St. Basil School 919 Tuscany Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta T3L 2T5

Phone: 403-500-2108 Fax: 403-500-2308

District Website: www.cssd.ab.ca School Website: www.cssd.ab.ca/stbasil

Twitter: Follow us at @StBasil_CCSD October 2017

Mr. Tony Dal Cin Principal

Mr. Brian Kane Vice-Principal

Ms. Shannon Poulsen Assistant Principal

Thanksgiving Message

Message from Administration Giving Thanks

Dear Parents/Guardians; As we head into October and the colorful season of fall, we would like to take time to reflect on the many blessings

that we have at St. Basil School. We are thankful for our students who come to school each day sharing their ideas, strengths and working diligently towards their learning; we are thankful for our parents who love and support their

children unconditionally as their children continue to grow and change each day; we are thankful for the extremely

talented and committed staff who work passionately to ensure that the needs of our students are met; we are thankful for our Priests, Deacons, and Parish communities of St. Bernard’s, Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Peter’s for their

spiritual guidance and sacrament programs available throughout the year.

It has been a busy September with many opportunities to meet with parents and their children at our Welcome Back

BBQ, Parent/Student/Teacher conferences, School Council meeting(s), volunteer orientations as well as outside before and after school. We celebrated the new school year with our opening mass on September 14th which was lead by our Grade 4 classes. We wish to thank Mrs. Fedorchuk/Mrs. Sims, Ms. Hanevy/Mrs. Mandziak, and Miss Robison and their

students for the wonderful mass to begin our spiritual journey. They were accompanied by our fantastic student choir and staff leads: Mrs. Doty, Mrs. Sims, Mr. Diky and Mrs. Reynolds.

Please review the attachments and our October school calendar for other important dates, opportunities and events during this month.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends!

Mr. Tony Dal Cin Mr. Brian Kane Ms. Shannon Poulsen Principal Vice-Principal Assistant Principal

Page 2 of 6 Be merci ful , just as your Father i s merci ful .

Where: “Students Believe And Succeed In Learning”

Upcoming Important Dates :

In order to provide a safe and secure school for our students, we are obligated to phone home for every day a

student is absent without notification. Please ensure that if your child(ren) will be absent that you inform the school

before 9:00 a.m. at 403-500-2108. A message can be left explaining the absence on the voicemail.

Thanksgiving Liturgy

And Non-perishable food

item donation

Please join us for our Thanksgiving Liturgy being held on Thursday, October 5th at 2:15 p.m. As part of our celebration, we are asking and accepting a donation of a non-

perishable food item(s) for the St. Vincent de Paul Society from October 2nd to 5th.

Thank you for supporting families or persons in need during this time of where many of

us reflect and give thanks for the many blessings we have.

Healthy Hunger St. Basil School is working with Healthy Hunger to provide different lunch/snack options

for your child. Our first Healthy Hunger of the year is Subway on Friday, October 20th. The deadline to order is Sunday, October 15th at 11:59pm. Families can order by

following the attached information and signing up with Healthy Hunger. Once you have

registered with Healthy Hunger you will be notified of future fun lunches and you will be able to order and pay online. Please note these order are organized by Homeroom

in elementary and TA in junior high.

To set up an account, please see the attached instructions or click here.

Scholastic Book Fair St. Basil will have a Scholastic Book Fair from November 27th to December 1st. This is a great opportunity to buy some books for Christmas gifts and for Christmas reading.

See you there!

Yearbooks The 2016-2017 yearbooks are in the process of being distributed and they look great!

