Principal’s Message:

Announcements:

First Day of School

The first day of school for all students in grades 1-9 is Monday, August 29, 2022, at 8:35 am.

Students in Kindergarten in the Tuesday/Thursday program will begin on Tuesday, August 30. This is a staggered entry/orientation day, not a full day of school. You will receive an email from Mrs. Luchak with more details regarding time and what this all entails.

Students in Kindergarten in the Monday/Wednesday program will begin on Wednesday, August 31. This is a staggered entry/orientation day, not a full day of school. You will receive an email from Mrs. Vande Kraats with more details regarding time and what this all entails.

As has also become a tradition at CCS, we will be taking “First Day of School” pictures again this year!! We will snap a quick pic of your kiddo on their first day of school as a keepsake for you! Your child’s homeroom teacher will send you a digital copy of the photo once they have been uploaded to them.

Construction on New Addition/Entrance to School

The construction of our new addition is moving along, right on schedule! However, “Right on schedule”, does NOT mean completed. The crews have been working hard over the summer to get the additional structure built, with inside and finishing work to be completed within the next couple of months. Due to the construction, we will not have use of the main school doors until completion. Students in Division 1 (grades K-3) should enter through the doors nearest the Auditorium. Students in Division 2 (grades 3/4 & 4-6) should enter at the doors to the right of the main school doors/construction area. Students in Division 3 (grades 7-9) should enter through the junior high/portable entrance- on the far right of the school, walk down the sidewalk/boardwalk past the teacher parking area/playground and enter at the doors where the school building links with the portables.

All parents/visitors are welcome to enter the school at the office doors, to the left of the construction area, by the flag pole.

Welcome Back BBQ – Monday, August 29

We are excited to be able to have a Welcome Back BBQ again this year! Everyone is welcome to join us for supper from 4:30-6:30 pm, on Monday, August 29, the first day of school! Come enjoy some food, check out the addition to the school, meet your child(ren)’s teacher(s), reconnect with old friends, and make new friends in our CCS community!

Doors Locked For Security

We will continue to keep our exterior doors locked during the school day. This is for the safety and security of our staff and students, this is not meant to ”keep parents out.” You are more than welcome to come into the school, please ring the doorbell to the left of the office doors (by the flag pole). When you hear the door click that means it has been unlocked and you can enter the building.

Attendance

Attendance is taken two times throughout our school day. Once before classes begin in the morning, and once when they begin after lunch. If your child will be absent or late, please call (780-986-8353) or email ([email protected]) the school office to let us know. The cut-off for the office to enter absences is 8:55 am and 12:45 pm. If we do not have confirmation of your child’s absence by those times, you will receive a text/phone call and possibly an email letting you know to please contact the school to verify their absence.

Celebration

We hold weekly assemblies, which we call Celebration. We alternate between Wednesday and Thursday mornings each month so our kindergarten students are each able to join us every other month.

Our first Celebration Assembly will be held on Wednesday, August 31 at 8:35 am. All parents are welcome to join us to kick off the new school year!

NO Early Dismissal

Another change for this year! There will NOT be any early dismissal days this year.

2022-2023 Cell Phone Policy

In the spring of last year, we began to do a hard look at the current cell phone policy we have at CCS. This came from a variety of serious issues in and around our community with cell phone use. Over the last four months, we have polled parents, and staff researched what other schools do in and around the division, and looked at a variety of articles that showed the impact of cell phones in class. 

An example of this would be a 2014 study called “in-situ study of mobile phone notifications” that stated that the average teen receives 63.5 notifications per school day, a stat that is obviously outdated by 8 years. In an event last year at school, a confiscated phone had 47 Snapchat notifications within 90 minutes of being on my desk. 

But here lies the tricky thing for Christian educators. As any digital citizen, students need to learn how to handle this technology responsibility as they move into High School and adulthood. As they learn about discerning idols in their lives, phones can be a huge one to think about! A responsibility we do not take for granted. 

In our data from parents, over 74% felt that we needed to become more strict on our cell phone policy. Some comments from these stated: 

“Knowing the research on the negative impact on mood, relationships, and performance caused by smartphone use (esp social media) in kids and adolescents, I would FULLY support limited-to-no tolerance for any cell phones on school grounds. Students have access to a phone through the school at all times, there is no need for a device to be able to communicate with parents or others throughout the day.”

“Although personal responsibility is great, most teens are too immature and don’t have the self-images to exercise this. Some do and that’s great but probably not most. Phones can be highly addictive and if most adults struggle with it, I could see that being harder for teens.”

 “Phone addiction is a huge problem! I don’t know if most kids at this age have the self-control to not reach for their phones during class time so I think that having them locked up during class time is the best option. If parents really need to get ahold of kids they can call the office.”

Our staff percentages were similar, and the anecdotal responses from school resource officers helped solidify our findings.

One resource officer listed off just a few of the illegal activities taking place in the month of June because of cell phone use in schools: 

• Students taking videos and pics of other students in the bathroom, and posting on Snapchat.
• Students making audio recordings of test reviews and listening to it while taking a test.
• Students continually take out their phones in the locker room while students are changing.
• Students taking pictures in the classroom of other students without permission and posting on social media.
• Students taking pictures of teachers and putting them on Tik-Tok and rating them.
• Students taking pictures and videos of student outfits and rating them on Tik-Tok.

