Our Lady of the Rosary Q & A April 14, 2016 Meeting Thank you for taking the time to complete the google form with your questions regarding the opening of Our Lady of the Rosary School. We have grouped same/similar questions together and included answers in one convenient document. Please let us know if you have further questions. You can phone us at 403-500-2126. Marni Harrigan Principal, Our Lady of the Rosary School What will class sizes be next year? Will there be any combined classes during the first year of Our Lady of the Rosary School? As our enrollment numbers will continue to fluctuate this spring as new students register, we will not have our exact class sizes until the beginning of the school year. Like all other district schools, we follow the guidelines provided by our district as well as Alberta Education. The size of the classes is dependent on many variables. Administration at Our Lady of the Rosary School will work closely with neighbouring schools to ensure that we have similar class sizes. With the school population anticipated to be smaller in the first year, will there still be specialist teachers (ex. Music, P.E.) We anticipate having a combination of subject specialists where staff talents and scheduling allow it. We will have a beautiful gymnasium and music classroom and we wish to maximize their use by having some devoted teachers in these areas. With the resources that we are given, we are looking for the most creative ways to provide rich and engaging experiences in all subject areas. Staffing of the school is currently underway and we will share who the teachers are in the late spring. Where do we get registrations forms? How do we register for Our Lady of the Rosary? If you have not registered your child at Our Lady of the Rosary School, live in our current school boundary area and: your child currently attends a CCSD school, please let your current school know that your child will attend Our Lady of the Rosary School. In this instance, no new registration form needs to complete. your child attends a school in CBE or other school district, please visit our school office currently situated at Blessed Cardinal Newman School 16201
McKenzie Lake Blvd SE. Our phone number is 403-500-2126 if you have further questions. How many Kindergarten classes do you anticipate for the 2016-2017 year? Will we have a choice between morning and afternoon Kindergarten? We currently have a morning and an afternoon Kindergarten for the upcoming school year. When you registered our child to attend Kindergarten at Our Lady of the Rosary School, you indicate a preference for the morning or afternoon class. The registrations are numbered as they have been received. Typically, preference is given in the order they were received. We will be sending this confirmation as soon as possible as we realize daycare arrangements rely on this information. We will be hosting a Kindergarten orientation on May 31at 7:00 pm in the Learning Commons at Blessed Cardinal Newman. At this meeting, you will have the opportunity to meet the Kindergarten teacher and learn about the kindergarten program that will be offered. Will you pick up students with daycare addresses in North Cranston to be transported to BCN at the beginning of the year? Can we access transportation from our daycare address to Our Lady of the Rosary School if the daycare address is outside the school s designated boundaries and our home address is within the walk limit? For all students accessing transportation to Blessed Cardinal Newman or Our Lady of the Rosary (once we move), you may request a pickup & drop-off address which is different than your home address. The following conditions apply: K- Gr. 6 children whose home residence is outside the 1.2 walk limit are eligible for transportation. (Exception students within 1.2 km are eligible while we are at Blessed Cardinal Newman). The caregiver s address must also be within the school boundary and over 1.2 km from the school to qualify for transportation. A closer bus stop will not be added for a caregiver s address that is closer than 800 meters to an existing bus stop on the route. Will there be mid-day transportation available for the kindergarten students while they attend Blessed Cardinal Newman? While our students are attending at Blessed Cardinal Newman School, kindergarten students will be provided with noon hour transportation (home for
the morning class and to school for the afternoon class). You must complete the noon hour transportation form in addition to the Charter Transportation Form. Once we return to Our Lady of the Rosary, noon hour transportation will not be provided as per usual practice. This means that eligible morning kindergarten students will receive transportation to school in the morning and eligible afternoon kindergarten students will receive transportation home in the afternoon. What are the bell times for Our Lady of the Rosary while at Blessed Cardinal Newman? What will the bell times be when we move into our new school? Will the school within a school share recess and lunch times? Currently, we are awaiting our confirmed bell times for Our Lady of the Rosary (once located in new building) and Our Lady of the Rosary while at Blessed Cardinal Newman. We hope to receive this information within the next couple of weeks and will share it with parents as we realize that daycare arrangements depend on this information. At this time we have not determined the recess and lunch times. Can you please provide more clarification on how the school within a school model will work at Blessed Cardinal Newman? Where will the classes be accommodated? Will our school have designated classroom spaces? At Blessed Cardinal Newman, we are blessed to be provided with classrooms where Our Lady of the Rosary students will be able to develop their own classroom routines and start the year in a dedicated classroom space. Currently, there is no plan to hold classes in open spaces or common areas. Students will start the school year at Blessed Cardinal Newman with the same teacher and classmates that they end the year with at our new school, Our Lady of the Rosary. School within a school has been successful in many instances when new schools have opened in our district. Our vision is that we will act as our own school while being housed at Blessed Cardinal Newman School. Will the classrooms have tables or desks for the students? We are so fortunate to have a choice of tables or desks in our classrooms and so often, our teachers teaching style will dictate this preference. Our classrooms will have a combination of desks and tables depending upon the grade level and student developmental level.
