Hello Rideau Families!

We have fantastic students at Rideau Park School. Yesterday’s initial Leadership and SWAT (Student Well-Being Action Team) combined meeting – during lunch - was so full that we had students spilling into the hallway. What a turnout!

 Students were tasked with working in collaborative groups to put together a mission statement and norms. Mme. Ford has already compiled the many ideas generated by students to share the following mission statement and norms:

As leadership work progresses next week, work will be focused on creating a more focused plan of action and sub-committees to address specific interest areas identified by students. I am looking forward to seeing what develops! SWAT will act as an existing sub-committee. Initially, we will take time to explore student-generated data (last year’s surveys) to identify areas of need and also determine what kind of actions can be taken – in collaboration with Leadership Club – to enhance students’ sense of belonging, safety and well-being at school. This work will really begin to take shape after the Middle Years Well-Being Symposium which is taking place on Dec 9 at Mount Royal University. A small group of Rideau Park Students have been nominated by teachers to participate in this symposium alongside Ms. Wegg and myself. Student voice and actions are critical to the success of this work!

Staff Updates

I am pleased to share that we have hired teacher Ms. Arianna Lovas to fill the kindergarten vacancy. She joined the classroom on Thursday November 20 and is looking forward to deepening her relationships with students. Parents will have the opportunity to connect with Ms. Lovas at conferences next week. I am happy to report as well that we will welcome Ms. Sarah Fatima to our school on Monday. She will provide much-needed morning office support and will also be part of our lunch supervision team. Additionally, we also hired regular casual lunch supervisor Ms. Caitlin Brown who has spent much of the fall filling vacancies on our lunch team. Students will benefit from a renewed, consistent presence of adults during this important unstructured time.

Photo Retakes: Monday, December 1, 9:15 am – 12:15 pm

If you would like your child to have a retake of their fall school photo, please email Ms Cochrane by Friday, November 28. This ensures that no student is missed when it’s their class’ turn with the photographer. If a student was absent on the original photo day (September 22), they have been automatically added to the retake list.

Winter Concert! – Dec 10,2025 (6:00pm – 7:00pm)

Our K-6 and 7-9 Band Winter Concert is quickly approaching, in the spirit of community support, Rideau Park will be collecting non-perishable food donations for The Calgary Food Bank.

Please deposit any physical non-perishable food donations in the boxes as you enter the concert. Further, if your family would prefer to provide a monetary donation, please use the QR codes and follow the prompts. This code is included here if your family wishes to donate early.

As many of us know, this time of year can be tricky for some families. We have also included a wishlist shared from the Calgary Food Bank.

Click here

Reminder! - Education Matters

Did you know that Education Matters can accept donations that go directly to our school at any time? If you would like to learn more, please visit: https://www.educationmatters.ca/

Our school-specific donation page can be found at: https://www.educationmatters.ca/project-matters/rideau-park-school/

School-based Fundraiser – Winter Greenery and Poinsettia

Winter Fundraiser Order Pick-up: Tuesday, December 2, 1:00 – 4:15 pm

The Winter Fundraiser was very successful with our plant sales total going well over our goal. Thank you to our Rideau Community for your support. Orders can be picked up on December 2 from 1:00 – 4:15 pm. Please use the front doors to pick up orders

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are upcoming at the end of November. Specifically dates and times are:

• Thursday, November 27, 4:30 – 7:30 pm
• Friday, November 29, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm

All parent teacher conferences will be in person at the school this year. Additionally, the time slots set up in the appointment booking program will be set for 10 minutes. If you and/or your child’s teacher feels more than 10 minutes will be needed, please book 2 back-to-back appointment times. Language support can be provided to discuss your child’s progress directly with the teacher via Language Line Solutions.

To make an appointment, parents/guardians will log in to MyCBE and then choose ‘Book and Manage Meeting Times’. Instructions with screenshots are available at this link. Parents/guardians can schedule appointments as of Thursday, November 20 at 12:00 pm.

Reminder- Athletics Updates

Exhibition games for all of our Jr. and Sr. girls and boys teams will be hosted at Rideau Park School on Monday November 24 (vs Robert Warren). Games will run from 4:30pm – 8:30pm. Please join me in thanking our teachers for continuing to volunteer their time before and after school hours to ensure our students have this opportunity.

Rideau Park Parents Association – School Council Update

Thank you to our RPPA for your generosity this month! With your support we are able to purchase:

• Additional literacy and numeracy learning subscriptions for our elementary classrooms
• A 10-day spring Latin Dance Residency
• New dishwasher for our Foods program
• Additional resources for our library collections (Book Fair “top up”)

Healthy Hunger

Regular fun lunches are back! Please login to healthyhunger.ca to place your orders.

• Nov 20 - Chick Fil-A (FYI - peanut oil fryers)
• Dec 4 - A&W
• Dec 18 - Little Ceasar's Pizza

We appreciate you and your support!

Sincerely,

Andrea Riquelme

Principal, Rideau Park School

Key Dates

• Nov 24, 2025 RPS hosts Robert Warren Jr/Sr Boys and Girls Games
• Nov 24-28, 2025 Scholastic Book Fair
• Nov 27-28, 2025 Conferences (evening) 4:30-7:30pm
• Nov 28, 2025 No School for Students, Conferences (AM) 8:00am – 12:00pm
• Dec 1, 2025 Photo Retakes
• Dec 2, 2025 Winter Fundraiser Pick Up
• Dec 9, 2025 Middle School Well-Being Symposium (MRU)
• Dec 10, 2025 Winter Concert -6 pm, K-6, Gr 7-9 Band, Grandparents Dress Rehearsal – morning time TBA