Good afternoon Balmoral families

Please ensure you monitor your inbox for email from the CBE regarding CUPE strike action. This is impacting school activities every day. Please reach out to school administration with any specific questions or concerns you have.

For all information about labour action, please visit the labour action web page.

A reminder that Monday, March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day – students are invited to wear GREEN clothing this day! If they do not want to wear green, they must wear their uniform.

ONLINE Parent-Teacher Conferences bookings open TODAY at 4pm

Due to the ongoing labour action, all parent-teacher conferences will be held ONLINE. Conferences are 10 minutes for Grades 6-9 teachers and 15 minutes for Grade 5 teachers. The times are as follows:

Thursday, March 20 from 4pm – 8pm

Friday, March 21 from 8am – 2pm

Conference bookings will open on MARCH 14 at 4:00pm for parents. Bookings are made through your MyCBE account – please sign in and click on the link for School Conferences to sign up for a time. Once you sign up for a conference, please monitor your email for the Teams link to join the online conference.

MyCBE link to sign in: MyCBE

If you need any support to book a conference, please call the school office next week.

You can also follow this guide.

Staffing Update

We have a staffing change for some Grade 8/9 classes. March 21 will be Ms. Pitei’s last day at Balmoral School. She will conduct the online parent teacher interviews on March 20 and 21. After Spring Break. Ms. Burnham will be taking over this teaching assignment until Ms. Wright returns from her maternity leave on May 20. Ms. Burnham has successfully completed previous temporary teaching contracts at Balmoral and we are grateful to her for stepping in during this transition time.

We understand having multiple teachers can be challenging for students. We are working closely with Ms. Burnham and Mr. Hajj to ensure consistency in instruction and assessment in all Humanities 8 classes, as well as Mme. Turner for FSL 9 classes, and curriculum is aligned until the end of the school year. We appreciate the students’ and families’ understanding during the transition.

Badminton Season is Postponed

Due to the ongoing labour action, we are not permitted to begin any new after school activities or events. Therefore, the competitive team badminton season is postponed for now. We are running a mini-badminton tournament at lunch through intramurals next week. Students have had the opportunity to sign up this week and we may allow spectators in the gym at lunch to watch, as long as the gym is kept clean. If successful, we may run a second mini-tournament after spring break as well. We will keep you posted if we have any new information about the badminton season.

Cultural Foods Bake Sales – April

The Spring season brings many dates of significance for cultures around the world. Some of these include Eid-al-Fitr, Holi, Vaisakhi, Songkran, Ridvan, Yom Hashoah, Easter, and many others. To recognize these days, we are inviting students to make/bake treats for sale at lunch for the following days:

April 2 – Grade 5

April 9 – Grade 6

April 16 – Grade 7

April 23 – Grades 8 and 9

Please watch your email for a Microsoft Form the week before your child’s grade above. The form will ask you to provide information, including ingredients, for the treats you are sending. We would love to see some treats that celebrate the diversity of cultures at our school. This is an OPTIONAL activity for students, and hopefully we will have lots of diverse treats to share!

Treats will be on sale in the school cafeteria at lunch on the days above (cash only, about $2 per treat). Money raised will go to Brown Bagging for Kids, a charity that provides food for students at schools. If you have any questions about this event, please email Ms. Boyd at caboyd@cbe.ab.ca

School Planning Engagement

We know we make better decisions to support student learning when we build understanding and work together. That’s why we’ll be sharing information about school planning and asking you to share your perspectives.

During this engagement, you will have the opportunity to participate in the planning process for the 2025-26 school year.

  • Watch this short video to learn about the planning work schools do to improve and support student learning.
  • Visit our school website to see our School Development Plan and School Fees information.
  • Share your perspectives through an online survey open from March 7 to March 31. SURVEY LINK

Thank you for your participation in this engagement – we appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

Reminder about Cell Phones at School

Please remind your child that cell phones are NOT permitted at school. We are finding that many students have their phones in their pockets during class, and they are tempted to use them throughout the day. We recommend that any phones brought to school are kept locked up in student lockers, so that students can focus on their learning. Any phones found during the day are confiscated and keep securely in the office for pick up at the end of the day.

We do have a student phone in the office that students can use anytime if they wish to call someone. Thank you for your support in enforcing this school policy.

Online Balmoral School Store is open again!

We have re-opened the online store for one more opportunity to order Balmoral School gear! You can order a crewneck sweatshirt, t-shirt, shorts, sweatpants, and NEW this year – a PINK Balmoral anti-bullying t-shirt! Please see the link below and place your orders before March 28:

Balmoral Student Store Spring 2025 | Sportfactor | powered by OrderMyGear

Please pay attention to the sizing when ordering – there are NO refunds or exchanges.

Orders will arrive at school about 6 weeks after the store closing date, and we will distribute them to students. Please note this is LAST opportunity to order Balmoral gear this school year – we will re-open the store again in Fall 2025.

Scholastic Book Fair

We are happy to announce our annual book fair dates! This book fair will be held March 17 - 21 (Monday to Friday) from 7:45 – 11:45 am each day. Students will be able to visit the book fair with their class at a designated time or come to the Learning Commons with their teacher’s permission during the week. Parents are welcome to come to school to shop in person in the mornings if they wish during our regular school hours – please sign in at the office if you come by.

If a student purchases a book, they will get a free bookmark or pencil and their name will be entered into the daily draw for some great prizes! All money raised helps us buy new books for our Learning Commons. Thank you for your ongoing support of literacy at Balmoral School.

Healthy Hunger Fun Lunches

A reminder that the deadline for all fun lunches is always 5 days before the lunch date. The next Healthy Hunger lunch is from Mary Browns on these dates:

  • April 1 for Grades 5/6
  • April 2 for Grades 7/8/9

School Council Fundraising

Thank you all for your support during this school year in fundraising efforts for the betterment of our school.  We rely on your generosity and support and ask for it again for the upcoming events we have planned for our students!

If you have any bottles laying around that you can spare, Sunridge Bottle Depot and Balmoral School Council have united to create a bottle drive! Their new program offers in home pick service - no need for drop off. Use the link attached - in additional information use “Balmoral School” as a code so they know where funds should be allocated. Thank you for your support!

The Pickle Jar Menu

Important Dates

  • March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – wear green!
  • March 19 – Buddy Day activities (PM)
  • March 20 – Parent-Teacher conferences ONLINE (evening)
  • March 21 – Parent-Teacher conferences ONLINE (daytime – no school for students)
  • March 24 to 28 – Spring Break
  • March 28 – Online Balmoral School store ordering deadline
  • March 31 – Classes resume
  • April 1 – Fun lunch for Grades 5/6
  • April 2 – Fun lunch for Grades 7/8/9
  • April 4 – Grade 7 Band Festival field trip


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


Regards,

Balmoral Administration