Janus Academy

Janus Academy
January 2014
Event Calendar
January 6
Classes Resume
We hope that everyone had a
good Holiday break and we
wish everyone a happy and
healthy New Year.
January 10
Flip Factory- Elementary
room 15 &11
January 17
Flip Factory- Junior/Senior
High School
January 17
Swimming- Elementary
We hope everyone had a restful winter break with family and friends.
It is now the time to start fresh and energized as we move into the
New Year.
We are thrilled to see all the students back in classes and we look
forward to the exciting events in store for us this year! January looks
like a busy month and we are eager to get started. This month we
will have our second set of student workshops. Workshops are always
an eventful time for us at Janus. It gives each class the opportunity to
work with each student and brainstorm new ideas, teaching
January 20 & 21
Student workshops
January 22 & 23
Student workshops
January 24
Organizational Day - no
school
January 31
Swimming- Junior/Senior
High School
techniques, celebrate what has already been accomplished, and
make plans for continued learning.
We would like to take the time to welcome seven practicum students
from Mount Royal University, the University of Calgary, and Concordia
University College. The practicum students will be working in
classrooms at the Elementary and Junior/Senior High School
campuses until the end of April.
We are pleased to be able to provide learning opportunities for these
students and share our knowledge and expertise in autism.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB
The January book club
catalogues will be sent
home soon. Please send
your completed order form
and cheque, payable to
Scholastic Canada Ltd., to
the school by January 17
2014.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND
CASH
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
Our Mission
To maximize the
potential of each child
with autism by
enabling academic
success and
facilitating lifelong
community
integration.
Our Vision
To continue to be an
educational leader in
enhancing the lives of
children with autism,
their families and the
communities, in which
they live, while
maintaining
excellence in teaching
through enhanced
student-teacher ratios,
individualized
curriculum and
research based
teaching techniques.
Thank you to the following individuals for their generous
donations and support;
Lois McGlashing for her recent donation and annual support!
Michael Lemire for his recent donation to the Janus Academy!
To Cenovus Employee Foundation and their “Thanks & Giving”
matching program for their recent contribution to Janus
Academy!
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Bartier Bros. for offering their wine promotion in December in
support of the Janus Academy.
20% of all sales are donated back to the school!
Alice Woolley and Trevor Prior for donating funds to continue
our Soccability program in the new year!
Michelle Spite (Ramsay School Principal) and Myrna Wastell
(Admin Assistant) for their partnership with Janus Academy
and welcoming us into their school. We wish them both the
best of luck in their future endeavors as they move on from
Ramsay at the end of December.
Santa John for volunteering to come to our school to take
pictures with our students so that they don’t have to wait in
line at the mall! This is his 3rd year volunteering and we are
truly grateful!
DRESSING FOR THE WEATHER
Just a friendly reminder to all families!
Please send your child to school with the appropriate outdoor
winter wear, including hats, mittens or gloves, and boots.
Please print your child’s name on all of their clothing. We do
our very best to ensure that all clothing items are sent home
with the correct student. Please let us know in the
communication book, if any of your child’s clothing items are
not returned.
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Dear Parents and Staff,
The Board of Directors would like to invite you all to
attend the Janus Academy Annual General Meeting.
President:
Ian Menzies
ian@menziesmix
edmedia.com
403 – 668 – 6176
Vice President:
Alice Woolley
awoolley@ucalg
ary.ca
Treasurer:
Rob Oxoby
roboxoby@janus
academy.org
Secretary:
Adrian Todeila
Member:
Mona Johnson
Member:
Ian Holloway
Member:
Tracy Aylesworth
Member:
Blake
Scheuerman
The meeting will be held on
January 27, 2014 from 7:00-8:00pm
at Festival Hall (in Inglewood)
1215 – 10th Ave SE
On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to wish all of you
the very best of the season. The Board is preparing for our
Annual General Meeting scheduled for January 27th. At last
year’s AGM, we encouraged at least one parent from each
family to attend. While not everyone came, we were pleased
to get a very solid turn out and hope we can increase the
numbers even more this year. Beyond the normal and
necessary business of the meeting last year, we also
enjoyed a great inspirational presentation from our honorary
patron and CTV news anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw.
This year, we have booked the meeting to take place at
Festival Hall in Inglewood, which will ensure that we have as
much time as we need for the meeting and a full Q & A to
take place. We have also booked another great guest
speaker. Founding Janus parent and Justice of the Queen's
Bench, Joanne Strekaf has agreed to come and talk to us
about her motivations for helping to start the school and why
she still believes in us and our future potential. We are very
pleased and thankful that Joanne has agreed to share her
time and thoughts with us and are looking forward to a very
good presentation.
