Good afternoon,

I hope this message finds you all doing well, and I hope that our students have had as smooth a return to school as possible! I end every week with a message to parents. Sometimes the messages are quick and short and other times they are a bit lengthier. That said, my belief is to provide as much information to parents as possible, however, if you don’t need the information, please feel free to delete – I won’t know and I won’t be offended, however this is our primary method of communication.

In our first two days students and staff have spent some time getting to know each other and making some initial connections. I did meet with each grade group yesterday very quickly to introduce our admin team, their grade team, and to provide some direction for the year. Part of my message to all students each year is to reinforce the expectation of respect for self, respect for others, respect for our school, and respect for our community. I’ve tried to summarize the conversation here so that you know what we discussed and can support your child in meeting these expectations, and so that you can reach out for clarification if you have questions.

In conjunction with the basic expectations, we discussed bullying/harassment and violence. We expect students to make mistakes, this is how we learn and grow, however yesterday we spoke about causing intentional harm to others, which is simply not acceptable at our school. While rare, bullying does happen, and it must be addressed when it does. What we often see, as one does anytime humans come together, is conflict, rudeness, and meanness. While unacceptable, these are behaviours we expect from adolescents and ones that we work through with our students. However, bullying is intentional and is intended to exclude others and make them feel less-than. Additionally, it involves the attempt to take power and control from, and over, another person. Last week I sent out a document, and I’ve included it again, that helps us work with student to problem solve peer challenges. If you have not looked at it, please do. We are very intentional in how we use the term bullying at ALS, and we try to refocus students when they have experienced conflict, meanness, or rudeness. When bullying does happen, we do open an investigation which takes time, but which also ensures we have a thorough understanding of the situation.  Conflict _ Rude _ Mean _ Bullying Chart (English).pdf 

We also spoke of discriminatory actions and language. We have no tolerance for racism, homophobia, or bigotry and we will not accept language or actions that we have identified as harmful to others. I have included a presentation we used last year to address discriminatory language and actions. We will continue this work with students this year as well. Creating an Inclusive Culture @ ALS.pdf 

Bullying, harassment, intimidation, racism, and violence of any kind are behaviours we take very seriously and that can result in some very serious disciplinary actions. I know there is a reluctance to come forward and seek support, but parent-to-parent, I implore you to support your child in coming to me to seek support if they are experiencing anything of the sort. I have been doing this work for many years and can find ways to safely address situations without causing more harm. My final message to students was exactly this, we are here to support them through whatever they may need. They should never feel hesitant around seeking out my support, that of Mr. Sloane (Assistant Principal), or their teachers. The same applies to you as parents/guardians. Please reach out if you need anything at all. There is no harm in supporting our children.

We are all super excited for the 2023-2024 school year and we look forward to working with you to support your child! I wish each of you a great long weekend and remember the school is closed on Monday, September 4^th. 

Sincerely,

Nancy Lisi, Principal

Nmlisi@cbe.ab.ca

 

School Start Up Information

• Action Item - Start up Documents: A welcome package was sent out earlier this week. This includes all the information and documents for school start up. As of today, parents can go log into their parent PowerSchool account and go to Online Forms. From here please complete the Annual Authorization and update demographics please.

• Fees: School fees for parents are either school based or centrally based.  Fees such as lunch supervision and bussing are centrally based. These are levied by the CBE and are not determined by the school. Students eligible for bussing and wishing to access CBE transportation are required to register for bussing (see below) and pay the associated fee. Additionally, the lunch supervision fee for grade 6 is also centrally charged. School fees include such things as Complementary Course Fees, field trips and activities fees are levied by the school. Questions or concerns around these can come directly to me please.

• Transportation: All bus inquiries should go through CBE Transportation. Arbour Lake School does not manage anything bus related, including bus registration and fees. We do send out notifications if we receive them from Transportation alerting families of delays. Below is the link to Transportation on the CBE website. https://www.cbe.ab.ca/schools/busing-and-transportation/Pages/default.aspx

School Operations 

• Student Enrollment: Planning for any school year begins in the previous spring. Last spring our enrollment sat below our projected enrollment of 670 students. We planned for this school year by being conservative in our enrollment numbers and staffed for 660 students. Conservative planning is an approach I have always taken. It is far easier to add a class rather than to collapse a class and surplus a teacher in August. Our student count to date is 735 students. In addition to increased enrolment in our catchment areas, we are also the designated overflow school for Tom Baines. However, as Tom Baines has space, students will be recalled to their designated school.

