Hello Briar Hill Families

Welcome to the start of the 2025-26 school year! Week one is successfully in the books, and we were so happy to have our students back. The transition to start the year appears to be going smoothly & I hope your child came home happy, excited, & full of stories! Here are some key updates for the week ahead.


Home & School Communication Plan

  • Communication between home & school is paramount at Briar Hill. Part of our communication strategy will be:
    • Weekly Update to Parent emails from school administration (posted on website as well)
    • Bi-weekly emails from Grade Team with updates
    • Phone calls & emails from classroom teachers as needed
    • Daily agenda communication
    • Digital Classrooms for students to access for extra support
    • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briarhillschool/
    • Monthly School Council meetings

Routines & Processes

  • New Bell Times:
    • Gr.1-6 Bell Times
           *Soft Entry 8:30am-8:40am
    • Mon-Thurs 8:40am - 3:15pm
      • Lunch 12:13pm - 12:58pm
    • Fri 8:40am - 12:30pm
    Kindergarten Bell Times
    • AM Class 8:40am - 11:29am
    • PM Class 12:26pm - 3:15pm
    • Alternating Fridays 8:40am-12:30pm 
      • See School Calendar for Kindergarten Friday Schedule
  • Absences & Lates:
    • Please call or email the office with any absences. Daily attendance is update & adjust for student there
      • 403-777-6140
      • BriarHill@cbe.ab.ca
    • When coming to school late, please come through the front doors where students will check-in with office, receive a Late Slip, & then head to class
  • Adults in Building:
    • Briar Hill School is a student-first environment and your child's safety is our top priority.  All guests are required to come through the front doors and sign in the office. If you are dropping a younger child off at Preschool/Day Care we ask that you do not walk through the school.  If you would like to connect with your child's teacher, please schedule a meeting rather than a 'drop-by' meeting before or after school.

Complete School Year Forms

  • Please log into your child's MyCBE account and update all outstanding forms for the school year. These include demographic forms.

Bussing

  • We currently have 1 bus that drops off & picks up to Briar Hill School. Please do not park between the pylons in the bus zone.
  • If interested in bussing, you can find more information HERE

Digital Classrooms:

  • Gr.1-6 Teachers have created a Google Classroom or D2L Shell to compliment the learning that is happening in-person.  Teachers will periodically post learning tasks & links that students can do at home to support the learning happening in class.  By the end of September, Gr.1-6 Students will be shown how to access & log-in to their digital classrooms.  Stay tuned for more information from your classroom teachers.  
  • A Kindergarten Digital space will also be created later this year

Swag Day Fridays

  • We are encouraging all Staff & Students to show their school spirit by wearing their Briar Hill Swag every Friday! If you don't have SWAG yet, wear black or grey to show your school pride!

Briar Hill Values

  • At the end of last school year & into the beginning of this one, our staff engaged in a series of reflective activities to explore & define the core attributes we value most at Briar Hill School. Through thoughtful discussion & collaboration, we identified key characteristics that reflect who we are as a school community & what we strive to cultivate in our students. This process led us to clearly articulate our Briar Hill Values, which will guide our work and interactions moving forward:
        • Curious
        • Caring
        • Connect
        • Resilience
    • Our next steps begin this week. Mr. deBoer will be visiting each K–6 classroom to introduce & discuss the Briar Hill Values with students. Then, on our upcoming Connect Day, September 19, students will have the opportunity to further explore & define what these values mean to them & how they can be lived out in our school community.
  • In addition to the language & visuals we co-create with students around our four Briar Hill Values, we will continue to use the Conflict, Rude, Mean, & Bullying chart as a supportive tool when addressing unwanted or unexpected student behaviour.

download


Meet the Teacher Sept 25

  • Save the date for Meet-the-Teacher & the School Council Welcome Back BBQ on Sept 25 from 4:30-6:00pm. More details to come about this event soon!
  • Families are welcome to join the School Council & AGM Meeting that evening at 6:15pm. Official invite with details coming soon.

Parent View Point

  • Teachers will be sending home a Parent View Point form, giving families the option to share some insight into who their learner is. This form is optional.

Kindergarten Space

  • Briar Hill School currently has space available in their Kindergarten program. If you know a family that is looking for quality programming in a small community school, please have them call or email the school for information & a tour.

Student Voice & Involvement

  • Students are an important stakeholder at Briar Hill School, & the staff work hard to involve their voice when building an engaging learning environment. For example, last year students were an important part of changing our library into a Learning Commons & designing the space. (Story & process coming to our school website soon.)
  • This year some student opportunities will be:
    • Gr. 6 students will continue to support monthly Pizza Lunch by serving food to Gr.1-6 students
    • Gr.5-6 will have an opportunity to sign up for Office Support Club (1/2 year commitment)
    • Each Grade Team will host an assembly/school celebration
    • K-6 students will help build Briar Hill's Digital Citizenship Commitment
    • K-6 Well-Being Ambassadors, a student nominated group, will help make decisions about continuing to make Briar Hill a warm & welcoming space for everyone

Important Dates:

  • Sept 16: Terry Fox Run (Assembly & Run)  
  • Sept 18: Healthy Hunger  (order Healthy Hunger HERE) 
  • Sept 19: Connect Day 
  • Sept 22-26: Scholastic Book Fair 
  • Sept 24: Picture Day
  • Sept 25: Pizza Day (order HERE)
  • Sept 25: Meet the Teacher  (4:30-6:00pm)
  • Sept 25: School Council & AGM (6:15pm)
  • Sept 26: Orange Shirt Day 
  • Sept 29: Non-Instructional Day (No Students & Staff PD Day) 
  • Sept 30: National Day for Truth & Reconciliation (No School) 


Have a wonderful start to your week!

With Gratitude,

Nathan deBoer

Principal