Welcome back

Welcome to the 2016-2017 School Year at MidSun

 

Our team is so excited to welcome over 800 learners to this school year at MidSun.  Our focus for the school start-up will be to ensure all students feel welcomed, supported and included. Classroom, grade and school-wide activities will be designed to ensure all students have a positive start to the school year, feel comfortable with their teachers and make connections with other students. Providing a plethora of opportunities for students and ensuring the tasks we ask students to do are engaging, relevant and curricular focussed, will be paramount as we progress throughout the year. The myriad of extracurricular opportunities, field trips and classroom activities will be communicated to you throughout the year. 

Students will receive their class schedules on the first day of school. Our teachers (and our elementary feeder school teachers) have worked extremely hard to balance our classes for academic, gender, and option selections and therefore classroom changes are not possible. Beginning activities will be designed to ensure all students feel comfortable in as timely a fashion as possible.

Supply lists will be provided by each teacher. For the first day, it is a good idea for students to have something to write with and paper to write on. Students will receive a variety of forms on their first day and we would ask that you please sign and return those forms as soon as possible. Additionally, we ask that all students read the student handbook and return signed, the sheet confirming students have read the handbook and the corresponding Student Code of Conduct.

Busing schedules, route maps, fee information, updated calendar and other important documents are posted on our website and are up to date. These forms are also available in the school office. We are in the process of updating our website, so some of our additional information may not be up to date.

Payment of School Fees 2016-2017:

Information on how to pay fees can be found at http://www.cbe.ab.ca/registration/fees-and-waivers/Pages/default.aspx. If you are new to the CBE, you will need to create a CBE Account at https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn.

First Day of School:

We are looking forward to welcoming our new Grade 7 students on September 6, 2016 from 9:00am-12:00pm and returning grade 8 and 9 students the same day from 1:00pm-3:35pm. Busses are running on their regular schedule, so Grade 7’s will need to be picked up and students in grades 8 & 9 will need to be brought to school. More information is available on the Back to School tab.

We look forward to seeing each of you soon!

All the best,

Chris Giffen, Principal

 

 

 

 

Final Message From MidSun

Message from the Principal for June

Dear Parents/Guardians:

The end of the year is in sight and students and staff are beginning to feel the excitement that comes with the impending summer. The remaining four weeks of school will be devoted to ensuring curriculums have been covered and significant material reviewed prior to exam week at the end of the June. Students have had a plethora of opportunities throughout the year to get involved in a variety of activities at the school. The final athletic club – Track and Field – wrapped up with MidSun students demonstrating excellent sportsmanship, work ethic and athletic prowess.  The Grade 8 and 9 school bands have recently attended band camp and all bands are eagerly preparing for their concert on June 1^st.  School clubs are winding up and final field trips for the year are taking place. As well, the Spring Carnival is set for June 1^st. 

It has been a fantastic year, and as principal I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to lead such an amazing community of students and school staff. I very much appreciate all the support provided by the parent community, in particular the devoted group who volunteer their time with our school council. 

I have endeavoured to find succinct and effective ways to communicate with you over the course of my first five months as principal.  The Calgary Board of Education is introducing new communication tools in the coming months, so please expect to see a new look to our website by September. As well, some changes will be made by the Calgary Board of Education to ensure we are compliant with Canada’s new anti-spam legislation. More specifics regarding changes to communication will be provided as we have them. My intent is to continue to provide one page weekly updates, with longer pieces of communication e-mailed to you when required. The best way to stay informed with your child’s school is to join the School Council.  The last meeting of the year is on June 9, 2016 at 7pm. Everyone is welcome, so we hope to see you there.

June can be a stressful time for students as they endeavour to complete their assigned work and prepare for final exams.  You were all sent a detailed itinerary of dates and times for the end of June. Knowing what to expect well in advance can help reduce the stress and anxiety of exams. Also included in the “Year-end Freedom Guide” were strategies and tips to help students prepare for exams.  We expect all students to prepare for exams by completing review material provided by teachers and by studying at home. By putting in the necessary effort, students will be successful and can feel good about their final assessment of the year.  We will report their final exam mark to you, so you are aware of their achievement. When it comes to a mark for Term 2, final exams are used as a final check.  In most cases, the exam mark will be consistent with a student’s Term 2 mark.  Please remember that there is no final mark or average mark between Terms 1 and 2.  The new assessment protocols at the Calgary Board of Education assess work based on consistency with more emphasis on recently completed work. Therefore, a child’s Term 2 mark can be taken as their “final mark”, as it is an assessment of a child’s achievement at the end of June.

Planning for next year is well underway. Instructional groups are being made, students are being enrolled in options, teachers are learning their assignments for next year and communication documents are being prepared. We endeavour to ensure students are placed into instructional groups that take their individual learning needs into consideration. Also, we will do a best to ensure students get the option classes they want for next year as a lot of proactive work has gone in to ensuring this happens. Please do not expect to know your child’s instructional group or options classes until the first day of school. Important dates for next year were included in the Year-end Freedom Guide, will be included in your child’s report card envelope in June and will be posted on our school website.

As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 777-6430 or e-mail at cjgiffen@cbe.ab.ca 

Best Regards,

Chris Giffen

Principal, MidSun School

Gym Strip Ordering Information for 2016-2017

Upcoming LA Part A Exam Information

The grade 9 English Language Arts written PAT and the grade 7 and 8 English Language Arts written exam will take place on Tuesday, May 10^th.  The exam will begin promptly at 9am. The examination is scheduled to be two hours in length; however, students requiring extra time may take an additional half hour to complete their exam.  It is very important that students arrive at school prepared for their exam. We will be telling all students to ensure they have all their necessary supplies, water bottle and have been to the washroom prior to 8:55am.  We will also be asking students to leave their cell phone, I-pod and other personal belongings in their locker.  We want all students to be prepared to do their best. If you have any questions about the exam, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or school administration.

8:40 – 8:45 – Busses arrive

8:50 – Warning bell – Please go to class

8:55 – Attendance

9:00 – Exam begins

11:00 – Exam ends (students needing an extra 30 minutes may continue writing)

11:30 - Official end of exam – Dismissal

11:40 – Busses depart

Authorship 2016

 

MidSun School recently had the opportunity to host a special guest speaker on Tuesday, April 5^th named Adria Laycraft.  Mrs. Laycraft works as a professional writer, and editor and was able to share some of the ins and outs of the publishing world with students who self-identified as budding writers in grades 7, 8, and 9.  The presentation was very informative and students were able to learn how to take their work to the next level and eventually even get paid for it!  We look forward to seeing more MidSun students get themselves published!  Go ahead and write that story, find that market, follow those submission guidelines, and get published, Lakers.  We believe in you!

Book Fair - Coming Soon