You may be surprised to know what your local community school has to offer your child or children. On top of solid curricular instruction, Bowcroft offers a variety of supplementary programs to enhance student learning. Please visit our Program, Focus & Approach page to learn more about Bowcroft School!
Herzlich Willkommen in der Bowcroft Grundschule!
Located in the beautiful Bow River valley, Bowcroft School houses the German Bilingual Program as well as the K-6 Regular Program. The school is in Calgary Board of Education, Area 1, in the community of Bowness. Our growing programs offer an intensive focus on English and/or German language acquisition, artists-in-residence, a music specialist, daily physical education, opportunities for environmental and outdoor studies, numerous field trips, and smaller class sizes.
School History| Schulgeschichte
Until 1952, Bowness students had been schooled in various church basements, the Scout Hall, the eight room Main School, renamed Parkway (now Belvedere Parkway), then the four room Viscount Bennett School (now R. B. Bennett) and briefly even The Legion hall.
The opening of Bowcroft Elementary School was held February 19, 1952. Four hundred students, parents, taxpayers and city dignitaries attended. The Calgary Herald hailed Bowcroft as 'one of the most modern school buildings' in the Calgary district (this was before the new brick addition in 1967).
By that fall, the main floor was completed with six classrooms, a gym half its present size, and a small room doubling as the office and staff room.
Registration of new students was unexpectedly heavy, making it impossible to accommodate all students. Fortunately the school had been constructed for the addition of a second story. The addition of the seven classrooms on the second floor were ready to go by January 1954.
In 1967 a large addition was completed, which enlarged the gym and added 9 new classrooms and a library, which today is our newly renovated learning commons.
In the 2017-2018 school year, Bowcroft celebrated its 65th anniversary.
School Name| Schulname
The first sighting of the valley of Bowness was recorded by David Thompson in 1787. He journeyed a few miles west of the junction of the Bow and Swift (Elbow) Rivers to visit a large encampment of Peigan Indians on a broad plain.
Bowness was named sometime between 1890 and 1896. The community had always been managed by the Springbank Municipality, but by 1946 there was a real increase in growth in the Bowcroft area. In 1948 Bowness became a village and four years later, with a population of 2100, it became a town which included the Bowcroft area.
New Mural
In order to beautify Bowcroft School, a parent spearheaded our mural project. Students and staff were asked to brainstorm the ten things that they wanted the mural to show - that represent Bowcroft School.
Not surprisingly, the mountains, the train that runs through Bowness, sunflowers from the outdoor learning space, the bobcat (our mascot), blue and gold colors and ROARS were all part of the most commonly chosen "must be on the mural'.
The parent connected with the Bowness Community Association and applied for a $1,000 grant, which was approved. BCA has monies set aside to 'beautify' Bowness.
Special is also the fact that another Bowcroft parent is an artist who is going to paint the mural - donating his time and talent.
We are very excited to see the finished product in the fall when it should be ready for installation.
Our School's Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
We are committed to acknowledging and supporting the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 94 Calls to Action specific to education. Our school, along with all CBE schools, made a Truth and Reconciliation Commitment to Action, on June 21, we renewed our commitment.
View Our Truth and Reconciliation Commitment | 2025-2026
School Development Plan
Each year, our school prepares a development plan with input from teachers, school staff, students and parents. We review many sources of data, including report cards, provincial achievement test results and school surveys. Based on this information, we create our plan identifying targeted areas for growth. Our school development plan is not meant to represent all of the work that takes place in our school, but rather it focuses on specific areas for improvement.
View Our School Development Plan | 2025-2026
School Improvement Results Report
Our school also prepares a results plan, which looks at our previous school year. It shows our students’ achievement and progress in meeting the goals and outcomes as set out by the CBE and Alberta Education, outlines some of the highlights of our school development plan and gives an overview of our school. You can look on the CBE website for system-wide results.