Happy Sunday, Grizzly families!
Did you know that attendance is expected each and every day? Even Fridays, which dismiss at noon, are designed for important learning, including Grizzly Den time, which is focused on community building. I have heard some reports that students and parents don’t see Friday’s four-hours as worth the effort to go to school. This is difficult to hear, especially given the legal obligation of parents to send their children to school. It is also difficult to hear given the amount of instructional time this adds up to. To add to that, some of these same students talk about not feeling connected to school. On Fridays during Grizzly Den (homeroom), we focus on building community and making connections to our COURAGE model. How ironic that we use this time to help students to connect and yet they don’t feel connected because they don’t attend! To top that off, if your child is absent every Friday, the total number of instructional hours missed is 160 hours, or the equivalent of 29 days of instruction! Given that an average month has 20 instructional days, this means that missing each Friday equals missing almost one and a half months of learning! This would total about 16% absentee rate, and that wouldn’t even include actual sick days, medical/dental appointments, or observance of religious events. During that last several opportunities I have had to speak to large groups of parents and guardians, I have stressed my role in working to increase student achievement and well-being. Each day your child misses puts them in a deficit. Parents and guardians play a significant role in helping the staff of Annie Gale create the best academic and social outcomes for your children. Please, send your children to school each day they are healthy. Your children deserve every chance they can get to improve their learning and well-being.
Who can attend home games? Last week we hosted our first basketball home game of the season, and we learned some things that we want to share with all families so that they understand what is expected of our students. As a school, we love to have Grizzly student fans support our teams and we welcome them to join us for games, though we have some qualifications they must meet in order to attend. To start with, on the day of the game, the student must have perfect attendance (no unexcused lates or absences in any period). If they have a late (L) or absent (A) listed by their name on our attendance, they will not be permitted to attend. If they know in advance that an error was made, then they must have it fixed prior to the doors opening for the game. We only have the attendance sheets to reference and we do not have time to confirm or debate an L or and A on the sheet with individual students. This means that it’s up to the student to ensure that the attendance sheet is cleared by the day’s end. New this year, is that we will not be allowing entry to our students who were paged to the office at any time during the week of the game. Students are paged to the office when they are out of their classroom without permission or out for longer than five minutes. Another item to note is that students will not be permitted entry after the game starts and they will only be able to attend the first game of the night, unless accompanied by their parent or guardian. This allows the administration present to focus supervision on the athletes and spectators in the gym. Minding the door takes us away for our role of supervisors in the gym. With that in mind, it’s important to note that our games are NOT public events. Our games are only for parents/guardians of athletes and our current students. Older siblings and other family members will not be permitted unless they are attending with a parent or legal guardian. Students who attend other schools will also not be permitted to enter. These expectations exist at all schools, including Annie Gale.
Did you know?
- NEW: Parents and guardians have responsibilities to support schools. Demographic verification forms are a legal requirement from Alberta Education for funding purposes. If forms are not in, we risk not receiving adequate funding for your child.
- NEW: Congratulations to the students and staff who competed in flag football over a week ago during Grizzly Den. The weather was magnificent, and the players and spectators had a great time.
- NEW: Due to the large number of outside visitors (parents/guardians and student fans) we no longer will allow entrance to our Annie Gale Alumni, or former students. If you have former Grizzlies in your home, they are only able to attend games if their parent/guardian is with them.
- NEW: As the weather starts to get colder, we will be hosting more lunchtime clubs. Students can check the TV in the foyer for more information, but I will also include clubs in our weekly events below.
- REPEAT: Our next council meeting date is Thursday, October 24.
WEEKLY EVENTS: OCTOBER 21 TO OCTOBER 25
Monday, October 21
Lunch Clubs: Chess (room 26); D&D (room 34)
2:45 – 3:45 | Senior Boys Basketball Practice
3:45 – 4:45 | Junior Boys Basketball Practice
Initial game at 4:30 PM has been rescheduled to Wednesday
4:30 – 6:30 | Junior Girls Basketball Games at Prairie Sky School
Tuesday, October 22
Lunch Clubs: Fitness (stage); Games (room 25); Knitting (room 9); Reading (7)
2:45 – 3:45 | Boys Soccer Practice
2:45 – 3:45 | Junior Girls Basketball Practice
3:45 – 4:45 | Senior Girls Basketball Practice
4:30 – 5:50 | Girls Soccer Finals vs. Terry Fox School @ Annie Gale
6:30 – 8:30 | Jr. Boys Basketball Games at Terry Fox School
Wednesday, October 23
Lunch Clubs: Fitness (stage); D&D (room 34)
2:45 – 3:45 | Junior Boys Basketball Practice
3:45 – 4:45 | Senior Boys Basketball Practice
4:30 – 5:50 | Boys Soccer Finals at Annie Gale
4:30 – 6:30 | Senior Girls Basketball Games at Crossing Park School
Thursday, October 24
Lunch Clubs: Chess (room 26); Science Fair (room 21)
2:45 – 3:45 | Senior Girls Basketball Practice
3:45 – 4:45 | Junior Girls Basketball Practice
4:30 – 5:30 | Senior Boys Basketball Game at Ted Harrison School
Friday, October 25 – Non-Instruction Day – NO SCHOOL
Sincerely,
Tammy Quiring
(proud) Principal
INFORMATION FROM SCHOOL COUNCIL
Hello Annie Gale Parents,
We are looking to fill the secretary position on our school council and our fundraising society PESA (PARENTS ENCOURAGING SUCCESS ASSOCIATION) for the current school year of 2024 to June 2025. The description of the secretary role is provided below, so if that is something that interests you, please send us an email at anniegalepesa@gmail.com or ruminakhan80@yahoo.ca; alternatively, you can come join us at our next meeting on Thursday, Oct 24th.
Secretary role: The school council secretary typically acts as a recorder at each meeting and ensures that the meeting minutes are prepared accurately to reflect the directions agreed to at the meeting. They can be handwritten at the meeting and then typed up and sent through email to the executives to view. This is a single volunteer position and only requires an hour and 30 minutes of your time once a month.
Thank you,
Rumina Cruz
Chair (School Council/PESA)
Annie Gale School