January 2026

Dear Families,

Welcome back to classes for 2026!

December brought a great deal of joy to our school community. It was wonderful to celebrate the season with Advent activities such as our school celebration and our faith-filled morning announcements. Our Jesse tree of giving was a great success. The ornaments, which were hand-made by our students, offered visual representations of stories from the Old Testament: a reminder of the time leading up to the birth of Jesus. Thank you for the generous contributions of cold-weather items to share with those in need. We also had so much fun celebrating Christmas theme days with our students. And thank you to our families for participating in our Christmas Family Fun Night. It was such a fun-filled way to come together as a community to celebrate the season.

Each morning, two or three students share a prayer they have written themselves on our morning broadcast. The students have been doing an excellent job in writing their prayers and reading them out loud. Thank you, students, for bringing a smile to our face each morning with your lovely intentions!

Our learning communities in grades 5 and 9 are hard at work planning for our International Baccalaureate Exhibition and Community Projects. These milestones for our Primary Years Programme (up to grade 5) and our Middle Years Programme (grades 6-9) demonstrate culminating understandings of the International Baccalaureate and are truly a reason to celebrate. More information to come!

Believe it or not, it is already time to start thinking about registration for next year! Our admin team will be speaking with our Grade 6 and 9 students to help ensure they have transition plans in place for the moves to Grades 7 and 10. Special presentations from other schools will also happen for Grades 6 and 9 students. Families with any questions about school enrolment for 2026-2027 are welcome to ask in the office; we are here to help! If you know of any families interested in attending St. Clement, you are also welcome to direct them to our office for information. Thank you!

Stay safe and warm this month.

St. Clement Administration

Please note that staff will be participating in professional learning on Thursday, January 29. There will be NO CLASSES for students.

Students will be bringing home a survey for their parents to complete about St. Clement and ECSD. Please check your child's backpack this week, as surveys are meant to be returned to the school or posted by Monday, January 26. Thank you for helping us to seek continuous improvement, and to provide excellence in education!

Thank you to our amazing SAC members. The school community is grateful for your hard work and support. Our next meeting, which had been scheduled for January 12, has been cancelled. Once the meeting is rescheduled, information will be sent to all families. All are welcome. In the meantime, support our SAC with Fundscrip gift card purchases (our school group code is 6B55D5).

St. Clement school is thrilled to welcome Indigenous artist and teacher Angela Hall to our school. Angela has an extensive professional resume and it is truly a blessing to have her bring her passion, expertise, and talent to our school. Angela will be working with all students, as well as select focus groups of students, to generate whole-school art projects that will bless our space for years to come.

Our Learner Profile of the month for January is Inquirer. This means that we nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.

We will be on the lookout for inquirer traits in our students this month and they are invited to share their success stories. Inquiry is a circular process that starts with a question requiring students to:

• think critically, creatively and reflectively

• build on prior knowledge

• research and gather information, independently

• analyze their findings and those of others

• interpret data

• learn from others

• create new understandings

• understand there may be more than one answer and this may change as their understanding grows

• present and communicate their findings, explaining their learning

• refine their finding and start the process again

Thank you to our parent council for continuing their Healthy Hunger lunch days at St. Clement this year! Families who wish to participate can create an account and preorder lunch for their child(ren) on Healthy Hunger Fridays. The ordered items will be distributed to your child(ren) at school for lunch. Healthy Hunger lunches take place on Fridays, and the deadline to order is the Sunday prior to a Friday service. Payment is handled directly via the Healthy Hunger website at the time of order.

Our Alien In-line roller skating adventures continue January 5! Students should dress comfortably, and be ready to wear helmets and protective gear. Students using their own helmets should please remember to bring them back to school. These can be bike helmets or hockey helmets (no cages or visors). Students should have long comfortable socks on. What a GREAT experience we are having with Alien In-Line so far!

Students are asked to dress for the weather (warm jackets, snowpants, hats, mitts/gloves, and warm boots), keeping in mind that all students receive at least one outdoor recess each day (one for JH and two for elementary). Labelling your belongings can help us return them to your child should they get misplaced at school. Thank you!

Congratulations to all those participating in boys basketball. Home games will start in February. Parent spectators are always welcome at home and away games. ECSD student spectators are only permitted to watch home games (games at their own school). Go Chargers!

Grade 6 students will be receiving presentations at school in the coming weeks for junior high. St. Hilda will come to present the accelerated Math and Science program, and Father Michael Troy will come to present their STEAM program. Our principal Mrs. Androschuk will also visit them to speak about remaining at St. Clement in the continuation of their International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme certificate. Parents with any questions about the transition to Grade 7 are welcome to ask Mrs. Androschuk anytime! Information about open houses and registration information will be coming soon.

