News Archive

Our Kindergarten Virtual Open House is Wednesday, February 9th 6:30-7:00 p.m. This is for new families who have not had kindergarten students with us before and are interested in learning more about our program and who we are at OLS. Please register here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdqe_cWwXkLxSLprz45kjX0xtLIVoDGTos6mmyJMRL8Ixoww/viewform?usp=sf_link

Paul Davis will be presenting to our Gr 4 to 6 students about internet safety Jan 25th. We are also hosting a parent information session for all K-12 parents, January 25th at 7:30 p.m. and hope to see you there! Make sure to check our weekly email for details and a link to register.

Great Learning Starts at Our Lady of the Snows! Register today for kindergarten. Program options are full days/five days a week! Students must be five years of age by Dec. 31, 2022. Registration in our kindergarten program guarantees placement in Grade 1 and beyond. We accept registrations year round. All students are welcome both Catholic and non-Catholic. Visit our website for full registration information. Through an authentic Catholic education, your child will: ➡EXPLORE their world through story, numbers, and play in the classroom and in nature. ➡CONNECT with God. With Others. With the World. ➡GROW while teachers walk with them as they learn through discovery, relationships and faith. CTR Catholic promotes the spiritual, academic, cultural, physical and social development of all students in a safe and caring environment. Learning is a journey and it all starts at Christ the Redeemer! Come Learn With Us! #greatlearningCTR https://youtu.be/YoRFa4Bq07M

Social Networking Safety Presenter, Paul Davis, has been reschedule for Tuesday, January 25th at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom for a Parent Session. Paul focuses on educating students from grade school to University as well as empowering parents to guide their children safely online.

"For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

We had lots of fun getting ready for the Christmas holidays, including Advent activities, Mass, daily themed days, Christmas Concert preparations, and good works projects such as our Angel Tree Blessings to name a few. Amongst all the festivities we did manage to focus on the reason for the season and we hope you and your family do too. Merry Christmas!

Paul Davis presented to our grade 7 to 12 students today about online safety. What a phenomenal presentation! He will be presenting to our gr 4 to 6 students in the new year and we will be hosting a parent session January 4th at 7 p.m. so save the date! https://socialnetworkingsafety.net/sample-page/

Big News: this year we are doing a custom cover for our yearbook! Stay tuned for more details in the new year with a deadline of the end of February for submissions based on our theme.

Our K -6 Christmas Concert links were emailed this evening to our K-6 families. A number of emails bounced back so if you did not get an email, please reach out to the office tomorrow and we will update your email address in our system. Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Our Grade 9 Boy's Basketball Team played in a tournament this weekend as well! Here are a few snapshots from one of their games.

Christmas Mass registration opened this morning for Our Lady of the Rockies Parish. https://www.rockiesshrine.org/christmas2021

Our Senior Boy’s Basketball Team was on the road this weekend and brought us back some gold! Way to go boys! A special thank you to all of our coaches and volunteers who put in the countless hours behind the scenes for all of our teams!

Our Senior Boy's Basketball team played against CCHS this evening.

Today, Friday, November 26, at 9 p.m. is the last day to make an online order for our Book Fair. https://virtualbookfairs.scholastic.ca/pages/5149380

Our Book Fair is on now! https://virtualbookfairs.scholastic.ca/pages/5149380 Ordering something for a Christmas gift? Let the classroom teacher or Mrs. Buchko know and we will be sure to help you keep your purchase(s) a secret! For every book purchased, the school gets a percentage back to help our library grow and stay up-to-date. The virtual book fair will close Friday, Nov. 26th at 9:00 p.m.

Our grade 12 senior boys and senior girls volleyball players played their last volleyball game(s) for OLS this weekend! What a bittersweet memory for us all!

This weekend was our last weekend of volleyball with our Sr. girl's and Sr. boy's teams on the road and our JV girls playing locally. Here are a few snapshots of the JV girls in action. Thank you to all of our coaches and volunteers who have put in countless hours over the last several months with all of our teams!

