AJS Weekly Bison Tracks

• September 4 - Labour Day (Stat. Holiday)
• September 6, 2:16 p.m. - Early Dismissal
• September 7, School Pictures
• September 7, 11:45 a.m. - Bamfield Meeting
• September 7 & 8 - Grade Level Assemblies
• September 11 - 15 - Welcome week
• September 18, 6:30 p.m. - School Council Meeting, Learning Commons
• September 19: Off-Campus Education/Dual Credit Information Session
• September 21, Bison Thunder Run (Jr. High Cross Country Run)
• September 22, Bison Thunder Run Rain out day (Jr. High Cross Country Run)
• September 26, 11:37 a.m. - Concordia University Visit
• September 27, 9:00 a.m. - Bus Evacuation
• September 27, 11:37 a.m. - Norquest College Info Booth
• September 29, 9:30 a.m. - Truth and Reconciliation Ceremony
• September 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• September 30, Orange Shirt Day
• October 2-6, Read In Week
• October 3, 11:37 a.m. - Augustana Info Booth
• October 3, 11:37 a.m. - Campus Saint-Jean, U of A Info Booth
• October 4, 2:16 p.m. - Early Dismissal
• October 5 - World Teachers’ Day
• October 6 - Professional Learning Day (schools closed to students)

Welcome back, EIPS families! Don’t forget to check your inbox for an email with important info about the 2023-24 school year. The message includes details about PowerSchool, SchoolMessenger and other systems the Division uses. You can also find a copy of the message on the Division website.

Did you know you can sync the school calendar to your own calendar? Simply, visit Ardrossan Junior Senior High Calendar and click on the applicable subscription option:

• Download to iCal
• Add to Google Calendar
• Subscribe to Calendar

NOTE: Options are located above the calendar.

Once you click on the desired subscription option, follow the instructions. Within seconds, your calendar will contain all Ardrossan Junior Senior High’s important dates including holidays, school-closures days, planned activities, events and more.

Every year, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) publishes an Annual Education Results Report, which outlines the Division’s Four-Year Education Plan, opportunities for growth and how it’s supporting students to achieve the best possible outcomes. Read through this year’s EIPS Annual Education Results Report 2021-22 and discover how EIPS fosters learning environments for all students to learn, grow and thrive—and why it matters.

June Spotlight: enhancing public education through effective engagement

· Rules of Engagement: Using a collaborative approach to improve student achievement and success

· Driving change: Strengthening public education through Board advocacy

RELATED INFORMATION
EIPS Four-Year Education Plan: 2022-26
EIPS Three-Year Capital Plan: 2024-27

Pay school fees online! School fee information for the 2023-24 school year will be posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal in late September. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view your fees and pay online using a credit card.

Don’t forget to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal regularly throughout the year. Fees are often added to your child’s account to cover the cost of certain school activities such as field trips, class projects, athletic-team fees and more. Additionally, junior high and senior high fees can change as courses are added and deleted.

If you’re unable to pay your school fees, you can apply to have certain fees waived by submitting an Application for a Waiver of Fees. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2023.

For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines visit eips.ca. Alternatively, contact Mrs. Suzanne Cleet, Business Manager at Ardrossan Junior Senior High at 780-922-2228.

Ardrossan Junior Senior High and the Division use the SchoolMessenger platform for communicating with families—through both phone and email. Be sure to add communications@eips.ca and general.ajs@eips.ca to your safe sender list to avoid having important messages funneled into your junk mail folder.

You can directly manage your phone and email subscription preferences through SchoolMessenger. Simply log in to your account—or create one if you don’t already have one—and select the message types you’d like to receive to each phone number and email address on file.

The easiest way to stay connected is to download the SchoolMessenger app. Get the latest updates direct to your mobile device and enable push notifications to never miss a message. Families can also check back on past messages—for up to 30 days—directly in the app rather than searching to find an old message buried in your inbox. Download the SchoolMessenger app from the App Store or Google Play today.