As you can see, the issues can be vast, and all of these take away from the learning that your child needs to do at school.

Since our core purpose is to create flourishing learners, who delight in God and are inspired to serve, we have decided we need to enhance our cell phone policy for this purpose. Please see the attached official policy below. 

While change can be difficult, please know that time, effort, prayer, thought, and research was put into this policy.

Junior High Retreat

We are excited to be able to once again go on our fall Junior High Retreat! This is for all students in grades 7-9 and we will be looking for some parent volunteers to join us. We will travel out to Sunset Point at Alberta Beach (September 14 & 15) for two days of community building! If you would like to join us on this amazing adventure, you will need to submit a recent (within the last 12 months) Criminal Record Check and Child Welfare Intervention Check. Apply NOW as it can take quite some time to receive the paperwork back. Please contact the office for more details on how to apply for these documents.

Permission forms and fees for this field trip will be available on PowerSchool during the first week of school.

Black Gold Busing for 2022-2023

If you have applied for Black Gold bussing through PowerSchool, you should be able to find information now on your child’s route. You can find route information for your child by going to this site:  https://bgrs.mybusplanner.ca.  You will need to create an account and will need the student ID from PowerSchool in order to access the information along with your home house address.  For rural Black Gold bus students, you will receive a phone call from your bus driver prior to school starting with an exact pick-up time.  

New Bell Schedule

We have made a few changes to the schedule for this year including starting classes 5 minutes sooner and moving our lunch break to be earlier in the day.

Lost & Found

We will post weekly pictures of our lost and found. If you see something that is your child’s, please have them stop by the table and pick it up or let the office know.

Athletics:

We are looking forward to a full schedule of sports teams this year!!

There will be tryouts for a school golf team next week! More details to come!

LSCE News:

Executive Meeting Update

The first Society Executive meeting for the 2022/2023 school year was held on Monday evening, August 22. Here are some highlights from our meeting:

• Welcome Back BBQ – August 29: After a long hiatus, LSCE will once again host the “Welcome Back” BBQ on Monday, August 29, from 4:30-6:30 pm. Grab some food, meet the staff, see the classrooms, and visit with some new (and not-so-new) friends!
• Addition Update: As you will see on the first day of school, the construction of our addition is in full swing. We are happy to report that construction is currently on schedule. Thanks to our new Facilities Manager, Curtis Plitt, for his hard work over the summer months managing this project for us!
• Executive Transitioning: We are happy to report that Karen Hofstra and Niki Underschultz will continue as co-chairs for the upcoming year. We decided not to appoint a vice-chair this year, given the co-chair structure that we are using. One of our new members, Ryan Abel, will be taking over as Treasurer and Finance committee liaison. The Executive liaisons for our remaining committees will be as follows, effective September 1:

• Public Relations: Deborah Olthof
• Transportation: Karen Hofstra
• Fundraiser: Niki Underschultz
• Facilities: Karla Strauss
• Preschool: Emily Barnard

Thanks again to our outgoing Executive members – Leon Burgess, Curtis Plitt, and Jason Robinson – for their dedicated service to the Society over the years. God bless you!

• Call for new committee members!: All of our committees are looking for new members. Each committee typically meets once per month, with meetings running 1 to 2 hours long. If volunteering on any of our committees interests you, please reach out to our Society Administrator, Lisa Gatzke.

Davison Orchard Fundraising Opportunity

Welcome back everyone! I am excited to announce that we are once again doing our Davison Orchards apple fundraiser this year.

Please follow this link to place your order. All orders and payments must be submitted by 9 am on September 7. Pick up will be September 20, keep your eye on the Chronicle for more information about time and place. 

Calendar:

August:

• 29 – First Day of Classes
• 29 – Welcome Back BBQ (4:30-6:30 pm)
• 30 – Kindergarten Tu/Th Staggered Entry
• 31 – Kindergarten Mon/Wed Staggered Entry

September:

• 5 – Labour Day – No School
• 7 – Davison Orchards Apple Orders/Payments Due
• 14-15 – Junior High Retreat
• 16 – PD Day – No School
• 20 – Davison Orchards Apple Pick Up
• 30 – National Day for Truth & Reconciliation – No School

Community Events:

Please click on the image below to learn more about community events in our area! Also found under our Parents menu on the website.

Odds & Ends:

Sign In/Out Form:

In an effort to reduce the amount of shared touched surfaces, we will be using a QR code that you will need to scan with your phone for signing in and out of the school. You can also use this link if you are in your vehicle and need to sign out a student but can’t scan the code. This means that students/parents/visitors can scan the QR code when entering or leaving the office/school to sign in or sign out on their own phone/device.

Parents will also be able to sign their kids out from their vehicle in the parking lot when they arrive to pick them up for appts. etc. please use the link above if you can’t scan the QR code. We do ask that parents pull into a spot (not bus lane) where you can contact the office to let them know you have arrived and we can make eye contact with you
from the staff/office door. Students must also stop by the office before leaving the school. At that point, once a connection is made, we are able to send students out to you.

Facebook Page:

Check out our Facebook page for more highlights of happenings at CCS by clicking here.