Our portables are here! A talented truck driver backed them up around our school, and they were lifted into place. Here are some pics and a video:
May 17, 2022 Update:
They are coming, indeed, coming! Our two new portable classrooms will arrive on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. It will take a couple of weeks to finish the installation and a couple more to furnish them. There are no plans to use them this school year, but they will be ready to start the 2022-23 school year.
March 25, 2022 Update:
Work on our new portable classrooms at the east end of our building is continuing. The actual portables are not here yet. Our understanding is one portable is 95% complete and the second portable is 65% complete. We will inform everyone once we have a scheduled installation date. Here are some pics of the site:
Original Post
Due to our building capacity and expected student growth, we are excited to announce Alberta Education has approved two more portable classrooms for Father Leonard Van Tighem School. The building process will start soon, but the portables will probably not be ready for the beginning of the next school year. The location of the portables is yet to be determined.
Thank you to our school board and central office personnel for advocating for our school community.
Congratulations to all our Grade 9 students for completing Junior High – what an achievement! During this pandemic school year, it was supposed to be ‘near-normal.’ Although we tried our best to provide a rich educational program, this year was anything but ordinary. The pandemic robbed students of memories in many ways: co-curricular clubs and sporting teams, the Christmas Formal, the Quebec Trip, the pleasure of hanging out with friends at school, and the traditional Grade 9 Farewell activity, to mention a few. We did not hear many complaints from our students throughout the year, sure the odd disagreement about cohorting on our field, but our Grade 9 students showed an extreme level of cooperation. As our students finish off this week with their final exams, we wish them all the best as they enter high school. Although some people may want to forget this pandemic year, I know many students will have fond memories of their cohorts and many other memories of their time at Father Leonard Van Tighem School.
Thank you to all the members of the Grade 9 Farewell Committee for planning our Farewell last week. Here is a link for the Grade 9 Farewell video:
On behalf of everyone at Father Leonard Van Tighem School, congratulations again on completing Grade 9 and best wishes in your future.
June 8, 2021, Update
Good afternoon,
This Thursday, our Grade 9 Farewell is scheduled. However, due to predicted poor weather, we have rescheduled the Grade 9 Farewell to Thursday, June 17.
Please contact the school if you have any questions.
June 10, 2021, Farewell Drive-Thru
Plans for our Grade 9 Farewell Drive-Thru have been finalized. On Thursday, June 10, between 5 pm and 8 pm, each Grade 9 Homeroom Class has been scheduled a time to come to school. Families can drive to the school (vehicles only) at their designated times and stop their cars in our fire lane loop. At that point, our Grade 9 students will be able to walk towards the school, interact with staff, and pick up a small gift from our school community. After this, students will exit on the grass, and there will be a chance for a photo opportunity. After this, the families will have to get back in their vehicle and exit the school parking lot. We have created this map to show you the process:
Please follow Alberta Health Services physical and social distancing protocols;
To avoid big gatherings of people, the Grade 9 Farewell Drive-Thru will be scheduled for classes to arrive at different times and is designed to be a come and go activity: Here is the schedule;
9C – 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm (A-K 5:00-5:25 pm and L-V 5:25-5:50 pm)
9H and 9L – 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (A-M 6:00-6:25 pm and N-W 6:25-6:50 pm)
9R and At-Home Learning students – 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (A-H 7:00-7:25 pm and K-W 7:25-7:50 pm)
Grade 9 classes will have a window of 50 minutes. Homeroom teachers will be contacting parents with a general schedule based on surnames. Surnames with the beginning letters of the alphabet will be the first 25 minutes, and surnames with the ending letters of the alphabet will be the second 25 minutes.
If we have poor weather on June 10, the Grade 9 Farewell will be postponed till June 17.
Finally, Mrs. Rogers and Mr. Craddock have put a lot of work into creating a video for our Grade 9 students. It should be completed soon, and we will send a link out to our families.
Although this cannot replace our traditional Grade 9 Farewell, we are happy that our Grade 9s will be recognized for their accomplishments.
With the government announcement yesterday, we are glad to welcome back all our students back to in-person learning on May 25, 2021. Here is the article from today’s Lethbridge Herald:
@LethbridgeHerald
There are only 24 more instructional days of school left in the school year. Although we have had numerous challenges, simply providing an education program to our students during this pandemic has been a success due to the hard work of our students, parents, and staff.
As we reach the home stretch of our school year, please remember to follow our various COVID-19 protocols, especially those of our cohorts and masking, to have a safe and successful end of the school year.
Due to changes in bus transportation for the 2021-22 School Year, we have had to adjust our bell times for next year slightly. Please note these bell times are still draft and may change due to the finalization of bus routes.
June 17, 2021 Update
We have updated our Early Learning Program Bell Times. The 2020-2021 Early Learning Program hours were increased to 3.0 hours/day because of limited opportunities to provide other program options due to closed campuses at our schools. For the 2021-2022 school year we are returning to 2.5 hours/day. If you have any questions or require any further information, please contact Lynn Saler, Coordinator of Early Learning at salerl@holyspirit.ab.ca or 403 381 8495.