Check out the new and improved athletics web site here or click the button above. All information regarding teams, including schedules, tryout dates, games, and forms will be located here.

Football

• September 7, 4:30 p.m. - Bison Football vs. QE Knights (Home Opener)
• September 14, 6:00 p.m. - Bison Football vs. St. Albert High Skyhawks (Emerald Hills Fields)
• September 21, 5:00 p.m. - Bison Football vs. McNally Tigers (Clark Stadium)
• September 28, 6:00 p.m. - Bison Football vs. M.E. LaZerte Voyagers (J.P. Bowl)
• October 5, 6:00 p.m. - Bison Football vs. Lillian Osbourne Legends ( J.P. Bowl)

Volleyball

• September 1, 3:30 p.m. - Sr. High Volleyball Tryouts
• September 5, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7, 8 & 9 BOYS)
• September 5, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 8 & 9 GIRLS)
• September 5, 3:30 p.m. - Sr. High Volleyball Tryouts
• September 6, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7, 8 & 9 BOYS)
• September 6, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 8 & 9 GIRLS)
• September 7, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7, 8 & 9 BOYS)
• September 7, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 8 & 9 GIRLS)
• September 8, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7 & 8 GIRLS)
• September 11, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7 & 8 GIRLS)
• September 12, 7:00 a.m. - Jr. High Volleyball Tryouts (Gr. 7 & 8 GIRLS)
• September 14-16 - EIAA Jr. Sr. Volleyball Tournament
• September 15-16 - Sr. Varsity Tri Volley Tournament
• September 21-23 - EIAA Jr. Jr. Volleyball Tournament

Cross Country

• September 21 - Bison Thunder Run

Big welcome to our new and returning band families,

A.M.P.S stands for Ardrossan Music Parents Society. We are a volunteer board of parents whose purpose is to support the band program and our students with our time, fundraising and enthusiasm.

Our AMPS Annual General Meeting is being held on September 19, 2023 at 6pm with a short board meeting to follow in the band room. All Parents are welcome to attend!

If you have not filled out a free AMPS membership form yet - please request one at AmpsSecr@gmail.com and then email it back or send it to Mr. B! AMPS is a society and only 'members' can be involved.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out at any time to AMPSPres@gmail.com

Look for us at “Ardrossan Music Parent Association” on Facebook and on Instagram!

We look forward to a year full of making great memories with all of you,

Kas Spiker

Acting President of AMPS

Elk Island Public Schools and Ardrossan Jr. Sr. High use a handful of key systems to share information with students and families. Depending on the information you’re looking for, it’s important to know where to look.

PowerSchool is the primary student information system within the Division. There is an associated app, but the functionality is limited, and families don’t need to download it. From the PowerSchool Parent Portal, you can:

• Access student grades and report cards;
• Review student absences;
• Pay school and transportation fees; and
• Submit official updates to student or family information.

The PowerSchool Student Portal provides similar access to grades and absence information for students directly.

Brightspace provides more of a day-to-day look what’s happening with your child’s learning communicated directly from your child’s teacher. From Brightspace Parent & Guardian, you can see your child’s:

• classroom activity feed,
• grade items and grade feedback from instructors,
• upcoming assignments,
• portfolio evidence, and
• quizzes,

depending on which of the program functions are specifically used by your child’s teacher.

Brightspace for Students is where teachers share updates, calendar reminders and learning materials with students. Compatible with Google, it also allows students to submit assignments, complete quizzes, and see grades and teacher feedback. The Pulse app for students is associated with Brightspace for Students.

SchoolMessenger is the system the Division and schools use to send email and phone communication to families. The contact information in SchoolMessenger is populated from PowerSchool. Through SchoolMessenger, families can:

• receive general, emergency and attendance messages by phone, email or both; and
• manage their subscription preferences for these types of messages.

