Dear Families, 

We want to say a big thank you to all families who joined us for parent teacher conferences before the Spring Break. If you were not able to connect with your child's teacher, please reach out to them. We also want to thank the VVS School Council for providing our staff with a pizza dinner during Parent Teacher Conferences. We enjoyed sharing this meal together as staff and appreciate all the support and kindness you shared! 

Friendology 101 

Our school is using a whole-school friendship program to support all students in building healthy and strong friendships. URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship. We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to empowering your children with friendship skills.  

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home. 

As a next step, we would recommend: 

Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG. 

Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family. 

Explore the hundreds of resources available to you! 

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships. 

Frisbee Rob 

On April 10 and 11, we will have Frisbee Rob work with all our students in learning the art of frisbee! Thanks to the generous donations made through Education Matters, Frisbee Rob will share a motivational talk at an assembly and then work with each class to teach students the technique and skill to play and have fun with frisbees. “Frisbee Rob” McLeod is a motivational speaker and frisbee ambassador living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He has 13 Guinness World Records, 14 World Championships and the Canadian Distance Record. 

Cookie Day Fundraiser

A big shout out goes to all families who supported the VVS School Council’s first Cookie Day sale! We raised approximately $730 (after expenses) which will be used towards field trips and experiential learning opportunities. It was a great experience for our students to work with school council on this fundraiser. They learned a lot and plan to do another cookie day sale on April 17!

Community Resource Fair – Save the Date! Thursday April 25, 2024 

Join us at Valley View School to get connected! The Valley View School Council has organized a Community Resource Fair to support all VVS community members. 

On Thursday April 25 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., several organizations will come together to highlight essential resources available to families within our community. These include recreational activities, mental health supports, training and work programs, resources to support newcomers with settlement and language instruction, and more! There will be live entertainment and activities for youth and children. 

Active and Safe Routes to School UPDATE 

Since working with Active and Safe Routes to School, we have been able to make progress on many safety and travel issues around our school. Currently we are: 

-Identifying, marking, and promoting some common walking/wheeling routes to and from Valley View School. This will promote pedestrian travel to and from school; 

-Working on improving safety patrol areas by incorporating more heavy pylons; 

-Waiting on more sandwich boards to help identify parking/no-parking zones around our school; 

-Working with CBE transportation on alleviating the bus congestion along 26 Ave. 

We have been given confirmation that the following projects will happen during the summer of 2024: 

-A rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB) is planned for the 26 Ave & 39 St SE crosswalk as part of 5A Network build out this summer; 

-In-street pedestrian signs are under design for the crosswalks at 26 Ave & 40 St and 26 Ave & 41 St SE; 

-Curb extensions for north- and southbound traffic have been proposed for the intersection of 41 St & Doverwood Place SE.  The next step is for the City to conduct counts to see if this treatment is warranted. 

Valley View School:  Common Walking and Wheeling Routes to School Initiative 

The Valley View School Active and Safe Routes to School team is interested in identifying and marking one or two common walking and wheeling routes for students and families in our school community.  The purpose of this initiative is to increase rates of active and safe travel for trips to and from school.  When students and families experience other walking and wheeling traffic while traveling actively, they tend to feel safer and more comfortable than when walking and wheeling alone. 
We ask that only those who walk and wheel for school trips, even if you do so periodically, complete this survey. Thank you! 

New East Playground UPDATE 
Thanks to the VVS School Council fundraising initiatives, as well as funds generated through the Community Facility Enhancement Program grant, the new East Playground is going to be installed this spring! The tentative schedule is as follows: 

-April 22nd, 2024 – Blue Fence installed around existing playground 

-April 22nd to April 30th, - Old playground dismantled 

-April 30th, 2024 – New playground arrives at VVS 

-May 1st to May 15th – BDI installs new playground, sod installed 

We appreciate everyone’s support during this time as we want to ensure maximum safety for our staff and students while the playground is being dismantled and the new one installed. 

Temporary Phys-Ed Teacher 

Mr. Hawken is on a temporary leave until June. During this time, Ms. Valerie Pedersen will be the phys-ed teacher. We welcome Ms. Pedersen to VVS! 

CBE Student Survey - Grade 5

Students in grade 5 completed the CBE Student Survey on Wednesday.

About the CBE Student Survey:

-Allows students to voice their feedback on their experiences at school, the school environment and school improvement programs.

-Based on their feedback, students have the opportunity to be involved in action plans fostering increased student engagement.

The CBE Student Survey is an opportunity for students to:

-report on themselves, their own abilities, and their accomplishments; and

-take pride in what they have achieved.

In alignment with CBE’s Education Plan, the results are used in school and district reports to demonstrate that students are:

-at the centre of all CBE decisions;

-able to integrate and apply the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and competencies they are acquiring across all academic disciplines; and

-demonstrating Citizenship, Personal Development and Character in and through learning.

Upcoming Dates: 

Friday April 12 - Early Dismissal at 12:15 PM (Grades 1-5 attend; Tues/Thurs Science Kindergarten attend; no school for Community Kindergarten)   

**The School Council meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday April 9 will be postponed to Tuesday April 23. This is so the admin team can speak about the school organization plans for next school year.