December 2024

It is difficult to believe that another month has flown by! During the month of November, we focused on peaceful play, and we had discussions around how to get help if you're having a conflict, what to do if you accidentally hurt someone, and ways to make sure everyone is included and having fun. We used the word "deescalate" to talk about strategies for resolving problems without making them worse. In November we also had a very beautiful Remembrance Day assembly, and classes began preparing for our winter concert, which I am very excited about!

Our 2024-25 Annual Education Plan is now available to read on the École Sifton Website. In the upcoming newsletters I will go through and discuss various aspects of our Education Plan.

The first section of the report (pages 6-15) details our school's growth in the 2023-24 school year. You can see our areas of growth, and the things that we still need to focus on. This also includes attendance information and last year's budget. I am excited to share that 91.7% of respondents last year were satisfied with the overall quality of basic education, and 88.6% agreed that we provide a welcoming, caring, respectful, and safe learning environment.

We have a lot coming up in December, including holiday theme days, a Sifton lunch, and of course, our Winter Concert. Read on to learn more, and have a great December!

All the best,

Kathleen McLennan

During our announcements every morning, we recite an acknowledgement of gratitude for living and working on Treaty 6 territory. I have recently moved back to Treaty 6 territory, and I am being constantly struck by how beautiful it is here, and how much I really love being in this place.

If you spend time outside on Treaty 6 territory with your family, I would like to invite you to discuss with your child what they feel grateful for. It could be the experience of going for a walk, or the feeling of the fresh cold air, or the beauty of a lake or a sunrise. It could be something that you see, such as fresh deer prints or a rabbit in the grass near your house.

If your child would like to share their expression of gratitude during our announcements, please send me an email. If you share a picture or pictures as well, they will be posted on our school announcements but will not be shared outside of the school. I will also need to know if your child wants to read the statement themselves or if they want me to read it on the announcements. Thank you!

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!

December 4-20 Sifton 12 Days of Fitness

December 6 Staff meeting/Division PD/Staff Collaboration (No School for Students)

December 11 Maternelle & Kindergarten Christmas Concert

December 11 FIM Christmas Concert

December 12 ENG Christmas Concert

December 18 Grade 5 Art Club (extra day added)

December 19 SWAT Celebration

December 20 Last Day to sign up for grade 4 Art Club

December 20 Last Day of Classes

December 23 - January 3 Winter Break

January 6 School Resumes

M/W Kindergarten / Maternelle (Mrs. Skoglund & Mme Urkow)

December 13

January 10

January 24

T/Th Maternelle (Mme Urkow)

December 20

No Friday's in January

Don't forget about our school home page that has a complete and up to date list of important dates and information. https://sifton.brsd.ab.ca/

Please Remember to complete the School Verification form on SchoolEngage . Here parents can confirm contact numbers and ensure information for students is up to date and accurate.

The PowerSchool Parent portal has 2 convenient ways to keep you informed of your child's progress throughout the school year: the APP and the web browser.

The PowerSchool portal APP is a quick easy way to keep informed on the day-to-day.

The APP does have it's limitations though, and does not offer everything the web browser does.

Please click on the PDF link below to learn more about the PowerSchool Parent Portal web browsers great features, so you can start using it with ease!

If you need to come to the school for any reason, please check in at the office. Anything that needs to be dropped off or picked up can take place there. To avoid disruption to learning, parents should not be going to classrooms or dropping off/picking up from lockers.

November 26, 2024

Dear Parents and Guardians of BRSD:

Subject: AERR Student Highlights

Approaching the end of the calendar year presents an opportunity to share positive highlights from our Assurance Report. I am also extending warm gratitude for your ongoing support.

BRSD is proud to report that 86.8 per cent of teachers, parents and students are satisfied with their overall quality of basic education, and that 83.4 per cent of our teachers, parents and students agree that their learning environments are welcoming, caring, respectful and safe. Another noteworthy achievement is BRSD’s significant increase in three-year high school completion rates. Nearly eight per cent (from 75.6 to 83.5) was gained in just one year.

