Happenings
- November 28 4-8 PM: Parent-Teacher Conferences at Branton School
- November 29 (No school): Parent-Teacher Conferences 9AM-1PM on TEAM (Online)
Subject: Thank You for Supporng Our Biggest Fundraiser + Volunteers Still Needed!
Oki, Danit'astada, Âba wathtec, Tânisi, Taanishi, Bonjour, Hello Branton Families,
First, a heartfelt thank you to all who have already registered to volunteer for our casino fundraiser at the Elbow River Casino on February 26-27! Your commitment to supporting our school’s biggest fundraising event of the year is deeply appreciated.
This initiative is vital to raising the $70,000+ that funds essential resources and programs directly benefiting your children. Every dollar raised goes towards enhancing their educational experiences across all departments, making a meaningful impact on their learning journey.
We’re getting closer to making this event a success, but we still need 26 more volunteers to fill critical roles. Volunteering at the Casino is rewarding, and a great way to connect with other parents and the Branton community. If you haven’t yet signed up, please consider helping us reach our goal. Your me and energy will directly support initiative that make a difference for your children.
How You Can Help
- Sign up to volunteer at Volunteer for Branton Casino Fundraiser.
- Spread the word among other parents who might be interested in contributing.
Thank you for your ongoing support and for being an integral part of the Branton School community. Together, we can make this fundraiser a tremendous success!
Thank you for your support and for helping us continue to make Branton School the best it can be! We are also excited to invite you to our upcoming School Council Meeting on Dec. 2 at 7:00 PM, which will be held in-person at Branton School and online via Microsoft Teams.
This meeting will feature a special guest from William Aberhart High School, the Principal, who will share insights about the programs offered at WAHS and answer all your questions. This is a wonderful opportunity to support our Grade 9 students and their families as they prepare for the important transition to high school. Additionally, we will begin a conversation to evaluate the strengths of our French Immersion programs—both Late and Early—here at Branton School. Your input will be invaluable as we continue to build a thriving, inclusive learning environment for our students. We look forward to seeing many of you there!
We are currently looking for a Lunchroom Supervisor to join the Branton School sta to support one of our Special Education Programs. This position involves working 2.5 hours per day, Monday to Thursday, for a total of 10 hours per week. If this opportunity interests you, please feel free to reach out to me directly at sepicard@cbe.ab.ca for more details or to express your interest. We would love to have a dedicated and caring individual from our community join our team to help support our students during lunch. Thank you for considering this opportunity!
Warm regards,
Sébastien Principal,
Branton School
- November 28 (In-person) Parent-Teacher Conferences (10 minute bookings available)
- November 29 (Virtual) Parent-Teacher Conferences (10 minute bookings available)
CBE Booking System (MyCBE) The rst Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews for the school year will be held on November 28, 4:00 PM-8:00 PM and November 29, 9:00 AM-1PM. As was done last school year, Interviews will be held using an in-person and an on-line method.
Our teachers do not have a slot for every student. Branton School has made a commitment to ensuring ongoing communication throughout the school year to students and their families so that there is an opportunity for students and parents to get feedback and make adjustments prior to the June report card. As such, grades and comments are uploaded regularly in PowerSchool with further information in D2L/Google Classroom, including the use of rubrics to give a detailed understanding of grades. This can also include graded work sent home. At this time, we encourage families to take me with their child(ren) to review grades and comments posted by teachers, review attendance, and decide if what you already know is all positive and satisfactory that you may not need to book an interview at this me. If you have questions, please reach out directly to teachers. Please use this link to access teacher emails. As a reminder, teachers also post reminders (due dates, current work and other course information) in their respective digital platforms on a weekly basis.
The following are links to assist you in using the digital tools used by teachers:
The link to join Microsoft Teams Virtual meeting will be embedded in your email confirmation. To support the process on November 29 (Online Conferences) we ask that parents please:
a. preload 'Microsoft Teams' onto your digital device.
b. review your child's progress in PowerSchool prior to the interview. What question(s) may you have?
c. when a teacher invites you into the meeting, please keep your camera on. We would like visual confirmation that a parent is present.
d. include your child in the discussions. A conversation with the student, family and teacher tends to be the most effective.
e. interviews are 10 minutes long and are back to back. Teachers will do their best to stay on me. Parents can only log in to Microsoft Teams 5 minutes prior to the interview starting. If you are a CBE employee, using your CBE email, please do not log into your Student Conference until the exact me of your meeting, otherwise you will interrupt the current meeting as you do not have the waiting room access.
Parent Guides
Music Notes
Band Concert will be on Tuesday, December 10. It will be at Branton and start at 7:00 PM. Details on arrival times will come out the week before. Please save the date! We will also start lunch practices next week and mornings the following week. Lunch starts at 12:05 (can eat lunch before) and mornings will be 7:30 AM. Monday lunch – grade 8’s Tuesday lunch – grade 9’s Wednesday lunch – grade 7’s.
We do an alternating Woodwind one week and brass the following. We will start November 18 as a WOODWIND week. That will include: flute, oboe, clarinet and alto sax. Brass includes: trumpet, French horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, bassoon, bass clarinet, tenor sax and bari sax. Please help to remind your student so they will have their instruments. Detailed calendar will be in your child’s google classroom. In-Dey-Go Cookie Dough Fundraiser – this is an optional fundraising event for band camp. Profit for what your child sells goes directly to their cost. This will start on Monday, November 18 and finish December 1. All sales will be online and an info sheet will go home with your child if you wish to participate. It is a great time of year for cookies! We will do the perogies and sausages in the new year. At this time, I am still sorting costs out, but might as well reduce your cost if you can!
Any questions? Please email me at jlbaird@cbe.ab.ca
Jacquie Baird, Band Director
Attention Wrestling Guardians!
If you wish to purchase a wrestling team t-shirt, the Branton online store will be open from Friday Nov. 8 to Friday Nov. 22. The only options are black t-shirts. One is coon and one is dry-t/polyester. See attached flyer. T-shirts will only be printed if there are 12 or more orders. If there are less than that, money will be refunded. There is also a hoodie for purchase, if interested. https://brantonwrestling.itemorder.com
Fun Lunches are Coming
The third Fun Lunch is coming on December 17 (Banzai!). Deadline to order is Saturday December 14. We will be looking for Volunteers. Please follow the link for Volunteers. You can place your order through Healthy Hunger Link Order Food. Upcoming dates for Fun Lunches are being worked out by your outstanding Parent Council Volunteers. Dates to come.
Fundraiser
We are starting a fundraiser today where students who are participating in the SEA and Quebec trips can earn funds to off-set their trip fees. The fundraiser is selling Christmas plants and wreaths from Growing Smiles. The fundraiser is completely done online and students can earn the profit from each item towards their trip fees. When ordering off of the website, simply select your student to support and the profits will be returned to the student after the sale. Here is the important dates and information for the fundraiser:
- Sale starts - Thursday, November 14
- Sale ends - Wednesday, November 27
Order pick up date - Thursday, December 12 from 3:15 PM until 5:30 PM at Branton If you have any questions about the fundraiser, feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you.
Paul Ormiston