Important Dates
March 18 (Monday) – School Council Meeting
March 20 (Wednesday) Fun Lunch – Subway!
March 20 (Wednesday) Grade 1 Assembly (1:30 pm) Grade 1 parents are invited. Please send an email prior to the day if you would like to leave early with your child(ren) directly after the end of the assembly. We ask that you remain in the gym and not proceed to your child’s classroom.
March 21/22 (Thursday and Friday) - Parent Teacher Conferences (21 – in person, 22 – virtual)
March 25 – April 1 (inclusive) - Spring Break
CONFERENCES
Conferences Opened for booking on Wednesday, March 13th @ 4:00 pm
March 21st (in person) and 22nd (virtual) are conferences. If your child is on an IPP, the teacher will have reached out to offer you a 30-minute block during the conference days, or a separate time during the week.
Please book a single time on only one of the days.
An e-mail has been sent from the system on the 12th inviting you to book your time.
Usborne Book Fair – In-school March 18-21
Usborne have award-winning books for toddlers to teens, with many available in French editions too.
Purchases at the bookfair will earn 25% in free books to add to our library collection so this is an opportunity to get some great reading for your family while benefiting the school at the same time!
Students will be able to preview the books during the week
Purchasing instructions to follow.
50th Anniversary of French Immersion
Joyeux 50e anniversaire l'immersion française!
This year, CBE is celebrating 50 years of French Immersion programming in Calgary! That’s 50 years of students challenging themselves to learn an additional language, 50 years of committed teachers searching out authentic cultural opportunities for their students, and 50 years of families watching their child become fluent in both of Canada’s official languages.
In the fall of 1973, Calgary’s first public French Immersion program opened its doors at McDougall School in central Calgary. Its mission was to instruct its two Grade 1 classes in French so that the students could grow up to be bilingual citizens. When the program began, Grade 1 students spent 50 per cent of their time in French and 50 per cent in English, contrary to today, where 100 per cent of Grade 1 instruction is in French. French immersion soon expanded to both Chinook Park School and Banff Trail School in the 1976-77 school year. The program continued to grow rapidly, such that, by 1979, ten CBE schools offered some form of French bilingual education to over 1,400 students.
Jocelyn Wensley was a student in that very first Grade 1 French immersion class at McDougall School and today teaches music at Banff Trail School in the French Immersion program. She said being part of the first French immersion class was very special.
“There was pride in being first, like we were explorers of the new system and a new idea in the CBE.”
Fifty years later, French Immersion in CBE now welcomes over 9,700 students in 24 schools each day. To celebrate, many special events are planned for schools, students and staff. All of CBE’s French immersion high schools will host commemorative events this spring with elementary students who will attend these schools when they reach high school. French immersion middle schools will gather for a special event on March 20 featuring workshops, music and dance by Francophone artists. Finally, CBE will host a gala in May to celebrate the parents, alumni, current staff and retirees who built the successful program we have today.
So if you find yourself in one of CBE’s French Immersion schools this year, remember to say: Joyeux anniversaire, French Immersion! And a huge merci to the students, teachers, staff, school leaders, parents and community supporters over the past 50 years who helped us get here. We look forward to the next 50 years!
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART
Please subscribe at www.cbe.ab.ca/subscribe to receive emails from our Parent Council . It has information regarding things like volunteer opportunities, fieldtrip costs, yearbooks, fun lunch. We will be sending a notice about Jump Rope for Heart.