Weekly Message  January 24th

Weekly Message: January 24, 2025 

Important Dates: 

• January 27 Report Cards are available for parents to view online 
• January 30   School Council 6:00 to 7:00 pm 

Join the meeting now  

Meeting ID: 232 087 764 530  

Passcode: iv2hi3hP 

• January 31 PD Day- No school for students. 
• February 11 – Noon – Cut off for applications of Interest to the TLC in the Lottery 
• February 12 – Lottery Day 
• February 12 – Wear red, pink, white. Celebrate kindness, friendship, love.  
• February 13-14 Teacher’s Convention – No school for students 
• February 25 – Healthy Hunger- Last day to order 20 Feb. 2025 

Registration for school Year 2025-2026 begins on 13th January 2025. 

https://chrisakkerman.cbe.ab.ca/register 

 https://www.cbe.ab.ca/registration/registration/Pages/new-students.aspx 

https://www.cbe.ab.ca/support/Pages/SchoolEngage.aspx 

Thank you to all the families who participated in our School Open House on January 23rd Where we had an extraordinarily successful turn-out of families inquiring about the registration process and our Traditional Learning Centre Program. 

All families with Kindergarten aged students and students in grades 1 - 5 are encouraged to fill out an expression of interest for the TLC program.  Current CAS families, with children attending CAS need to fill in an application for younger siblings they hope to attend the school in Kindergarten. They will also need to be included in the lottery process.  

Current Students - Grade Kindergarten to 4 will be enrolled internally to next grade for 2025-2026 school year. 

Current Students - Grade 5 will be transferred internally to Sir Wilfrid Laurier School for 2025-2026 

Confirmation of Enrollment Intent for the 2025-2026 School Year 

As we begin planning for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year, we kindly ask for your assistance in confirming your family’s intentions regarding enrollment at Chris Akkerman School. This information is essential for us to ensure that we are fully prepared to meet the needs of our students and provide the best possible learning environment. 

Please take a moment to let us know if your child will be returning for the 2025-2026 school year. You can confirm your plans by 

 email : Sskawale@cbe.ab.ca/ ChrisAkkerman@cbe.ab.ca 

Your timely response is greatly appreciated and will help us with staffing, classroom assignments, and resource planning for the year ahead. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the enrollment process or your plans for the future, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. 

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child’s education. We look forward to another exciting year at Chris Akkerman School! 

Report Cards 

Report cards will be available on Monday January 27th. It is our understanding that these report cards will be available for viewing for about 2 weeks. Please ensure you print a copy when it is available, so you are able to refer to it over the next few months. It is equally as important to check your child’s Power School account as all teachers put comments and indictors for specific assignments and learning opportunities in this program on an on-going basis throughout the year. This is the most up to date location to reflect on what your child is doing in class every day.  

When the Report Card Comes Home (January 27th) 

School is really hard work!  Report cards are an important resource to reflect on achievement, progress and areas to improve upon. It’s important to make use of this important document before it gets filed away for the year. 

The mid-year report card is especially helpful as there is still plenty of time to make positive changes before June. 

Have an Initial Read: 

• Review the report card in full prior to sitting down with your child. 
• Read the comments and identify successes, celebrations and opportunities for improvement and next steps. 
• See the big picture – remember every year is different and some will be more challenging than others.   

Review with Your Child: 

• Your child will have a lot of insight into what is in their report card.  Ask them what they think about it.  If you are able to have discussions about school as part of your regular family routine during the year, it will help avoid any surprises during report card time. 
• Celebrate their accomplishments and stay positive.  If your child’s report card has lower marks, find areas of success and ensure they are recognized and celebrated. 
• Avoid comparisons with any friends or family – it’s important to stay focused on what is realistic for your child. 

Make a Plan Together: 

• After reviewing the report card, write down the areas of strength and one or two areas that have a next step that can be explored at home.   
• Prepare a follow-up plan with your son or daughter and think about what activities and goals you can set for the rest of the school year.  For example, a realistic goal for home would be to increase the amount of time reading at home, playing a math game before dinner, or writing a response journal entry to a family member once or twice each week.  
• Make realistic goals (even if small) and think about strategies to help improve any organizational skills that might need attention. 
• Parents are partners in their child’s education. Any consistent support you offer your child will be reflected in their academic achievement.  

Should you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s classroom teacher.   

The following CBE Document in the attachment will also help understand the indicators used on the report cards.  

Student Achievement and our School Development Plan for 2024 – 2025 

After examining student data, teachers have identified their need to continue to build a robust body of assessment tasks to measure student learning. This year, our School Development plan states that “Students foundational knowledge of Literacy and Mathematics will improve through intentional assessment practices”.  Currently, teachers are engaging in rich professional learning and Professional Learning Communities where they are building their ability to ask rich questions to guide student learning.  The goal of this is to have a clearer understanding of learners and the next steps that are required of them. 

Extended Absences 

If your family intends to be away from school for more than a week, please schedule an appointment to see Ms. Bauman to sign you off on an extended absence.  We need to work together to ensure that students are supported academically while they are missing class.  The Calgary Board of Education has set the goal to improve student attendance this year, because attendance is the biggest determiner of academic success.  Please bring your travel itinerary, including your child’s flight information (departure and return airline tickets) are now required to document your intended date of return.  

Also, if you are absent for reasons other than a family vacation and plan to be away in June or any part of September, we will need specific documentation of this. For example, if you are returning to your home country for a religious reason, if a family member is ill and you need to care for them, your child is seeking medical attention (in another country) etc. We are now required to document this information if you wish your child to continue to be registered at CAS. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.  

Ms Bauman takes appointments for extended absences at the beginning and end of the school day.  

How-is-My-Child-Doing-in-School.pdf Outstanding Fees: 

Gentle Reminder if there is an outstanding balance on your account kindly make payment as soon as possible. We appreciate your prompt attention to this.  

We know that fee payments can be a financial hardship for some of our families. No child is ever denied access to an education in the CBE because of an inability to pay. Visit our website to learn more about the CBE waiver program.  

If you have difficulties creating / navigating your account, please visit our Technical Support page for additional help.   

Pay fee online here 

Healthy Hunger: 

https://healthyhunger.ca/ 

Register for a Free Parenting Workshop on how to Support your child with ADHD Below: