Important Dates:
· Dec. 3 & 4, 2025: Grade 2 Field Trips to The Confluence
· Dec. 3, 2025: School Council Meeting at 6:30pm, Join us in the school staffroom or Online. The grade 1 team of teachers will be presenting this week.
· Dec. 4, 2025: School Spirit Day – Festive Clothing Day
· Dec. 4, 2025: School Council’s Family Dance 5:30-8:00pm
· Dec. 8, 2025: Photo Re-take Day
· Dec. 11, 2025: School Spirit Day – Holiday Head to Toe
· Dec. 12, 2025: Wonder Hour #1, 11:15am-12:15pm
· Dec. 19, 2025: Pajama Day
· Dec. 20 –Jan. 4, 2026: Winter Break
· Jan. 5, 2026: Classes Resume
· Jan. 7, 2026: School Council Meeting at 6:30pm
· Jan. 12 –23, 2026: Gymnastics Unit in PE
· Jan. 30, 2026: CBE Non-instructional Day, No school for students
· Feb. 24, 2026: Updated Semester 1 report card date
Dear Royal Oak School Families,
Safety at Royal Oak School: We are anxiously awaiting the completion of our grounds project and the stairs that will help us move up and down the hill in a safe manner throughout the winter months. Until that work is completed, we ask that all students and family members take extra care as they move about our school grounds. Please note that in order to keep students safe, we have guidelines for sliding down the hill. Students must first be wearing snow pants, must slide down on their bottoms and not on their knees or headfirst, and must be sliding one at a time. Thank you for your efforts in helping us take care of ourselves and each other here at Royal Oak School.
Sledding / Tobogganing – CBE Prohibited Activities: Please be aware that tobogganing, tubing, crazy carpet, bobsledding and sledding are prohibited activities on CBE properties and are not permitted during school hours. Our fields and hills are shared with the City of Calgary. If students and families wish to take part in these activities after school hours, they are doing so at their own risk.
Spirit Days: During the month of December, we would like to have some fun in building a sense of school community. Your child may participate in some or all of our special dress-up days.
· Thursday, December 4 – Festive Clothing Day (Holiday shirts & sweaters, traditional cultural clothing, OR just wear your red, white and green, etc.)
· Thursday, December 11 -– Holiday Head to Toe (hats, headbands, toques, hairdos and festive socks)
· Friday, December 19 - Pajama Day
School Conferences: Thank you for making the time to meet with your child’s teacher on Thursday or Friday during School Conferences. Teachers appreciate being able to celebrate your child’s learning accomplishments up to this point in the year, as well as discuss the next steps for learning success. Schools and families have essential roles to play in promoting children's positive development and academic performance. When educators and parents work together as partners, they create important opportunities for children to develop social, emotional, and academic competencies. A special thanks to our generous School Council and those volunteers who provided a lovely meal for our teachers on Thursday evening.
Scholastic Book Fair: Thank you for supporting our Scholastic Book Fair this past week. All proceeds go towards purchasing new books for our library collections and items to support teaching and learning throughout the school.
Lost and Found: There is a lot of lost and found clothing and other items accumulating at school. Parents are welcome to come to school and check out the lost and found. Any items remaining after the Winter Break will be donated to charity.
Contacting our Front Office: We kindly ask that if you have inquiries about fees and payments, lost and found items, bussing, attendance, volunteering, police checks, or notices, please contact Mrs. Judy Jackson or Mrs. Leah Milne directly in our front office at 403-777-6279 or royaloak@cbe.ab.ca.
Staffing Update: We would like to welcome Aaron Preece, who joined our school team on Monday, November 24. Aaron is joining our team as our new facility operator. We are grateful for the years of experience he brings to our school and the efforts he is already making to help us take care of our place here at Royal Oak School.
Wonder Hours are Coming! On Friday, December 12, 2025, we will hold our first of six Wonder Hours at Royal Oak School. Our goals for Wonder Hour are to connect students across grades, help our staff to get to know all our children, and help students discover their passions at a younger age. Wonder Hour provides students with voice, choice, and meaningful opportunities to explore different interests alongside staff who share similar passions. There will be 23 different activities offered where students will be learning, creating, and exploring with students from Kindergarten to Grade 4. Students will be placed in a group from one of their top choices of activities. They will have the opportunity to explore three different activities for Wonder Hour throughout the school year.
Supporting a Love of Reading: How are you supporting a love of reading in your family? How can you make time every day to read aloud with your child? As part of the Royal Oak School community, we all have a role in supporting readers. Children who learn to love reading will learn more and read more. Royal Oak School teachers are committed to reading aloud each day to their students. For parents, finding time to read aloud may feel like a sacrifice or nuisance. It requires commitment and patience, but it is worth every minute… Watch this video from Calgary Reads: Reading Aloud Builds Brains and Bonds
Sincerely,
Michelle Ryskamp & Nadine Duque
Principal & Assistant Principal
Royal Oak School
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SCHOOL COUNCIL & FUNDRAISING SOCIETY NEWS – EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next School Council/Fundraising Meeting: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 @ 6.30pm. All are welcome! We meet in the school staffroom. If you are unable to come in person, you are able to join us online at Join the meeting now
1. THANK YOU’S
· Staff Appreciation – Parent teacher Conferences
o Thank you to School Council for providing pizza for the teachers as well as to everybody who contributed (time, food, or supplies) to the Staff Appreciation Potluck this week. The teachers really appreciated having dinner provided on this very busy evening.
· Book Fair
o Thank you to everybody who volunteered their time to make the book fair a success. The students look forward to this event every year and Ms.Azam really appreciated the help.
· Growing Smiles Fundraiser
o Thank you to everybody who placed an order for this year’s fundraiser. If you missed out, there are two poinsettias still available. Please contact Colleen at rosfundraisingsociety@gmail.com
2. WINTER WONDERLAND DANCE – December 4, 2025
· VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!
· If you have a valid police clearance, please consider volunteering for the dance on the evening of December 4th. Even if you can lend a hand for part of the specified shift, we are happy to have the help. It takes a lot of volunteers to run these events for all our kiddos! No prior experience needed.
· Please sign up if you can help https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4FA9AE2CA5F94-58909255-family#/
· Last day to purchase tickets is November 30,2025 via www.healthyhunger.ca
· We will be collecting donations for the foodbank at the dance. All donations will be entered to win a special prize
3. FUN LUNCHES
· Subway Fun lunch is on December 16 (order deadline is December 11), you can order via https://healthyhunger.ca/
· Volunteers are needed for our fun lunch events, please sign up using the link below: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4FA9AE2CA5F94-58909235-fall#/