Grade 9 students will be receiving presentations at school from Holy Trinity and St. Joseph schools in the coming weeks! Grade 9 families will also receive more information in the weeks to come about high school open houses and registration procedures. Mrs. Chelsea Androschuk, our principal here at St. Clement, and Mr. Nathan Koelmans, the principal of St. Hilda, will also be offering a presentation for grade 9 parents wanting more information about the transition to high school. This presentation will include details about high school programming and the registration process. Mrs. Androschuk and Mr. Koelmans have extensive high school experience, having collectively served at Holy Trinity, St. Joseph, Archbishop O'Leary, Archbishop MacDonald, the School of Alternative Education, Mother Margaret Mary, and St. Francis Xavier. They have experience in the International Baccalaureate high school Diploma Programme, Advanced Placement, Sports Academies, Guided Customized Learning, Summer School, and more. We hope you come with your questions!

Our partner parish, St. Theresa, and Corpus Christi, are starting their Winter Sessions for sacramental preparation courses. We encourage students and families to look at the information available through their parish website, and remember to register at your parish in order to be included in important communication. Please explore the Sacrament section on your parish's website below:

Ø The turnaround in front of the school is a NO PARKING zone during peak drop-off and pick-up hours of the day. There is no drop off or pick up in the bus zone in front of the school (turnaround).

There is no parking in the turnaround between the hours of 7:30-8:30 am Monday-Friday. Also, 2:30-3:30 pm on regular school days AND 11:30 am -12:30 pm on Thursdays (early dismissal).

Ø The turnaround can be accessed once the buses have left.

Ø Families are asked to keep traffic moving by using the turnaround to STOP, DROP-OFF/PICK-UP and GO (only once the buses have left).

Ø Please avoid parking at the entrance and exit of the turnaround so that buses can have easy access.

Ø For parents and guardians who wish to remain with their child(ren) in the morning, there is parking available across the street and next to the school sidewalk.

Ø Parents are asked to remember that there is no parking in the staff parking lot. Our staff parking lot is completely full, and we ask parents not to park there.

We feel it is important to bring this forward as we work together to assure all students are safe. Thank you for your understanding and patience to ensure that every student is safe to and from school. We are very thankful our school is part of the wonderful community. It is very important to us that we are all good neighbours and show kindness to one another.

Please remember to bring a reusable water bottle to school in order to stay healthy and hydrated throughout the day! Students should please have their water bottles labelled with their names.

Parents/Guardians who pick up their children at school are asked to be on time for pick up, and to meet their children at/near their designated doors, in particular for students in younger grades. In cases where an older sibling is the one picking up the child, please have that sibling report to the correct door on time. Children with no one to meet them will be brought to the office. Please let us know if an emergency has caused you to be late. Please communicate with your child's teacher, well in advance, or call the office, if you have changed the plan for pick up on a particular day.

In the weeks ahead, the children and staff will continue to practice fire drills, lock downs and emergency procedures to ensure the safety of all within our school community. Students have done excellent in our fire drills and lockdown drill so far! Please inform your child that these drills can occur, especially to alleviate any anxiety or worries from our younger students.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Regular attendance is directly related to success in school. Please ensure that your child arrives on time so that they can be welcomed into the classroom learning experiences taking place each day. Students who arrive late are asked to report to the office to check in.

Families are required to contact the school if a child is late or absent. Please notify the school office at 780-462-3806 and leave a message if all lines are busy. Parents are also encouraged to download the "School Messenger" app, as attendance can be reported online, directly in the app. Please ensure that any changes to personal information are reported to the office to keep our records up to date. Students who have appointments and must leave the school prior to dismissal are asked to ensure the teacher is informed as well as the office staff.

Records of student achievement, student attendance, lists of fees/fee payment platform, forms, and more, can be found by logging into Parent PowerSchool, here: https://powerschool.ecsd.net/public/

The 2025/2026 School Registration Fees support the operational decisions made at St. Clement. We are dependent on this financial support to carry out the educational goals set for the school year. School fees should appear on PowerSchool in the coming weeks. Payment can be made using the online payment through your Parent PowerSchool account. We appreciate school fees being paid as soon as possible, once they are applied to student accounts. We appreciate your attention to this request.

We are happy to announce that several supplementary experiences will be provided to our students across the school year once again. These opportunities enable children to explore the curriculum and deepen their understanding of the world around them beyond the walls of the classroom. Families will be provided with written notification in advance of all field trips. A completed permission slip signed by the parent or guardian needs to be returned before a student may participate in the field trip. Just a friendly reminder, payment needs to be made one business day prior to the field trip through your PowerSchool account. No child will be denied participation in field trip experiences due to lack of funds if the situation is brought to the attention of the principal prior to the scheduled event. Confidentiality will be honoured.

Please ensure you have communicated with the school office about any medical conditions or severe allergies that your child may have. If your child requires medication to be given at school or your child self-administers, a form is required. Please either come into the office or download the document off the school website and fill out a current medical alert form as soon as possible to ensure we have the most up to date information. Please note that a doctor’s signature is required on the form before any medication can be given/taken (self-administered) at school. Should a child become ill while at school, parents or guardians will be notified and asked to pick up their child. Thank you also for keeping your child home if they are unwell. We thank you for ensuring your child's safety and well-being!