Will Our Lady of the Rosary school have before and after school programs? At this time there are no plans for before or after care programs for our students. Will the playground be supervised before and after school? Is so, for how long? How long after school can children stay to wait to be picked up? Supervision outside the school is provided for 15 minutes after the final bell rings. This allows time for parents to pick up their children. It is recommended that parents arrange for their children to go home after school to ensure they are supervised and cared for. Parents are always welcome to supervise their own children after school and in the evening at a school playground. With the school being brand new, will there be an opportunity for our students to meet their new teachers prior to the first day of school (similar to what happens for Kindergarten)? Thank you for the suggestion for a meet and greet evening for our students and their teachers. As a staff, we will discuss and consider this option. Should we decide to have such an event, we will send an invitation out to our families. Are the south Cranston students who have elected to stay at Christ the King School for the 2016-17 school year giving up their spots at Our Lady of the Rosary? Do they still have the option to transfer to OLR? Will students remaining at CTK for 2016-17 be redirected to OLR for the following (2017-18) school year? Students who begin the school year at CTK, as per the district boundary decision letter, will continue at that school for the full year. This process ensures class sizes planned for remain consistent throughout the school year. Families who wish to change their decision from CTK to Our Lady of the Rosary should contact the principal, Marni Harrigan this spring to assist with the planning and staffing process. Students remaining at CTK this year may remain at that school through grade 9 or transfer to Our Lady of the Rosary at the start of 2017/2018.
We are still interested in volunteering for a committee (ie. Fundraising) for Our Lady of the Rosary School. Can we still put our name forward to assist? At Our Lady of the Rosary School, it is never too late to lend a helping hand. While we have a list of willing volunteers, we will continue to add to our lists and encourage parents to send in their names to our secretary at Aditi.kulkarni@cssd.ab.ca and you will be added to the list. Currently, we are looking for parents to assist with: Fundraising committee Special Events Hot Lunch/Special Lunch Please note that all volunteers must attend a volunteer orientation. These will be held in the first weeks of school and dates will be communicated at a later date. Do you still anticipate an opening day for Our Lady of the Rosary School for late fall/christmas 2016? Or do you anticipate January 2017? Construction timelines are currently on time, resulting in a late fall to Christmas move to the new facility. As construction continues we will have a better idea of the exact date of the move. As a new school, will we need to fundraise for items such as technology, library books, physical education equipment and other learning supports? Or does the school open with these items in place? When opening a new school, we are very blessed by the resources that are provided to our school. The instructional services, instructional technology, supply management and construction and maintenance departments create extensive resource lists with the schools best needs in mind. We will be well equipped in all of our instructional spaces. Will there be stop signs or controlled crosswalks at the corner of Cranford Drive and Cranston Gate? This decision is made by the City of Calgary and not the Calgary Catholic School District.