Hello Louis Riel Families,

The past two weeks were packed with learning activities, athletics, a week of student led events, and even a practice lockdown drill. The final week of October featured a seasonally themed spirit week planned, organized, and run by our Leadership class students. Our Grade 9 Leadership students put a significant amount of time, energy, enthusiasm, and effort into planning spirit-building activities for every student in the school. Such an effort by young people to plan activities and participate in them deserves special acknowledgement as it asks them to engage in some healthy risk taking and to practice vulnerability. If the culture and climate of a school, whether in classrooms or in hallways, is to not stand out by having age appropriate fun or to not take a risk by trying because it’s hard or different, then we’re not supporting students with a safe, caring, welcoming, and inclusive learning environment. Although some students may have been tempted to not engage in some activities because it just wasn’t their thing, we saw student participation and smiles on faces grow throughout the week. We look forward to the continued contributions to school spirit and the strengthening of our sense of community through student led activities and events.  

Thursday was Louis Riel’s Day of Remembrance. Due to the sheer number of students, we were unable to gather in one location so we streamed our ceremony from multiple learning spaces. We had leadership students emcee the ceremony, our band played O Canada, students read poetry, we shared video presentations, historical footage, a reading of In Flanders Fields, The Last Post, two minutes of silence, Rouse, reading An Act of Remembrance and Commitment to Remember, and the band closed the ceremony by playing a final piece. When the ceremony closed students engaged in conversations about the significance of the date, our history as a nation, and the act of remembrance.     

Louis Riel is a busy and dynamic K-9 school and it can be challenging to keep up with everything that happens here on a daily basis. Providing families with multiple information streams and sources including our website, teacher/classroom emails, paperwork for fieldtrips, and the Bison bulletin should cover everything that families need to know. The challenge for some families may be that the information, timelines, and deadlines for activities can be hard to track. Our school and staff do our best to notify and remind families of upcoming dates and deadlines through the Schoolmessenger app and email. Thank you for taking the time to read either the entire Bison Bulletin or simpy the points in the bulletin that apply to you and your student; we hope the revised format and reduced frequency of the Bison bulletin will help you keep you in the loop on all things Louis Riel.

Truth and Reconciliation at Louis Riel School and across the CBE

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is committed to acknowledging and supporting the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) 94 Calls to Action specific to education. Namely, we commit to supporting improved achievement, equity, and well-being for students who self-identify as Indigenous, and creating opportunities for all students, staff, and school communities to engage in practices that facilitate reconciliation.

This past Friday, all schools participated in a system wide day of professional learning focused on Indigenous Education. This annual day of professional learning began in October 2021 and it supports the development and application of foundational knowledge of Indigenous Education by all staff in the CBE, regardless of role. Such learning strengthens our acknowledgment and response to the TRC's 94 Calls to Action, which includes providing education on the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Indigenous rights, Indigenous law, and Indigenous-Crown relations (TRC Call to Action #57).

On Sept. 1, 2022, Piikani Elder Leonard Bastien gifted our day of learning with the Blackfoot name Maatoomsii'Pookaiks (MAAH-DOOM-SEE-BOO-GAAKS), which translates to putting children first. This name upholds and sustains the CBE mission: Students come first, and we are grateful to Elder Leonard for their acknowledgement through their gift of naming such an important day of learning.

Louis Riel School acknowledges and supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Calls to Action, and has made the following commitment to action for the 2024-2025 school year: Mind- To Know: Design and offer student and staff learning tasks that intentionally activate the spirit, heart, body, and mind. In making our commitment, Call to Action: 63.3: Commit to learning about and through Indigenous knowledges focused on building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, mutual respect (focus on renewing respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples).

Fun Lunch Dates

Healthy Hunger

November 20 – Elementary // Nov 27 – Junior High

School Conferences November 28 and 29

Save the dates above for our upcoming school conferences. Although there are a number of ways parents can access information about academic progress, classroom programming, attendance, and school events, these dates provide families with the opportunity to take up conversations about how to work together with their teachers to support positive outcomes for their student.

The school conferences booking app open a week in advance and, although all families are encouraged to book meetings, some teachers will reach out in advance to extend invitations to some families when necessary.

Before school conferences are here please take some time to prepare in advance in order to make the most of your time with teaching staff.

Standards of Dress at Louis Riel School

One of the many goals for schools is to prepare our students for the eventual world of work. Louis Riel School's standard of dress aims to support students’ developing awareness of what is and what is not reasonable to wear in a place of learning and work. We acknowledge that decisions about dress reflect personal expressions of identity, socio-cultural norms, and individuality. Although students’ rights to self-expression, comfort in clothing choices, and decisions about their appearance are supported, they cannot be absolute in a community of equals. Individual understandings of reasonable attire may vary but our hope is that students will make, or learn to make, thoughtful and informed decisions about how they choose to dress for a day of learning at Louis Riel School.

