Growing Together @ STL

Tuesday, January 14th was an amazing day for staff, students and many parents who volunteered! We launched the day with Daniel and Tharin from Face to Face Ministries who pumped us up in our Faith journey. Again, a special thank you to the REAL Foundation for their support to bring this amazing duo to St. Luke!

We spent time with Steven and Nicole learning about Pepy as a way to think about and follow through with our overall wellness. Children had a great time connecting with each other and engaging in physical activity through play.

Flip and Catch was a big hit!

It was a blessing to spend over 2 and a half hours on Tuesday connecting with parents and kids snowshoeing. What a fun and fantastic activity learning how to walk, and even run, with snowshoes. We explored the forest, the steep hill and our Bird Garden in snowshoes!

And sometimes hit bumps! It's never a bad problem when you strap on your snowshoe so tight, that your boot goes WITH the snowshoe when it comes off!

A very fun bump to navigate with laughter together!

May God bless our amazing volunteers Mrs. Hight, Mrs. Dejong, Mrs. Wall, Mrs. Knysh, Mrs. Mistecki, Mrs. Ferguson, Mrs. Watmough and Carson Kroeker who helped strap on the snowshoes and supervise at lunch...Thank you immensely! The STL staff team were gifted the opportunity to break bread all together at lunch, and kids were able to snowshoe with ease! We adore when you connect with the kids at the school, and invest in their educational journeys. Thank you very much! You are gifts to this amazing community!

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A special thank you to our amazing custodian Mr. Daniel. He is always willing to help out and lend a hand. He generously gave of his time to help me prepare the snowshoes for kids this week! It took us a while, but we got it done! Thank you for always being willing to say yes in support of kids!

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Blessings to this very precious servant leader! At the end of our snowshoeing session, she stayed back and helped to clean up, hang up and organize the snowshoes after the whole school had the opportunity to use them! Thank you for giving of your time to help out! So appreciated! And, great job saying "Yes" to serving! Just like Daniel and Tharin shared, when you love others and serve others you love God and serve God! Well done!

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It's a Conference at OLPH Parish just for grade 6-8 students with Face to Face Ministires! A full day of fun, Faith and laughter! It is a gift o to have the F2F team offering this right in our community! We hope many of our grade 6-8 kids take advantage of this unique opportunity! Please let Mme Gravelle know if your child attends!

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A special thank you to all of our STL parents who joined us this past Monday for STL's School Council meeting. Thank you for the great discussions and feedback about where we've been as an amazing school community and the exciting directions we can go! Thank you to our STL Executive for their hard work, and our volunteers who make so many of our special events and programs possible! Thank you for investing in Catholic Education!

Yours in Christ, and with much gratitude,

Mme Gravelle

Principal

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New for the 2025-2026 School Year:

~ *NEW* Nature Prekindergarten & Kindergarten Extension ~

• This Nature Early Learning Extension will run on alternate days of Nature Infused Programming (meaning on the days Nature Infused programs aren't in class)
• Nature Prekinder & Kinder Extension can be coupled with Nature Infused programs for Full-Time, Full-Day Programming at St. Luke (5 days a week)
• Majority of a student's day will be exploring, learning and growing outdoors through play
• Stay tuned for more details, or call us at the school!

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We will continue to offer:

• Nature Infused Prekindergarten ($125/month)
• Nature Infused Kindergarten (no monthly fee)

Listening to our St. Luke Catholic School Community, we are excited to lean into some exciting new learning opportunities for our students!

The 2025-2026 year will bring exciting and new opportunities for our awesome STL students for optimal learning....opportunities such as (and aren't limited to....):

• Nature Infused programming beyond Kindergarten
• Community Partnerships for diverse opportunities in middle school grades

Spread the word! St. Luke is where it's at!

Sunday, January 19

• Deadline for hot lunch orders
• It's National Popcorn Day - Did you know...some movie theatres offer free popcorn all weekend!

