SUMMER 2024
ADMINISTRATOR'S MESSAGE
Dear École Charlie Killam School Community,
On behalf of the ÉCKS staff we would like to wish everyone a wonderful summer and we cannot wait to see you in the fall.
Andrea Gutmann (she/her)
Principal - ÉCKS
780-672-7785 ext. 6906
Assistant Principal - Donna Elaschuk - delaschuk@brsd.ab.ca
Assistant Principal - Sabrina Heydorn - sheydorn@brsd.ab.ca
POWERSCHOOL LIVE DIGITAL REPORTING & REPORT CARDS
École Charlie Killam School is a live reporting school. You can access your students' academic progress and attendance through the PowerSchool Parent Portal and the phone application in real-time. Student assessments will be reported digitally on PowerSchool so physical report cards will not be distributed. There is a new feature in the Parent Portal for parents to be able to generate a PDF of a Report Card. To access this new Report Card feature you must be signed in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal through a web browser (Chrome, Firefox etc.) you can not view it from the app.
For more information and instructions for parents regarding PowerSchool please go to our website under Families } PowerSchool Parent Instructions & Information
Our school relies on SchoolMessenger to relay information to families regularly. If you have not been receiving messages from our school please check your spam file and confirm that you have not "unsubscribed" to our service.
As always, we encourage guardians to contact their students' teachers if they have any questions about their student's learning.
STUDENT RE-ENROLLMENT & VERIFICATION FORMS
Please watch your email in August for the 2024/25 Student Re-Enrollment & Verification(320-1) form. Every student and parent/guardian must complete this document prior to September 30, 2024 for your Division account and access to continue to be available to you and your student during the remainder of the school year. This may include student access to ChromeBooks at school. (Included with the Student Re-Enrollment & Verification form is the Technology Acceptable Use Agreement and the FOIP Consent Notice of Activities.)
Please find the SchoolEngage Parent Instructions on our website under Families } PowerSchool Parent Instructions & Information. Please note, the form must be completed on a web browser on a phone, tablet, or computer. The PowerSchool App does not have form capability. Your username is your Firstname.Lastname.
Every year we are required to provide Alberta Education with a signed and dated Student Verification form for each of our students. We also use the form to ensure all of the information we have regarding your child(ren) is correct. This year we have moved to an electronic verification form for this process. In an attempt to streamline our process, the FOIP and Technology Use forms have been incorporated into the Verification form.
2024/25 STUDENT SCHEDULES
Students may find their 2024/25 schedules on PowerSchool as of August 27, 2024.
Regular classes for students begin on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 to start the 2024/25 school year.
ÉCKS regularly updates their school calendar. You can find it on our website under About } Families.
You can find the ÉCKS School Supply Lists for the 2024/25 school year on our website under Families } School Supply Lists. If there are any items that you can use from last year, we strongly encourage you to do so!
ATTENDANCE
Being "on time" for class is directly linked to student academic success.
Our doors open at 8:30am for students. A complete bell schedule can be found on our website under About } Bell Schedule.
ATTENDANCE IS TAKEN FOR EVERY PERIOD THROUGHOUT THE DAY
This is new for some of our students. Please remind your student the importance of being on time to each individual class. Students that are not present more than half of a period are marked absent for that block. Guardians will receive phone communication once in the morning if their student has been marked absent for the start of the day. Guardians may view their students attendance breakdown on PowerSchool.
ABSENT OR LATE STUDENTS
Please inform the office if your student will be absent by either calling (780) 672-7785 , emailing cksgenvm@brsd.ab.ca or filling out the form on our website under Contacts.
Students must check-in at the office if they are late and must check-out at the office if they are leaving early for the day.
CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS - SCHOOL DAY PICK-UPS
We are kindly asking parents to respect class time. With close to 500 students in our building we attempt to keep class time interruptions minimal. We understand that emergencies can happen and you may be required to pick-up your child with short or no notice, we will kindly assist you. However, please provide the school with advanced notification when possible when needing to pick up your student early or provide a phone message. We thank you in advance for your assistance in keeping classroom disruptions low.