• Class sizes: Current homeroom class sizes are listed below
  • Gr. 6          26-28   (5 homerooms)
  • Gr. 7          30-31   (7 homerooms)
  • Gr. 8          28-32   (7 homerooms)
  • Gr. 9          32-34   (5 homerooms)

• Staffing & Grade 9: In the past two weeks we have hired an additional two teachers. We are watching our enrollment numbers very closely. If we can hire one more teacher, we will be restructuring the grade 9s and creating an additional homeroom, but this will depend on continued enrollment and funding. New to our school are the following staff members:
  • Mr. Sam Martyn – Grade 7
  • Mr. Benn Goddard – Grade 7 Learning Leaders
  • Mr. Darren Halasz – Grade 7 (in for Ms. Walker)
  • Ms. Danica Caron – Grade 8
  • Ms. Erika Todd – Grade 8
  • Mr. Jeff James – Grade 8
  • Ms. Susanne Schmidt – Grade 8
  • Mr. Jared Eygenraam – Music
  • Ms. Amber Armstrong – The class
  • Ms. Rachel Chrupalo – The class

• Grade 7-9 Complementary Program: Mr. Sloane is currently working through student timetables to ensure all grade 7-9 students have a full load and that they are registered in complementary courses. Due to the increased enrollment, we have limited space in these courses and students who registered after June, my not have access to all the courses we offer

Drop off & Pick Up: 

• As we continue to feel out our new routines, I just want to remind parents to avoid dropping of and picking up students along Arbour Lake Road.  Our busses come for drop off and pick up on the school side of Arbour Lake Road. Parking in the bus lanes is disruptive to the traffic flow and causes visibility issues. Please also be reminded that this area, adjacent to the staff parking lot and further up is a no parking zone. Additionally, the staff parking lot is not a drop off zone. Please do not enter the parking lot as again, visibility becomes an issue and a huge safety concern.
• Remember – there are over 700 other students coming and going, so please be considerate in keeping ALL our students as safe as you would like yours. Thanks so much for your cooperation.

Announcements & Reminders:

Welcome Back BBQ:

On Friday, September 8, 2023, we will be hosting a welcome back hot dog BBQ for students. Staff will be outside (fingers crossed on the weather) between 12 – 1 pm. Please feel free to stop by if you are able and to say hello to us. While we have an Orientation Night scheduled for September 21sth, this would be a great opportunity to put faces to names. J

Arbour Lake School Council AGM and Meetings:

Our next School Council meeting is on September 19, 2023, at 6:30pm.  This meeting is our annual AGM, executive positions will be elected. Please join us and become an active participant in our school community. As principal I rely heavily on School Council for input, feedback, and parental perspective. This meeting will be in person at the school. Moving forward our schedule of meetings will be a hybrid of in-person and virtual.

The Coyotes Canteen

The Coyotes Canteen will open on September 11. A menu of the available items for sale & cost will be provided as soon as possible. All sales are in cash only.

Grade 9 Sailing Trip:

On Thursday, September 7^th, at 6:00 pm there is a Grade 9 Sailing information meeting to be held online, through Microsoft Teams. If you are interested in having your grade 9 child attend the Sailing trip that will take place from April 17^th to 21^st, 2024 then please attend this virtual meeting. At this meeting Mr. Smaniotto and Ms. Samuelson will discuss some basic details of the Sailing Trip, and what the next steps are in order to commit to having your child attend this trip. The meeting should take no more than half an hour of your time. To attend the meeting, please use the following link at 6:00 pm on September 7^th. We look forward to seeing you there! https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NmUxZWUxYzUtYjE0OC00N2RiLTgxOWUtMzNiMTMzMzgzMzM1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22ef161387-255a-4777-af36-80b8fce4ee73%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226de81b27-15a4-4a82-a141-2ee529819165%22%7d

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

September 4               Labour Day – School Closed – No Classes

September 5               PE/Complementary Courses Begin

September 7               Soccer Tryouts Begin

                                    Welcome Back BBQ

September 11             Basketball Tryouts

September 15             Terry Fox Run

September 19             School council AGM (6:30-8:30PM) In Person

September 20             Grade 7 Natural Resources Bowness Canoe Trip

September 21             Orientation Night – 6:30-8:00PM

                                    Scholastic Book Fair

September 22             Non-Instructional Day – No School

September 27             Grade 9 Theatre Calgary Trip September 28             Orange Shirt Day

September 19             National Day for Truth & Reconciliation (Lieu) – School Closed

Arbour Lake School Social Media Accounts

Twitter:               @ArbourLake_CBE            Instagram:          arbourlake_cbe