Chester Ronning School

Welcome back, everyone!

The first week of school has already come and gone and it was a great start the 2023-2024 school year! The positive energy at school was amazing on day one and throughout the week! Our staff has been so excited to welcome back returning students and to help our new faces to settle in. From the early start time and new bell schedule to tripling the number of busses that make drop-off and pick-ups, we are adjusting to there are a number of changes to navigate this year and I want to thank our families for being prepared and having the students ready to start off with success - you have had a lot to do with our smooth start!

This year, you can again expect to see an emphasis on literacy, wellness and engagement here at CRS. These priorities are reflected in new programming this year, including common literacy times for classes at each grade and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) classes for all of our Gr. 2-5 classes. Also, we are entering year two of the Real-Time Reporting Project so our teachers will continue to provide regular updates and comments in their electronic mark books rather than producing traditional report cards three times per year. Please be sure to register for access to your child’s online PowerSchool grades if you have not done so already.

We are looking forward to getting to know you better this year and working with you to improve learning outcomes for your child. Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher or to Mr. Pederson and myself in the office if you have questions or something to share about your child.

It’s going to be a great year!

Reid Lansing

CRS Principal

Mrs. MacKay, our administrative assistant, will be in the office from 8am - 12pm and 12:30pm - 3:30pm.

If you are calling and don't reach anyone, please leave a message or try back again. We do our best to answer every phone call, but taking care of a student always comes first and we occasionally may miss a call, so leave us a message or try again.

BRSD calendar

September 15 - CRS Educational Assistant Appreciation Day

September 25 - Staff Collaboration Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

September - October 5 - Chocolate Fundraiser to support School Field Trips and activities

September 20 - Welcome Back BBQ - 5:30 - 6:30 pm.

September 22 - Terry Fox Run

September 30 - (Saturday) Truth and Reconciliation Day

October 3 and 4 - Parent/Teacher Goal Setting Interviews in the evenings

October 5 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 pm. Theme Day - Tie Die Day!

October 9 - Thanksgiving - SCHOOL IS CLOSED.

October 18 and 19 - School Picture Days

October 23 - 27 - Scholastic Book Fair

November 1 - Staff Professional Learning - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 pm. Theme Day - TBD

November 13 - 17 - Fall Break - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

December 7 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 pm. Theme Day - TBD

December 11 - Staff Collaboration Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

December 21 - Christmas Break

January 4 - School resumes

January 11 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 pm. Theme Day - TBD

January 31 - Staff Collaboration Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Our bell times are new this year!

8:15 am - Morning Call in Bell.

8:19 am - Classes Start. Thank you for being on time!

3:00 pm - Dismissal (Early Dismissal is at 12pm)

Please DO NOT park in the alley to the west of the school to pick up your child. There is a parent pick-up lane in the parking lot or parking along 43 avenue where there is a safe crosswalk to use.

Students arriving late (after 8:19 am) should enter through the front doors,

The next meeting is September 20 - 11:45 am at the school. It is imperative that we have new members show up and join. We need parents to help make decisions. We meet monthly to hear from CRS admin about what is happening in the school, find out what students might need, see about which fundraisers we want to support and activities we would like to see happen in the school. Please consider joining us and supporting our school. School Council is looking for a number of positions especially someone who has an interest in secretary and treasurer.

This is an opportunity to connect with other school families and meet our staff. Come for a hot dog, water, and chips! We look forward to meeting our families this fall. Please use the Google Form linked so we can plan to have enough food for our anticipated number of guests. https://forms.gle/7HdJUAZGfHrsCswe6

We are fundraising by selling chocolate almonds through World's Finest Chocolates. We are only able to take online orders - a link to order will be sent out soon. The funds raised are used to support student activities and field trips during the year.

The last day to order is October 4 at 11:30 pm

This year we have prizes that our Friends of Chester Ronning Fundraising Society has donated. A HUGE thank-you to the Society that supports wonderful things in our school.

1. *The top seller from each class will receive a small gift card to a local business.

2. *The top two classes overall will receive a gift card to purchase books for their classroom from the Bookfair, coming in October.

