Student Learning Conferences

Thanks to all the families who participated in conferences this week. These meetings are an important opportunity for families and teachers to get together and talk about student learning. We appreciate you taking the time to come in and speak with us.

The next opportunity to sit down and talk formally with teachers will be in the spring (two Fridays in early March – stay tuned for more details closer to the date). Remember that if you have questions about your child’s learning, teachers want to hear from you. Reach out to the school by phone, or email your child’s teacher if you want to discuss something further. We’re all on your child’s learning team together!

 

Field Trips and Volunteering

Field trips are an opportunity for students to learn about curriculum outside of the school. When planning field trips, lots of things are considered including the trip’s connection to learning, the safety of the site and the developmental readiness of students to go on a field trip.

While we are excited to start planning, we cannot take students off site without the support of volunteers. If you are available to help make field trips happen, please come in to the office at your earliest convenience to start the volunteer clearance process. It typically takes 6-8 weeks. This year, Calgary Police Service has started to charge a fee for the police information check, which is around twenty dollars. If you have already been cleared at another school, we can transfer it over.

Anyone over 18 years of age with a valid police clearance can volunteer on field trip, so please feel free to share the call for volunteers with relatives and friends. All are welcome!

 

Patrols, Parking and Pylons

Thanks to all the families who are helping our patrollers get to and from school safely at the right times for their shifts. This leadership opportunity for our grade 5 students has been very valuable already, and it’s only the first week!

We have implemented a few new measures this week to ensure safety in the school zone. This includes using pylons to mark out the “no stopping” zones, and posting a staff member in the driveway of the staff parking lot. Since various staff members are in and out throughout the day, it is imperative for student safety that the staff lot never be used for loading and unloading students.

Keeping all this in mind, please take care and obey traffic and parking regulations when dropping off and picking up students. You can also consider using active modes of getting to and from school (walking, biking, etc.) that don’t involve cars and ease up on parking concerns.

 

Radon Testing at Marlborough School

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: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-risks-safety/radiation/radon.html