Luc Arvisais received the Regional Certificate of Achievement from the Prime Minister’s Awards (PMA) for Teaching Excellence. Luc was nominated by staff, students and parents last year with an extensive nomination package submitted on his behalf. What an accomplishment and honour! https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pmate-ppmee.nsf/eng/wz02488.html

Mr. Arvisais, along with grade 12 students Seth Perez and Alison Stanley, presented to our School Council last night and taught us about some of the incredible initiatives they have been working on over the last few years. Some of these include the Net Zero Heroes and their school-wide composting, aeroponic green housing which is happening in numerous classes throughout the school, and investigating the use of solar panels. Thanks for all your hard work!

Zoom link will be shared in our Weekly Email this week.

REMINDER DEADLINE TODAY: 8 p.m. Nov. 14th is the deadline to submit orders for our winter fundraiser! See the details in our weekly email or in the photos below!

Today as a school we came together virtually for a Remembrance Day Liturgy and walking through the halls beautiful art pieces have been put on display. While these are small acts of remembrance, we continue to work towards peace with our actions and words every day. Thank you to Colonel Gary Hunt for joining grade sixes today. We were so blessed to have had this time with you to honour the sacrifices you and many others have made for our peace and our safety.

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Wednesday) morning we have bus evacuations happening at the school first thing. This is done every year so students know what to expect in the event of an emergency. Southland and OLS staff will be present and supporting this learning opportunity.

Today was the day! We drew 7 student's names who had brought in food items for our Food Drive last week and they got to pie a teacher in the face! Thank you to Mr. Simon, Ms. Antony, Ms. Lafortune, Ms. Kilcommons, Mr. Washburn, Mrs. Toews, and Mr. Landry for volunteering. Honorable mention goes to Mr. Simon's son who took one for the team (unexpectedly...from his Dad)

Our Winter Fundraiser is on now! Are you looking for Christmas gifts? Have a sweet tooth? Looking to decorate your place for the holidays? The deadline for orders is November 14th at 8 p.m. See the photos for more details or our Weekly Principal's Message.

Today is Catholic Education Sunday. We are so blessed to have Catholic education, where God is our compass. Where a Catholic lens of the world shaped by reflection, action, service, official teaching, sacramentality and prayer are at the centre of all that we do. To share our own personal faith journeys as teachers is a privilege, one we cannot and do not take for granted.

Way to go OLS champs! Grade 9 girls came in first today in their tournament at CCHS!!

4214 items and $150 in gift cards. Absolutely incredible!! Congratulations to 6A who won the pizza party! We have yet to draw the names of students to pie a teacher but stay tuned!

Today we spent time in Adoration with Father Nathan. Adoration is the devotional tradition of spending time in Eucharistic adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Thank you to Mr. Targa who volunteered to live-stream from the church so we could spend this time with God.

Today we are celebrating our Educational Assistants (EAs). Thank you, Mrs. Ferguson, Mrs. Gillett, Mrs. Illsley, Ms. Jupe, Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Russell, and Ms. Susan. We could not do it without you!!!

“Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. “ Genesis 1:3

Catholic Education Sunday is November 7 See Mass times below: The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies Sunday 9:30 am, 11:30 am, and 5:00 pm St. Mary’s Parish Banff Sunday — 10:00 am

Mr. Messier has opened up the construction lab once a week after school to current grade 7, 8 and 9 construction students who would like more time to work on projects. There are always so many great things going on at the school, we can’t always keep up!

Our Lady of the Rockies Parish Community collected 100 items for our food drive along with $150 worth of gift cards for local grocery stores. Thank you for all the support!

Happy Halloween!

Absolutely incredible. We have two risers left to fill and then we are out of room. What a great problem to have! Grade 5’s are still battling for first place with 7B not too far behind. There are definitely some other classes starting to catch up. 4 days left with Thursday as our last day! “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35

For the month of November, numerous grade six students have stepped up to volunteer as Peacekeepers during recess and lunch recess. Their goals are to help students by getting an adult supervisor, help younger students navigate conflict by asking questions that seek understanding, and to emphasize listening to others’ points of view and the peaceful resolution of differences. Thank you to everyone who volunteered!

We are speechless as to the generosity of our community!! We have reached our goal of 1000 non perishable food items and hygiene items in a matter of 3 days! We have 6 days left! Let’s see if we can double that! So far 5k is in the lead with 5G close behind. 7A is blowing the other junior and senior classes out of the water! Elementary students have brought in almost 80% of our food bank items brought in to date!