Thanks to all of the families who purchased yearbooks. There will be a limited number of extras for sale. Stay posted for more information in

the upcoming weeks. You are encouraged to order your copy(ies) of the 2017-2018 yearbook. Yearbooks

can only be ordered on the St. Basil school website (http://schools.cssd.ab.ca/stbasil) by clicking on the Online Fee Payment tab. You can also manage your account on this site to confirm if you have ordered and paid for a 2017-2018 yearbook. Please note that

yearbooks are an added cost of $30 and are not included in general school fees. The yearbook company needs final numbers quite early in the year, so in order to ensure

Sun Monday

Oct 2

Day 1

Tuesday

Oct 3

Day 2

Wednesday

Oct 4

Day 3

Thursday

Oct 5

Day 4

Friday

Oct 5 Sat

Pasta Day Senior Girls Volleyball

Tournament at

St. Brigid

Pizza Day

Grade 9 Vaccinations

in p.m.

Volleyball Games

Grade 3 Telus Spark

Field Trip

Thanksgiving Liturgy

2:15 p.m.

Cross Country City

Finals

Volleyball Games

Professional Day

No Classes

Page 3 of 6 Be merci ful , just as your Father i s merci ful .

Where: “Students Believe And Succeed In Learning”

you and your family get a yearbook this year, please order now. There may not be a

chance to purchase extra yearbooks in the Fall once they arrive at school for distribution. These yearbooks will be sold at a cost of $35. We thank you in advance for confirming your purchases as soon as possible to help with numbers and ordering. It’s going to be

another amazing book!

Terry Fox Run

We are very pleased to announce that St. Basil School raised

$2,672.07 for our annual Terry Fox run! The “Musical Chairs” challenge really motivated our students to donate

money to such a worthy cause. The weather was beautiful and the kids had some exercise thru their run/walk. Thank you to our patrols and grade 7 leadership students that

helped out along the route and our grade 9 junior students that led the warm-up. Thank you also to the parents that came to show support and help out. Great job Basil Bulls!

Orange Shirt Day (September 30th)

Our school celebrated Orange Shirt Day on September 29th. This was an opportunity for us to increase student and staff awareness of the First Nation, Metis and Inuit history

and culture. Today our students did some activities throughout the day for Orange Shirt

Day. In all of our schools, we work to build communities that are more inclusive where respect for one another, our community and our diversity are celebrated. The day falls

on a Saturday (September 30) so we celebrating today September 29.

St. Basil Catholic

Community of Caring –

Jacket Racket begins

October 3rd

We are pleased to support Jacket Racket again this year! Did you know that we are one

of the top 3 schools that donate winter items to Jacket Racket each and every year? Did you know that each year St. Basil sets a new record for jacket donations? Without the

support of St. Basil School, the Jacket Racket program would not be able to provide as many winter clothing items as they do. From October 10th to November 3rd, please

consider donating winter jackets, snow pants, hats, mittens and fleece jackets. Your

donations will help a less fortunate child at a Calgary school.

School Request: Limiting

Classroom Interruptions

Over the course of the school day we endeavor to have as few class interruptions as

possible, limiting announcements to just before lunch and again at the end of the day.

Parents and students are encouraged to make all before and after school arrangements prior to student arrival. This will help limit the number of office and classroom

interruptions for messages concerning planning that could be made prior to the start of the school day (example: play dates). Of course, please don’t hesitate to contact the

office when unforeseen situations arise. Reminder: morning supervision begins at 8:35 a.m., allowing for drop-off before the warning bell and after school outdoor supervision ends at 3:31 p.m.

Junior High Parents

Brightspace by D2L Brightspace (D2L) is a platform that provide students, teachers

and parents access to course content, news, digital resources, calendar events, grades

and dropbox. Students can log in from our school website or directly at

https://dl.cssd.ab.ca/d2l/login.

Please see the following links to learn more. Brightspace and Pulse Info For Parents D2L Info For Parents

Page 4 of 6 Be merci ful , just as your Father i s merci ful .

Where: “Students Believe And Succeed In Learning”

Pulse Consider downloading the mobile app Pulse! This app helps students keep track

of updates in Brightspace by D2L. Students can see news, deadlines and grades. Students

need their credentials to log in. News items added to the courses will send a notification in Pulse. It is a wonderful way to stay informed and it’s mobile! Pulse app

Kindergarten

Registration

We will be accepting Kindergarten registrations for the 2018/2019 school year commencing at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 11th. We accept registrations on a

first-come, first-served basis. Your child is eligible if he/she turns four years old on or

before March 1st, 2018. We encourage all St. Basil families to register their siblings at this time.

