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Friday, June 26, 2026

Hello Rideau Families!

Final Reflection on the 2026-2027 School Year

Have you ever been the “new kid” in the classroom? After 18 years of serving families in Spanish Bilingual programming and then taking the leap out of the familiar into a new setting, I could certainly relate to how many students might feel when joining a new school. Any anxiety that I felt leading up to my transition immediately faded upon meeting the wonderful staff, families and students of Rideau Park. Together we overcame challenges, worked together to achieve goals and celebrated the strength and creativity of our students and teachers. This year we were able to put students first by:

• Revitalizing grade 7-9 classroom spaces
• Renewing our Learning Commons
• Strengthening our parent volunteer program
• Funding learning residencies for this year, and next!
• Re-scheduling a much-loved trip to Quebec, initially impacted by job action
• Increasing visibility of learning across many classrooms
• Strengthening student leadership engagement and connection
• Prioritizing collaboration through flexible literacy groupings for K-6, along with additional layers of teacher partnerships across the grades, such as buddies
• Maintaining strong opportunities for athletics
• Renewing our music and band programs … and more!

I am happy to report that for next year, we have already anchored key residencies and experiences for our students. These include:

• Grade 8 and 9 Ski Trips – Feb 22 and 23
• Havana Cuban Dance Residency – February 16 – March 5 (performance day)
• Yellow Step Learning Place Based Residency – April 16 – May 4
• Camp Chief Hector – Grade 6 Eco School – May 10-13

There will, of course, be more to come as we continue to strengthen relationships and build experiences together. Thank you, for welcoming me to this special place. I look forward to continuing our work together.

Reminder - Class Size Reduction Funding

We are pleased to inform you that our school has been allocated ONE additional teaching position for the 2026–27 school year through the Government of Alberta’s Class Size Reduction Grant. This funding is specifically intended to help reduce class sizes in core subject areas (English Language Arts/French Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies), with priority given to schools experiencing the greatest class size pressures.

This grant funds teaching positions that support improved learning conditions in kindergarten to Grade 9 classrooms. In our case, our grade 5 and grade 6 cohort is identified as having a high class size (30+ students each). To reduce overall pressure at these grade levels, we are reorganizing to three grade 5-6 multiage groups that will work together in a large double classroom space, led by a three-person teaching team. Flexible break-out groups will access the Learning Commons as required.

This grant allocation decision was made using system-wide data that considers:

• The number of classes exceeding provincial class size benchmarks
• Projected enrolment and class organization
• School programming and grade configuration

 Our goal is to ensure students benefit from:

• Increased teacher attention
• Improved classroom learning environments
• Greater support for diverse learning needs

We remain committed to supporting strong learning environments for all students and using our resources thoughtfully and strategically.

Reminder - 2026-27 School Organization – What we know so far…

We are provisionally preparing for the following teacher staffing compliment. While most decisions are finalized at this time, changes may still occur over the summer. Here is what we know right now:

• Kindergarten (morning only) – Ms. Arianna Lovas
• Grade 1/2- Ms. Emily Dockrill, Ms. Michelle Lee, full-year temporary (Ms. Alana Swereda parental leave)
• Grade 3/4 - Ms. Taryn Cameron, Ms. Kerry Goodine, Ms. Taylor Williams
• Grade 5/6 – Ms. Soha Mohamed, Ms. Elena Cristea, Ms. Leslie Bronconnier
• K-6 Classroom Complexity Team (CCT) Teacher – Ms. Lindsay Bliek (funded through the classroom complexity grant, awarded earlier this spring)
• NEW - K-6 Classroom Complexity Team Education Assistants – Ms. Tamara Coleman and Ms. Trupti Gaikwad
• Grade 7-9 ELA/SS – Ms. Jenn Kelsey, Mr. Carl Pocock, Ms. Julia Schmidlin, Mr. Ian Burns, full year temporary (Ms. Gemma Rae parental leave)
• Grade 7-9 – Math/Science – Ms. Nicole Kabat, Mr. Jeff Ball, Ms. Shawnalee Redwood, Ms. Margaret Wilson
• Grade 7-9 Complimentary and K-9 Specialists – Mme. Ford (7-9 French), Ms. Emily Wegg (PE), Ms. Kayla Koshynsky (Music and Band)

We are actively hiring for our remaining temporary positions and will provide those updates at the end of August when fall staffing should be finalized. 

Rideau Park Parents Association - School Council Update

Save the DATE – Casino Fundraiser, November 5-6, 2026

This is a critical fundraising event for Rideau Park School and our turn has come up once again to infuse much needed dollars to enrich and enhance programming/resources for our students.  

• Where: Elbow River Casino
• Hosted by: Rideau Park Parents Association
• Dates: Thursday November 5 and Friday November 6, 2026.
• Link to sign up:
  • https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4DA4A72AA4FF2-64600096-elbow

No experience is needed, everyone gets trained on site and meals are provided. Please consider signing up to contribute to our biggest fundraiser of the year.