Important Dates

Oct. 18 First Fun Lunch!
Oct. 19 Grade 6 Immunizations
Oct. 20 Non-Instruction Day
Oct. 23 & 24 Ninja Mobile Obstacle Course
Oct. 25 Outdoor School Meeting for Grade 6 Parents 6:30 pm
Oct. 31 Halloween Celebrations
Nov. 3 The Hoot
Nov. 30 Photo Retakes

Admin Message

Dear Altadore Families,

As a school, we are working on developing our School Development Plan which outlines our goals for improvement as a school this year. Although this plan is far from finalized, we do have some initial direction in that we would like to work on holism. This means a focus on ensuring we are working on helping students develop in the domains of spirit (identity and well-being), heart (belonging and relationships), body (physical health and connection to the land), and mind (knowing and learning). Holism is tightly connected to social-emotional learning, and focusing on improving the day-to-day experience students have at school.

We know that students at Altadore perform extremely well on all academic measures when compared to other students in our Area, the CBE, and across Alberta. When we analyse our data related to holism, we also do very well when compared to other students/schools.

That being said, data from students, parents and teachers lead us toward looking at relationships, how to deal with conflict, and building student engagement - while not losing a focus on academics.

Later on in the Update, we have included the data from our school-based spring surveys for students and parents. We have found it to be very valuable and plan on gathering this type of information more often this year. We hope you find it interesting.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or we can help in any way!

Sincerely,

Kelly Christopher  Principal   kdchristophe@cbe.ab.ca

Karlee Zelmer Assistant Principal kmzelmer@cbe.ab.ca

Spring Surveys

In June, we conducted a survey of all Altadore families as well as for our students in Grades 1-6. As mentioned above, these surveys have been very helpful in helping us to understand our strengths as well as areas to focus on this year.

In the parent survey almost all measures relating to student safety, belonging, or quality of education had positive response rates of 85%+. There were definite themes of strength related to the sense of community, the positive atmosphere at Altadore, and how wonderful the teachers/staff are in the open-ended questions.

Areas for us to focus on are related to helping students with social-emotional skills and on better informing parents about what is happening in the class and their child’s day to day learning. Other themes that came up include improving inconsistency in communication and what is happening in different classrooms, increasing clubs/intramurals/patrols as well as crowding and heat issues.

The student surveys were a little different for each grade band (1/2, 3/4, 5/6), but showed similar results. Overall students feel happy and safe at school. They have friends and feel like they are learning. By far the most common comment to how we could make things at Altadore School better was “It’s perfect/I don’t know/ or there is nothing to improve on.” Areas we would like to see improve are the number of students who like coming to school as well as how much they like reading/writing/math.

To see the results of any of these surveys in full detail, you can go to the Altadore website here. We have included the percentage of positive responses for every question. For the open-ended questions, we have edited for clarity, brevity, and to ensure privacy. That being said, every response is represented - the good, bad and the ugly. It has taken a bit of time to collate all of the responses in a format that we could share with you. Our apologies for the delay.

Please contact Kelly Christopher if you would like more information kdchristophe@cbe.ab.ca.

2023-24 Direct Donation Campaign

Say goodbye to bake sales and dull fundraising events that drain your energy and wallet! Our Altadore School Parents’ Association heard parent feedback, and created the direct donation campaign! You can quickly and easily make a monetary contribution straight to the School Council, meaning we can put more of your generous donations directly towards enriching our student's education.

Envelopes that include the information for our direct donation campaign have been sent home with most students already - the rest will go on Monday. They have an overview of why we hold this campaign, what the money goes towards, and a friendly reminder that we do provide tax receipts for donations!

If you're already in the know about the campaign and are willing to chip in, click HERE!

Our SCHOOL Survey

Altadore is also now participating in the next round of school perception surveys for students in Grades 4-6 called the OurSCHOOL Student Survey. This anonymous survey is voluntary. Responses from this survey are used at the system and school level.

• Students provide feedback on: their sense of belonging, relationships, their level of anxiety, feeling safe at school, life satisfaction, general health, orientation to well-being, goal-setting, self-regulation and cultural awareness.
• They also provide demographic information for norming purposes such as age, gender, Indigenous status, home language etc.
• Grade 6 students provide additional information related to self-esteem, cultural awareness of self, and depression.

