William D. Cuts Newsletter

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is staying warm during this polar vortex cold snap. January marks the end of semester 1, with semester 2 starting February 1. There is no school on January 31 for semester turn around, and semester 1 report cards will be released on January 29 at 3:30 PM. They can be accessed through the parent portal in PowerSchool. The parent portal is now closed to see grades and will reopen with the release of report cards. Option change forms for semester 2 are available in the office for anyone wishing to change course. The last day for option change forms to be returned is January 30.

Ski club is starting up in January with 2 trips planned for 17th and 24th. Forms are available in the office and spots are limited. There are 2 more dates in February on the 21st and 28th and a trip to Marmot planned for March 20. Basketball is underway with senior and junior teams playing league games. All games are on the W.D. Cuts calendar if you want to check out a game.

Looking ahead into February, there is no school on the 8th and 9th for teachers convention and our second round of parent teacher interviews is on the 15th and 21st. Detailed instructions on how to book those will be sent out separately as we get closer to the date.

Please be mindful of residents' driveways around the school when parking, or during pick up/drop off. There have been driveways blocked and residents unable to enter or leave.

Thanks everyone.

Cory and Matt

​​​​Ensuring our students get to school safely is everyone’s responsibility. Please be mindful of crosswalks, parking rules and speed limits when you are near our schools, especially during the morning drop off and afternoon dismissal times.​ ​​​

• Please do not park in a no standing area or across a local resident’s driveway.
• Please do not stop on a school crossing and/or drive over the crossing whilst the crossing supervisor or any pedestrian is on the crossing.

Please make sure your student is coming to school a charged/working Chromebook everyday for class!

Wednesday, Jan 17- Ski Club Rabbit Hill 1230-6:00

Wednesday Jan 24th - Ski Club Rabbit Hill 1230-6:00

Monday Jan 29th - Report Cards - 3:30

Tuesday, Jan 30 - Last Day of Semester 1

Wednesday, Jan 31 - PD Day - No School

Wednesday- Feb 7 - Early Dismissal

Thursday/Friday Feb 8/9 - Teacher Convention - No school

Thursday Feb 15 - Parent Teacher Interview ( In Person)

Tuesday Feb 20- Hockey Open House

Wednesday Feb 21 - Parent teacher interview (Virtual) - Ski Club Rabbit Hill 1230-6:00

Wednesday Feb 28th - Ski Club Rabbit Hill 1230-6:00

Tuesday March 5th - WDC Open House

2023 - 2024 Yearbook is now available to purchase.

Log into PowerSchool to order yours.

$5.50 per Individual Pizza

Options:

Cheese, Pepperoni and Hawaiian

TO PARTICIPATE IN FUN LUNCH, we ask that you agree to these points below prior to ordering for your child. HealthHunger

1. When you know your child will be away, and have adequate notice, we ask that parents cancel their fun lunch through the Healthy Hunger website directly. This includes instances such as planned out of school field trips, medical or dental appointments, or families choosing to keep their child home for other circumstances. If you know your child is going to be away, please cancel your fun lunch order. Healthy Hunger has a 5 day cut off window where you can cancel your order without issue and receive reimbursement in your original form of payment. For, the cut off is the previous Friday evening.

2. We also know there are many instances where students may be unable to attend school unexpectedly and with very little notice. Should your child be away due to illness or any other unexpected circumstance, parents will need to notify our hot lunch coordinator by email to wdcutsparents@gmail.com or telephone the school to make alternate arrangements. This MUST happen before 11 AM on the day of hot lunch. Any other requests, sent in other ways (e.g. to your child’s teacher) or after the deadline, cannot be considered so please plan accordingly.

Please provide specific instructions about what should be done with your child's lunch.

• If you wish to pick up at the school, you may do so only after 12:30 PM on the hot lunch day. Items must be picked up the same day for food safety reasons.

• If you would like the lunch to be sent with another student, please clearly indicate the name of that student and their class number (or teacher).

• We are unable to hold lunches overnight or provide any other arrangements.

**If you do not provide instructions for your child(ren)'s fun lunch prior to 11 AM as outlined above, the volunteers will use their discretion to determine next steps. This may include donating the lunch or discarding it.

We ask that you treat our volunteers with kindness and respect at all times. We could not do this without them!

Thank you for your ongoing support of our fun lunch program. It provides valuable fundraising dollars to our school.

-The WD CUTS FUN Lunch Team wdcutsparents@gmail.com

2023/2024 SEMESTER 1 SCHOOL FEES/OUTSTANDING BALANCE ARE NOW DUE

WE WOULD APPRECIATE PAYMENT IN FULL FOR SEMESTER 1 FEES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Payments can be made through the PowerSchool Parent Portal using a Credit Card or a Visa Debit Card. (Please note that all debit/credit transactions are subject to a 2.4% service charge.) If an online payment is not an option, you may send cash or cheque to the school office with your student (payable to: St. Albert Public Schools 5565).

For Academies: Through PowerSchool you have the option of creating a Payment Plan by adding the academy fee to your basket, (only the academy fee no additional fees) and from there you can create instalments.

If you have any questions/concerns regarding your school fees, please contact Jolene Metcalfe at 780-458-8585 or email jolene.metcalfe@spschools.org

For access to the PowerSchool Parent Portal click here: https://spschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html

If you are having trouble accessing the PowerSchool Parent Portal, please contact: wdc@spschools.org

Lifetouch did our pictures this year. All you need to order your student's pictures is your student's ID number. You can find your student's ID number by logging into your Parent Portal account. Go to your school fees (on a web browser, not the app) and the student ID will be beside any of their fees.

Lifetouch Website

As we near the mid-way mark of the semester, we want to remind parents about the responsibilities students have when using social media platforms, especially those that are video-based:

• Obtain appropriate consent from individuals - peers AND teachers - who appear in video, audio recording and images before forwarding them to other people or posting them to online spaces.
  
  

• Before recording, be transparent about the purpose of the video, audio recording or images. Recording things with underlying motives and posting them out of context is not appropriate.
  
  

• Respect others and communicate in a supportive way. Never participate in harmful, inappropriate or hurtful online behaviours.

We encourage you to have conversations with your children about social media regularly. Supporting them as they transition through adolescence and into adulthood will only help them become the best version of themselves.

For more information about our division policy about Acceptable Use of Technology, please visit the division website.

Email: wdc@spschools.org
Website: wdcuts.spschools.org
Location: 149 Larose Drive, St. Albert, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-458-8585