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The school is located in the northwest part of Calgary, close to Confederation Park. It was built in 1959 and at that time served 203 students. This year, Rosemont is celebrating its 50th birthday. Over the years, the school went through many changes due to declining enrolment and changes in the demographics of the community. Back in the early 80's, strong efforts were made by concerned citizens and the Rosemont Community Association to ensure that unused space in the school was rented. It was important for them to save the school from closure, which resulted in community groups taking an interest in coming into the school.
Student enrolment began to increase when a lunchroom program and a Kindergarten program were created. Soon efforts were made to start a "Before and After" school program that would attract children with working parents from out of the community. More recently, Rosemont's boundaries were extended so that it could accept students affected by the closure of the English program at King George School (Sept. 2002) and the closure of Tuxedo Park School (Sept. 2003). Currently, Rosemont Elementary unites a diverse group of children from at least 22 different communities, who either walk to, are driven to, or are bussed to our school. All students, including those who are bussed to the school, have access to our lunchroom program. Rosemont Community Care continues to provide before and after school care within the school.
This year, 120 students in Kindergarten to Grade 6 attend Rosemont Elementary School. We currently have four multi-aged and two single grade classrooms, serving students in grades 1-6, and a morning Kindergarten class. We also have a physical education specialist, a curriculum support teacher/librarian, and a resource teacher who supports the needs of our ESL and special education students. French language instruction is given to all students in grades 4, 5, and 6 on a daily basis. Our staff and students also receive support from our AISI Learning Leaders in personalizing learning and providing media literacy instruction in the 21st Century.
Our classroom teachers work closely together, often team planning or team teaching to allow for flexible groupings to ensure students achieve objectives outlined in the Alberta Program of Studies, but also to enable learners to be:
independent, self directed learners
responsible, informed citizens
effective communicators
collaborative team players and
creative / critical thinkers.
Our focus continues to be on the 21st Century learner. Students have daily access to computers and other technologies in the school. Our environment is a blend of Windows computers and Macs located in classrooms with a computer lab located in our library. A cart of wireless computer laptops and Neo Smart word processors also supports student learning in the media centre. Teachers and students regularly use SMARTboard technologies in their classrooms. Students use the variety of available technologies to represent their understanding in multiple forms, including digital and graphic formats. Often, artists in residence spend time at our school to enhance their ability to communicate understanding creatively using a variety of mediums.
We have a small gymnasium, a creative playground (built by our parents), and a large green space that includes a soccer field and two baseball diamonds. A naturalization area is attached to the school. In addition, Confederation Park offers a natural extension to the classroom environment. Opportunity for daily physical education is available for students. As well, a number of specialists offer enhanced instruction throughout the year in areas such as swimming and in line skating. We strongly believe in the premise that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind and so have also been involved in CBE's Healthy Learners Initiative!
Opportunities for leadership and student voice are important components of living in community at Rosemont. Often our students can be found answering the phone, monitoring the busses, leading intramurals, assisting with special events, setting up for assemblies and supporting school wide charity events. A student advisory made up of representatives from each of the classrooms helps admin with decision making processes and the planning of school wide expectations and events. Investigations of waste in our world last year, led our students to ask the school community to get more involved in conservation efforts. So this year the students are composting waste at lunch and recycling paper and bottles on a regular basis.
Parental involvement and volunteerism are pillars of the Rosemont School culture. Parents are involved and are encouraged to participate in many aspects of the school's operation. Opportunities are available for parents to be involved in the classroom, on field trips, in fundraising events, and in many more activities. Building community is important to all stakeholders, so family dances, sharing assemblies, welcome back events and sports days are among the many treasured traditions planned in the year to bring everybody together at Rosemont School.
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