Good afternoon Balmoral families,

Please read the information below carefully, as these weekly newsletters contain reminders and updates that are relevant for many students and families.

An email regarding the upcoming casino and volunteer shifts was sent earlier – please consider signing up for a shift! We raise over $60,000 for the school through the casino and we need many volunteers to make it a success.

Healthy Hunger Fun Lunches

Most of our fun lunch dates are available for ordering on the Healthy Hunger website:

https://healthyhunger.ca/index.php

Please note that you must register your child each year on the website (ensure you know your child’s homeroom and teacher), and then you can place orders.

Our first fun lunch dates are Wednesday, October 25 (Grades 5+6) and Thursday, October 26 (Grades 7+8+9) and the restaurant is SUBWAY. The ordering deadline is always 5 days before the fun lunch date, so order early and don’t miss out!

Spring 2024 Quebec Trip for Grades 8 and 9 students

As you may know, we are hoping to offer a week-long trip to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City in the Spring 2024. So far, we have only received 12 Expressions of Interest from Grade 9 families for the trip. We need a minimum of 30 students to be able to offer the trip.

Therefore, we are opening up spots on the trip to GRADE 8 students, and extending the deadline for interest forms. If we do not receive at least 30 interest forms, unfortunately we will not be able to offer the trip this year. The extended deadline for interest forms is October 31.

The expression of interest form is attached here:

Quebec parent intro letter.pdf 

If you have any questions about the trip, please email Mme. Turner at jlturner@cbe.ab.ca.

Halloween at School

Students are permitted to dress up in their costumes for school on October 31. Masks and weapons are NOT permitted as part of student costumes. There will be some fun community-building activities at school this day – more information to come.

School Conferences

Our first parent-teacher conferences will take place on November 23 and 24, at the following times:

Thursday, November 23 (4:00pm – 8:00pm) – IN PERSON

Friday, November 24 (8:00am – 2:00pm) – ONLINE

You will be able to book a 10-minute time slot with each teacher you wish to meet. More information and the booking link will be shared in the coming weeks.

Next School Council Meeting – November 2

The next school council and parent society meeting will be held on Thursday, November 2 at 6:30pm. This meeting will be held IN PERSON at Balmoral School. We encourage all parents to attend and be part of important decision making that impacts all students.

Parent Focus Group Invitation from Alberta Education

On Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, Alberta Education will host a focus group with the intention of seeking feedback from parents. The focus group will meet from 7 - 8:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Purpose: To collect insight from a parent perspective to update the old “My Child's Learning: A Parent Resource" website into a brand new space that will be hosted on new.LearnAlberta.ca. 

10 – 12 parents will be identified from metro, urban and rural school divisions, representing children of varying grade ranges (K-12) to participate in this focus group. 

It will remain open until Monday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. 

Alberta Education Focus Group - Expression of Interest to Participate

School bus notifications

Please ensure you are signed up for the My Bus Monitor notification emails for the most up to date information. The link is below. You must enter your email address and select your child’s bus route (AM and PM) to receive email notifications about bus delays, etc.

https://www.myschoolbusmonitor.ca/ParentLoginNew.aspx

Important dates:

• October 20 – Non-instructional day (no school for students)
• October 31 – Halloween celebrations
• November 6 to 8 – Grade 7 Band Camp
• November 9 to 14 – Fall Break (no school for students)
• November 20-23 – Grade 9 Camp Evergreen
• November 23 – Parent Teacher Conferences (4pm-8pm, in-person)
• November 24 – Parent Teacher Conferences (8am-2pm, online)

If you have any questions or concerns, please call the school office.

Regards,

Balmoral Administration