Students are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to school on Friday, October 29th. We ask that you keep in mind the costume should be suitable for a Catholic school, it should be culturally respectful and one that is appropriate for a K-12 school. If there are weapons or small parts that go with the costume, please consider keeping them at home so they do not get lost.

Today we had our first lock down drill of the year. We practice safety drills throughout the year so if there was ever an emergency we are as prepared as we can be. Students did an awesome job and each class had fantastic conversations beforehand about what to expect.

Our Let’s “can” Hunger Food Drive kicked off today! McKinley Procinsky and Meagan Lang talked about the initiative with MountainFM. Have a listen! https://www.mountainfm.ca/audio/lets-can-hunger-at-our-lady-of-the-snows-school/

Reminder: deadline for priority card project orders is Sun., Oct 24 with delivery the week of Nov. 22-26. The final order deadline is Sun., Nov 7 with delivery the week of Dec. 6-10.

Our 'Let's "Can" Hunger' Food Drive is starting on Monday! Thank you to Megan Lang and McKinley Procinsky for helping organize this!

Our grade 4's had their Bible Ceremony today. Thank you to Father Nathan and our grade four teachers for making this day so special.

The elk have been joining us lately and decided it was their recess time so we had indoor recess this morning. They have just as much right to the space as we do and didn’t seem to be in a sharing kind of mood today. With so much wildlife around, did you know we do wildlife drills with the students? 🙂

There are numerous wildlife warnings at the moment in the Bow Valley. Parents and bus drivers have asked us to share this with our community to ensure students are being safe to and from school and bus stops.

Our K to 6 students participated in The Card Project again this year! See the details below for more information. Deadline for priority orders is Sun., Oct. 24 with delivery the week of Nov. 22-26. The final order deadline is Sun., Nov. 7 with delivery the week of Dec 6-10.

On Wednesday we had our Thanksgiving mass, with a focus on gratitude. We are so grateful for each of you! Thank you for all your support through these challenging times. We are so blessed to have the staff, parents, students and community members we do! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

We are so thankful for Vijay and all the years he dedicated to Catholic Education as our Trustee and, even prior to this, as a community member. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

Congratulations to the OLS Cross Country Running team on their showing at the Zone Championship in Trochu on Wednesday. OLS had three top ten finishes with Mary Huggill finishing 3rd in the Juvenile Girl’s Race, Jacqueline Bicek placing 7th in the Bantam Girl’s Race, and Thomas Boruta placing 8th in the Junior Boys Race. Thomas has also qualified for the Provincial Championships in Red Deer on October 16th. As a team, the OLS Junior High athletes placed 2nd overall in the South-Central Zone! Congratulations to all runners!

Our student-led Headstrong Mental Health Committee will be working to promote mental health throughout the school year. This week is mental health week and our committee has made this a spirit week to promote conversations about mental and physical health and created posters around the school to continue to educate us. We pray for all those who struggle with mental health. May they feel God’s love around them and know where to turn to when they need help.

Thank you to our local firefighters for coming and teaching us about fire safety!

Our Lost and Found is full of unlabelled items 😞 Please help us return items to your children by labeling their belongings. Spot something that is your child’s? We will have our lost and found set up until later next week.

Reminders to Parents and Guardians, 1. On Tuesday, October 5, from 3:30-5:30 p.m., parents and guardians that purchased vegetables from our fundraiser can pick-up their orders in the front foyer by accessing the office doors after buses depart. If you arrive prior to the buses departing, you must park in the parking lot and not in the traffic circle. 2. Chef Kyle will not provide service on Wednesday, October 6. 3. Thursday, October 7 is our first SC pizza day. 4. On October 7, from 3:30 - 6:00 p.m., parents and guardians will be able to pick-up their apple orders at the school (Atrium entrance). If you arrive prior to the buses leaving, you must park in the parking lot.

Staff and students have been involved in many learning opportunities throughout the week as we continue the journey of healing and reconciliation in dialogue, partnership and peace. Education is one of many steps in the process. It is not just the celebration of a day, or a week, but an ongoing journey.