Ardrossan Junior Senior High has once again partnered with the United Way for the 2023-24 Tools for School campaign. Annually, Tools for School provides backpacks and school supplies to students in Kindergarten through Grade 12 whose families have limited resources. If you’re a parent or know a parent who needs access to the program, contact the school directly. Staff will discretely provide the backpack to the child at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

Alternatively, if you’d like to donate to the program, you can pick up a few extra supplies when you’re out shopping for back to school in August. Drop-off boxes are located at the EIPS Central Services office, all Staples locations and various businesses in the community. Any supplies donated within the community are invested back into the region.

For more information about Tools for School, contact at (780) 922-2228 or call EIPS Central Services at 780-464-3477.

United Way Tools for School Requests: Family Orders

Download these bus apps for a successful ride!

Have a child taking the bus this school year? Download the following apps to stay up to date with all the busing information you’ll need throughout the year.

Bus Status

A new version of the Bus Status app is available: Bus Status 4. The app provides the same features and functionality as before, but faster and more reliable for users. Families who previously used the Bus Status 3 app will need to download the new version from the App Store or Google Play. You won’t be able to update directly from one version to the next. New users can download Bus Status 4 directly now.

Through the Bus Status app, families can access information about buses that are running late or cancelled throughout the year. Simply save your child’s bus routes as favourites and turn on push notifications to stay up to date.

Refer to the Bus Status: Frequently Asked Questions for more information about the update, and plan to download the new version now.

Ride 360

The Traversa Ride 360 website and app enable parents and students to access their own secure data for bus stop location, route and pickup time. With Division buses equipped with GPS hardware, Ride 360 uses GPS geolocation to let users know when to expect their bus each day. Parents and students log in with their own information to access their specific routing information and details.

Ride 360 will be updated in the coming year. Families are encouraged to download the current Ride 360 app from the App Store or Google Play for the start of the school year and set up their account. When the update takes place, login information will seamlessly roll over to the updated app.

Refer to additional instructions and the tutorial video on the Division website for more details about setting up your Ride 360 profile.

For more information about transportation services, refer to the Student Transportation section of the EIPS website.

Did you know each EIPS bus is equipped with video surveillance?

Video surveillance and equipment help:

· ensure the safety of all students, drivers and property; and

· discourage destructive acts.

On a regular basis, EIPS Student Transportation reviews the video recordings, in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act. The recordings assist the department with monitoring student and driver conduct and may be used as evidence in a disciplinary matter.

EIPS buses are also equipped with Tyler Drive tablets. The goal: To enhance safety, improve communication, increase efficiency and provide oversight. These tablets allow bus drivers to stay on time with turn-by-turn route directions and show student pictures and information when bus drivers get to stop locations. To ensure students get where they need to go, there are now two distinct audible tones when students scan their bus pass boarding or leaving the bus. One tone indicates they’re getting on the correct bus or at the correct stop, and the other tone indicates they’re on the incorrect bus or leaving at the incorrect stop. By using live information, Tyler Drive tablets provide more accuracy than paper schedules.

For more information about the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, contact the EIPS FOIP Co-ordinator at 780-464-3477.

The Educational Liaison Association of Alberta (ELAA) is hosting a post-secondary fair at Ardrossan Junior Senior High School on November 17, 2023. Students will have the chance to learn more about post-secondary opportunities available in Alberta, exploring a variety of career options, programs and course offerings.

For more information about the school’s ELAA Post-secondary Fair, contact the school office at 780-922-2228.

Please scan the QR code to fill in the online form to receive your parking pass. Passes will be available during lunch in Grad Hall the first 2 weeks of school.

• Traffic flow is one way entering and exiting the new student parking lot.

• Grade 12's can park in any of the parking stalls available. This will be enforced.

Grade 10/11 students may park in any of the areas highlighted in orange.

Alberta Health Services offers free online programming for parents and caregivers of children and youth. Sessions are offered through Zoom. Upcoming topics include understanding anxiety and parenting teens in the 21st century. The list of September 2023 sessions is now available.

Email: general.ajs@eips.ca
Website: https://www.ardrossan.ca/
Location: Ardrossan Junior Senior High School, Range Road 222, Ardrossan, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-922-2228
Twitter: @ArdrossanJrSr