Documents Required – Birth Certificate and proof of residency in Tuscany (driver’s

licence or utility bill).

Documents Requested – Baptismal Certificate (for child or one parent) Registration Form – Which can be picked up at the office prior to registration.

Community Service and

Social Justice

Community Care Services 7 has been very busy this month learning how to run the green initiatives at St. Basil. They have also had to learn how to deal with customers, food and money while working the canteen. Many students have completed their

community service by helping set up before mass, working the family BBQ and are preparing to help at the annual St. Basil volleyball tournaments.

Legal Studies 9 students started the year preparing to raise money for local charities

starting with their idea of having a Musical Chairs incentive for classes for our Terry Fox

run. We also look forward to collecting food for the Vincent de Paul Society prior to

Thanksgiving and also supporting the Jacket Racket.

Advance Polling Station Our school has been selected to be an Advance Polling Station for the October Civic Election from October 4th to 11th from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. each day. (Closed Thanksgiving Monday). We have a plan in place to ensure instruction is not interupted and that the

safety of our staff and students is always maintained.

Halloween On Tuesday, October 31st, we are celebrating Halloween at St. Basil. Students are

encouraged to wear black and orange or dress up in costumes. In keeping with our Catholic values please refrain from any costumes that are violent in nature or have blood

or gore. We also ask there to be no masks or items such as pretend weapons, swords,

etc. Costumes for younger children must be “user-friendly” (i.e. your child must be able to take it off to use the bathroom, etc). We are encouraging students who dress up in a costume to bring in a loonie donation. This money will go towards buying supplies for

our Leadership students to make sandwiches that will be donated to Inn From The Cold.

School Council Save the date: 2nd Annual Halloween Family Dance will take place on Thursday,

October 26th from 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person. More details to follow.

Next School Council Meeting is on Wednesday, October 11 th at 6:45 p.m. in our

Learning Commons.

Page 5 of 6 Be merci ful , just as your Father i s merci ful .

Where: “Students Believe And Succeed In Learning”

Pizza/Pasta

Start Up

This is a reminder that regular Pizza Hut pasta orders will begin on Monday,

October 2nd and Domino’s pizza orders on Wednesday, October 4th. New order forms for January-March will go home in December.

Junior High Athletics St. Basil athletics is off to a great start. Our junior high athletes are presently competing in both cross-country and volleyball.

We are happy to report that our cross-county team had an outstanding finish last week at the city cross-country meet. In volleyball, both our senior and junior teams are busy

practicing and playing in many league games and tournaments. Our teams are focusing on team work and ball control to find greater success on the court.

We invite all to come and watch our 10th annual Senior Boys volleyball tournament on October 12th and our Senior Girls volleyball tournament on October 19th. Games will be played from 3:15 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. Go Bulls!

Traffic Congestion

Student Drop Off

Please refrain from making

“U” turns

We continue to notice some traffic congestion that we believe can be corrected if everyone does their part. To ensure that all students walking to school are safe, we would

ask parents who decide to drive their children to school to please keep these points in

mind:

Choose a drop off spot outside the parking lot (students are not allowed in the

parking lot) preferably in front of the school. The bus zone is clearly marked;

however, there is lots of room available for dropping off your child(ren) behind

the school zone sign in front of our school on Tuscany Drive. If parents of Kindergarten children decide to drop their children off on the west

side of the school we would ask you to refrain from making “U” turns when returning to Tuscany Drive. Instead we will ask you to drive around the block

allowing for a safer situation for all students making their way to school. We want to thank you for your cooperation and support in this matter.

Page 6 of 6 Be merci ful , just as your Father i s merci ful .

