Monday, September 2, 2019

Welcome Back September 2019

Welcome Back everyone to another exciting year at NHCS!  We hope that you all had a wonderful summer and are ready to get back into a routine and rigor of school.

I do realize that this blog post may be somewhat lengthy but please take the time to read through it as it highlights events and procedures for the entire year.

NHCS 2019-2020 Staff

Mrs. LaGrandeur - Gr. 1/2
Mrs. Hutchings - Gr. 3/4
Mr. Schaade - Gr. 3/4
Mrs. Martinoff - Gr. 5/6 & Counselor
Mrs. deMilliano - EA
Mrs. Micku - Librarian
Mrs. Austin - Secretary
Mrs. Hawkins - Principal

September Birthdays

Lynn Bakker - 1st

Bell Schedule for 2018-2019 School Year

8:10am - Busses Arrive & Supervision Begins
8:20am - Entry Bell
8:25am - Classes Begin
10:00am - 10:20am - Morning Recess
11:55am - 12:15pm - Lunch
12:15pm - 12:40 - Recess
1:45pm - 2:05pm - Afternoon Recess
3:15pm - Dismissal

The timetable can also be found on our website.


Early Dismissal

Early Dismissals for staff meetings will be on the 1st Wednesday of each month starting in October.  Students will be dismissed at 2:30pm on these days.

Monthly Assemblies

Our monthly assemblies will be held on the first Thursday of the month at 8:30am.  If your child will be receiving special recognition at an assembly you will be notified prior to that Thursday.  Everyone is welcome to attend the assemblies! We would love to see you there!

Please note that the September assembly will be the exception to this as we are having a Welcome Back Assembly on Tuesday, Sept. 4 @ 9:45.  Please join us if you are available.


School Fees

Grades 1-3 - $10.00
Grades 4-12 - $20.00

The BGRD technology access fee will cover a variety of new software tools for students. The first such tool is assistive technology software, this will help students by reading text on the screen from websites they visit and documents they create, listening to your work read back to you helps catch writing errors and having text read from other content helps with understanding. The program also provides word prediction for struggling writers, standard and visual dictionaries, highlighting and organization tools and speech to text abilities. A second new software application will be a self assessment tool that uses machine learning to provide writing feedback for the student to help improve spelling, grammar, sentence structure and provide suggestions for improvement. Lastly we will be providing creative publishing and charting tool to enable students to increase creativity and capability beyond a standard document or drawing.

Another use of the technology fee is for internet access. Our internet costs are increasing and a new contract by Alberta Infrastructure is greatly increasing the cost to school divisions. The funds will help manage that access, provide increased bandwidth for BYOED and improve protection for students accessing the internet.



Student Absences

For the safety of our students, it is extremely important to notify the school if your child will be late or absent.  If the school is not notified, we are obligated to phone your home or office to confirm the absence.  Students who arrive late must report to the office before going to class.

Alternate After School Plans

If your child will be going home in a different manner than what is typical, such as getting picked up by yourself or someone else, going with another parent, or not taking the bus, please contact the school and let us know of these arrangements.  Often times students think there is a change of plans when really there are none.  

If your child typically takes the bus and we do not know they are being picked up, it is our policy to send them on the bus.  We do not want to send a child home to an empty house so please let us know.  

Thank you for your cooperation in this manner.

School Visitors

For the safety of our students,staff, and visitors, all school visitors must first report to the office before going to another part of the school. 

Student Handbook

Please take a moment to review the student handbook with your child.  The student handbook can be found on our website under parents and students or by clicking here handbook.  The handbook explains things that are happening at the school such as our Emergency Procedures and student expectations.

Student Grades

This year NHCS will be using a new method of reporting student grades.  All grades will be live on PowerSchool.  That means that you will be able to access your child's grades at anytime simply by logging into your PowerSchool account.   As this is a new process for us, please bear with us as I am sure there will be some growing pains. 

Reports will be sent home twice this year - Jan. 30, 2019 and June 26, 2020. 

Please also check our Guide to Student Assessment and Achievement.  You can find the Guide on our website or by clicking this link Guide

If at any time you have questions about how your child is doing in school, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher.


School Apparel

School wear can be ordered anytime throughout the year from Entripy.  You can choose your style and customize your design.  Simply go NHCS School Apparel to shop for the latest school wear.

Mark Your Calendar 

Welcome Back BBQ ~

The Welcome Back BBQ will be on Wednesday, September 4 @ 5:45.  The event will begin with open classrooms at 5:45.  At 6:00 everyone will convene in the gym for introductions and the BBQ.  Election of new officers for the School Council and PTA will follow at 6:30.  All parents are welcome and are encouraged to attend the School Council Meeting.  

Terry Fox Run/Walk ~

On Thursday, Sept. 26 we will once again be having our annual Terry Fox Run/Walk.  We will start the walk @ 2:30 with a short presentation in the gym.  Please come out and join us!

Orange Shirt Day ~


Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations to come.  Students and staff are encouraged to wear an Orange Shirt on Monday, Sept. 30 to honour Orange Shirt Day.

You have the opportunity to order an orange shirt through the school.  Shirts may be ordered through your cart in Powerschool.  This is completely optional.

The cost of the shirt is $12.75 plus .65 cents tax.  The deadline to order shirts is September 18, 2019.

Below is a picture of the 2019 shirt.


No comments:

Post a Comment