Mark Your Calendars: 

·         Mar. 17 –19, 2025: School Conference Booking open in your MyCBE/PowerSchool

·         Mar. 17, 2025: Wear Green for St. Patrick’s Day, 9:00 Whole School Online Read Aloud

·         Mar. 19, 2025: Snack Day & Dress as your Favorite Book Character Day

·         Mar. 20 & 21, 2025: Student-led School Conferences - Online

·         Mar. 22 - 30, 2025: Spring Break

·         Mar. 31, 2025: Back to School

·         Apr. 1, 2025: Gr. 3 Fieldtrip to Telus Spark

·         Apr. 4, 2025: Wonder Hour #3

·         Apr. 10, 2025: Gr. 3 Fieldtrip to Telus Spark

·         Apr. 15, 2025: Group Class Picture Day

·         Apr. 16, 2025: School Spirit Day – Favorite Hat Day

·         Apr. 18, 2025: No School – Good Friday

·         Apr. 21, 2025: No School for Students – System Professional Learning Day

·         Apr. 24, 2025: International Design Day – more information to come

·         May 5-9, 2025: Mental Health Week

Dear Royal Oak School Families,

School Conferences

Based on system directive, our March 20 and March 21 School Learning Conferences will be held online. Thursday, March 20 is a regular school day for students in grades 1-4. There is no school for all Kindergarten students.  Conferences will run online Thursday evening from 4:30 -8:00pm.  Friday, March 21 there is no school for all students.  On this day, conferences will be held online from 8:00am -1:30pm. Conference time slots will be 15 minutes. The link to the Teams meeting for your interview will be in the email response you receive when you book your conference time. To book a 15-minute online School Conference with your child’s classroom teacher, please login to your MyCBE/PowerSchool parent account and click the link for School Conferences. The booking system will open to parents at 4:30pm on Tuesday, March 11th and close at 6:00am on Wednesday, March 19th. We look forward to connecting with students and families to celebrate growth and set next steps in learning together.

School Planning Parent Engagement

We would like to thank the families who joined us at Monday’s School Council Meeting where we shared the goals of the school development plan. Our School Development Plan goals are focused on literacy, numeracy and well-being. For more details, the complete Royal Oak School development plan can be found here. During that same presentation, administration shared how the school budget was allocated for the current school year and explained the approved school fees. More information can be found here. Your feedback regarding the School Development Plan, budget and fees is important to us. The feedback will assist us in planning for the upcoming school year. The survey will remain open until March 31, 2025. You can access the survey using this survey link.

Hug & Go and Safety Reminders

The area located in front of the school is a NO PARKING zone from 8:00 -9:30am. It is for student drop off only between those times. To ensure this is running smoothly all year long please ensure the following:

• Pull your vehicle ahead as far as possible to allow room for other vehicles

• Do not exit your vehicle. Have your kids exit out of the passenger side

• Drive ahead and exit by turning right onto Royal Birkdale Dr

If your child needs assistance out of the car, or help getting to their door then DO NOT use the Hug and Go area, as this disrupts the flow of traffic for drop off. You may find another place to safely park and walk with your child to their entry doors.

Alien Inline Skating

Our three-and-a-half-week PE residency was a great success with students learning or refining their inline skating skills. Our heartfelt thanks to our many volunteers who came out to help. We could not have done it without you. Thanks to our generous School Council/ Parent Association for funding this enhanced learning experience for our students.

Returning to Royal Oak Survey

To help us get an accurate count of students returning to Royal Oak School for the 2025-2026, we ask that parents complete this survey for each child in the family. Accurate enrolment data is key to ensuring we staff accordingly for the next school year.  We kindly ask that you complete this form no later than March 17, 2025.

Lost and Found

Our lost and found continues to grow! If your child is missing an item of clothing, please pop into the school. Please note that we have moved the Lost and Found into the Gathering Space. We also kindly remind you to label your child’s belongings with your child’s name, so that when items go missing and are found, they are easier to return to their rightful owner. Please note that after Friday, March 21, these items will be collected and donated to charity in order to clear up our school’s front vestibule.

Please note that because of Spring Break, our next Week Ahead message will not be sent out until Saturday, April 5, 2025 at noon.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead and an enjoyable Spring Break starting Sat., March 22.

Sincerely,

Michelle Ryskamp
Principal, Royal Oak School

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCHOOL COUNCIL & FUNDRAISING SOCIETY NEWS – EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

·         The Read-a-Thon is on! Students are encouraged to read daily and track their reading time. The Read-a-Thon runs until March 16. Completed Read-a-Thon Time Logs must be handed to teachers by March 20. Prizes will be awarded after Spring Break. READ. DONATE. WIN!

·         Dress up as your favourite literary character or author on March 19!

·         Book Drive Collection extended to April 1! Please donate any new or gently used children’s books and puzzles by bringing them to the office or sending them with your child. These will be available for purchase at a TBD later date with proceeds going directly back into Royal Oak School.

·         Thank you, ROS, for showing up for Alien InLine! In total, we had 215 FANTASTIC volunteers (plus our great Grade 4’s) support students with the Alien InLine residency over the last 16 school days – WOW. What a great community to be a part of!

·         Pedalheads offer for ROS families - use code ROYOAK25 for $25 off spring & summer bike lessons! As well, pedalheads will also donate $25 back to ROS for each code used.

·         Our Casino fundraiser this fall raised an incredible $82,956.03! A huge THANK YOU to those who donated their time towards this vital fundraiser for our school! All money raised stays at ROS to help provide programming and supplies for our kids.

Mark Your Calendars!

1.    March 19: Tim Horton’s Fun Snack (11-12pm)! FIVE parent volunteers needed to sort snack orders into classroom bins. Sign up here: ROS Volunteers: Winter 2025 Fun Lunch & Snack. Place your students order by March 14 at Healthy Hunger

2.    NEW! April 4: Staff Appreciation Potluck! It’s that time to shower our ROS team with some food love! Drop off will be at the front doors between 11.45am-12.30pm or in Royal Oak and Rocky Ridge on April 3. Check out the sign up for more information: ROS Volunteers: April "Shower our Staff with Love" Potluck

3.    NEW! April 14: School Council & Fundraising Society Meeting @ 6.30pm. Click over to the School Council - Royal Oak School page to check out the minutes and future agendas (when posted).

4.    Date/Location TBD: Second Annual Used Book Sale! Stay tuned for more information