Hello Louis Riel Families,  

The end of the first month of the school has arrived as quickly as the changing colour of leaves on the birch and aspen trees outside the school. September is a month of reorienting our community of learners to the business of teaching and learning together after a long summer break. This year has felt very much as it has in the past except now we have a few more students under our roof engaged in remembering how we do school at Louis Riel. Despite many new faces in the hallways, classrooms, and instructional spaces, our staff and students have done a fantastic job working together to have one of the best school startups in recent memory. If September was an indication of how the year will be, we can proudly say that Louis Riel is back bigger, better, and ready for another fantastic year of learning.  

Please ask your child if the following is a run-on sentence to test their literacy skills: Our field trips and experiences are under way, students are learning on the land, virtual assemblies are happening, student leadership activities are taking shape, distracting electronics devices are stowed away during the school day, athletics teams and competitions are running, we practiced our first fire drill, we ran our Terry Fox run, we observed Orange Shirt Day, our families came to visit and met our teachers, and our Parent Council has met online for the first time. In addition to all of the above, we have been developing our literacy, numeracy, and skills to enhance our wellbeing every day.Thank you for taking the time to read through the points in the bulletin that apply to you and your student; we hope the revised format and frequency of the Bison bulletin will help you keep you in the loop on all things Louis Riel.  

Meet the Teacher Night Thursday, September 26

We hosted our annual “Meet the Teacher” event last night and were thrilled to see so many families join us at the school. We had leadership students on hand to guide families to classrooms and instructional spaces and two separate presentations for upper and lower grades. Every year we change the format slightly to meet the demand and every year we learn how we can improve this annual event. Next year we’ll meet earlier in September and ensure we have a stronger set of speakers for our k-5 assembly! Thank you for coming to visit the school to put faces to names.  

Bussing

Thank you for your continued patience as First Student continues to sort out our buses. Our transportation team is working hard to improve service and safety for all students. One thing we ask all our families to do is notify the office before the end of the day whenever they are picking up their child rather than having them bus home.  

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.  

Terry Fox Day and “Twonies for Terry” Fundraising Efforts

After a beautifully sunny Terry Fox run and an additional few days of raising money for cancer research through our “Twonies for Terry” campaign, our community raised just over $1,820! Thanks to your generous donations we were able to surpass our initial goal of $1,000 by a significant amount.  


Terry Fox Run Louis Riel


Louis Riel Parent and School Council(s)

Wednesday, September 25th was the first council meeting of the year. Please join us for future meetings to learn more about what council is about and how they support learning at Louis Riel. All future Parent Council meetings will be held on the last Wednesday of every month at 6:30pm. We are excited to be hosting our meetings in person at the school during some of the more temperate months.  More information to follow. 

To learn more, please visit our website to see what’s new:  https://www.wearelouis.ca or follow us on Instagram at wearelouisyyc 

GPA Parent Association

Welcome back to our new and returning GATE families!  The GATE Parent Association hosted their Annual General Meeting on Monday September 23, on Zoom.  

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 here: https://gatecalgary.ca/  

Demographic Forms Reminder

Please submit the Demographic Verification and Annual Authorization forms in SchoolEngage for your child(ren). These forms are mandatory every year for Alberta Education to confirm student funding.  Thank you for completing them. 

Lost and Found

Our lost and found is already beginning to grow and we’re only half-way through the first month of school. If you or your child are missing items, please remind them to visit the lost and found by the learning commons.   

Upcoming Dates of Importance 

  • Sept. 30 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 
  • Oct. 9 – Grade 6 (6.1 & 6.2) to The Confluence 
  • Oct. 10 – Grade 6 (6.3 & 6.4) to The Confluence