Our Staff for 2017-2018
Principal: Mr. Vic Wiens
Business Administrator: Mrs. CarolynVanderhoek
Office Secretary: Mrs. Judy Fairfield
Kindergarten: Ms. Marj Dolman
Gr1-3Mrs. Maurica Merriman
Gr4-6Ms. Kyla Catte
Gr7-9Mr. Paul Payson
Playschool instructor: Mrs. Jenny Stout
E.A’s: Mrs. Wendy Dolman, Mrs. Shawna Payson
Bus Driver: Mr. John Holtkamp
Home Education Facilitator: Mrs. Carol Purves
2017-2018 School year Theme Verse:
“For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith” Eph 2:8
Message from the Chair of the Board : Harold Grinde:
The board, much like most everyone else at the school, was very thankful for the Christmas break. It seems that the fall was exceptionally busy with the many challenges and changes at the school. We do acknowledge that it is through the hard work and willingness of staff, volunteers, parents and supporters that God’s school in Rimbey is prospering. Of course we ultimately must give the credit to our Lord for blessing us and providing for our each and every need.
January is upon us and we are already back in the swing of things. We held a board meeting on January 8th, and most of the board attended an information meeting in Ponoka regarding Bill 24 on January 9th. The challenges of dealing with Bill 24 continue to take up much time and focus—we are still gathering information and considering our options before making any decisions to deal with the legislation.
The board will be providing a staff lunch this week to show our appreciation to all of the staff who have worked so hard to make the year a success. We also have plans to clean out the storage rooms at the north end of the school this month to make way for the renovations that will create the new “activity room”. With His blessings we hope to have those renovations done before the school year ends.
Please continue to pray for the needs of the school, and that He would give us His wisdom to lead according to His will.
Principal’s Note:
Attached to this month’s Connector you will find a copy of our updated Attendance Policy. The updated policy is similar to our previous policy and practice but clarifies a few points.
Parents sometimes wonder about what qualifies as an excused absence, late, or leaving early. As the policy states, excused absences include illness, death in the family, appointments with dentists, medical doctors and other specialists whose scheduling will not permit out of school appointment times. Sports practices, sports games and music lessons not arranged by the school are unexcused absences while sports practices, sports games and music lessons that are organized through the school are excused. Feel free to contact me in advance if you are unsure of whether such activities will be considered excused or unexcused. This is very important because there are consequences for unexcused lates, absences and leaving early.
Please see attached Policy – now in effect.
Family Feature Wall
We would like to feature your family through a Family Feature Frame. This is a chance for all families at the school to introduce themselves to each other. We have drawn up a schedule and will hand out a poster board and instructions to all school families and teachers as your turn draws near. You will get your pictures and the posters you made back after it has hung in the school for about 2 weeks.
Please have your feature into the office prior to your start date. Families to come:
Jan 11- Jan 25=Carruthers, Roseboom (A/G), Howells, Mrs. Wendy Dolman
Jan 25-Feb 8=Challand, Dolman (D/E), Durand
Feb 8 – Mar1=Chow, Portiek, Herman
Mar1-Mar 15=Kerklaan, Hickey, Vaartstra
Prayer at RCS
Be joyful always; pray continually! School is in session but still needing to be lifted up in prayer.Inviting all who have a heart for Rimbey Christian School: supporters... staff... students... past & present.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 7:30 PM at RCS.
What: Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
Why: The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.
How: Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Rimbey Christian School Fundraising Banquet
Please mark your calendars for our upcoming fundraising banquet!
Saturday March 3rd, 2018
Peter Lougheed Community Center, Rimbey
Entertainment: country singer George Canyon
Tickets are: $70.00 each or
$500.00 for a Table of8
Doors open at 5:45 pm
Supper at 6:30 pm
Catered by Starkist Catering
George Canyon is a well known Canadian country singer. In the past two years he has been recognized as the most played Canadian artist at Canadian country radio. His latest album “I Got This” dominated the #1 position on the Canadian Country Music sales charts for 5 weeks. He has also received numerous awards over the years. For those who may not know him as a country singer, he is also an actor. He has appeared on “Heartland”, “A Christmas Miracle”, and various other movies and TV series. George is a devout Christian and is well known for his work in support of the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation and the Canadian Air Cadets.
Tickets are available at the school office and at Stationery, Stories & Sounds.
If you would like tickets we would suggest you get them as soon as possible. We do not know how long tickets will be available. If you have questions please call Laura Grinde at 403-704-5662.
* We are looking for a few artificial Christmas trees for decoration. If you have one we could borrow we would greatly appreciate it!
Mom’s Pantry Update
Thank you to all who put in orders. We raised just over $600.00!!!
Annual Spring Auction
Mark your calendars. The annual spring auction will be held at the Rimbey Arena on Friday April 27th, 2018.
Playschool
In December the kiddos were busy shoppers at the drama center grocery store. We priced items, stocked shelves, performed several transactions at the cash register, and cooked up lots of pretend meals at the kitchen center. Thankyou parents for contributions of real boxes and containers which helped make our play meaningful.
Celebrating all the glitter and fragrance of the season was fun too. Our sensory center lead to discovery with magnetic play to explore the properties of various items and to learn and differentiate what is made of wood, plastic, fabric, metal, and much more. This is a valuable concept that can easily slip by in the early years, therefore we like to provide opportunities that spark curiousity.
