Government Grants

Early Literacy

The Early Literacy Initiative (ELI) addresses the needs of children in Kindergarten to Grade 2 who are experiencing difficulties in developing reading readiness and early literacy skills. A number of different approaches are used at TCS to nurture literacy skills:
  1. Literacy Links - a program developed by Calgary Academy, became part of our Early Literacy program in 2001-2002, as part of an AISI project. This program focuses on decoding skills, fluency and spelling and can be easily implemented as an integrated part of a student’s curriculum.
  2. Repeated Reading Strategy – Students read the same book or passage a number of different times, using a different strategy each time. This strategy has been proven effective as an intervention to build student reading fluency because it gives the student lots of reading practice.
  3. Jolly Phonics – uses a multisensory approach to learning sounds, letter formation, blending, identifying sounds in words, and spelling tricky words.
  4. Dolch Sight Words – students learn 220 high frequency words through concentrated repetition.
  5. The Phonics Game – a series of six interactive games that a part of a total phonetic reading system.
  6. Accelerated Reader – software identifies a student’s learning level prior to the student reading a book chosen at an appropriate level. The student then takes a reading practice quiz to monitor reading comprehension.
  7. Scholastic leveled readers – readers slowly progressing in difficulty are assigned to individuals (these may be used in the Repeated Reading Strategy)
  8. Super Phonics Computer Instruction – an interactive reading skills software program that provides systematic and explicit phonics instruction. Children play educational games as they learn reading skills.

Special Needs Children

Base Instruction Funding - grades 1 to 9 - received from the government by private schools, includes funds to support programs for students with mild and moderate disabilities and students who are gifted and talented. In accordance with directives from Alberta Education, the special education funding is pooled and utilized for the provision of programs to support these students with special needs.

Severe Funding - grades 1 to 9 – through application, we have the opportunity to receive funding for students who have been diagnosed, provided with a severe disabilities code and who are severely impacted in the educational setting. This funding may be used to provide: assistance from paraprofessionals, staff professional development, individualized professional services, equipment, supplies and materials.

Mild/Moderate Funding - ECS only – students who, having received specialized assessment by a qualified professional, are diagnosed with a mild or moderate disability may receive special funding to meet their unique needs.

Program Unit Funding (PUF) – ECS only – this “severe” funding is provided for early intervention. Students under the age of 6 as of September 1st, who qualify as severe are allowed funding determined by submission of a budget outlining the costs of providing assistance. A review of documentation, provided by the school, is made by Alberta Education for the purpose of awarding funding to those who qualify.

Student Health

TCS is a member of the Calgary and Rocky View Student Health Partnership (CRVSHP). Through this partnership we have access to a variety of health related services: Speech Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Family-School Liaison, Behaviour Support, and Community Outreach in Pediatrics/Psychiatry and Education (COPE).

We are also part of a Christian School Consortium (CSC), under the umbrella of the CRVSHP. The CSC contracts to The Family Psychology Centre for faith-based mental health services.

Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI)

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) provides funding for improving student learning by encouraging teachers, parents and the community to work collaboratively to introduce innovative projects and address local needs. Grants are available for up to three years for each project.

The first cycle of AISI ran from 2000-2003. Teachers and parents of TCS identified literacy intervention as a priority. Several projects focusing on literacy were developed, including students from Kindergarten to Grade 9.

The second cycle is just coming to a close (2004-2006). We partnered with five other independent schools to develop science kits for all 45 of the units in grades 1 to 9. The units are designed to improve the quality and quantity of “hands-on” learning experiences in science.

We are in the process of identifying what our cycle three project (2006-09) will be and designing the proposal to submit to Alberta Education.