The Lynx Lowdown
The inside scoop on Forest Grove School
Bonjour, familles Forest Grove; hello Forest Grove families,
Mme Natalie Pathirana and Mme Katharina Staub are the counsellors at Forest Grove School.
We have been getting to know our new students and are here to help everyone settle in.
As part of our work, Mme Staub has sent out Permission Click forms for medication management if your child requires medication or carries an EpiPen, inhaler, or has medication that needs to be stored in the office. If your child has more complex medical needs, you will receive a Personal Care Management Plan via Permission Click, please check for those in your inbox.
We look through all the medical alerts of our students to be sure we have the pertinent information to keep students safe at school and in the community during outings.
If you feel you should have received a form and have not, please don't hesitate to send an email to katharina.staub@eips.ca
Bonne fin de semaine,
Mme Natalie Pathirana et Mme Kathairna Staub
Our school will participate in the Terry Fox Run on September 21. We are still working out the details which we will share in next week's Lynx Lowdown.
In the meantime, we are collecting donations for The Terry Fox Foundation. Elementary teachers are collecting them in class and junior high kids can drop off donations to the box at the desk in the main office.
If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to complete the Correction and Verification Form—available through the PowerSchool Parent Portal—for each child in your family by 5 p.m. on September 25. The form includes annual declarations and consent collected for all students, even if none of your contact information is changing. Additional details are available on the Division website: Correction and Verification Forms. If you have any questions or issues accessing your Parent Portal account, reach out to the school office.
Did you know you can sync the school calendar to your own calendar?
Simply, visit our calendar page, click on “Subscribe to Calendar” and follow the instructions. Within seconds, your calendar will contain all of Forest Grove’s important dates including holidays, school-closures days, planned activities and events, and it will remain synced with all the latest updates throughout the school year.
Wondering when and how to pay for school fees? School fee information for the 2026-27 school year will be posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal in late September. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. NOTE: Additional fees may be added throughout the year—for example, at the beginning of each semester, as your child takes part in various activities, or they may be adjusted by changes in selected optional courses in junior and senior high school. If you’re unable to pay your school fees, you can apply to have certain fees waived. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2026.
For more information, visit the fee section on the school website. Alternatively, contact our Forest Grove business manager, Mme Aicha Dermoumi at 587-882-0800.
Do you want to be a part of history? Order your first ever Lynx swag at our online store:
Forest Grove Back to School Store
This is your chance to show some school pride in our first year as a community! The order deadline is Monday, September 21, 2026.
Is your child riding the bus this year? If yes, download the My Ride, Bus Status and SchoolMessenger apps to stay in the know about your child’s bus stop location, route, pickup time and whether their bus is running on schedule.
In 2026-27, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) is piloting a new mechanism for families to have live, direct access to student assessment information for grades 1 to 6. Through the PowerTeacher Pro dashboard in the PowerSchool Parent Portal, parents and caregivers will be able to log in to see assessment information throughout the year, rather than waiting for a report card. With this change, elementary schools will also shift to two formal report cards for grades 1 to 6 for the school year, rather than three.
Elementary schools will roll out the new approach in two groups. Forest Grove School is part of phase 1, and live access to student assessment information will be available starting in Semester 1. Throughout September, students will be settling into routines and begin work on their first units of study. As these first units wrap up, parents and caregivers can expect to see assessment information starting to be available in the PowerSchool Parent Portal later in October.
This new approach does not replace any existing methods of communicating student learning with families. Schools will still issue formal report cards and conduct school interviews in the fall and spring. Live access to student assessment information through the Parent Portal is just an additional way EIPS schools will communicate student learning for the coming year.
Throughout September, parents and caregivers are encouraged to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal, to ensure the login process works smoothly and to get familiar with the platform if you haven’t used it in the past. If you have any issues logging into your account, reach out to the school office at 587-882-0800.
In 2026-27, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) is piloting a new reporting scale for communicating elementary student achievement. Most recently, kindergarten to Grade 6 student achievement has been reported using a five-point scale. This year, the Division is piloting a new three-point scale for kindergarten to Grade 2 and a four-point scale for grades 3 to 6. The goals of the pilot are to provide useful, clear communication to parents and caregivers about their child’s progress, and provide a clear, consistent framework for teachers to use for assessment of student learning.
The draft achievement scales were developed based on teacher and administrator input, assessment research and reviews of best practices across Alberta, Canada and the world. However, it’s critical parents and caregivers feel confident about the reporting structure. Throughout the fall and winter, Division and school staff will share more information to introduce the new grade scales, collect initial feedback and answer questions through school council meetings, school interviews and school newsletters. The feedback collected will help EIPS revise the grading scales as needed, and opportunities for further feedback will be available later in the school year.
EIPS has outlined rules about the use of personal mobile devices for each grade level in Administrative Procedure 145: Use of Personal Mobile Devices. Processes outlined within this AP are based on direction provided by the provincial government through Ministerial Order 014/2024: Standards for the Use of Personal Mobile Devices and Social Media in Schools. This includes the use of various electronic devices, including smartwatches and Meta glasses.
Forest Grove also has a Personal Mobile Device (PMD) Plan that provides additional details for our school.
We encourage families to review our PMD plan with their child to ensure students understand where and when they can and cannot access their personal mobile devices at school.