Good afternoon Alex Ferguson Families,

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for the Terry Fox Assembly on Friday, we appreciate your support and involvement in our school community. I hear the students did an excellent job of sharing the meaning and purpose behind the Terry Fox Run, and also enjoyed the time running outside. Based on preliminary reports we exceeded our fundraising goals! Stay tuned for more information.

Our next school community event is on Thursday, our Welcome Back event. Teachers will be staying late at school that evening to provide an opportunity to connect with all parents. As in the past few years we are inviting families to return to school between 5:00 and 6:00pm for a picnic. Please bring your own food, chairs, blankets, etc. and plan to meet outside. Students can introduce you to their classmates and teachers.

At 5:55pm doors will open for families to find the first classroom presentation they will attend. Teachers will be doing two presentations on Thursday. These presentations, at 6:00 and 6:30, are identical, allowing families with multiple children to attend more than one classroom presentation. Teachers invite families to come into their rooms, learn more about the teaching and learning plans for the school year, possible off site experiences, daily expectations, as well as see the classroom layout and ask questions.

All CBE families received an email the week of September 2 reminding us to complete our online forms. As part of our compliance with government expectations, there are 2 or 3 forms that each family needs to complete each year. The two that all families must complete are the Annual Authorization and Demographic Verification forms. If you are looking to volunteer at our school this year please also complete the Volunteer Registration form. You can access all these forms through your MyCBE account. Click on the Online Forms and School Registration box, or scroll down the left hand side to find the tab. Thank you for helping us to meet our compliance requirements by completing these forms. There are about 70 students who already have these documents completed and verified. We appreciate your support.

Some clarification about our morning bell times. The first bell rings at 8:38am. At that time all students are welcomed inside to get ready for the school day. The back doors close promptly at 8:42am as all students and teachers are expected to be in class and starting their school day. If you hear the 8:42am bell ring, please head to the office doors where your child can sign themselves in and head to class. From 8:27am till 8:38am there are supervisors outside to watch students as they arrive. All OSC students are also outside at this time. If you arrive prior to 8:38am, please join all the adults and students at the south of the building. If your child arrives prior to 8:27am please stay with them until the supervisors come outside and begin active supervision for the day.

While we want everyone to be at school, in their classroom, and ready to learn by 8:42am each morning, it is MORE important that all students arrive to school safely.  This morning we had a bus driver, from another school, stop by to talk about street safety. Apparently, right as our bell rang this morning (8:38am), some families of children walked right in front of his bus, while he had a green light. He shared that he doesn’t usually yell at students, but he was very concerned about the lack of safety. I thanked him for letting me know, taking time to come back to the school after he had completed his run, and for looking out for all our families. PLEASE, talk to your child about traffic safety. PLEASE, set a good example. U-turns are not allowed in front of the school, or at any uncontrolled intersections. Jaywalking (crossing the street anywhere but at the crosswalks) is not allowed. We MUST follow safety rules, including only crossing the road when safe to do so. Thank you for reinforcing this message with your children. If necessary, please arrive a few minutes late, rather than being unsafe.

Last week a few students and parents were asking about swimming lessons. Alex Ferguson School will not be participating in swimming lessons during the 2025-2026 school year. There were a variety of factors that came together to make it unfeasible to participate in swimming lessons this October. These factors included all the paperwork (that would have been due into the pool by today at the latest) that was required to be submitted earlier than other years, increased expense (from $33.03 to around $50 / student) and the elimination of the fair entry option for our families in need, volunteers and our lack of a male back up person (Mr. Littel) and the lack of availability of the female back up person (Ms. Sharpe), and scheduling conflicts (we could have looked at moving our lessons to the spring however we already have other residency opportunities booked for the spring).

We are looking at trying to get back into the City of Calgary rotation for swimming lessons for the 2026-2027 school year. Based on timing of paperwork and other assessments, we would be looking to book for May or June 2027. Thank you for your understanding.

For our returning families, you will remember the September event previously known as Gully Day, for all our new families, AFS has a fabulous event each September that brings together all the students over the day to kick off another school year. This year that event will be on Thursday September 25. To focus on, and further foster, strengthening our community we have renamed our September event, COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS DAY.

On this day we are all going to be completing a scavenger hunt. Our Parent Society and School Council have once again stepped up financially to support this event. We have hired David from Treasure Quest to create a personalized hunt for our school community. He has found historical, botanical, indigenous, and fun facts connected to our school and small surrounding area, focusing on the Gully. Students will be in buddy groupings and will go out during one of four periods throughout the day to participate in the hunt. We are looking for volunteers!!! Are you interested in supporting a class during their hunt? Or dressing up and sharing information with students as they hunt for information? Or helping to set up, and resetting up, and doing it all again? We need as many volunteers as possible to support us throughout the day. If you have a valid CBE police clearance, or have a police clearance completed within the last 6 months with another agency, please consider supporting this event. Let your classroom teacher know, or Ms. Sharpe, with your preferences. If you are available all day, great! If you are available for the AM or PM, also great! We welcome all the support we can gather and look forward to the excitement of the day.

All students and volunteers will need to dress for the weather as this event will go forward rain or shine.

One more Save the Date – our school wide music assembly will be the morning of Tuesday December 9. Ms. Jackson will be leading this event to showcase the musical talents of all our students. Stay tuned for the exact timing of this event.

Have a wonderful evening.

Your AFS Principal
Helen Sharpe