August 29, 2024
Principal’s Letter re: September Start
The following is a copy of the letter that was emailed to families on August 28th containing general information about the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
Dear Students, Parents and Caregivers,
On behalf of the staff of Ecole Glenbrook Middle School, we welcome everyone back to school. We hope that each of you has enjoyed a safe and relaxing summer holiday, and as school opens, we trust that you are looking forward to a new year full of potential. We look forward to working with our parents, guardians, and the Ecole Glenbrook community in supporting our students to develop the skills and passions that will guide them to future successes.
We look forward to welcoming all of our students, new and returning, to EGMS on Tuesday, September 3rd. We have been working hard to get everything ready and organized so that
everyone has a great start to the year. Teachers will go over school procedures and expectations with their classes during the first couple of days and we will have school-wide
assemblies on the first Friday to review them all together. We will continue to have the grade 6s and 7s go outside to play during the first half of lunch while the grade 8s eat inside. They will then switch in the second half of lunch. We are a closed campus, so only those students whose families have made prior arrangements with the office will havepermission to go home for lunch. Please be aware that this is for students to go home to eat only, not to go to the local restaurants or to Safeway. If your child is going somewhere other than home, they will need to be picked up and signed out by a guardian/parent. We also ask that you do not use services such as Skip the Dishes to deliver food. Lunch is a busy time for the office staff, and it is difficult for them to receive the deliveries as well as monitor potential student interaction with strangers.
Our district Fuel Up lunch program will not begin deliveries until Sept. 17th, so if you regularly order for them, please make sure to send lunch with your child each day before then. Our provider is the Lunch Lady; for those who are not familiar, you can visit their website at thelunchlady.ca to create an account for ordering if you wish and view September’s menu options. More information to follow in the coming weeks.
The outside doors will open at 8:20 am, allowing students to be in the building to prepare to be in their classrooms by the 8:41 am start bell. During this time, it will be at the discretion of each individual teacher whether their classroom will be open prior to 8:41 am.
Please see the bell schedule for this year here.
On Tuesday September 3rd, all students in all grades will attend for about an hour. On Friday August 30th, each family will receive an email to let you know what time your child should attend school on that first day, and which room they will go to when they arrive. For everyone that is new, there will be lots of staff around to help direct students to where they need to go.
We are a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device – IE laptop) school. We have been developing this program over the past few years and how it can support technology integration into our classrooms. More information will follow in the next few weeks.
We are still in the process of making updates to the school website for this year, but this is a wonderful place to find things such as our school supply list, school calendar, or our school expectations.
If you would like to visit our school, Mr. McLeod and Ms. Catton will host an open house for new families that might not have had the opportunity to tour the school in the spring. On Thursday, August 29th between 2 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. the front door of the school will be open for anyone who would like to participate in a self-paced tour of the building with your child. We are still in the process of preparing and setting up the school for start-up, so we ask that you please stay in the halls and only look into the classrooms from the doorways.
Finally, we encourage all students to take advantage of the first-class opportunities available to you at Ecole Glenbrook Middle School and to participate 100% in all aspects of your school experience. We also encourage parents to become actively involved in their child’s middle school experience. Clear, open communication between school and home is extremely important. If you have questions about the school or our programs, please contact us. We wish you all the best for a positive and outstanding 2024-2025 school year!
Take care,
Mr. Murray McLeod & Ms. Jamie Catton, Principal and Vice Principal