Dear Balmoral Families,

It has been a great September at Balmoral School! We have participated in the Terry Fox Run, provided learning opportunities about Indigenous culture and history connected to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, started our soccer, cross country and basketball seasons, held our Meet the Teacher evening, held our first School Council meeting, and learning is off to a great start! I am writing now to provide some reminders and important information for this school year. Regular communication will happen through our Balmoral Weekly Updates, typically sent out at the end of each week. If you would like to become more engaged in our school, communication has been sent out in the coming weeks about our parent-run School Council, and I encourage you to attend our meetings.

We have some exciting changes at our school this year. We welcome new teachers Mughda Khatu, Nada Shaban, Tyson Lundquist, Melissa Letourneau, Munesah Rahman, and Ashley Ho. We also welcome new Education Assistant Azra Tauseef.

Much will remain the same too. We are still home to the Traditional Learning Centre (TLC) program and our students continue to come to us from the same communities. Many of our processes and routines will stay the same as we move into the coming year. Below, I will provide some detail on these processes and routines to ensure we have a smooth school year.
We follow the CBE Traditional Calendar. School bell times can be found on our website. Grade 5 and 6 Students will be provided supplies and students in grades 7-9 are expected to bring the basic supplies to school. Teachers have been in touch with supply lists. Please, if you drive your children to or from school, do not enter the staff parking lot, do not block the bus zones on the North side of the school (safety hazard for the bus drivers) or block our neighbours driveways (makes them frustrated). Please do not make illegal u-turns in our community and watch carefully for students crossing the roads.

School Routines

Common expectations and predictable routines are an important part of a Welcoming, Caring, Respectful and Safe learning environment. We appreciate your support in helping your children contribute to a positive space for all children to learn. While we follow all CBE Administrative Regulations, and the Education Act, the following rules represent some key areas that, through clear communication and consistent administration, we feel help make Balmoral an excellent place to learn. We will continue to learn and grow as a school community and communicate any changes in expectations clearly to family members.

Student Attendance

Regular attendance in an important factor in success in school. Frequent lateness and absence results in missed learning opportunities, and disrupts the rhythms of the classroom. If your child will be late or absent, please call the school attendance line. Late students come to the office for a late slip, so we can keep accurate attendance. We know that a number of barriers can result in lateness (including bussing) and absence. If your child misses school often, we will reach out to see how we can support you and child to help them attend school more regularly.

Student Cell Phone Policy – AWAY FOR THE DAY

Students are not allowed, at any point, to have a cell phone in a classroom or learning environment. This includes in pockets or bags. Cell phones, if brought to school, are to remain in student lockers during class time. If, at any point, Balmoral staff become aware that a student has a cell phone in a classroom, the student will be directed to bring their phone to the office for the remainder of the day. The first time this occurs, the student will be allowed to pick it up at the end of the day. If it happens again, we will keep the phone in the office until a parent or guardian is able to come pick it up. Please support your children in following this rule by not contacting them during class time. If you have an urgent need to contact your child during class time, please call the office and we can page them to take your call on the student phone in the office.

Uniform Policy

Students in the Traditional Learning Centre program follow the CBE TLC Student Uniform Requirements. Monday through Thursdays, TLC students wear the TLC uniform. Fridays, TLC students are allowed to wear non-uniform casual clothes. The Balmoral School hoodie can be worn OVER the uniform when a student is feeling cold (it is not a substitute for the TLC uniform).

New Curriculum – Grades 5 and 6

This year, across the province, students in Grades 5 and 6 will be learning newly developed curriculum in English Language Arts and Mathematics. In some cases, there will be overlap with material students have learned in Kindergarten - Grade 4. In other cases, they will be learning entirely new material. We know some will find this difficult, and are ready to support your students in this transition here at school, and appreciate you helping to support them at home during this time of transition. We will all be learning it together, and together we can help our students adapt and continue to learn and grow in their education.

We are all enjoying this school year, and the opportunity to connect with and get to know all of our students, new and returning, and their families. Thank you all for being an important part of our school community, and please stay in touch regularly so that we can work together to achieve success for each student.

Rakhee Vijairaghavan
Principal, Balmoral School