Mr. Landry here reporting for duty! We had our first fire drill of the school year today and it was a great success! Next week is Fire Prevention Week and our local fire department is coming to see some of our elementary students for an outside visit where they can continue learning about fire safety.

Our Week of Welcome was jam packed this year! One of the highlights was getting to tape Mr. Landry to the soccer net...yes, we did eventually take him down. We also had a guest speaker for gr 7-12 and a school-wide barbecue!

We had our first ever golf tournament fundraiser a week ago and words don't do our gratitude justice! We are so thankful for everyone who participated, whether by donating, golfing, working behind the scenes, bidding on our auction items or on the front end of things. Thank you to each one of you for making this day a success!

Congratulations to Ronan Steel who won the golf zones competition with a round of 76 in Turner Valley on Tuesday! Way to go!

Our online auction is ending tomorrow (Friday) at 6 p.m. Less than 24 hours to go! 36 fantastic items to bid on, including our Principal for a Day!

Jeff A. D. Martin was our Gr. 7-12 Virtual Guest Speaker for WOW week this week! Talking about self-worth and resiliency he shared personal stories of triumphing over other people’s judgement. Some studies show that 1 in 5 students suffer from depression and/or anxiety. One of Jeff’s favorite keynote topics is about finding your self-worth and believing in who you are. Thank you to School Council for making this presentation a possibility!

Since 2012, our school has been sponsoring a young girl named Chisala in Zambia through Chalice, a Catholic development organization. Not only is this a healthy food option for families, it is an incredible fundraiser! 50% of the money raised returns to our school to support Chisala. The deadline for ordering is Thursday, September 23rd. Veggies will be delivered to the school on Tuesday, October 5th. More details can be found in the weekly principal’s message.

www.32auctions.com/OLSschoolcouncil Our School Council Golf Tournament Silent Auction is open now to ALL BIDDERS! Take a look at our awesome donations from gift cards, hotel stays, and even an electric bike!Anyone can bid, you don’t have to be golfing to take part. Thank you to everyone who donated, we appreciate you!

Interested in learning about different ways to be involved in your child’s education? Below you will find several ways School Council supports students throughout the year!

Our Apple Fundraiser is on now. Order deadline is September 20th.

The countdown is on! We are so excited to see our returning faces and the new faces joining us this year! Just a reminder of our staggered entry for Gr 1-12. ➡️ Wednesday, September 1 - Last Name A to K for Gr 1-12 ➡️Thursday, September 2 - Last Name of L to Z for Gr 1-12 ➡️ Friday, September 3 - All Gr 1-12 Students Our Kindergarten staggered entry was emailed to each family separately as it differs from the rest of the school.

Please note, our kindergarten staggered entry was sent out via email at the beginning of July and differs from the information below, which applies to our grade 1-12 students. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

The OLS School Council Golf Tournament is booked for Friday September 17th. Please visit our website for more information and to book your round of golf. https://ols-schoolcouncil-golf.com/

We hope everyone is having a great summer and staying healthy! We just wanted to remind families who are purchasing their school supplies from Bow Valley Basics that the deadline is July 31st. https://www.bvbasics.net/our-lady-of-the-snows

After 20 years at OLS, today was Mr. Targa’s last day! It was bitter sweet as we are excited for his retirement but he will be missed! Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us over the last 20 years!

Have a great summer everyone!

That’s a wrap folks!

Well articulated! Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate the small things this year and meet the big things head on.

Today was our Virtual Graduation Ceremony. We are so grateful for everyone who helped put this together and all those able to attend. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) May God guide each of you on your journeys and hold you in the palm of His hand.

Today we celebrated our last Virtual Elementary Awards Assembly of the school year! We celebrated each student and all their hard work. We also recognized two students from each class with our Gifts of the Holy Spirit Awards (chosen by the teacher for a student who exemplifies a specific Gift of the Holy Spirit) and Citizenship Awards (voted anonymously by their peers for exemplifying the following traits: has a positive attitude towards learning and school, shows perseverance (towards academics), has a positive rapport with peers, teachers and school community, and is cooperative). Congratulations everyone!

A message and blessing from Father Nathan Siray before we head into summer break.