These commendable results reflect the diligence of students and staff in a collective effort to improve student academic goals in an inclusive, positive learning environment. This achievement, in alignment with our values,
is a demonstration of exceptional effort and collaboration that makes BRSD so proud!

BRSD is excited to continue building relationships among our BRSD school family and communities, while continuing to support and strengthen student engagement and well-being.

BRSD offers students a variety of off-campus programs, expanding our partnerships with local industries to provide students with more hands-on learning experiences. Currently, 172 students participate in the Work Experience program, and 14 students are enrolled in the Green Certificate Program, developing agricultural skills while earning high school credits.

The Registered Apprenticeship Program is supporting 33 high school students in beginning trades apprenticeships so they can get a head start on their careers, including welding, heavy equipment technology and carpentry. Two female students have broken new ground by completing apprenticeships in these fields. Additionally, 18 students are enrolled in Dual Credit courses, earning both high school and post-secondary credits in fields such as accounting, sports management, and veterinary technical assistance.

These achievements reflect the strength of our community and our shared commitment to preparing students
for success. Your involvement is appreciated, and the partnership we share in working together on child's education is invaluable and will make a lasting impact.

I wish you a joyful start to the holiday season.

Rhae-Ann Holoien
Superintendent of Schools

Please enjoy this holiday greeting from students in our grade 5 English class:

Please enjoy this holiday greeting from students in our grade 5 French class:

BRSD is seeking feedback to support the development of the 2025-2026 school year calendar. We are looking at issues such as what next year's start date will be, as well as the length of fall and winter breaks. Please take a minute to complete this survey. Thank you!

First of all, thank you to the Sifton community for really smooth pick-up time at the end of school every day. With the bus transfer happening at Sifton, there is a lot going on, and the parking lot and roads are very busy! I have been so impressed with how smoothly it goes every day. Cars leaving the lot do a fantastic job of looking out for each other and for the many many kiddoes running around.

I do have a couple of requests: Parents, if you're crossing the road with your children, can you please make sure that I have seen you so I don't send cars out of the parking lot when you're on the road? I do my best to be aware of where pedestrians are, but sometimes I don't see you, especially if you're coming from the neighborhood towards the school.

If you're driving, can you please keep your eyes out for our parking lot signage? There is no parking in the area in front of the school, and right turn only when you exit.

Thank you!

With the weather getting colder we would like to remind everyone that our cut off for outside recess is anything below -20C. So if it is below -20 we will not be sending students outside during the recess times, unless they are part of the Polar Bear Club.

School start time is at 8:45, and buses arrive at the school at 8:30. We have staff outside for student supervision in the morning starting at 8:25. If it is too cold to be outside in the morning students will be brought into the school and will be asked to sit quietly in the hallway until the bell rings at 8:40. We ask that students are dropped off as close to the bell as possible in the morning.

Members of The Polar Bear Club will have the opportunity to go outside on days we would normally call inside recesses (-20 up until -26). Students with signed consent forms would be able to go outside with a supervisor for a maximum of 10-15 minutes during recess time, as long as they are properly dressed and have the consent form signed and handed in. Consent forms are available online at: https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/. After filling out the form you will need to add it to your cart and then proceed to checkout to ensure the form is submitted properly.

Battle River School Division follows an administrative procedure (AP 555)

around bus cancellations due to inclement weather. See below for information regarding temperature:

AP 555 - 2.1 Temperature

2.1.1 Bus Routes will be cancelled when the air temperature reaches -40 degrees Celsius;

2.1.2 Bus Routes will be cancelled when the air temperature combined with wind chill reaches -40 degrees Celsius.

2.1.3 Air temperature and wind chill will be determined by accessing www.theweathernetwork.com and viewing the information for the town/village in which the school is located. This website displays temperature and wind chill for each area in the Division.

2.1.4 The information acquired above shall be obtained just prior to the bus route, not the night before. However, in extreme conditions, the Director of Transportation may make the decision the night before.

Reminder if buses are cancelled in the morning they will not run in the afternoon.

Students at École Sifton School have been working hard to prepare concerts just for you!

