Happy New Year!

Grades Kinder, 6 & 9 | Celebration Photos

On Wednesday, January 17, 2024, students in Grades Kinder, 6 & 9 will be having their Celebration Photo taken. As with the fall photos, all students in these grades will have a photo taken for the yearbook and composite photos. Photo proof packages will be sent home with students & families can place photo orders, as preferred.

Students are encouraged to wear attire suitable for a celebration for their photo.

Composite Photo Orders: The flyer that was sent home with students includes information about the optional purchase for the composite photo. Grade Kinder, 6 & 9 students are asked to return the Picture Day Flyer Accepting or Declining the composite photo order. The $21 composite photo purchase is optional. For payment, the composite photo will be added to MyCBE.

Reminder | Cold Weather

With the cold winter temperatures returning this week, students are reminded to ensure that they are dressed for cold weather conditions.

Outside activities (for instance, lunch recess break for all students, Physical Education) will take place until temperatures or wind chill hits -20C. Students should be prepared to participate in outdoor activities with winter gear such as coat, hat, gloves/mittens, snow pants, boots, scarf.

For students riding the school bus to and from school, CBE has ‘Using Transportation in Cold Weather’ guidelines, which are available to review at this LINK.

Important | Student Pick-up and Drop-off

With the colder weather, we have increased congestion with cars trying to drop off closer to the school. Even with the colder weather, we ask your cooperation for the same procedures with pick up and drop off.

Due to increasing safety concerns of neighborhood residents and our student community, policing of city bylaws relating to parking and traffic restrictions will be more strictly enforced in the coming months. Unfortunately, there is no car-accessible front door drop-off or parking availability directly at our school entrance nor from the t- intersection at the front of the school. Continue Reading

Reminder | Lost and Found

The school’s Lost and Found is once again overflowing with items looking for their homes. Of note, there is an entire box of water bottles, several sweatshirts/hoodies, hats, gloves (singles and full pairs), boots/shoes.

We will be sending any unclaimed items from the Lost and Found to donation as of the week of January 15.

Athletics | Volleyball Try-out Schedule

The volleyball season of play will start when classes resume on January 8. First up is the try-out process to play on the school teams. For the remainder of this week:

• Thursday, January 11: Junior Girls – 7:30 am – 8:50 am & Junior Boys 3:45 pm – 5:00 pm
• Friday, January 12: Senior Boys - 7:30 am – 8:50 am

Participants should be changed and ready to play by the try-out start time.

Student Contest | 2024-24 Yearbook Cover Contest

There is still time for students to submit a hand-drawn or digital cover for the 2023-24 Rideau Park School Yearbook. The deadline to submit an entry is Friday, January 19. Students should bring their cover submission to the office and ensure their name and grade is written on the back of the artwork.

2024-25 | Registration and Lottery Information

Registration for the 2024 – 25 school year opens on January 15, 2024. This will include Kindergarten registrations and any student who will be new to CBE for the next school year. This is also an important date for students in Grades 1 – 8 who will be transferring to Rideau Park from a CBE school.

Rideau Park will have capacity limits for 2024-25. All new registrations will be included in the lottery draw for placement in our school for next year. To ensure that your registration or transfer is included in the lottery draw, it must be received via School Engage (new to CBE) or at our school office (Transfer Requests) by 12:00 pm on February 13, 2024. All registrations received after 12:00 pm on February 13, 2024, will be added to the callback list (based on the appropriate priority level) in the order they are received.

High School Registration: For our Grade 9 students moving on to high school, registration information will be shared with students towards the end of January. For high school students thinking about transferring to a non-designated high school program, the high school transfer deadline will be set for mid-March.

Open House | Western Canada & Elboya French Immersion

• Tuesday, January 30 – Western Canada High School
• Information Evening for Regular Program, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
• Thursday, February 1 – Elboya School
• Information Evening for French Intensive (Grade 6) & Late French Immersion (Grade 7) programs, 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Student Club | Rideau Park Science Fair Club

Rideau Park Science Fair Club will continue in January for Grades 5 – 9 students who want to work independently, or with a partner, to research or experiment on a topic of their choice. Interested students are invited to meet on Tuesdays at lunch in Room 11.

