September 2023
École Sifton School Newsletter
Message From Our Admin Team
Welcome back to another school year here at Ecole Sifton School! We are so happy to have everyone back and ready to learn! Our wonderful staff are so happy to have your child here and we thank you for all of your hard work supporting them and us! There are a few important dates this month, so please take a look at them in our newsletter! We look forward to seeing everyone at the Meet the Staff Night!
ESS Admin Team
We use our ROAR every day.
We do our best in every way.
We make strong choices.
We respect all voices.
We strive for more.
Here we ROAR!
Reminder About Entering the School
If you are entering the school, please check in at the office. It is important for not only the safety of our students, but also to ensure that if something is happening, the dignity of that student or students is intact. Thanks again for your understanding!
Important Dates
Tuesday, September 19 Parent Council Meeting at 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 20 Open House/Meet the Staff Night 5:30-6:30Monday, September 25 Staff Collaboration Day - no school for students
Friday, September 22 Terry Fox Run
Thursday, October 5 Early Dismissal. Students dismissed at 12:25
Thursday, October 9 Thanksgiving Day. Schools closed
Kindergarten/Maternelle Fridays!
September 29
October 13
October 27
T/Th Maternelle
October 6
Open House September 20 - 5:30pm-6:30pm
6 to 6 Protocol
New Bell Schedule for the 2023-2024 School Year
Library Learning Commons News
Thank You to ALL the students who participated in the summer reading challenge, and parents that helped make it happen. We doubled our number of participants over last year! Great job Sifton!
A reminder that all students are asked to have a waterproof library bag (a zip lock bag works great!) to protect their books from water damage. Thank you for your cooperation with this.
Terry Fox Run Friday September 22
On Friday, September 22, our school will be participating in the Terry Fox School Run. This annual activity helps to raise awareness for cancer research.
All classes will be walking or jogging around the schoolyard at approximately 2:25 pm.
For those families who wish to collect donations, a pledge sheet will be sent home.
Last year, we raised over $2000 for this worthy cause. Our goal this year is to raise $2800 or more - and if we meet this challenge, the top 10 student fundraisers will have a chance to throw a pie at either Mr. Ramsay, Mrs. Glidden or Mrs. Barclay!
Hot Lunch
Hot Lunch will commence on Friday, October 6th and run every Friday for the school year. The options this year will be Boston Pizza, Subway, Booster Juice, Panago and Fatburger. These will be offered on a rotating basis. Ordering will be available a month at a time and messaging will be sent out to families via messenger to let you know when the next month is open for ordering.
To order hot lunch please go to the student online payment system https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/ . This is the only way we can accept hot lunch orders. Ordering for the month of October will be open from September 18-27. After the 27th ordering will be closed and no more orders for October can be accepted. All orders must be paid for at the time of ordering. If you are not sure how to order or need a refresher please click here:
https://www.brsd.ab.ca/families/online-payments-ordering
If you have ordered hot lunch and you child is absent , their lunch will be donated to a needy child unless you contact the school by 12:00pm to make other arrangements. Unfortunately we can not offer refunds for any reason. Thank you for your understanding.
To ensure a successful hot lunch program we are looking for parent volunteers to help sort lunches and deliver to the classrooms between 12:40-1:10. Please click on the link below for more information and to sign up for volunteering on the days that you would like to help.
October Hot Lunch
Parent Council Update
Sifton Parent Council meets on the third Tuesday of each month in the Learning Commons. We welcome all parents and caregivers to join us! Next meeting is Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00pm.
There are several ways to contribute to fundraising with Parent Council. Funds raised go directly to activities and equipment that directly impact the kids at the school!
Parent Council will be hosting the annual apple fundraiser in October. Please watch for information coming home soon.
A reminder that an account has been opened at the bottle depot where families can drop off bottles any time, and the funds can go towards the school. Ask to donate them to "Sifton School Parent Council" when you drop them off.
Parent council is also running a Lovable Labels fundraiser. Keep your kids' things out of the lost and found bin with Lovable Labels! It's fast and easy to label backpacks, lunch containers, water bottles, gym shoes, uniforms, books and so much more!. Click on this link to get started:
Message from the Minister of Education
Dear Parents,
Another school year has started and as Alberta’s new Minister of Education, I want to introduce myself and give you a quick update about some of the things your government has been doing to ensure our students are set up for success.
A top priority for my parents was getting me a high-quality education, since I’m a second generation Calgarian. Having immigrated to Calgary in the 1970s their educational opportunities were limited, and they firmly believed that a strong education is the path to greater success and prosperity. I took their advice to heart and went on to earn my PhD in political science and conflict resolution. I’m passionate about education and will work hard to set our students up for success.
As the 2023/24 school year gets underway there are several important highlights I want to share
with you.
I firmly believe that the upcoming school year will give students the tools and resources they need to succeed.
Here are some of the things that we are working on:
1) We are injecting new funding to start the school year off on the right foot.
For the current school year, Alberta’s government has increased funding to many of our school divisions to make sure they have the financial resources they need to give our kids a world-class education. Funding has increased by seven per cent from last year increasing the total amount of taxpayer dollars going directly to our school divisions to $7.4 billion. In addition, a new Classroom Complexity Grant will be implemented which provides
$126 million over three years in new funding to help school authorities hire more educational assistants to help our teachers manage classrooms that are increasingly more complex with more students with diverse learning needs. As well, our hardworking teachers will also receive a two per cent salary increase this September as part of a deal reached with teachers last year and finally, we are providing $414 million in new funding, a 32 per cent increase, to help bus another 80,000 students to school.
2) We are hiring more teachers and staff in our classrooms.
As students head back to class, they may start to see new friendly faces in their school. Budget 2023 provided funding to hire up to 3,000 new educational staff over three years, including teachers, educational assistants, bus drivers and other school support staff such as speech language pathologists and psychologists. Ensuring students have the supports they need to succeed in and out of the classroom is a top priority of mine.
228 Legislature Building, 10800 – 97 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2B6 Canada Telephone 780-427-5010 Fax 780-427-5018
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3) We are focused on improving student mental health.
Alberta’s government is supporting almost 80 mental health pilot projects across the province, with an investment of $50 million. These projects will encourage student well- being through new and innovative approaches to providing supports and services like counselling, social and emotional learning, student assessment and training for school staff. For more information, please click here.
4) We will continue to lead the country in early literacy and numeracy assessments.
As a father of two, I want to know how my girls are progressing in their academic journey and I know many of you want the same. In September of 2022, Alberta’s government implemented new mandatory literacy and numeracy screening assessments for all students in Grades 1 – 3. These assessments will help identify students who are struggling with literacy and numeracy skill development and inform teacher intervention lesson plans and techniques to improve student skills. Based on school reporting, these interventions are working. I am very proud of the work that is being done here. Please know Alberta is leading the country with this type of early assessment and screening and will continue to foster new and improved ways to improve the education system. For more information, please click here.
In closing, I want to thank and acknowledge all our hardworking teachers, educational assistants, principals, and other school support staff. The work that you do is deeply acknowledged and appreciated by Alberta’s government and I want to express my personal appreciation for your work. I look forward to serving as our province’s Minister of Education for our great province and am confident we can continue to provide every student with a world-class education.
Best,
Demetrios Nicolaides ECA PhD Minister of Education