Monday, Jan 20

• EICS Education Assurance Survey OPENS for Parents - Check your email inbox!
• Grade 5-8 Sledding Rules Meet

Tuesday, Jan 21

• Nature Infused Prekindergarten & Kindergarten in class
• Grade 5&6 Girls Group with Mrs. McCann
• Mrs. McCann @ STL
• Grade 4-8 Intramurals with Mr. Mak
• Girls Basketball Practice @ 2:45pm with Mrs. McCann & Miss Diduck
• Grade 1/2 Book Buzz @ 9:30
• Father Chad Visits Grade 1&2 and 2&3

Wednesday, Jan 22 - National Polka Dot Day

• Swimming Lessons for Grades 1-6 - remember your bathing suit!
• Mrs. McCann @ STL
• Student Support Team Meeting - Supporting all learners
• Grades 3-8 Games Club with Mme Gravelle
• Grades 7&8 Girls Group with Mrs. McCann
• Grade 6 DARE
• Basketball Game 4PM - Fort Sask Christian School

Thursday, Jan 23

• Nature Infused Prekindergarten & Kindergarten day
• GIFT Assembly - All families Welcome!!
• Hot lunch for those who ordered
• Choir Practice with Mrs. Marple
• Grade 4 Girls Group with Mrs. McCann
• Mrs. McCann @ STL

Friday, Jan 24

• Red for Ed Friday
• Bell Let's Talk Day
• Basketball tournament
• Nature Infused Prekindergarten & Kindergarten day
• Winter Wonderland - In School Field Trip for Kinders and 1&2

As a way to help fundraise for the Grade 4 Overnight Field Trip to Drumheller this year, your Grade 4 Parents will be running a once a month Hot Dog Lunch.

Ordering is open now on the hot lunch website stlukeschool.hotlunches.net

The first hot dog lunch is scheduled for January 28th and ordering will remain open until the Sunday prior to each scheduled lunch.

Combos are $6.00 and include a hot dog, juice box and a snack of your choice. Single hot dogs are $3.00.

If you have any questions, please contact Amy Williamson amy.williamson@eics.ab.ca or hotlunchstluke@gmail.com.

Thank-you for your support!

What's the curricular connection?

• Active Living & Movement Development: Developing physical literacy through movement and active living supports well-being across a lifespan.

• Safety: A lifetime of optimal well-being is supported by prioritizing health and safety.
• Character Development: Exploration of life opportunities and virtues develops resilience and personal talents and promotes lifelong learning.

At the end of January, your child's report card will be available for viewing on your PowerSchool Parent Portal.

This report card is a checkpoint in your child's learning at this point in the year. It outlines where your child's learning achievement is at in comparison to the content, skills and process explored so far this year.

If you haven't logged onto your Powerschool parent portal in a while, we suggest you get logged in soon. In order to see your child's progress reports, you will need to log onto your Powerschool parent portal.

Please feel free to contact Mrs. Bilyk in the office for help if you're struggling to login. Thank you for doing so before the end of January so she can help ahead of progress reports.

School fees are also viewable and payable on your Powerschool Parent Portal.

If you pick up your child at the end of the day, have you noticed that buses are leaving a little later than usual? Yup, it's true.

To ensure children have adequate time after the dismissal to get dressed and head to the buses, buses will be leaving at 2:47pm (1:47pm on early dismissal days). This means an increase in learning time and children have the standard-across-the-division 7 minutes to load the bus.

If you have any questions, thank you for connecting with Mme Gravelle.

Student and staff safety is our #1 priority at STL. This includes all types of safety:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Social
• Psychological
• Spiritual

When keeping children physically safe, we practice safety practices to support staff and students in knowing what to do in an emergency. We are required by law to complete six fire safety practices (we've done three already), two lockdown practices (first one will be Friday) and one Shelter in Place (completed already). Staff talk through each procedure to best support students and navigate any questions. For more information about the emergency response supports in place, you're invited to click here.

Have your voice heard!

It is an opportunity for you to share your voice with regards to St. Luke's strengths, successes, areas for growth and future directions. The data collected from these surveys will begin to define our 2025-2026 priorities and directions. We will be exploring this more together at the St. Luke School Council meeting on January 13. We hope to see you there!

