A Newcomer's Guide to Westmount Charter School

If you're reading this page, you're likely a student looking for a sense of how things work at Westmount - or the parent of a student recently admitted to Westmount - or a parent who has been here for a while, and is still wondering about the culture and rhythms of Westmount.

With a K-12 school, and the wide range of personalities and learning styles within a gifted student population, it's hard to find one-size-fits-all answers... but a great starting point is the Student/Parent Handbook, which you can download here. Please note that with our recently-announced move to new facilities in the fall of 2011, some of these routines will need to change! The 2010-2011 handbook covers the following topics:

Attendance and Extended Absences
Communications between Home and School
Day One - Day Two Calendar
Dress Code
Electronic devices
Emergency Contacts
Entrances and Parking
Hallway behaviour
High School Gifted Ed Diplomas
Infirmary
Internet Use
Lunch Break
Recess
School Closure notification (eg. Snow Days)
School /Office Hours
Student code of Conduct - click here for full text
Student Services
Telephone use
Transportation
Vending Machines (grades 6-12)
Visitors
Westmount Website

This handbook is also included in the day-planner received by all elementary students (also available for purchase by mid-high students - many students in that age range prefer to use electronic devices to keep track of appointments, rather than a hard-copy planner).

Here are some additional FAQs regarding life at our school - click on the keyword in each question for the answer! Again, some of these procedures will be changing as we adjust to our new facilities, so some of these questions will have very minimal answers at this time. (for the old version of this page, with answers based on our occupancy at the Viscount Bennett Centre, click here).

THE SCHOOL YEAR

• Do you have any orientation for new students?
• What should my child bring on the first day of school?
• Do you really do school photos prior to the school year?
• Does Westmount have school uniforms?
• When are the report cards? Do you use percentages or letter grades?
• When do I meet my son/daughter's teachers? How do I book a time to meet with them regarding student progress?
• Are there opportunities to get to know other Westmount parents? What is expected of me as a Westmount parent?
• Do you have a Christmas Concert, or other school concerts? Do all grades K-12 participate?
• My child is in the Kindergarten program at Westmount. Is it true that they have to re-apply for grade one? How do I do this?
• Do Westmount students in grades 1-11 have to re-apply each year?
• I've heard about a laptop program at Westmount. Where would I learn more?
• I understand that you don't charge tuition, but as with any publicly-funded school there are some instructional resource fees. What are the fees, and are fee waivers available?
  

DAILY ROUTINES

• If my child is going to be away at a medical appointment, or is ill and will not be attending school, how do I notify the school? Do you have any special advise regarding Influenza-Like Illnesses?
• My child forgot to bring his/her lunch. What happens next?
• My child has potentially life-threatening allergies/needs medication administered at school. How do I inform you, and how is that handled?
• Does Westmount offer before and after school care?
• What is the school's stance on homework?
• Could I see a sample newsletter?

FACILITY

• Is there a map of the school?
• Are you part of the CBE (Calgary Board of Education)? I'm still a bit confused about Charter Schools.

Another source of information is this website! Check the right-hand side of this web page (and all pages in the public part of this website) for all kinds of information about our school. In addition, the "log in here" area of the website (see blue bar, above) has teachers' email addresses, links to teacher blogs and homework pages, school newsletters, School Council minutes, and much more - just use the same username and password that you used for student registration, or the general student username/password (which is contained in the daily planner given to students in the fall).

If you have other questions that need answering, contact a teacher, the main office (admin@westmountcharter.com or 403.217.0426) or the communications coordinator.

We wish you a rewarding experience with Westmount Charter School!

15 April 2011