I strongly urge each of you to find a way to get yourself
and/or your partner to this meeting. Beyond the opportunity
to meet with other parents, the Board and the senior staff,
several important issues and items will be addressed
including; the results of the annual financial audit, updates
on recent changes in our government funding levels, the
status of our Adult Day Program pilot, and an update on the
Health and Safety audit we initiated last spring and more.
Caption describing picture or graphic.
Ian Menzies
Janus Academy president
Please RSVP to [email protected]
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
Email:[email protected]
[email protected]| Phone:
| Phone:403.262.3333
403.262.3333
Email:
Email: [email protected]
| Phone: 403.262.3333
Alberta Education
As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an
opportunity for Alberta Education and school authorities to ensure that we’re equipping
students for success.
The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students,
parents and teachers on various aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout
and high school completion rates; and provincial assessments of student learning.
From January to the end of February, Alberta Education will be conducting the annual
Accountability Pillar Survey. In January, parents of students in grades 4 -12, will receive
a survey from Alberta Education. In February, students in grades 4 -12 and all teachers
will be completing their surveys online at school.
All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with the school. In
addition to English and French, the parent survey is available in Chinese, Punjabi,
Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish and Tagalog.
Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of
education your child is receiving, so we encourage you to return your survey promptly.
Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2013, and will be reported
publicly as part of their 3-Year Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
Disability Tax Credit – for Children and Adults
www.health.gov.ab.ca/ahcip/benefits/aadl.html
Website for Form T2201 – Disability Tax Credit Certificate:
www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t2201/README.html
Even so-called “high-functioning” children and adults with ASDs can qualify for the Disability Tax
Credit.
 The Disability Tax Credit comes from the Federal Government of Canada.
 It is totally confidential, just like anything else to do with income tax.
 It is retroactive.
 It usually results in a refund of $3,300.00 per year from the year the person became
disabled. Some doctors are now putting down the year of birth as the start of Autism
Spectrum Disorders, some say age 2 or 3. It is important to let your doctor know the
earliest possible symptoms your child had. It is not the date of diagnosis that counts, it is
the date the disability started affecting the individual. You can send in the form at any
time of the year. Once it is approved, you fill in the Disability claim on both the federal
income tax form and the provincial form every year.
You only need one area of disability in order to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. Lower
functioning individuals often qualify under several sections such as Speech, Dressing, Feeding,
Toileting, and „Perceiving, thinking and remembering‟. “Higher functioning” individuals still
usually qualify under the “Perceiving, Thinking and Remembering” section.
Encourage your doctor to put down the diagnosis as “Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Revenue
Canada is familiar with this term. It often helps to attach documents from the person‟s
assessments and other reports. Many people who deal with taxes don‟t understand the
Disability Tax Credit. Many doctors, psychologists and other professionals also don‟t understand
it. These people may tell you that your child doesn‟t qualify for the Disability Tax Credit, and they
may be wrong. You can apply for it at any time of the year.
Child Tax Benefit
If you qualify for the Child Tax Benefit, the monthly amount will be increased once you also get
the Disability Tax Credit. The amount of the increase depends on the total family income.
Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL)
Alberta Aids to Daily Living will help pay for incontinence products such as diapers, Pull-Ups,
adult Depends or Attends, helmets to protect the head of a person we has seizures or does
head-banging, and a host of other disability-related and illness-related supplies, such as
oxygen. For incontinence products, the person must be age 3 or older and have a disability or
illness.
Note: A second copy of tuition receipts was sent home in late December
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
STUDENT WORKSHOPS
Come January, we will be conducting our second set of student workshops. Student workshops
give your child’s instructional team the opportunity to discuss student progress, review goals and
expectations and practice therapy techniques. As these meetings require that all staff who work
with your child be in attendance, students who are not involved in workshops on a set day, are
required to stay home. Please refer to the schedule below to review when your child is required
to be at school.
