Bonjour BP families.
A September highlight is undoubtedly our Meet the Teacher evening. Thank you for the impressive turnout of families at our official opening of the 2024-2025 school year yesterday evening! In case you need, please find attached PowerSchool How To and PowerSchool Assignments and Attendance documents.
We have also launched our first Artist in Residence at BP this week. Mat Mailandt, from Think Fast Comedy/Comédie Pense-Vite, is leading French and English improvisation workshops for all of our students from Sept 23-October 7. (You may recognize him as the actor who plays the snobby husband from the Leon's furniture commercials). Mat is a CBE French Immersion graduate and is adept at leading students through authentic language development in unique situations.
IPP Updates
IPPs: Parents of IPP students, please ensure you have completed the parent questionnaire as soon as possible. Your child's homeroom teacher emailed the questionnaire out this week. IPPs will be sent home on Friday, October 11.
Lunchtime Update
Cafeteria/Snack Shack: Open starting Tuesday October 1. While there will be no hot food served, there will be snacks, drinks, and convenience lunches like soup and noodles for sale. Thank you Leadership Class for taking on this initiative!
Athletic Updates
We are excited to begin our athletic season at Bishop Pinkham School!
We welcome parents to attend and cheer on all of the students that play for all of the teams. We would like to remind spectators of our protocols for attending games at Bishop Pinkham School to ensure a positive playing experience for all athletes, coaches and referees.
Student spectators wishing to watch their peers participate in athletics must be accompanied and actively supervised by their parent if students are attending another school to watch a peer play in a sporting/athletic event.
Parent/Spectator Expectations at Bishop Pinkham School Sporting/Athletic Events
As parents and spectators, it’s important to remember that your role is to be a model, not a critic. Your behavior sets the tone for the experience of the athletes, officials, and everyone involved. Here are a few guidelines to ensure a positive environment at our school sporting events:
- Relieve pressure, don’t increase it. Our young athletes already face enough pressure from competition. Let them enjoy their experience without added stress.
- Let the athletes have their moment. The athletic experience belongs to them. Cheer for their effort but allow them to grow through their own performance.
- Respect the judgment of officials and coaches. Their decisions may not always align with your perspective, but it’s important to demonstrate respect for their role and maintain control.
- Show sportsmanship in all outcomes. Win with humility and lose with dignity. Your attitude in both moments is just as important as the final score.
Please be aware that Bishop Pinkham School reserves the right to remove any spectator who does not uphold these expectations at our events. An administrator will be present for all games to assist with supervision during the games. Let’s create an environment where our student-athletes can thrive!
Thank you so much for supporting our athletes, coaches and referees throughout the athletic season.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The 4th annual City of Calgary, Calgary Board of Education, and Calgary Catholic School District ceremonial opening of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation & Orange Shirt Day will be held on Monday, Sept. 30 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. at The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland (750 9th Ave. S.E.).
All CBE staff, students, families, friends, and neighbours are invited to attend to commemorate Indian residential school victims, honour survivors, and commit to Truth & ReconciliACTION.
Link to event https://www.calgary.ca/events/orange-shirt-day.html
Messages from Bishop Pinkham Parents Association (BPPA) and Bishop Pinkham Parent Council (BPPC)
Welcome Back
The Bishop Pinkham Parents Association (BPPA) is excited to welcome you back to a new school year. We hope that you and your children are looking forward to the wonderful learning opportunities and first-class teaching at Bishop Pinkham.
The BPPA is a volunteer parent association which raises funds to support school requests for outstanding enrichment programs that our school is known for such as band clinicians, artists in residence, wellness symposiums, sport and outdoor education, drama, library and technology resources, Healthy Hunger lunches, Grade 9 farewell and cultural and leadership opportunities. Every activity we sponsor meets the larger school vision, and depends on financial contributions and volunteer time donated by families in our school community. Anyone is welcome to join the BPPA and you can do so by visiting our membership page https://bishoppinkhamparents.com/membership-form. And, as always, we encourage anyone who is able to make a https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/64478 (either one-time or a recurring monthly contribution) to ensure that we are able to continue to support Bishop Pinkham’s outstanding opportunities for its students.
Our AGM will take place online on October 10 at 7:00 PM and a link will be shared in the school’s weekly newsletter. To participate in the AGM, you must be a member of the Association prior to the start of the meeting. Memberships are free and are valid for 1 year.
Your Bishop Pinkham School Council (BPPC) welcomes you to another school year. We hope you've settled into a routine and are ready for fall. To reach your parent council, please use this form.
Where to find information about your school council:
Watch for meeting reminders with links to the virtual meetings in the school newsletter and attend these meetings. You will be able to find the meeting minutes posted on the school website, under the Get Involved tab > School Council webpage. The upcoming Annual General Meeting will be held virtually on Oct. 10, 2024; 6:30-8:00 pm. We hope to see you there.
There is currently one position open on the BPPC, the Key Communicator role. If you are interested, please reach out to us via our form.
Sincerely,
Charissa Hovdebo, BPPC Chair
Important Dates
- September 30- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation- no school for students
- October 1- Photo day
- October 10- Healthy Hunger (Papa Johns) order here
- Note: orders close 5 days before delivery date
- October 10- BPPC/BPPA meetings 6:30-8 PM, virtual via MS Teams Join the meeting now
- BPPA AGM this evening
- October 14- Thanksgiving, no school for students
- October 24- Healthy Hunger order here
- Note: orders close 5 days before delivery date
- October 24- Parent-Teacher Conferences, online via MS Teams, 4-8 PM (booking information to come)
- October 25- Parent-Teacher Conferences, online via MS Teams, 8:30 AM-12:00 PM (booking information to come). No school for students
Have a wonderful weekend!
Rishma Hajee
Principal | Bishop Pinkham School