It was again a month of creativity with the kids. I would also like to thank parents for being a part of our gingerbread art day and bringing wonderful goodies. Perhaps the favorite creative work this month emerged from preparations for the school's Christmas program. While doing so, we built our very own story book called "Christmas Bear, Christmas Bear, What Do You See? Yes, your little ones are officially authors and illustrators. We are very proud of the prelitteracy skills displayed by all the children through this process and hope you enjoy your copy of the story book. And, it also was another way that we visited the reason for the season – to celebrate Jesus's birth.
Documentation of learning via "learning stories" has begun to surface in our classroom space. These will be developed ongoing now and giveconnections to learning through play, and the curriculum frameworks we use. Take a moment to view them by the bullentin board. They will be retained in a binder there as well.
Looking forward, January will be a month that we are particularily listening for theme topics and building upon open ended play. While we inject a few objects in the space that sparks play, it is always interesting to see where the children take it. Happy New Year!
Playschool candids
Help Wanted for Friday, Jan. 12, 2018
While the students are away on Friday, Jan 12th, 2018 we will be having a curriculum clean out. Many hands make light work! The north storage room will be cleaned out and the old items will be taken care of while the re-usable will be moved to our new curriculum share area in the south end of the school behind the office. We appreciate any and all hands that can assist us.
Make It Sow Fundraiser
The Fundraising Committee thought we would try something new this year and see how it works. This is a fundraiser for all those who love gardening/flowers and know people who love to garden! Many people start to buy seeds this time of year. This fundraiser is a way to buy seeds and support the Christian School at the same time!! The School will receive 50% back from each seed package bundle, coco soil, and starter kit purchased; 40% back on all the Flowering Gift Wrap Paper. Pleasekeep an eye out for the order forms. We will need them back by January 31. That way we can get your seeds to you as soon as possible! The seeds should be available for pick up by mid February.
Thank you.
Attendance policy
Introduction
The Rimbey Christian School is subject to the laws and regulations of the province governing educational institutions. The School Act requires students to “… attend school regularly and punctually.” Sec. 12(b) Provincial school attendance regulations permit absence from school only in case of illness or other unavoidable cause. It is the responsibility of the school to make “… all reasonable efforts to ensure that the student attends school…” and then to notify the Provincial Attendance Board if a student does not attend school on a regular basis. School Act, Sec. 15(2) It should be noted that the School Act does not consider family vacations to be unavoidable causes and therefore these absences are considered unexcused.
PREAMBLE
Good attendance plays an important role in good achievement. Absences create extra inconveniences for students and teachers alike. Even when assignments are given to make up for lost time and notes are copied from other students, there is no replacement for having missed the full classroom explanation and discussion. While it is understandable that some absences must occur due to illness and emergencies, it is also true that many absences could be avoided. Excusable absences include Illness, death in the family, appointments with dentist, medical doctors and other specialists whose scheduling will not permit other appointment time. Families are advised, for example, to schedule dental appointments for after school hours, etc. It is important for students and parents understand that late arrivals or leaving early constitute an absence for part of the day and are excused only for the same reasons as full day absences.
Parents may educate their children at home, but they must register their children officially in an approved home education, distributed learning or online program. These programs have different policies for ensuring that students meet the legal attendance requirements. High school outreach programs also have different policies and procedures regarding school attendance and these programs are also legitimate alternatives to regular classroom instruction. However, as long as students attend campus programs, they are required to be at school punctually and attend every day unless they have a legitimate excused absence.
POLICY
When a student is absent or late, it is the parents’ responsibility to make a phone call or send a signed note to the school office before 9:00 AM on the day of the absence or late arrival to inform staff of the reason for the absence or late arrival. If an absence or late arrival occurs without a note or a phone call, the office secretary will call home to confirm the absence or reason for the late arrival. It is the Principal’s responsibility to judge the absence as an excusable or inexcusable absence.
Unexcused lates and absences will be dealt with in the following manner. In each of the three terms:
- After the 1st incident, parents will be notified by a phone call from the office and the student will be warned by the principal about the seriousness of unexcused lates or absences and the student will serve a 30 minute detention.
- After the 2nd incident, parents will be notified by a phone call from the office, a letter will go home to parents explaining the seriousness of unexcused lates or absences, and the student will serve another 30 minute detention. Students will be given work assignments for the detentions, as this is not homework time.
- After each subsequent incident, parents will be notified by a phone call from the office, a letter will go home to parents explaining the seriousness of continued unexcused lates or absences, and the student will serve two 30 minute detentions per incident.
- Upon the 5th incident in the term, parents will be called in to the school to explain why the student should not be suspended. If no there is no satisfactory explanation for the unexcused lates and/or absences, the student will be suspended and parents will be required to attend a meeting to discuss future discipline expectations and strategies before the student is re-admitted.
- If school discipline does not solve the student’s problem attendance pattern, the Attendance Board from the Alberta Government will be notified when absences and lates accumulate to the equivalent of 20% of school days in session.
GUIDELINES
If a student’s absence or late is for a legally excusable reason, he/she will receive consideration by the teachers to assist him/her in covering the work missed. (Remember that the help is received is at the expense of fellow students, so some limitation might be experienced). Extra homework and study assignments may be given and the students may be expected to stay in at lunch hour or catch up on missed work. Missed tests will normally be written on the day the student returns.