Where: “Students Believe And Succeed In Learning”

Information from

Linda Garden

Public Health Nurse

Healthy students are better learners and better-educated students are healthier.

Comprehensive School Health: http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/csh.asp Alberta Health Services: Resources for Schools and Teachers

http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/2909.asp

Linda Garden RN BN CCHN(C), Public Health Nurse

Northwest School Team Lead, Northwest Community Health Centre

109, 1829 Ranchlands Blvd. NW, Calgary, Alberta T3G 2A7 E-mail: linda.garden@albertahealthservices.ca

Phone: 403-943-9775, Fax: 403-943-9735

1000 Fifth Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 4T9 403-500-2000 www.cssd.ab.ca

CALGARY CATHOLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT MONTHLY NEWS

ConnectionsOCTOBER 2017

New CCSD School OpeningsThree new Calgary Catholic schools opened for their first day on September 5, 2017. Congratula-tions to Guardian Angel School, a K–6 school in Aspen Woods, with a capacity of 750 students led by Principal Paul Dorin; Apostles of Jesus School, a K–9 school in Skyview Ranch with a capacity of 900 students led by Principal Jennifer Orr; and Holy Child School, a K–9 school in Silverado with a capacity of 900 students led by Principal Christine Gannon. CCSD also has five new schools in various stages of development in the communities of Mahogany, Sherwood, Legacy, Auburn Bay and Morningside in Airdrie. Learn more on our website under Schools/Future Schools.

Muncipal Election – October 16, 2017Don’t forget to vote in the upcoming municipal election on Monday, October 16. Calgarians are vot-ing for mayor, city councillors and school board trustees. Learn more about who is running to be a trustee with the Calgary Catholic School District on the Elections Calgary website.

New Dual-Credit Program in NutritionIn partnership with SAIT, Calgary Catholic high school students now have the opportunity to enrol in a two-year program focused on nutrition. Students will be provided with hands-on experience modifying and evaluating recipes for specific population needs. Topics such as sports nutrition, disease prevention, health coaching, health promotion and adult behaviour change process are also taught. SAIT instructors deliver the program at SAIT Campus with some materials delivered online. All CCSD high school student are eligible to apply. There are limited spots available. Apply through your counsellor, career practitioner or off-campus teacher.

CCSD/Flames Student NightsCalgary Catholic is happy to partner with the Calgary Flames again this season to offer students, staff and families a discounted ticket to a Flames game, while also fundraising for their school. Due to the success of the program last year, we have added a third CCSD Student Night to choose from. The three nights are: Friday, October 27 vs. the Dallas Stars, Thursday, December 14 vs. the San Jose Sharks and Wednesday, January 30 vs. the Vegas Golden Knights. CCSD Price: $39/ticket. For every ticket sold, the Calgary Flames will donate $10 back to your school. Last year, this fundraising pro-gram raised over $10,000 for CCSD schools and the Calgary Catholic Education Foundation (CCEF). Tickets can be purchased at www.calgaryflames.com/ccsd

Thanksgiving HolidaySchools and offices are closed on Monday, October 9 to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. As we look forward to the celebration of Thanksgiving, we remember the abundant blessings God has provided in our lives through Christ and we join all staff and students in asking that God continue to provide for our needs and the needs of others.

Catholic Education SundayOn this day, we recognize and celebrate the wonderful work that is taking place throughout the prov-ince in our Catholic schools. Catholic Education Sunday is also an opportunity for us to share our gen-erosity. The Calgary Catholic Education Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to enhanc-ing educational experiences for students in the CCSD. The foundation provides grants that support innovative programs and projects that touch the lives of students in our schools. On November 4–5, there will be a special collection at each mass, with a portion of funds going to the CCEF. Help support quality Catholic education in our community and ensure that the needs of Catholic education are met.

Did you know?

There were 6,128 stu-dents enrolled in our 2017 Summer School courses—an increase of 941 students from our 2016 Summer School.