Dear Parents/Guardians

Here are some updates for the coming week:

Learn and Share | School Planning

We know we make better decisions to support student learning when we build understanding and work together. That’s why we’ll be sharing information about school planning and asking you to share your perspectives.

During this engagement, you will have the opportunity to:

1. Learn About

• School planning, which includes the school development plan, school budget and school fees
• How the school development plan sets the overall focus and direction for a school to improve student learning outcomes
• How the school budget provides funding to implement our school development plan
• School fees and why they are necessary

2. Participate

• Share your perspectives through an online survey open from March 17 to March 31.  Watch this short video to learn about the planning work schools do to improve and support student learning. 
•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYFhZjwaxo

The link to this survey will come out in a separate message on Monday, March 17, 2025 - when the survey opens.  For your reference, you can find our school development plan and other relevant information on the school website.

Spring Break

There will be no classes from Friday, March 21 to Friday, March 28.  We return to the school building on Monday, March 31st, 2025.

Parent-Teacher Conference Booking

The booking system is closed for today; however, it remains open for the upcoming dates of:

• Thursday, March 20 4 pm-8 pm (online)
• Friday, March 21 8 am-1 pm (online) – this is a Non-Instruction Day

The booking system closes the night before each meeting day (11:59 PM).

*Please note we have access to live language interpreters for all languages.

2025-2026 School year

An email went out to all families last week asking that you let us know if your child(ren) will NOT return to West Ridge School in the fall. Please let us know by March 21, 2025, if they are not coming back. Please reply to siarezo@cbe.ab.ca with the following information:

• Full legal name
• Next year school (CBE, non-CBE, out of Canada, out of Province, private, etc).

Please email the office only if your student is NOT coming.

Athletics

Volleyball

All four of our volleyball teams won their semi-final games in 3 sets this week. The divisional finals will be held at Ernest Manning High School (EMHS) on March 18 at the following times. Please note, due to the ongoing CUPE labour strike, the following attendance policy has been put in place for all CBE schools: “Attendance at athletic games will be limited to parents/guardians of those athletes directly involved in the event. Students will not be permitted to attend athletic games unless they are the siblings of one of the athletes and are accompanied by a parent/guardian. Access will be limited to the gymnasium; no access will be permitted to other parts of the school.” For those that are interested, EMHS has a Hudl camera in their main gym so friends and family who cannot attend can still watch the games via this link.

• Jr. Girls at 4:30pm
• Jr. Boys at 5:45pm
• Sr. Girls at 7:00pm
• Sr. Boys at 8:15pm

The final Grade 5 Developmental Volleyball session was held this morning. Big thank you to Ms. Gordon and Ms. Armstrong for hosting these sessions and to all the Grade 5s that took part.

Upcoming Athletics

Due to the ongoing labour action, the CBE has paused all upcoming athletic seasons until further notice. This means both the badminton and track and field seasons, as well as any Grade 5 developmental sports, are postponed at this time. If/When the labour action ceases, a plan to resume inter-school athletics will be communicated to all schools. Students and families will be updated when additional information regarding upcoming athletic seasons becomes available.

Physical Education

This is a friendly reminder that our dance unit will commence on Monday for all of our Physical Education classes. This four-day unit runs until March 20. When classes resume on March 31 we will be in our final unit of Module 3.

Attendance

Please call 403-817-3552 and dial 1 if your child will be absent. Please leave a BRIEF message including ONLY the student’s last name, first name and reason for their absence.

Alternatively, please email us at westridge@cbe.ab.ca to report the absence.

Please select only one method of contact (voicemail OR email).

If you need to pick your child(ren) up during the school day, please allow enough time for the office to find them.  Sometimes they will be out of the building or in Phys Ed, which takes more time for us to reach them. Sometimes we have many different pick-ups happening at the same time, and that also will take us more time to find your child.

It is most helpful if you email the office in advance at westridge@cbe.ab.ca and copy the homeroom teacher.

Grade 9 Fundraiser - Do you have a Sweet Tooth????

Over the past five years, our Grade 9 students have made incredible and lasting contributions to the Raptor family. We would like to send them off in a way that acknowledges the lasting legacy they have left at West Ridge. With that in mind, we need our community’s help in raising funds for this celebration. To support this, we have organized a Purdy’s chocolate fundraiser—helping both the celebration and, perhaps, satisfying that sweet tooth of yours! Use the link below to place your order.

Deadline to place orders will be March 29, 2025.

https://fundraising.purdys.com/1963302-127201

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Brophy asbrophy@cbe.ab.ca

Parent Talk Opportunity

Tuesday April 8 at 7pm, held at the Mount Royal Bella Theatre, tickets are $25 (http://tickets.mru.ca/ArnicaFoundation). “Parenting with the Brain in Mind” is a night by Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, clinician, consultant, and author of two New York Times Best Sellers The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline, and The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up, co-authored with Dan Siegel. The talk will teach practical information about a child’s brain and offer a new perspective on some of the most pressing concerns, along with some tools and strategies for addressing them.

Growing Smiles Flower Fundraiser

For those of you who like to get on things early, our flower fundraiser has already started.   You can order at https://westridgeschool.growingsmilesfundraising.com/home 

Healthy Hunger - Edo Japan

You can still order for our next Healthy Hunger.  Please note this lunch is going to be on Wednesday, Mar 19th.  Order at www.healthyhunger.ca 

If you’d like to volunteer and help distribute lunches and have a valid police clearance, please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409054FAFA62FA2FF2-51524856-healthy#/ 

Bottle Drive - Tuesday, Mar. 18

If you have extra bottles around that you would like to donate, you can drop them off at the front of the school between 7am to 5pm.  We appreciate your support.

New School Council Members

We need the help of our parent community, to ensure the success of our students and school initiatives. Together we support the kids and staff at West Ridge School by building community, supporting learning, and adding as much fun as we can.

We are in need of a few volunteers to fill the vacant roles for the 2025-2026 school year! If interested, please email wrscouncil@gmail.com  Time commitment averages around 2-5 hours per month.

Roles we are looking to fill:

• Council Chair
• Council Vice-Chair
• Council Secretary
• Society President
• Society Treasurer
• Society Secretary
• Fundraiser Coordinator - Shadow (to start ASAP)
• Teacher Appreciation Coordinator - Shadow (to start ASAP)

Stay in the Loop

Follow us on FB and Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/wrssc 

https://www.instagram.com/westridgeschoolcouncil/

Quick links for fundraisers and sign-ups at www.westspringswestridge.ca

Skip-the-Depot https://app.skipthedepot.com/westridgeschool

Send us an email

Council: wrscouncil@gmail.com

Society: infowrss@gmail.com 

Check out the school webpage https://westridge.cbe.ab.ca/school-council