Welcome Back Information

August 31, 2023

On behalf of all the staff at WMS we would like to welcome both returning and new students and families to our school community!

As we move into the new school year, we have some important information to share with you.

**Please note we do not have supervisors outside prior to 8:20 or after 3:30.

Staggered Start

We will be having a staggered start this year with approximately half the students from each class coming on Thursday, Aug 31 & Friday, Sept 1, and the full class in session on Sept 5. The dates for staggered start were sent to your email in June. For late registrations, these times have been emailed to you. Please note these staggered dates do not apply to kindergarten students. Please call the office if you cannot find your staggered start day.

Please look for teachers to meet your child(ren) behind the school on Aug 31 & Sept 1 in the following areas:

Kindy – Outside of Kindy door on the front side of the building

Div 1 (Gr 1 – Gr 3) – Tarmac directly behind the school

Div 2 (Gr 4-6) - Ball Diamond Area (near fence)

Div 3 (Gr 7-9) - Field Area directly behind the staff parking lot

Meet the Teacher night is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept.13 from 3:30-5:30. Teachers will be sending out a form to gather information on your child as a learner. Please bring this with you to the Meet n Greet. If you are unable to attend, please send in the sheet with your child. We look forward to seeing you then😊.

Lifetouch School Photos are scheduled for September 11 and 12. Students will be scheduled for one of the days and information on how to order photos will be sent home.

Communication

We do our best to update our website with important information about our school. Please visit our website at Westmount School. We can also be found on Instagram at Westmountfsd. Weekly school communications are emailed out each Friday from the office with important information. Teachers will also send regular class specific communications. We believe in parents as partners valuing open, two-way, communication with our school families. For more information, please see our School Communication Plan which can be found under Families & Community – Parent Resources on the website. We encourage you to reach out to share your thoughts, concerns, suggestions, and support at any time. Our number at the office is (403) 995-4824.

Edsembli is the program we use for parents and students to access information including timetables, accounts, Learner Profiles (marks) etc.. Parent and student access to Edsembli is not currently available. Once available, information to log in will be emailed out to parents/students. In the meantime, please watch your email for information from your child’s teacher regarding the start of the school year.

Front Loop

As you know the streets around WMS are very busy before and after school each day particularly the entrance into the school parking lot. Please do not double park in the loop for drop off or pick up. As well, we ask you to please not park in the back staff parking lot. This is assigned parking for staff. The loop and parking lot are highly congested in the morning and after school. We ask for your support in reviewing with your child the expectation that all skateboards, scooters, and bikes are not allowed to be ridden on the school property. Students should walk these to the sidewalk. Where at all possible, please set up a meeting point outside of the school loop to help ease access in and out and ensure the safety of all our students.

Transportation

The area in front of the school on Westland Street is bus parking and must be kept clear for the bus to have space to enter and to leave. Please do not park in the front of the school sidewalk between the entrance to the parking lot and the stairs up to the school to leave room for the bus.

This year students have not been assigned to buses that they have been riding in the past. You will need to REGISTER ONLINE. Faxed registrations and calls to transportation are no longer accepted for registration. The address on the application must match the registration address.

How to Register:

There are some challenges with completion on mobile devices as well as Apple products so if you are on a Mac the best way is to use the Google Chrome browser.

From a desktop or laptop (Google Chrome works best) visit https://www.foothillsschooldivision.ca/page/198/apply-for-transportation
Select “Transportation Application”
Complete information required.
Issues with address? The sequence matters - In this field ensure you are adding only the street number in the first box. In the street name box just type slowly the first 3 or 4 characters of your street name and you should see a drop down available, if not try backspacing until you see the drop-down menu. Once you click the proper drop down for the street name, the city / municipality will automatically populate (you cannot type in this field)
Read and understand the Transportation Application guidelines and accept the terms within the Transportation Handbook
Submit one form for each student in your household that will require transportation.

Crosswalks

We are hopeful to re-establish an AMA School Patrol Team who will be trained to help students cross the streets safely before and after school each day. To operate under AMA School Safety Patrol Guidelines, we need approximately 40 students. Last year we did not have enough students in Gr 5 & 6 to maintain the program. Please understand that these students are trained to follow specific protocol, and we ask you to support them in keeping our students safe by modeling and following the rules when crossing. We appreciate your patience in waiting as student patrollers use an abundance of caution to ensure the roadway is safe before allowing crossing. An extra minute or two will keep all our kids safe!

Key Contacts

Grades	Learning Coach	Administrator
K-4	Lauren Mosher	Mr. Taylor
5-9	Amy Park	Mrs. Opas

Staffing

We are pleased to introduce our teaching staff for the year. Teachers have sent email introductions to their students/families. If you did not receive one, please contact the office to ensure we have the correct email on file.

Division 1	Grade	Division 2	Grade	Division 3	Subjects	Specialist	Area
Calli Robertson	K	Alison England	4	Lana Thompson	Hum	Assumpta Smallwood	Music/Band/CTF
Natasha Wurz	K	Karen McWhirter	4	Steven Kotowich	M/S	Sara O’Hara	Music/MT/Drama/Wellness
Stephanie Boucher	1	Susan Gosselin	5	Janey Wooldridge	Hum	Craig Jones	PE/CTF
Jill Norrie	1	Arianna Webb	5	Stephanie Quinlan	M/S	Dawn Watkins	PE
Alyssa Fortin/Heather New	2	Jill MacLeod	6
Megan Webb	2	Alicia Okonkwo	6
Alyssa Brown	3	Diane Schneider	6
Rebecca Delauw	3
Stacey Epp	3

Volunteers!!!

We need you😊 Our school is stronger with the support of parent volunteers in many areas including classrooms, the Learning Commons, Hot Lunch, School Council, FOWSS and coaching.

Please note for any parents looking to volunteer will require Volunteer Forms to be completed prior to volunteering which may include the need for a Criminal Record Check and Vulnerable Sector Check. For more information, please visit our website under Get Involved – Volunteers.

Hot Lunch – We are so thankful to Kirsty who is continuing to organize our hot lunch program. Hot lunches will be THURSDAYS. For information on how to setup a Healthy Hunger account, visit our website under Family & Community – Hot Lunch Program.

School Council - Last year we were able to re-establish our School Council. We believe in the strength of a public community school, working hand in hand with parents and local businesses. As a stakeholder, we appreciate your input in setting direction for focus, and in school decision-making.

There are School Council positions open to be filled. We wish to thank Dave Hall who is resigning his position as school council secretary due to other commitments and appreciate his time this past year.

Mark your calendar to join us for our first meeting on Tuesday, September 19 at 5:30pm.

FOWSS - Our school fundraising society, FOWSS (Friends of Okotoks Westmount School Society), has the first meeting of the year scheduled for Thursday, September 14 at 6pm. We invite you to join us in person or online. FOWSS will be organizing a casino in the spring of 2024, and we encourage you to get involved as FOWSS fundraising benefits all our students.

Please don’t hesitate to be a part of your child’s education at Westmount School.