Our second week of at-home learning continued. Read about this and more in this week's Charger Connects.

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I hope this update finds you doing well and looking forward to the weekend ahead. We are keeping quite busy at the school with the day-to-day running of a synchronous, online school with 950 kids and ensuring our 230 online students are keeping up with their work as we head towards the finish line.

If you are anything like me, the past 14 months have been full of challenges. The uncertainty that surrounds so much of our lives is exhausting and I can appreciate all the different scenarios facing our families right now. I just want to take a moment to encourage each of you in the face of these challenges and remind you that we are here to support you and your child. Student engagement online has been great so far and I want to encourage every to maintain their routines, stay connected, and continue learning.

This time of year is normally split between managing the busyness of May with planning for the following school year. While the busyness of May feels different than normal, the planning for next year part of my day to day is bringing me optimism.

Building Changes

Once again, BCHS is growing! We are anticipating over 1200 students next year. Planning is underway for portables to help accommodate our students and we hope to hear about these mobile units in the coming weeks.

In addition to more space, we are seeing an overhaul of our current spaces. The construction shop is getting new tools and different design. Two bathrooms on the main floor being re-done. The flooring in the main hallways on both floors are being replaced. Lastly, we are anticipating new LED lighting going in the school, brightening up the space. We are excited for these changes to our building!

Staffing Changes

With growth comes staffing changes. Shealeigh Brandford is being retained in a permanent role in our ELA department. Shealeigh has brought insturctional expertise along with boundless energy to our school this year and we are pleased to be able to keep her on.

Joining Shealeigh in the ELA department is Tanis Brown. Tanis has spent the past two years at George McDougall High School and we are thrilled to have her cross the highway to join our team.

James Sinclair will be joining our Math department, replacing Norm Cobble. James moves to us after leading the math instruction at Prince of Peace school.

Whitney Gagnon accepted a Numeracy Learning Specialist position at Rocky View Schools this week and will be departing to central office for a four year term. We are thrilled for Whitney and wish her the best in her move. As well Shawn Sweetapple has resigned his position as his family has relocated to the west coast. We will miss Shawn in the mechanics program and wish him the best in his next steps.

Programming for 2021.22

We are excited to offer a variety of new courses next fall. The draft 3 of the timetable is complete and we are anticipating running it next week. This process will take a few weeks as we work to meet student requests.

New courses for next year include:

Here are a few updates for this week:

1. Graduation Update

We have communicated our graduation plans to our gr. 12 class this week via email. Currently, we are working on our online ceremony while also working with our graduation committee and staff to creatively celebrate our graduates. More details about our plan will be released when we confirm them.

Graduates, your grad in a box will contain your cap and gown, diploma, and other items from the school. Please pay your graduation fee by Monday, May 17th so we can have your graduation box ready for Friday, May 21st. Any questions please contact rreed@rockyview.ab.ca or our business manager, Carol Twomey, ctwomey@rockyview.ab.ca.

2. Online School Registration

RVS has created a separate, online school, for students in gr. 1-9 and 10-12. This school is separate from BCHS, with students choosing to enrol in the school and leave BCHS. For those students who were online this year and thrived, this could be a good alternative for you. Please follow this link for more information or contact rreed@rockyview.ab.ca. Families have until May 31st to complete their registration for next year.

3. At-Home Learning

Thank you for your continued hard work and commitment to at-home learning. A reminder to check in with your teachers for their zoom sessions and stay connected to your learning! This week is only a 4 day week with Friday, May 21st being a PL day heading into the long weekend.

I hope you have a great weekend, enjoy the nice weather, and see you next week!

Ryan

Principal's Message