Good afternoon ALS Families,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and is looking forward to a restful and enjoyable weekend ahead. Please note that this week’s update is somewhat lengthier than usual, as this time of year brings with it a number of important updates and planning items for families. I sincerely appreciate your time, attention, and ongoing partnership in reviewing the information shared below.

Main Stage Production – Frozen Junior

A huge congratulations and shoutouts to the cast and crew of Frozen Jr., which took place this week here at Arbour Lake School. The performances were absolutely outstanding and were so clearly loved and appreciated by our students, staff, and families. The quality of the production truly speaks volumes about the expertise, dedication, creativity, and talent of everyone involved.

A very special thank you goes to our teacher sponsors and co-directors, Ms. Caron and Ms. Paul, for the countless hours, passion, and leadership they invested into making this production such a success. Thank you as well to Mr. Eygenraam, Ms. Laird, and the many other staff members who supported behind the scenes in so many ways. It was wonderful to see our students shine on stage and to witness the confidence, courage, and talent they brought to their performances.

I also want to send out a special thank you to our School Council, and especially our Council Chair, Jenny Crawford, for supporting the student initiated 50/50 Raffle designed to financially support next year’s production. Jenny spent every night of our performance at the school selling raffle tickets and we are very appreciative of her time and support! THANK YOU!

And finally, a huge thank you to the many families who came out to support our Frozen Jr. performances this week. After all, a performance is not truly a performance without an audience. The energy, encouragement, applause, and support from our community helped make the experience incredibly meaningful for our students. Thank you for helping celebrate their hard work, courage, and talent.

Badminton Championships

Our badminton teams were also busy this week with both Grade 6 and Grade 8 tournaments taking place. Congratulations to both teams on earning third place overall finishes.

For Grade 6, congratulations to Hashir on a second place finish and to Chaewon on a third place finish in their respective divisions.

For Grade 8, congratulations to Jia and Chunchen on bringing home a first place finish.

Thank you to all of our coaches for their time, commitment, and support of our student athletes. Grade 7 badminton will host their tournament here at ALS next week, while Grade 9 will be competing at Tom Baines School. Best of luck to all of our athletes.

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week also marked Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you to all the families who took the time to send kind notes and messages to staff. Your words are far more meaningful than many may realize. Education is a profession where the impact of one’s work is not always immediately evident. Often educators plant seeds that may not fully reveal themselves until years later. Knowing that families value and support the work we do each day with students is incredibly important and deeply appreciated.

I would also like to extend my own heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to the staff of Arbour Lake School. It is truly a privilege to work alongside such skilled, compassionate, thoughtful, and dedicated practitioners. The care they show students each and every day matters immensely, and our school community is stronger because of their efforts. Please keep that in mind whenever you have the opportunity to interact with our staff.

Thank you as well to School Council for the lovely Barrista that was brought in this morning to treat staff. The sweet treats that went along with the coffees, and teas, and lattes were also greatly appreciated and enjoyed!

Health Curriculum

Human Sexuality Thank you as well to the many families who readily submitted their Human Sexuality Education forms. As families are aware, current provincial legislation has shifted Human Sexuality instruction to an opt-in model of the provincially designed curriculum. It is the responsibility of parents and guardians to remain current with school correspondence and submit forms should they wish their child to participate in these lessons.

Moving forward we will not be sending out multiple reminders to get forms submitted.

We greatly appreciate families taking the time to read school communications carefully and respond in a timely manner. Considerable time is spent tracking down forms and re-contacting families, and your cooperation and support are sincerely appreciated. Human Sexuality lessons began this week. Please know that students without any form submitted, and those who submitted form opting out of this instruction, were provided alternative Health curriculum learning tasks.

Next Year Planning

As we continue planning for the 2026–2027 school year, I also wanted to provide families with some information regarding enrollment projections and staffing.

Current projections have Arbour Lake School moving from approximately 730 students this year to roughly 650 students next year. As many families may recall, approximately three years ago Grade 5 students were redesignated to feeder schools and community boundaries shifted in anticipation of projected population growth that, ultimately, has not materialized as anticipated.

As a result of this significant decline in enrollment, our staffing allocation for next year will require a reduction of approximately 4.6 FTE teaching positions.

At this time, projections indicate:

▪ Grade 6 will have a maximum of five homerooms, potentially four
▪ Grade 7 will have five homerooms
▪ Grades 8 and 9 will each have six homerooms
▪ Classes in grades 7- 9 are expected to range from approximately 30 to 33 students per homeroom

These reductions will also impact the variety and robustness of our complementary programming. While we absolutely intend to continue offering a range of opportunities for students, we will need to focus our offerings around programs and courses that demonstrate strong enrollment and sustained student interest. Scheduling and timetabling become increasingly challenging as enrollment declines, and I wanted families to be aware that some current complementary offerings may not run next year.

That said, we remain committed to prioritizing daily physical education, opportunities for physical movement and outdoor time, and meaningful off campus learning experiences for students.

Next Year Student Enrollment

If your family has intentions of moving or changing schools for the 2026–2027 school year and you have not already informed us, please do so as soon as possible.

Accurate enrollment projections are critically important as we move into spring staffing and planning for the fall.

Peer Requests for 2026-27

In the coming weeks, families should also keep an eye out for our peer request forms. This is a process we offer to all current students and is not a common practice in many middle schools. Students are invited to identify four peers whom they feel they work well with in order to support transitions into new homerooms for next year.

We guarantee placement with one of the four requested peers; however, we cannot account for families who may move or transfer during the summer, nor for the natural changes that can occur in adolescent friendships over the summer months. This process is offered as a courtesy to support positive transitions and class building.

Classes are carefully created prior to the fall and, once finalized, adjustments are generally not made.

Complementary Course Selections

Families should also keep an eye out in the coming weeks for complementary program course requests for next year. These requests are an important part of our planning and timetabling process and help us determine which courses will run based on student interest and enrollment. We ask that parents and guardians complete these requests together with their child so that thoughtful conversations can occur around student interests, strengths, and future pathways. As mentioned above, with declining enrollment and staffing reductions, we will need to focus our offerings around courses with strong student demand and viable enrollment numbers.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of Arbour Lake School.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead, and Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers, grandmothers, caregivers, and those who fill this important role in the lives of our students.

If you need anything, please never hesitate to reach out.

Take care,

Nancy Lisi, Principal
nmlisi@cbe.ab.ca