ALL GUARDIANS & VISITORS MUST REPORT TO THE OFFICE IMMEDIATELY UPON ARRIVAL
CLOSED CAMPUS
ÉCKS operates a "Closed Campus" which means that students are not allowed to leave the school grounds once they have arrived unless a guardian gives verbal permission either over the phone or by coming into the office to pick-up their student. Guardians are reminded that they need to contact the school office when another person plans to pick up their child mid-day from school. These precautions are taken to ensure the safety of all students.
NO "SKIP THE DISHES" PLEASE
Safety is top priority at École Charlie Killam School. Part of keeping our school safe is reducing the number of people that enter our building. As much as we all love the convenience of deliveries, we do not allow "Skip the Dishes" or any delivery service workers in our school for our students. With close to 500 students in our building this can add up to a lot of strangers entering our building if we allowed this. If students have forgotten their lunch please remind them that we always have extra food in the office. We will make sure they are fed!
PARKING LOT
We kindly request that parents and guardians refrain from entering the staff parking lot unless they need to visit the school. We attempt to keep the parking lot clear for accessibility reasons and our Handivan. Thank you for your assistance in keeping our school safe!
RESPONSIBILITY OF STUDENTS
Cutlery and water bottles are not provided in our school.
Please be sure your student brings whatever they require to have a successful day!
We also ask that your student please dress for the weather.
At some point during the school day every student goes outside.
TRANSPORTATION
ÉCKS does not organize daily transportation for students. For more information please click on the button below to go to the Battle River School Division Transportation webpage.
RYCOR
Families are advised to regularly check their Rycor account for any outstanding fees and Field Trip Forms. ÉCKS is a fully digital school. All Field Trip Forms must be completed online.
To create or access your Rycor account go to the link below or go to the ÉCKS website. At the bottom of the home screen click on the large red button titled “Online Payments & Ordering”.
Use the "create account" option.
Once you have created an account, you will need to add your child as a student. You will use their student number which can be found on PowerSchool or an Alberta Report Card.
Once your student is attached, you will click on their name to access the fees. Fees you wish to pay need to be added to cart. Check out and make the payment. You may make a partial payment on the payment screen. Edit the amount, and proceed.
Permission Forms - An email will be sent out if it is just a permission form, with the Rycor link, identifying which icon to use, and the details of the field trip (who, where, when, etc). Please pay attention to the deadline! This will also be how you are notified if there is a fee associated with the activity.
Access the form and the fee by clicking on the appropriate icon on the bottom of your student's page. This will open the form. Fill in the 3 fields that are blank and hit “submit” in the bottom right corner of the form. This will put the form in the cart. Once the form is in the cart, you will need to submit it again by clicking on the "confirm" button on the checkout page of your cart. Without this step, the form has not been submitted. If you have successfully submitted the form, you will be able to see it in the completed form sections in your account.
Please note that if there is a fee with the form, the fee has to be submitted and the form has to be completed (signed) and confirmed before your child will be registered for the trip.
Also please note that the forms can have an expiration date. This is so that we can pay for tickets, plan transportation, arrange subs for students not attending, etc.
Ordering - Hot Lunch must be ordered through Rycor. Email reminders are not sent out for these. Please read the school newsletters and have your child pay attention to morning announcements for deadlines.
Deadlines - THE FORM WILL DISAPPEAR AFTER THE DEADLINE AND YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO SUBMIT THE PERMISSION FORM, ORDER HOT LUNCH OR PAY THE FEE.
The 2024/25 Soccer Academy Parent/Player information can be found on our website under Programs & Services } Soccer Academy.
If you have any questions that haven’t been answered here, please be in touch with us. We will do our best to continue to provide updates throughout the year and will keep you informed around school related activities. Please continue to check our website at www.ckillam.brsd.ab.ca and the Battle River School Website at www.brsd.ab.ca.
École Charlie Killam School
4809 - 46 Street
Camrose, AB T4V 1G8
Phone: 780-672-7785
"Achieving Success Together! Réussir Ensemble!"