Estimadas familias,

Safe, Caring and Welcoming Schools

“Our schools are safe, positive, inclusive, equitable and welcoming learning and working environments that support and respond to the needs of students and staff.

Recognizing the full range of uniqueness in our students and staff is central to our work.” Learn more on the CBE website!

A critical component of our work with students focuses on upholding the above commitment. All students, staff and guests in our schools must feel safe, cared for and welcomed. When issues arise we always place learning at the centre of our conversations. Issues manifest in different ways depending on the age and stage of development of our learners. What is common across all age groups is the expectation that students demonstrate safe and positive behaviours, both in their actions and in what they say.

As a community, we are noticing increasing incidents of vandalism in bathrooms where students are choosing to write words that are racial slurs or swears. We also work with students who are using homophobic or racial slurs with each other. This is sadly, not something that only “the older kids” are doing. We are hearing and seeing this across a range of ages. Our students must understand that these words are impactful and hurtful. Excusing this behaviour with the assumption that the student doesn’t know what it means is not acceptable. Our community is incredibly diverse. Slurs of any kind will directly impact children and adults.

What Can We Do?

To begin, it is important that we as adults are self-aware and set a good example by modeling positive behaviour. It is helpful to acknowledge that while we may hear or witness unkind behaviour, that we are ultimately responsible for our own actions. Noticing that it happens and reiterating that it is not acceptable is a great start.

Bullying and other violence protection resources are available on our corporate website. Resources directly related to Pink Shirt Day are available at Pink Shirt Day.

I thank the families that have surfaced concerns and also thank the students who immediately notice that something is not ok and report it to an adult.

February 26, 2025

• Fun Lunch Coco Brooks
• Pink Shirt Day
• Grade 2 leads our learning assembly 11:00am in the gym!
• February 28, 2025

Non Instruction Day Teacher Professional Learning

March 3-13 2025

Garth Prince Music Residency

March 13, 2025

• Garth Prince Music Residency Sharing evening performances
• 5:30 - 6:30 groups TBD
• 7:00 - 8:00 groups TBD

March 17 - 20, 2025

• Swimming Grades 3,4,5 Canyon Meadows Aquatic Centre

March 20, 2025

• Student led Conferences and Scholastic Book Fair 4:30 - 7:10pm

March 21, 2025

• Non - Instruction Day

March 22 - 30, 2025

• Spring Break

CUPE Job Action (Beginning Monday February 24)

What this means for Escuela Eugene Coste:

• School remains open as usual, at our regular times
• Evening cleaning services – all staff and students to vacate building no later than 45 minutes after the bell at 4:25pm Monday-Thursday. On Friday, all staff will leave by 3:40pm.
• We are very peanut-aware, to reduce cross-contamination, please reconsider food choices
• Before and after school care continues
• After school rentals- cancelled
• Picketing may impact drop off or pick up – allow for extra time, follow our usual protocols – park around the perimeter of the field, hug & go for quick drop offs
• If job action continues longer term, we will not be able to showcase our residency with Garth Prince during the evening. We will prepare a
• contingency plan to move this to daytime performances. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this situation.

Please remember that staff that are not part of CUPE are not engaging in job action and are reporting to work as usual.

All updated information for staff and public will remain available and updated on the CBE Corporate website.

School Council and Enrichment Society Updates

School Council and EC Enrichment Society Meetings for 2024-2025 will continue to take place online through TEAMS.

Our next meeting will take place March 18, 2025.

• School Council: 6:15pm – 7:30pm
• EC Enrichment Society: 7:30pm – 8:30pm

Future Meeting Dates

• March 18, 2025
• April 24, 2025
• May 22, 2025

We would like to thank our School Council and EC Enrichment Society for supporting us in our decisions and our work at Escuela Eugene Coste. We are thrilled to share that our Wish List request for funds to help us create a designated Sensory Room for students has been approved for up to $17,000.00 in spending. This will allow us to create another proactive resource to help our students learn to self regulate through having access to a supportive environment that can meet a variety of sensory needs. This inspiration photo will guide our project. ¡Mil gracias!

Volunteers are still needed!

We are specifically looking for volunteers for:

• Memory Book Committee Co-Chair: co-lead a team of volunteers to take photos and create the memory book for the 2024-2025 school year. We would like someone to be able to take over for future years and co-chair with another individual as our current lead has only a short time left with kids in the school.
• Casino Lead: preparing for the next casino in two years (our biggest fundraiser!) starts now. Our current lead is ready to mentor a new casino lead to fundraise so many of the enrichment opportunities and resources the student's enjoy.

Please don't hesitate to reach out as we continue to engage volunteers and contribute to positive experiences for the students and staff at Eugene Coste.

Kind regards,

Melinda

ECS School Council Co-chair

Fun Lunches

Fun lunches are offered throughout the year to students who wish to participate. We receive our lunches through Healthy Hunger, an online platform that delivers pre-ordered lunches to the school in which a portion of the proceeds goes to the school. On the day of the event, lunches are sorted and delivered to your child’s classroom by parent volunteers. If you would like to participate, please register your child at www.healthyhunger.ca . Lunches must be ordered prior to midnight, 5 days before the fun lunch event.

We kindly ask that if your child is absent the day of the fun lunch, please contact the school prior to 10:30am, if you wish to pick it up the same day, after 1:30pm. If not specified, your food will be donated to someone in need of lunch. No refunds will be issued if your child is absent on the day of a Fun Lunch.

If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to parent support at www.healthyhunger.ca or email ecsfunlunch@gmail.com .

Fun Lunch Vendor & Fun Lunch Dates

• Coco Brooks Wednesday Feb 26
• Saucy Bread Co. Thursday March 13
• Pizza Hut Wednesday April 9
• Taco Time Thursday May 1
• Saucy Bread Co. Wednesday May 21
• Texas Donut Day! Thursday June 19

What date is that again? How do I find that information? WhatsApp Parent Chat Groups

Did you know that School Council has organized Parent-Led, School Council-supported WhatsApp Chat Groups for each grade? These groups are intended to foster connections between families and the school community, share school events and fundraising activities, and remind each other about important school dates. The chats are not an official school communication channel and teachers and staff will not review the content. Please continue to connect with teachers directly about student-specific concerns. If you are interested in joining, please send your School Council team an e-mail to ecsschoolcouncil@gmail.com and you will be added to the correct group.

Subject line – WhatsApp Chat E-mail – your name and phone number, your student’s first name and grade.

Please note if your chat group is starting to flood with questions or doubts about anything, that the most direct way to confirm information is by reaching out directly to the school. This can be through checking our website for posted calendars or resources, reviewing our weekly newsletter, e-mailing your child’s teacher or calling the office. We are always available to help and reaffirm communication that has been provided as well as address concerns should the need arise.

My Child Takes the Bus

Please continue to remind your child of expected bus behaviour to support a safe ride home (stay in your assigned seat, stay seated at all times, appropriate volume of voice, be kind). As we have done in previous years, if your child normally takes the bus home but you will be picking them up, please meet us at the bus zone so that we can check in with you to confirm attendance. If you are picking up early or if there is a regular pick-up schedule at the bus, please call our office before 2:30pm so that we can add that information to our bus lists and avoid after school confusion.

What if I still have questions?

We thank you for reviewing our information and know that questions may remain. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team if you need support.

Sincerely,

Sra. Andrea Riquelme, Principal

Escuela Eugene Coste