Good afternoon Balmoral families,

Saturday September 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day honours the children who never returned home and the survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. At Balmoral School we will wear orange on September 28 to remember the inter-generational impacts of residential schools and raise awareness towards every child matters.

Calgary Board of Education Schools will be closed on September 29 in lieu of September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.  CBE students, staff and their families and friends are invited to join an event being hosted by the City of Calgary in partnership with the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District. The third annual ceremonial opening is taking place on Sept. 30 from 9-10:30 a.m. at Fort Calgary (750 9th Ave SE). This year's gathering will include a smudge tent, in-person Indigenous speakers and performers, an aerial salute ceremony, and other events. The events will also include an intertribal dance demonstration featuring Indigenous students from the CBE and CCSD. Participants are encouraged to wear orange.

Following the YYC, CBE & CCSD event, all are invited to join the Pokaiks – The Children Commemorative Annual Walk and Gathering 2023. The walk will begin at 11 a.m. at City Hall (15-minute walk from Fort Calgary or 2-minute drive) and continue to Shaw Millenium Park (30-minute walk). The walk will be followed by drumming/dancing, Indigenous community speakers, artisan booths, and food sales.

IMPORTANT: School bus AM time change

Due to increased traffic flow we have noticed that our school busses are arriving closer to the bell than before.  This has resulted in consistent delays to the start of our day as students gather materials and prepare for class.  As of September 27, bus times for pick-up will be altered by Southland Transportation so that students are at school and ready to learn at 7:55am.  This will result in ALL morning pick-up times being 10 minutes earlier.

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

School Council Update

Thank you to all parents who attended our first School Council meeting and AGM yesterday. It was great to see many familiar and new faces.  While some meetings will be virtual this year, yesterday evening and our next parent council night will be in person. We would like to welcome (and welcome back) the following members of school council:

Co-Chairs – Sonal Ejner and Mark Zipprick

Vice-Chair – Haider Saeed

Secretary – Savannah Li

Treasurer – Gopal Kapur

Volunteer coordinator – Wajeeha Saeed

Key Communicator – Jill Dextrase

Fundraising coordinators – Monica Kapur and Sidra Zaki

Colonel Sanders liaison – Jill Dextrase

Casino chair – Jill Dextrase

Participating in School Council is a great way to become more involved in decision-making and providing valuable feedback that benefits all students at Balmoral.

School Council meetings will be on the first THURSDAY of each month, except for October and January. The next meeting is on Thursday, November 2 @ 6:30pm.

Please SAVE THE DATE for our upcoming casino – November 21 and 22! We will need MANY volunteers for these days. Volunteers must be 18 years of age and a police clearance is NOT required for this commitment. A sign up link will be sent out shortly for casino shifts.

Staffing Updates

As of September 25, Mr. Neibrandt will be taking over Mr. Brophy’s teaching assignment at the school. Mr. Brophy has accepted a Learning Leader position at another CBE school, and we thank him for his service to Balmoral and wish him all the best.

We would like to welcome Ms. Ashley Ho who will be taking over Mr. Neibrandt’s teaching assignment in Grade 6. Ms. Ho completed her student teaching here at Balmoral and we welcome her to the Balmoral team. Ms. Ho was also a student at Balmoral in her junior high days and has a personal connection to the school. Please welcome her to her new role.

Terry Fox Run

On September 21, Balmoral school held its annual Terry Fox run during the students Physical Education class. We will not be accepting donations at the school! Below is our school specific link to donate if families wish to donate online. The online donation link will be open until the end of October.

 https://schools.terryfox.ca/31345

Please reach out to Mr. Guenther at teguenther@cbe.ab.ca if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!

Debate and Speech Club

Is your child interested in developing their public speaking, confidence, and writing skills? Are they interested in trying something new? If so, Ms. Ho, Ms. Melissa and Ms. Rahman are running the Balmoral Speech and Debate Club! Students will attend weekly lunch time meetings, where they will work on learning the rules of speech and debate, and practicing their skills with their peers. This club is open to ALL grades! For grades 7/8/9, there may be some tournament opportunities, depending on student interest. If you have any questions or if your child is interested in joining (and did not attend the initial meeting on Wednesday September 7th), email Ms. Melissa at meletourneau@cbe.ab.ca

Student Voice Council elections

All students interested in running for our Student Voice Council are reminded that the deadline for applications is September 28. Elections will be held for the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Grade Officer positions. Elections will

We are proud of ALL of our students who are running for a position. Regardless of the result, all students will be invited to join a sub-committee under the Student Voice Council, to help plan events and raise school spirit.

School Forms Now Online

We are pleased to inform all parents that SOME school forms have transitioned online to your MYCBE account

The following forms can be found in your MYCBE account – scroll to the tab that says “online forms and school registration” in the menu field

1. Student Demographic Forms
2. Authorization Forms – Consents for CBE and Media

Please access your MYCBE account to complete these important forms before September 15, 2023.

For help in accessing your MYCBE account see our support page.

For new families to the CBE:

New families to the CBE and Balmoral School will need to create a MYCBE Account.

Follow the following instructions to retrieve your student CBE ID number in your SchoolEngage account.

You will need your email address on file at the school, as well as the student’s CBE ID. This can be found on the SchoolEngage student profile for families that registered their child using SchoolEngage. 

For a visual guide on how to find the CBE ID within SchoolEngage, refer to SchoolEngage CBE Student ID

See our support page for instructions on signing up for a MyCBE account or accessing an existing account.

Your MyCBE account is used as long as your child remains at CBE from kindergarten to Grade 12, so please register with an email that will be active during this period.

If you require financial assistance, please apply online through Powerschool. Field trips or extracurricular athletic fees will be added to your account throughout the year.

Important dates:

• September 28 – Orange Shirt Day at school
• September 29 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (no school)
• October 9 – Thanksgiving Day (no school)
• October 20 – Non-instructional Day (no school for students)

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

Regards,

Balmoral Administration