Olympic Heights Update – Sept. 15

 

Great turnout at first School Council & Parents Assoc. meeting

It was great to see so many parents and community members come out last night to our first School Council and Parents Association meeting of the school year. Thank you to our Learning Leaders – Kelly Riegert, Melissa McNeil, and Dominique Borrelli – for attending the meeting and presenting about literacy, mathematics, and well-being focuses for this year. If you were not able to attend the meeting, the minutes will always be posted on our School Council webpage for reference. Thank you as well to our new chair, Tori Wright, and co-chair, Sumantra Ghosh, for organizing and running a fantastic kick-off meeting! Last, but not least, gratitude to all our families who took time from their busy schedules to share their thoughts and ideas. We appreciate it! Our next meeting will be on October 19, 2023.

 

Learning Conferences

Our first round of learning conferences will be on Thursday, September 21, from 4:00 - 8:00 PM, and Friday, September 22, from 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM. We believe that parents know their child the best and this first learning conferences is a great opportunity to share information about strengths and celebrations as well as challenges and needs.

The booking system will be opening today, September 15, at 4:00 PM, and will close next Friday at 8:00 AM. Time slots will be 15 minutes per student, however, families with students supported by an Individual Program Plan (IPP) are encouraged to connect with their child’s teacher to arrange a 30-minute time slot. If you feel a language interpreter would support your conversation with your child’s teacher, please reach out to them to have this arranged. We will be holding two more rounds of learning conferences this year, in November and March. Conferences can be booked through your MyCBE account. See you next week!

 

Terry Fox Run

Our school continues to be a dedicated supporter of the Terry Fox Run, entering our fourth decade of support! We believe that Terry Fox is a true Canadian Hero who demonstrated the qualities of perseverance, resilience, and selflessness while waging his own personal battle against cancer. Through nurturing these qualities in our students, we hope that they might be better equipped to succeed as they face many small and large challenges in their lives.

On September 20 at 1:00 PM, we will kick off our Terry Fox School Run with an assembly welcoming guest speaker Natalie Kwadrans, former member of the Canadian Olympic Snowboard team and now Terry Fox Team Ambassador. A course approximately 0.5 km in length will be marked on the school field. Participants will complete as many circuits of the field as they feel comfortable with and collect a popsicle stick after each circuit is complete. We are asking families to donate online to the Terry Fox Foundation at www.terryfoxrun.org and search for Olympic Heights School. Or click this link! Donations will be accepted until Friday, September 29th. Kindergarten morning classes will run with their older buddies in the morning. Although our four-legged friends are members of the family, please do not bring them onto the school field because we must abide by the City of Calgary bylaws. Thanks to everyone for supporting this important event.   

 

“Even if I don’t’ finish, we need others to continue. It’s got to keep going without me”. - Terry Fox

 

Emergency Drills

We held our first emergency drill of the year on Thursday afternoon and our students did great! The building was evacuated in under one minute in an efficient and orderly manner. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and these drills are essential for our emergency preparedness. We conduct a total of six fire drills each year, with the first one being announced to ensure an orderly evacuation. We also practice two lockdown drills each year as well, with one in the fall and one in the spring. These lockdown drills are scheduled and supervised by Calgary Police Service, in partnership with the CBE. We will share further information about our first lockdown drill once we have heard from CPS. Thank you!

 

MRU Teacher Candidates at OHS

We are excited to welcome four Mount Royal University teacher candidates to participate in their practicum experiences with us! Currently, these pre-service teachers will be helping out in Grades 2, 3, 4, and 5, on the occasional Friday, and then for five weeks in November and December. Welcome to OHS!

 

Apple Fundraiser

Back by popular demand, the Olympic Heights Parents Association is pleased to announce that we will be running the Apple Fundraiser again this year! We have partnered up with Sun-Oka Fruit Farms, an award-winning Okanagan orchard to sell their delicious farm-fresh apples. This century-old family farm has won all kinds of major awards for their fruit including the prize for growing the best apples in Canada for eight straight years. Order deadline is October 8th. Delivery will be in mid-October and pick up will be at the school. If you have any questions please contact Shannon Gillett at shannonwhalan@gmail.com.

You can purchase your apples here: https://fundraising.sunokafruit.com/s/olympicheightsschoolcouncil

 

School Apparel

The Olympic Heights School Council and Parent Association have partnered with a new design company - Fresh Brand Co. - to bring in a new selection of OHS school apparel! The apparel pop-up shop is open for the 2023-2024 school year if you have an interest in ordering school apparel. There will be 3 sales this year - a Back To School, Winter Holiday, and Spring Sale - so there are a few opportunities to buy goods when they are discounted. However, apparel can be ordered any time. All you need to do is click on the link to our school store, browse and select the items you would like to purchase. https://stores.freshbrandgear.com/olympicheights/shop/home

 

Fun Lunch through Healthy Hunger

Fun Lunch is back and ready for your orders! Please go to healthyhunger.ca to set up your account or see the attached notice as it is full of information on how to sign up and order fun food for your child(ren). Feel free to reach out to the Fun Lunch parent volunteers at any time via email if you have questions or concerns at: funlunch@ohsparent.com

 

Library Volunteers Needed!

 We are seeking some parent volunteers to help shelve library books. If you can spare some time and have an active police clearance, please email Chelsey Crozier (chcrozier@cbe.ab.ca) by September 29.  You’ll be invited to attend a training session with our library assistant Mrs. Sjogren on Friday, October 13 in the morning. Following that, shelving shifts will be scheduled between 8:30 to 9:15 a.m. on days that are convenient to you.

 

Important Dates

Sept. 20           Kindergarten Terry Fox Run 9:30am – 10:00am

Sept. 20           Gr. 1 - 6 Terry Fox School Run & kick-off assembly

Sept. 21           Learning Conferences 4:00pm – 8:00pm

Sept. 22           Non-Instructional

Sept. 22           Learning Conferences 8:00am – 1:00pm

Sept. 23           Tim Horton’s Fun Snack orders due

Sept. 26-28      Grade 4 – Field trip to OH Ranch

Sept. 28           Orange Shirt Day

Sept. 28           Tim Horton’s Fun Snack

Sept. 29           No School - in lieu for Sept. 30

Sept. 30           National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

Oct. 9               Thanksgiving – school closed

Oct. 7               Panago Pizza Fun Lunch orders due

Oct. 12             Panago Fun Lunch

Oct. 12             Life Touch Picture day (individual and group)