The French grade 1-5 concerts will be on Wednesday, December 11 at 2:00pm and again at 7:00pm.

The English grade 1-5 concerts will be on Thursday, December 12 at 2:00pm and again at 7:00pm.

Students will need to be at the school at 6:30pm (no earlier) before the evening concerts. They will need to go directly to their homerooms. Doors will open for guests to start seating in the gym at 6:30.

For the afternoon concerts guests may start seating in the gym no earlier than 1:30pm.

We will be holding our "best seat in the house" draw during both the afternoon and evening concerts on Wednesday and Thursday. To enter please make a donation at the door and enter your name into the draw. One name will be picked just before the show starts to sit in the best seat in the house! All proceeds will go towards subsidizing the bussing cost for the skating field trips in February.

Kindergarten and Maternelle will be holding their joint concert on Wednesday, December 11 at 5:30pm. Students should arrive at 5:00pm (no earlier) and go to their homerooms to prepare. Guests may start seating at 5:00 for the kindergarten/maternelle concert.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sifton will celebrate December with spirit days for students and staff!

SWAT (Sifton Wellness Action Team) is hosting a Holiday celebration for students on the afternoon of Thursday, December 19. Students will gather in the gym for an afternoon of team building activities, games and fun. The whole school will also be treated to a free pizza lunch. Students have signed up for their pizza choice at school with their teacher. Students in mme Urkow's M/W maternelle class will have their free pizza lunch on Wednesday, December 18.

The current GRADE 5 Art Club students will be having an extra day of Art Club on December 18th (same time as our usual Wednesday art club).

Students in Grade 4 can now sign up for Art Club which will begin in January. See the poster below for details. Registration sign up forms are available online https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/. Sign up by Friday, December 20th.

The Kids Write 4 Kids Creative Challenge is officially open for entries. Whether you’re a budding novelist, a poetic soul, or someone who loves to tell tales, this is your platform to shine.

Why should you enter? Get Published: Winner becomes a published author.

More details of our creative challenge can be found on our website. Writing Contest Deadline: March 31, 2025 Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you to everyone that helped make our annual Scholastic Book Fair a smashing success! The book fair enabled us to add over 100 new books to our school library and classroom libraries.

A special Thank you to Mrs. Barclay's grade 5 class for their help in setting up and taking down the book fair.

The next parent Council meeting is Tuesday, January 21 at 7:00pm in the Library Learning Commons. All parents/guardians of students attending Sifton are welcome to attend.

Hot Lunch is available to order for students in Grades 1 - 5.

If you have ordered hot lunch and you child is absent, their lunch will be donated 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.

Ordering for January will be open from December 15 to 25. After that no more orders can be submitted for the month.

January Hot Lunch:

January 10 Boston Pizza

January 17 Fat Burger

January 20 Quesada

Please place your ordering using our online payment system : https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/

Without parent volunteers we would not be able to have hot lunch.

If you would like to help distribute hot lunch please sign up using this link: https://forms.gle/9bbr3YJ8G6bDUHGg7

Thank you for your support!

On November 24, several families joined Art Therapist Carole Preston for our Family Art Afternoon, sponsored by parent council. The event was very well attended, and we were happy to see students from pre kindergarten all the way to grade 5! Families participated in some movement and cooperative activities, and then worked together to create an amazing and creative art piece to represent their family! Thank you Carole and all of the families who braved the heavy snowfall to attend!

A holly jolly THANK YOU to the many families who supported our 2024 Winter Fundraiser! Together, the school community decked the halls by purchasing 195+ poinsettias, wreaths or arrangements, raising nearly $1400 to support Sifton's music program.

A very special thanks to Tamsin for organizing this merry fundraiser, and to Mary-Anne, Laura, Jen, Tamsin, Petra, Tawnya, Dana and the Grade 5 students who sleighed it by volunteering on plant pick-up days.

Parent School Council has partnered with the Camrose Bottle Depot to make supporting the school easy! Simply drop off your bottles at the Bottle Depot and request the refund be directed to the Sifton
school account. Please donate and invest in the school’s future – one bottle at a time!