There are 4 pillars that drive our school's direction:

Faith Formation

Learners and Learning

Wellness

Community Engagement

These are the same four pillars that organize our "Growing Together @ STL" weekly newsletters. Throughout the year, you can see evidence of initiatives, events, activities, opportunities, learning and extra curricular experiences in each of these categories!

GrACE's mision is to inspire, invigorate and embolden the spirit of Catholic education in order to unite, engage, educate and communicate with one voice. They are calling on our community to have one or two representatives to join GrACE and be a conduit between that committee and our amazing school. It's a great way to know what's happening with Catholic Education in EICS, Alberta and beyond, connect with other Faith-filled parents and advocate for meaningful opportunities for our precious children.

Please reach out to Mme Gravelle at the school or to your school council at stlukeparentcouncileics@gmail.com

This session will run from December 5th to February 27th on Thursdays, with the exception of Tuesday December 17th to accommodate a field trip that week.

Ordering will remain open for the duration of the session, but only orders paid by the Sunday of each week will be included in that week's order.

We have also included an optional section to donate to St. Luke Families in Need. At the discretion of our School Leadership, these funds can be directed towards school fees, field trip costs, sportswear, etc.

All meeting begin at 6:00PM

February 10

March 10

April 7

May 12

June 9

FACEBOOK -Join Us!

If you haven’t already, please join our School Council and Parent Association Facebook page! We are excited to offer this official space to share news and updates about events, fundraising, and more!

Questions or Want to Volunteer?

If you are interested in getting involved in events or have questions for St. Luke's School Council, please email stlukeparentassociation@gmail.com

The Sherwood Park Crusaders hockey team is hosting a Jersey Design Contest and invited EICS students to participate. Deadline to submit a design is Feb. 28, and the winner will be recognized during the March 30 home game.

Topics of discussion may include:

• cultural similarities and differences in parenting

• programs and supports for children and families (recreation, education, health care)

• tips for raising children in a multi-cultural environment while maintaining home language and culture

• 
  

If you know of any immigrant parents who are interested in connecting with other parents and learning about resources and tips for raising children in Canada, please share the attached postcard with them.

The program will be facilitated in English, so participants need to feel comfortable communicating in English. Any parent who is not originally from Canada is considered an immigrant parent no matter how long they have been in Canada. Priority is given to Strathcona County residents.

Immigrant parents who are interested can call 780-416-6730 or email FamilyResourceNetwork@strathcona.ca. Schools can make a referral by reaching out directly to the program facilitators, German Villegas (german.villegas@strathcona.ca) and Linh Nguyen (linh.nguyen@strathcona.ca). We will need the parent's name, email, and phone number.

Check out the Glenrose Community Connections Newsletter for:

• Sensory Friendly Santa locations
• AHS’ downloadable Rehabilitation Partnership Guide
• Glow Without Limits information
• New Glenrose groups for your youth
• Recovery Alberta’s Caregiver Education calendar
• 2 study survey links through which you can provide feedback on Living with Life-Limiting Illness and another on Quality Indicators Transition to Adult Healthcare

January - Happy New Year!

• Wednesday, January 29 - No School for students - Staff have a Professional Learning Day
• 31 - Report Cards available on PowerSchool

February

10 - Education Assurance Closes - Have your say before it does! Check your email inbox.

6&7 - Teachers Convention - No School for Students

Masses at OLPH will be livestreamed. Please join using this link. https://www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark/videos/

Visit OLPH Website for more information about the parish and in regards to sacramental preparation.

Visit www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark

St. Francis of Assisi Parish is administered by Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sherwood Park. Please contact the parish for confession times and more information.

Clergy: Reverend Jim Corrigan, Pastor

Mass Time: Sunday 11:00

Email Address: StFrancisAssisi.Tofield@caedm.ca

5523 - 50 Street Tofield, AB T0B 4J0

See map: Google Maps

Phone: 780-467-5470

Mme Pamela Gravelle

Principal

Email: stl@eics.ab.ca
Website: stl.eics.ab.ca
Location: 22139 South Cooking Lake Road, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-922-5920
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stlukeeics
Twitter: @stlcs_EICS