Please call the school at 780-672-5588 and leave a message if your child will be away. You can call at any time of the day or night and leave a message.

We endeavor to have all students' attendance entered before 8:45 am. After 8:45 am, our Messenger system will start calling and emailing any student that has been marked absent, with no parent call. This helps to ensure our students are safe.

Our phone lines can be very busy, so please leave a message or try again if you don't reach anyone.

Students who arrive late, can come in through the front door and we will sign them in and send them off to their class.

School Messenger - please text the word "YES" to the number 978-338 to start receiving texts from the school. (standard text message data rates may apply) We often use this to send school reminders about early dismissal days, newsletters, hot lunch reminders, or in the case of a school-wide emergency, this is how we would be in touch with our school families initially in an efficient manner.

If you have signed up but are not receiving the texts or emails, please email Janeece, our admin assistant at jmackay@brsd.ab.ca

Parent Portal - this portal is where you will have access to real-time assessments regarding your child's learning. This is also where you will find the link to SchoolEngage to complete the "Student Re-Enrolment and Verification Forms"

As schools (and businesses and day-to-day tasks) continue to shift online, if you need any support setting accounts up online, please contact the office at 780-672-5588.

CRS is part of a real-time reporting project again this year. This means that, rather than producing traditional report cards, our teachers will be working to provide regular and consistent updates in their markbooks, which will include comments about student achievement attached directly to the assessment items in the markbook. We have seen the potential of this change to help create an ongoing dialogue about student achievement with families and to partner more effectively with you in your child’s learning.

PowerSchool app on Google Play: https://bit.ly/GoogPS

PowerSchool app on Apple App Store: https://apple.co/3ram1iH

District code for the app is NTPH

Each year we are required to provide Alberta Education with a signed and dated "Student Verification Form" for each of our students. The electronic Re-enrolment and verification form includes our BRSD FOIP and Technology Use form and needs to be completed as soon as possible. If you are a new to Chester Ronning family the form may not yet have been assigned to you. Watch your email for a notification. If you have reached out to the office to let us know you weren't able to login or having account problems, Mrs. MacKay will be in touch with you soon.

To access and complete this form, you will need to:

1. Log into the parent portal via your web browser (Google Chrome for example).

2. Click on the SchoolEngage icon. You will be redirected to the SchoolEngage site where you can select your child's name.

3. Click on the 2023-2024 Student Re-Enrollment and Verification Form and then on the blue icon in the first column to review the information.

4. Once you have completed your verification, click on the green submit button.

This is incredibly important and we really appreciate your help in getting this completed quickly.

Nut Policy - The safety of our students is of utmost importance to us at CRS. Since your child may have classmates with serious nut allergies we encourage a nut-aware approach to lunches and snacks - "Nut Aware". Please consider the potential of serious allergies when packing food for your child. We will make classes aware when we know of a child with a serious allergy in the class which may require enforcing a "Nut-Free Zone". If your child has a serious allergy please contact their teacher or the office - jmackay@brsd.ab.ca.

Birthday treats - Birthdays are so exciting and special for students. As fun as bringing in special treats for the class can be, we are asking that you DON'T bring in class-wide treats, instead just a treat for your child if you wish. With many different situations and needs - financial, religious, medical, allergies such as gluten, dairy, nut, and many special nutritional considerations we ask that families don't bring in special treats or items for the whole class.

Special event treats - (such as Halloween) - Some classes have small celebrations or activities throughout the year and may send out information about bringing food into the class. Our school policy is that if parents choose, they can send special treats for their child, but we ask that you don't provide for the whole class.

How to manage overwhelm using the Tolerance Cup.

Please see the attached back to school letter for parents, students, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would also share this with your staff. Have a fantastic start to the school year.

Sincerely,

Demetrios Nicolaides ECA PhD

Minister of Education

Mr. Lansing, Principal - rlansing@brsd.ab.ca

Mr. Pederson, Assistant Principal - npederson@brsd.ab.ca

Chester Ronning School website - cronning.brsd.ab.ca

Battle River School Division website - brsd.ab.ca