The City Science Fair takes place April 11-13, 2024, at the Olympic Oval and students who are successful in completing a project prior to March 9th will compete for one of the 14 spots available to represent Rideau at CYSF 2024. Students who are interested in exploring an idea or testable question using the scientific method are encouraged to check out the Calgary Youth Science Fair website for more information (cysf.org).

Parents with questions are invited to email Ms. Watson at kaawatson@cbe.ab.ca

Parent Volunteer Opportunity | Fun Lunch Thursdays

Fun Lunch – we require some assistance with sorting the Fun Lunch orders from the Healthy Hunger vendors every second Thursday, starting 11:05 am for approximately 45 minutes. We ask for assistance in sorting the individual orders and ensuring they get to the students.

Additionally, for upcoming dates, volunteers are needed for:

• January 25 - 2 volunteers needed
• February 8 - 1 volunteer needed
• February 22 – 2 volunteers needed
• March 7 – 2 volunteers needed
• And more dates in the spring months.

If you can help with one or some of these Thursdays, please use this link, on behalf of Parent Society, for sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0E49AFA72DA7F49-funlunch

Thank you for your support.

Safety Protocol | Guests to our School

Rideau Park School, like each Calgary Board of Education school, is closed campus. All guests must sign in immediately upon entry into the school building.

In the mornings, or throughout the day, students are dropped off outside of the main entrance.

Looking Ahead – Upcoming Calendar of Events

Jan 11	Thurs	Healthy Hunger Fun Lunch – Subway
Jan 11	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Jan 12	Fri	Outdoor Education 9 – Wall Climbing off-campus trip
Jan 15	Mon	Non-Instructional Day (no school for students)
Jan 15	Mon	2024 - 25 Registration Opens
Jan 16	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Jan 17	Wed	Celebration Photos: Grades Kinder, 6 & 9
Jan 18	Thurs	Grade 9: Western Canada HS Counsellor presentation, pm
Jan 18	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Jan 19	Fri	2023-24 Yearbook Cover Contest deadline
Jan 22 - Jan 26		Grade 5 – Campus Calgary Open Minds: YMCA
Jan 23	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Jan 25	Thurs	Healthy Hunger Fun Lunch – Cedar’s Deli
Jan 25	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Jan 29 – Feb 2		All Grades: Danc3play – school residency
Jan 30	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Jan 30	Tues	Grade 9: High School Tour at Western Canada High School
Jan 30	Tues	Last Day of Semester 1
Jan 30	Tues	Report Cards are viewable in PowerSchool
Jan 31	Wed	Semester 2 Begins
Jan 31	Wed	School Council, virtual meeting, 1:45 pm
Feb 1	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Feb 6	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Feb 8	Thurs	Healthy Hunger Fun Lunch – Coco Brooks
Feb 8	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Feb 13	Tues	Grade 6 Orientation - am
Feb 13	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Feb 13	Tues	Lottery Registration Deadline
Feb 15 Feb 16		Teachers’ Convention – no school for students
Feb 19	Mon	Family Day
Feb 20	Tues	Grades 5 – 9: Science Fair Club, Lunch, Rm 11
Feb 22	Thurs	Healthy Hunger Fun Lunch – Edo Japan
Feb 22	Thurs	Homework Hotel, Grade 7: 3:45 – 4:15 pm
Feb 26 – Mar 1		Grades 1 / 2 Ms Dockrill – Campus Calgary Open Minds: Library School
Mar 4 – Mar 8		Grades 1 / 2 Ms Bliek – Campus Calgary Open Minds: Library School
Mar 11 – Mar 15		Grades 1 / 2 Ms McDonald – Campus Calgary Open Minds: Library School