Hello Rideau Families!

Welcome Back to the 2025-2026 Academic Year! 

I am thrilled to join the community as your new Principal and on behalf of all staff at Rideau Park School, we are so excited to connect with all students and families. As I am writing this, teachers are gradually making their way into the building and beginning to set up classes. Please know that our office will officially open this Wednesday August 27. If you have attempted to call or e-mail the general inbox of the school over the summer, office staff will be working their way through those messages at that time. We appreciate your patience as we review all communication that might have accumulated over the summer.

In order to prepare for the start of another school year, please note the following key pieces of information.

New Bell Times / Supervision

Purpose of Soft Entry: This allows for a gradual, calm and staggered student entry into the building. The expectation for all students is that they are in their classes and ready to begin learning at 9:15am. We thank you for your support in ensuring that students arrive on time and ready.

First Day of School (Grade 1-9) – September 2, 2025 & Staggered Entry Days (Kindergarten)

Teachers will be outside on the first day(s) of school starting at 8:50am to welcome students back to school.

Beyond the first day(s) of school, please note that school staff does not provide supervision before 9:00am or after

3:49pm, unless there is planned extra-curricular/athletics. Outside of these times, the exterior doors remain closed.

To ensure safety for our staff and students, all visitors to the school must come to the main door and speak to school staff before entering the building. We thank you for your cooperation.

First Day Meeting Spots and Daily Entry/Exit Doors

Kindergarten (staggered entry days Sept 2, 3, 4, all students arrive Sept 5)

• Meet teacher and line up at the main door
• Dismissal directly to parents/guardians at main door
• Please note that staggered entry assignments will be e-mailed separately to families on Wednesday August 27

Grades 1-2

• Meet teacher at the front courtyard (by the tables), daily entry through main door
• Dismissal directly to parents/guardians at front courtyard

Grades 3-6

• Meet teachers at field near playground (Teachers will have signs!), daily entry through playground doors
• Dismissal at playground doors (parents/guardians plan a meeting spot)

Grades 7-9

• Grade 7 meet teachers at the sport court behind the school, daily entry at gym doors
• Grade 8-9, daily entry at the gym doors and go to home room
• Grades 7-9 dismissal at gym doors 

First Day - Coffee and Conversation with the Principal

Please join me with your favourite morning beverage (latte, matcha, smoothie, tea etc) at our front compound/picnic tables for an informal “meet & greet”. In late June I had the opportunity to connect with some of our kindergarten families, and I am looking forward to getting to know you all. I am happy to offer this time for an informal chat and visit! 

First Day Parking – Pick Up & Drop Off

All schools across the CBE experience significant congestion at entry and dismissal times; Rideau Park is no exception and likely suffers from even greater congestion due to our narrow streets and unique entry to the school property.

As many of you are already aware, significant City of Calgary water main extension construction is impacting access to the area surrounding Rideau Park School.

To reduce congestion, we strongly encourage any families that are able, to walk/wheel/ride to school until the construction eases. Thankfully, the midterm weather forecast is favourable for walking!

Ongoing Construction – Water Main Extension Timelines

On August 25, the City of Calgary provided the following update to Rideau Park School and to the surrounding community:

Several heavy rain events has had some impact to the construction schedule, however, with some nicer weather, we expect to bring construction to a close by about mid-September.

Aug 26-30. Concrete sidewalk along south side of 30 Avenue will be re-done (see red line).

Pedestrian traffic will be rerouted. This includes a small section at 31 Avenue where we completed your service tie

in, hydrant, and main extension.

Aug 30-Sept 2. Water main work will wrap up and road works will be completed at Rideau Road and 30 Avenue SW (see red box). Traffic and pedestrians will be re-routed and detoured. 

Sept 8 – Sept 13. Final asphalt road work will be completed (teal line and red box below). This includes a small section at 31 Avenue SW, (red box) where we completed your service tie in, hydrant, and main extension.

Note that during this time traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction and the parking lanes will be removed or reserved for construction (yellow box below). Bus traffic will still be able to flow and the turning radius will be considered in set up.

Once construction is complete, we will continue to ask families to follow the pick-up, drop off and parking

instructions posted on our website at: Parking & Drop-off 

Picking Up Students Early

As we have done in the past, parents/guardians are asked to please e-mail your student’s teacher and/or the main

office ahead of time to advise of any changes to your student’s schedule.

To ensure student safety, all students must be met at the office by parents/guardians so that they can be signed out. 

School Supplies

Please check out Back to School for detailed information about school supply requirements for all K-9 students. Please scroll down the webpage to locate information for each grade level.

Don’t Miss Out on School Messages - Sign up SMS

We use SchoolMessenger to send email, text (SMS) and voice messages from our school and from the CBE. Please visit our website at: Subscribe to School Messages ensure you are able to receive all communication flowing from Rideau Park School and from the Calgary Board of Education. 

Once again, on behalf of all teaching and support staff, I look forward to welcoming you to Rideau Park School and I look forward to connecting with each of you as the year progresses.

Sincerely,

Andrea Riquelme, Principal Rideau Park School