This week we have been recognizing and celebrating Catholic Education. Specifically, today, we celebrate Catholic Education Day. The Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories asked us to reflect on scripture from the Book of Isaiah:
Those who hope in the LORD shall renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:31)
As the pandemic continues to impact all the members of our school, we continue to strive to build a community of hope and learning. Our school motto of “Many Hands Building a Better World” and our continued focus on our HAWKS virtues of Honest, Accepting, Wise, Kind, and Spiritual have supported all of us during this challenging year.
Although there are many examples of Catholic Education at Father Leonard Van Tighem School as it is everything we do, here are two recent examples:
Our School Division has done a great job acknowledging our school during Catholic Education Week. We encourage you to check out the various announcements at this link:
One item created by our division was The Top 10 Reasons for Catholic Education:
As I read these reasons, it is easy to see them in our school community.
Today, we asked everyone to wear blue to support Catholic Education. Please check our social media account for some pics. Lastly, I want to give a “shout-out” to all the staff members at FLVT. It is an understatement to say the pandemic has created a challenging year. Despite the pandemic, the staff has FLVT have supported students, not only in their learning but especially in their physical and mental well-being, and they have supported each other. We are very blessed at FLVT for our staff members sharing their many gifts with us.
If you have further questions about summer school operations, requirements, application process, or courses please contact Mr. Anthony Vercillo directly at 403-327-4596 or via email at: vercilloa@holyspirit.ab.ca.
Summer School Semester runs from JULY 5-JULY 30**Course pending THIS FORM MUST BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN MONDAY MAY 31
CCH Student Council
CCH Student Council will be sharing a short introductory video to Grade 9 teachers to share with their homerooms soon. CCH Student Council will then be hosting two Q & A virtual nights on Tuesday the 18th and Thursday the 20th for any interested students, parents, and teachers to ask questions. Interviews to fill positions will be conducted the week of the 24th.
As of May 7, 2021, all Kindergarten to Grade 12 students in the province will be moving to At-Home Learning (Scenario 3). Students will return to in-person learning on May 25, 2021. Here is our plan for all our students.
Early Learning Program
Our Early Learning Program will, unfortunately, be canceled starting May 7, 2021, while all of our classes are moving to online learning. We hope to resume programming on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, after the May long weekend.
Please know that June fees will be adjusted to reflect the time away from school.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Early Learning Coordinator, Lynn Saler at salerl@holyspirit.ab.ca.
Elementary (K to 6)
Father Leonard Van Tighem School will be trying to have elementary learning at home learning as ‘regular’ as possible. Assigned classes are mandatory, teachers will be taking attendance, and teachers will follow regular assessment practices.
Here are the guidelines we are using (time commitment is per week):
The platform to deliver the educational program will balance Google Classroom/Google Meets and independent work. There will be daily instruction using Google Meet. Individual teachers will be sharing their schedules and expectations. Some teachers may be sharing paper packages for students to take home.
Our government just announced new restrictions. Here is the government announcement:
Given this announcement, all our students at Father Leonard Van Tighem School will be moving to at-home learning starting Friday, May 7, 2021. Students are to return to in-person learning on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Our elementary classes will be onsite at school on Wednesday, May 5 and Thursday, May 6. Cohorts returning on Thursday will be onsite for one day (4LC, 6L, and 6W). 2J was supposed to return on Monday, May 10 will now return on May 25. On Jr. High classes will continue their online learning until May 25, 2021.
I’m sure you have many questions. We hope to be able to announce specifics soon.
The second date for the Rapid Testing Program has changed from June 8, 2021, to June 7, 2021. This time the testing will occur in our library. Everyone tested on June 1 will have the opportunity to get tested again. Those students who want to get tested and did not previously submit their permission slip will need to provide a permission slip.
The ‘COVID-19 Rapid Screening Tests in School Program’ will be occurring on Tuesday, June 1 at Father Leonard Van Tighem School in our gymnasium. Forms were sent home today for our Grade 1 to 9 students and forms will be sent home for our kindergarten students on Monday. Please read the following information that was originally sent home approximately a month ago:
The provincial government has chosen Father Leonard Van Tighem school to participate in the ‘COVID-19 Rapid Screening Tests in School Program.’ One of the program’s main objectives is to help with the early detection of the virus, thus helping to fight the pandemic. Early indications are that the program will start sometime next week.
Please see this document for information regarding the program:
Participation in this program is voluntary. The school will be sending out permission slips via homeroom teachers; please check your child’s bag;
An outside vendor administers the test, not school staff. Also, the testing is a nasal swab; the swab is not the one that goes deep into your nasal cavity;
The testing will probably be done twice, one week apart;
Even with parent permission, students may change their mind at the last second;
If you want your child to participate, please fill in the forms;
If you do not want your child to participate, please do not fill in the forms;
Once we have the exact testing days, we will inform our parents, students, and staff.
Please contact the school if you have any questions.
Greg Kostiuk 