Our community standards of dress:

  • School appropriateness of dress excludes displaying any messages or images that are racist, discriminatory, encourage hate, are profane, or support the use of drugs or alcohol.
  • Students will learn and understand of how to dress for everyone’s comfort after taking into consideration the CBE value of protecting a welcoming, safe, and caring learning environment for everyone.  
  • Students should plan to dress for the learning activities they engage in throughout the day. This means that some clothing choices may be unfit or unsafe for certain activities in certain classes, but they should not present a barrier to participation. Students should bring a change of attire more appropriate for the activity.  

The intended outcome of this standard is to support all members of our community by maintaining the expectation to demonstrate welcoming, caring, respectful and safe behaviours throughout the school day. As members of this learning community, we recognize there may arise an occasional need to discuss how to maintain choice of dress as an expression of self while still preserving a safe, welcoming, and respectful learning environment for everyone. If required, we will discretely remind an individual of our community standards of dress and ask them to make a more thoughtful choice of clothes. We appreciate your partnership to reinforce our commitment to maintaining a safe and respectful learning environment for all students at Louis Riel.

Radon Testing at Louis Riel

This fall the CBE will be conducting tests for radon gas in a number of schools across our system, including ours. Radon gas is odorless, tasteless and comes naturally through the soil. When the gas reaches unsafe levels, over many years of exposure, the gas is known to have harmful effects on health. If testing reveals a heightened presence of radon, various mitigation strategies can be implemented to reduce the gas concentration to safe levels.

Testing involves hanging a small, round testing device (alpha tracker) for 91 days from the ceiling in areas of the school that are occupied 4 or more hours a day. The device is passive, which means it omits no information, sounds, or smells.

The device will be installed on a non-instructional day, evening or weekend, so it will not interrupt learning.

If you would like to learn more about radon, please visit Health Canada’s website.

Parking and Dropoff Zones

Please do not park in front of the school to drop your child in the mornings. This area is a designated bus zone and parking there causes significant challenges for our drivers to safely navigate around parked vehicles. Drop your student to the South of the school or past the second crosswalk to the north. A short walk for your student will allow them to arrive safely at a school entrance without disrupting bus traffic or compromising road safety for anyone.

AMA Crossing Guards

Our volunteer team is at the crosswalk every morning and again at dismissal to ensure students can safely cross the road. We ask that our students please follow instructions at the crosswalk, dismount their bicycle, and proceed to cross only after they’ve been directed to do so by the crossing guards.

Field Trips, Forms, Payments and Deadlines

This is a reminder to please pay close attention to the forms that come home with your student for any upcoming field trips, field studies, or special events. We often have hard deadlines for confirming student numbers with service providers and venues that do not allow us to be flexible by accommodating last minute changes or adjustments. Teachers will always communicate the deadlines for forms to be returned and fees to be submitted as well as by following up with a reminder. If you are not able to meet a deadline, we may not be able to accommodate a last-minute request to attend. If and when paperwork comes home, we request your prompt attention to avoid any disappointment for your student.   

Louis Riel Parent and School Council(s) 

Being an engaged part of your student's community helps to ensure we are all informed. October’s council meeting was a hybrid meeting that included face to face participation at school as well as online attendees via Zoom.

Agenda & Minutes

To learn more, please visit our website to see what’s new or follow us on Instagram at @wearelouisyyc

  • Louis Riel’s Growing Smiles Winter Plant Fundraiser has officially launched! Explore our festive collection of arrangements and poinsettias. By purchasing a plant, you will be helping to support our students. The order deadline is November 27, 2024. Pick-up has to be in person and will take place at the school on December 12, 2024. We appreciate your support!
  • The Purdy's Holiday Chocolate Fundraiser is on now! Place your order to help the Louis Riel Parent Society's efforts to support our students. Submit your orders online by November 27, 2024. Please use your name, not your child's, to avoid confusion. Orders will be available for pick-up on December 12, 2024.

GPA Parent Association

Welcome back to our new and returning GATE families!

All parents and guardians of GATE students are automatically members of the GATE Parent Association. The GPA is a great way to stay connected to the GATE community and receive updates on GATE-specific matters. Please sign up for the newsletter.

Lost and Found

Our lost and found collection continues to grow, and grow, and grow. If your student is one of those kiddos who happens to leave their possessions on the playground with regularity, please consider adding tags, labels, or some other visible means of identification in or on their clothing or personal items.    

Upcoming Dates of Importance

  • Nov. 8-13 – Fall Break
  • Nov. 14 – Classes Resume
  • Nov. 14 – Grade 2 Leighton Art Centre
  • Nov. 18 – MADD Canada Presentation (Grade 7-9)
  • Nov. 20 – Picture Retake Day
  • Nov. 20 – Fun Lunch – Elementary
  • Nov. 21 – Grade 2 Studio Bell