Dear Vanier families,
I want to start this email by welcoming you back to school. I have spent much of these past three days chatting with staff and students, seeing how they are doing and listening to what they did while not here.
I was blown away at how quickly students and teachers have restarted routines and relationships. I have been in and out of all the classrooms this week and what I have seen is what we all want to see in our schools: students learning, students connecting with adults and each other and students growing as people. It took only a few hours before teachers were being asked about school sports, extracurriculars, and learning opportunities.
While I know that the past few weeks were a massive disruption for families and students, and that how the return to school played out was not the way that teachers would have liked, I believe we all want students to be learning.
Thank you to all those families who have emailed, called, spoken to us, left messages at the school, or brought food for the staff. These have been very much appreciated and let us know that we are not alone in advocating for your children.
Please continue to read your emails for updates from the CBE. As we come back to learning, there have been, and will continue to be, changes to timelines for this year. Many of these updates will come from Education Alberta, so we need to wait for their decisions. I will share these updates as we are made aware, but they will also be shared with you at a system level.
In closing I wanted to leave you with some words that resonated with me that were shared with me by my daughter’s Principal; “we will continue to support and teach your children to the best of our abilities while providing the best experience we can with the space and resources we have been given”.
Bonne weekend,
Mr. Chad Edmonds – Principal École Georges P Vanier School
Vanier Swag Available!
Please visit our online store to purchase GP Vanier apparel.
https://gpvfallstore2025.itemorder.com/shop/home/
The online store will now close on November 10th, 2025 @ 11:59pm. Orders will be delivered to the school 4-6 weeks after the store closes.
2026 Prime Minister’s Awards
The nomination period for the 2026 Prime Minister’s Awards is now open, and we’re looking for your help in recognizing outstanding educators who empower Canada’s youth. The Prime Minister’s Awards are a chance to celebrate educators for their leadership and exemplary education practices. Any person or group (i.e. parents, colleagues, principals, board members or students) can nominate educators in three different categories:
- Teaching Excellence
- Teaching Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
- Excellence in Early Childhood Education
For more information, please click on the link in the message.
Upcoming Sports Dates:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: no sports scheduled
Thursday: no sports scheduled
Friday: no sports scheduled
Please see your coach for an update on the basketball season on Monday.
Families, I will be sending an update home early next week about the school sports seasons for the rest of the school year.
Upcoming Dates:
November 3: Student teachers from U of C and Campus St. Jean begin
November 7: Remembrance Day Assembly
November 10-12: Fall Break– (schools closed)
November 13: Students return to school
November 25-27: Grade 6 to Camp Chief Hector
November 27: Parent-Teacher Conferences (4:30 pm- 7:30 pm in person)
November 28: Parent-Teacher Conferences (9 am – 3 pm online) - no school for students