a multitude of variables.
- Your child’s current homeroom teacher makes these decisions along with the teachers from the subsequent grade, the Administration Team, and our Curriculum Specialists for Music, Art and Physical Education. We take into consideration factors such as student’s cognitive ability, gender, social skills, key relationships, second language, special needs, and learning styles.
- If you have an educational or emotional concern about your child that you would like School Administration to consider for your child’s placement next year, please write an email to Mr. Fech (jwfech@cbe.ab.ca). These will be the only two criteria that will be used for special requests. Please do not request a specific teacher. Our intent is to place students in the most appropriate learning environment in which they will meet their best personal potential and achieve academic success.
- We believe all of our teachers are exceptional and truly care about the students. Teachers, administration and support staff are committed to ensure that all students master their learning to their best potential, develop generosity and independence and work at making sure that everyone has a sense of belonging
School Council Vacant Positions
Last night we held a very well attended School Council and Parent Society meeting. As the Council meeting was our Annual General Meeting, we were to hold elections of the executive including a Chair, Co-Chair and Secretary. No one put their names forward to fill those positions and accordingly, we do not have a functional Council for next school year. Anyone interested in finding out more about our Council may reach out to Principal Fech (jwfech@cbe.ab.ca) or outgoing Chair, Katie Clayton at elbowparkschoolcouncil@gmail.com
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.
Through the Education Act, Alberta Education defines school councils as a collective association of parents, secondary students, the principal, teachers, and community representative(s) whose purpose is to advise the principal and the Board of Trustees respecting matters related to the school. Every CBE school community is required to establish a school council. Working in collaboration with the principal and school community, school councils can help foster a supportive learning environment and create valuable opportunities for students to meet the standards of education set by the minister.
Vacant Positions
The following positions on Council need to be filled for the 2024/25 school year:
Council President:
- works in partnership with the Principal and is responsible for planning the agenda for meetings, facilitating the meetings, and acting as spokesperson for the council, generally supervising the council and contributing to the school newsletter;
-serves as the Board of Trustees’ Council of School Councils representative and ensures the school board receives an annual report from the school council;
- oversees the development of an annual budget and plan of activities for presentation at the AGM;
-assumes responsibility in consultation with the school council, for communicating with the fundraising society.
The Vice-President
- assists the chair with duties, as assigned, and in the absence of the President, assumes the duties of the President.
The Secretary
-keeps accurate minutes and records of school council meetings, documents and files all correspondence and communications.
How School Councils Differ from Other Parent Groups:
School councils exist to advise the principal and the Board of Trustees on school matters. The school principal and at least one teacher at the school must be members of the school council.
Parent societies are a formal group of parents, incorporated under the Societies Act for the purpose of raising funds for the school. A society is a separate legal entity from the school council. The school principal is not a member of this group, but may participate in the meetings.
The next Elbow Park School Council Meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 6:30 pm. You can attend in person in the Learning Commons at the school or online through MS Teams.
Lost & Found
We now have a hanging rack in our office with hoodies and jackets. We had some new arrivals come in this week, with more styles and sizes arriving daily! Please come by the office to claim them.
Intent to Return to EPS Next Year
As we begin to plan our class configurations for next school year and respective teacher staffing levels, it is important for us to have accurate student counts for September.
If you have not already, please email elbowpark@cbe.ab.ca if you know that your child will not be attending our school for 2024-25 school year. Please indicate:
- Child(ren’s) Name
- Current Grade/Teacher
- What school will you be attending?
School Calendar – Download or Subscribe
Calendar subscriptions allow users to easily subscribe to a curated list of events on their devices. Parents and students can now subscribe to the school calendar with the option to choose all categories or a specific one, giving them access to events anytime. Using a calendar subscription offers several benefits for both parents and schools:
- Convenience: A subscription keeps your calendar automatically updated for parents, eliminating the need for manual entries or updates.
- Real-time Updates: Any changes or additions to events are instantly reflected in your calendar, ensuring your parents have the latest information.
- Timesaving: Subscriptions save you and your parents time by streamlining the process of adding and managing events, reducing the manual effort involved.
- Consistency: It helps maintain consistency across multiple devices, ensuring that your school calendar data is synchronized and accessible from various platforms.
- Automatic Reminders: Many calendar subscriptions come with built-in reminder features, helping your parents stay organized and on top of your school schedule effortlessly.
On the Calendar page, scroll down to the bottom left to find the link to subscribe to the school calendar on Mac, Android and desktop devices.