Important Dates

May 12-15 Camp Chief Hector Grade 5

May 14 Calgary Zoo Grade 3 

May 16 Non-Instruction Day No School for Students

May 19 Victoria Day School Closed

May 20 Butterfield Acres Grade 1

May 21 Saucy Bread Co 

May 23 Volunteer Tea 12pm 

May 30 Both kinder days attend Heritage Park

Estimadas familias 

¡Qué Pasa! Una celebración fenomenal 

This week, many months of preparation both behind the scenes between school administrative teams, and in the classrooms across our 10 Spanish Bilingual schools, culminated in an afternoon of Spanish, music, dance, song and theatre. Students from K-12, including our talented group of grade 3 students and teachers, showcased their learning on the professional stage of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. This year, it was my honour to chair the event, which allowed me the opportunity to collaborate even more closely with colleagues from each of our Spanish Bilingual program schools across the city.

It is a joy to be part of our incredible Spanish Bilingual program within the Calgary Board of Education. The scope and size of our program is unique in North America. There is no other school division that provides a learning opportunity of this scale, within public education, to students. We are fortunate to be part of a community that has recognized the value of bilingual language programming. We truly are part of something that is impactful and creates learning conditions that allow our students to develop greater resilience, to be curious about other ways of knowing and to develop skills that transfer across all aspects of their lives. Thank you for your continued support and participation in our program.

Staffing Update – 2025-2026 School Year

Our “experienced” families know that this time of year is unique in that while we continue to program and make plans for the present, we are also fully engaged in building our programming for the next school year. This is a multi-pronged effort which involves staffing decisions that are based on enrollment changes, determining class placements for students and working with staff who are considering changes to their professional trajectory.

At this time, based on our current enrollment, I am able to confirm the following:

• We will be able to add a new teacher position to grade 1 as a result of enrollment growth
• We are maintaining the support of three Educational Assistant positions 

I am also able to confirm some significant news for our community. Our Assistant Principal, Sra. Jackie Michaud, has accepted a new position – International Language Specialist – which will move her from Eugene Coste to the Education Centre. This change is effective as of the next school year. We are not quite ready to say good-bye to Sra. Jackie just yet and can count on her support until the end of this school year. I am in the process of recruiting our new Assistant Principal and will provide further updates soon. Please join me in congratulating Sra. Jackie on her new adventure!

Una ventana a las aulas

School Council and Enrichment Society Updates 

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

School Council Meeting: 6:15pm – 7:30pm

EC Enrichment Society: 7:30pm – 8:30pm Our final meeting for this year is:

May 22, 2025

 Our Enrichment Society is currently looking to fill its Vice President role at our next Society meeting on May 22. This crucial role helps raise money to fund various initiatives at the school which enrich our student's learning experience. These include our Dance, Tennis and Garth Prince residencies; furniture for a calming room and learning commons; funding art supplies, classroom equipment and other things which make our student's experience much more fulfilling. 

If you'd like to nominate yourself or someone else to join the Enrichment Society board, you may do so in advance of the May 22 meeting by emailing ecsenrichmentsociety@gmail.com.Following a call for nominations and introductions by the nominees, private votes will be cast in the meeting. 

Please note, if we are unable to fill this role the enrichment society will no longer be able to operate and all school fundraising initiatives, including the Casino Fundraiser which raised over $70,000 for the school last year, will have to stop.

At the same meeting we will also be looking to fill a director at large position to flush out our committee. Unlike the VP role, the Director is not required to continue operation but an important role and great opportunity to get involved.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

Gracias,

David McCurdy

Eugene Coste Enrichment Society ecsenrichmentsociety@gmail.com

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 . 

 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