The Our SCHOOL survey is being completed this week. If you have questions or would like to request more information about the OurSCHOOL Student Survey, please contact Karlee Zelmer (Assistant Principal) at kmzelmer@cbe.ab.ca.

Extra Clothing Needed

We are looking for extra pants and socks in sizes 6 and up. If you are able to donate any, please bring it to the office.

Parent Focus Group invitation from Alberta Education

On Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, Alberta Education will host a focus group with the intention of seeking feedback from parents. The focus group will meet from 7 - 8:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Purpose: To collect insight from a parent perspective to update the old “My Child's Learning: A Parent Resource" website into a brand new space that will be hosted on new.LearnAlberta.ca.

10 – 12 parents will be identified from metro, urban and rural school divisions, representing children of varying grade ranges (K-12) to participate in this focus group.

If you are interested please fill out this “expression of interest" survey. It will remain open until Monday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m.

Alberta Education Focus Group - Expression of Interest to Participate

Halloween

Children are invited to wear costumes if they wish. Those who do choose to wear costumes should wear them to school at the beginning of the day. Please give some thought to what is practical and appropriate to wear at school. For example, masks should allow for clear vision and not be so gory they are truly scary.

Classes will be doing a variety of Halloween/Fall activities throughout the day. You may send a special snack for your child to eat in the afternoon. If you send treats for other children, please ensure that an ingredient list is included. These treats will be sent home for later.

If your child does not want to dress up or your family does not celebrate Halloween, that is perfectly fine as well. Our goal is to recognize this day as a special occasion for many of our families, while being inclusive of all.

Fun Lunch is Coming!

Our first Fun Lunch of the year is taking place Wednesday, October 18. Subway lunches will be delivered to students in their classrooms for those who ordered.

Please remember to send snacks and any items to complement your child’s lunch as necessary. If you have any questions, please contact altadorefunlunch@gmail.com

The HOOT FUNdraiser

Volunteers are integral to the success of the evening! Shifts will be short, so you will have ample time to socialize (and bid on art and auction items!). Sign up HERE to volunteer!! You’ll have a ton of fun while helping to raise funds for our school.

Sponsorship and Silent Auction

We are also seeking donations for our silent auction and raffle, or businesses interested in sponsorships. Any contribution is appreciated! Some ideas include:

• Event tickets – hockey games, ski lift tickets, event centers (Telus Spark, Calgary Zoo, Art/Music/Dance lessons for children, etc)
• Weekend getaways
• Dinner-for-two gift certificates

If you, or someone you know may be interested, email us HERE!

We would like to thank those who have already generously donated some fantastic items for their generous support of this event!

Tickets

SOLD OUT - But don’t worry, you can still follow along and bid for auction items online, and purchase your student’s art after the event (details to follow)!

Wine Donations

Wine-lovers, listen up! We're on the hunt for some vino to add to our silent auction. If you're feeling generous, swing by the school office and drop off a bottle or two of your household fave! P.S. It's the perfect way for grandparents to contribute!

Altadore Gear - All Year Long

Altadore school works with Summarized Design to provide Altadore Gear for purchase in all sizes all year long. This is a fun initiative that many of our families enjoy. Please note that this is not a fundraiser, and Altadore School does not benefit financially from the purchase of Altadore gear.

T-Shirt and hoodie colours are changed periodically, and right now there are several different versions of multicoloured logos! You can order online HERE and your purchase will come to the school in about a week. If you would like to see the dfferent colour options or to have your child try on t-shirts to check for size, there are samples at the school office.

Notes of Thanks

Thank you to the following individuals for their recent contributions to our school…

• Everyone who came to our School Council meeting on Wednesday. There were some great discussions, and lots to catch up on from a busy start to the year!
• Mack Fraser and Melanie Hutton, our Grade 6 teachers, for a great presentation at the School Council meeting.

Questions?

Looking for school information you can’t find here? Please contact:

Kelly Christopher, Principal (kdchristophe@cbe.ab.ca)
Karlee Zelmer, Assistant Principal (kmzelmer@cbe.ab.ca)
Julia Hikita, Altadore School Council Chair (altadoreparentcouncil@gmail.com