The second set of Student Workshops will be conducted on Jan 20/21 and 22/23
Elementary School:
Below are a list of students who will be attending workshops on Jan 20/21:
Arnav, Tim, Arnold, Gabriel, Sydney, Tega, Alanna, Erfan, Kye, Esheeka, Ricki, Navpreet, Marc,
Francis, Ishaan, Akito, Cesar, and Megan
(Rowan, Mia, John, Joseph, Isabella, Owen, Keira, Ethan, Noah, Jack, Maya, Charlie, Philip, Eric, Felix, Jade, Anna, and Sharlene
are NOT required to attend school on Jan 20/21)
Below are a list of students who will be attending workshops on Jan 22/23:
Rowan, Mia, John, Joseph, Isabella, Owen, Keira, Ethan, Noah, Jack, Maya, Charlie, Philip, Eric,
Felix, Jade, Anna, and Sharlene
(Arnav, Tim, Arnold, Gabriel, Sydney, Tega, Alanna, Erfan, Kye, Esheeka, Ricki, Navpreet, Marc, Francis, Ishaan, Akito,
Cesar, and Megan are NOT required to attend school on Jan 22/23)
Junior-Senior High School:
Below are a list of students who will be attending workshops on Jan 20/21:
Kyle, Hannah, Beverley, Thomas, Justin, Daniel J, Brennan, Tim
(Mitchell, Greg, Patrick, Keira, Daniel m, Matthew, Sammy, and Geoff are NOT required to attend school on Jan 20/21)
Below are a list of students who will be attending workshops on Jan 22/23:
Mitchell, Greg, Patrick, Keira, Daniel m, Matthew, Sammy, Geoff
(Kyle, Hannah, Beverley, Thomas, Justin, Daniel J, Brennan, Tim are NOT required to attend school on Jan 22/23)
If you have any questions regarding workshops, please feel free to call the school and talk with
Paige or Koren. If you need your child’s workshop date changed, please note that we will do our
best to accommodate you, however, due to the difficulty with scheduling, we ask that you
understand if your requested change cannot be made.
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 403.262.3333
On Wednesday, December 11, 2013, Janus elementary
school students had a special visit by Santa.
Santa stopped by once again this year to meet all of the
elementary students and take pictures with them and to
spread some Christmas spirit.
Grade 4 & 5 Snow Pass
Ski and Ride at each area 3 times for only $29.95
Attention Grade 4s and 5s!
Want to ski and ride free this winter? The Canadian Ski Council’s SnowPass
TM
lets you ski and
ride three times at EACH participating ski area for $29.95. That’s a lot of skiing and boarding
right across Canada!
To join in, you need to be in grade 4 or 5 (or 9 or 10 years old) and live in Canada. Every skier
and rider is welcome; especially if you’re a beginner.
tm
You only need to apply once for the SnowPass and the pass is valid until the end of grade 5.
This means if you apply in grade 4 the pass is valid for two years.
Please note: Since ski areas sign up to participate every year, we’ll let you know if any resort
leaves the program before the season starts.
With 3 different ways to apply, there is no excuse not to!
Online Application: This option allows you to upload the SnowPass holder’s photo, proof of
age and make a payment, all from our secure online application. This option is the best if you
are looking to save time!
Printed Online Application: This process allows you to enter your child’s information online
and print it off to send via mail. Please use this process if you’re unable to upload your child’s
picture, proof of age/grade and make the payment online. Apply Now!
Brochure Application: Brochures including an application form are available in most schools
across Canada. Your child’s Grade 4 or 5 teacher may have handed out applications at school
so please ask your child’s teacher or school office for a copy. If they do not have any, please
have them contact the Canadian Ski Council for more information. You can also download a
PDF version of the brochure by clicking here.
Getting to know your iPad
Workshop
This FREE workshop by Carmen Ragan Ability Hub’s Assistive Technology Ambassador is intended for individuals
who are “new users” of the iPad. The workshop will focus on the basics - what to consider when purchasing an iPad,
navigating the iPad and understanding the settings, as well as finding, downloading and organizing apps.
PLEASE NOTE:
This workshop was originally scheduled for Dec 12, 2013. However, due to certain circumstances was rescheduled
for Jan 30, 2014. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Workshop Speakers:
Carmen Ragan is the Assistive Technology Ambassador for the Launch. She has developed expertise in working
individually with clients to improve social communication, manage daily routines/scheduling, reduce prompting and
develop independent living skills. She brings personal and professional experience in the use of iPad/iPod/iPhone
technology and has investigated a variety of apps that can be tailored to meet individual client needs. She offers
training to individuals and groups through workshops and an online support network.
Workshop Date:
Thursday, January 30, 2014 - 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Workshop Location:
The Ability Hub: 3rd Floor, 3820 - 24th Ave NW, Calgary, AB.
Registration:
Getting to know your iPad Workshop
Common Digs Update
The students at the Junior/Senior High
school and the Janus Adult Day Program
have began their vermicomposting
program (composting with worms). Each
of the students and adults in the program,
over the next few months, will have the
opportunity to learn how to build, care for
and harvest Red Wriggler worms and their
castings.
All the students who have participated
have had a great time! They have all
surprised us with their keen interest and
curiosity.
So far, we have built several worm bins.
Each worm bin is built by going through a
set of stations: Shredding, Bedding and
Food Prep. This gives the participants a
chance to do a different job each week.