Rideau Public School
Weekly Memo April 7-10
Bonjour Rideau Families,
We hope your family enjoyed this long weekend together, whether you were celebrating Easter, Passover, or just enjoying quality time together.
Sewing Maching Loan Program
With the success of the Sewing Club, Rideau is thrilled to offer a Sewing Machine Loan Program! If your student loved sewing in the club but doesn’t have access to a machine (or if you're not a sewing expert yourself), this program is here to help.
Families can borrow a sewing machine, supply kit, and pattern binder for a week at a time to continue building sewing skills. Loans run Wednesday to Wednesday, with a mandatory tutorial led by M. Himada after school at 4:00 PM on pick-up day.
This program is open to students who have participated in Sewing Club.
For more information or to book a week, contact Patti (patti.n.lane@gmail.com) or M. Himada (himadaa@limestone.on.ca).
Let’s keep the creativity going!
Beaver Bots
This past fall, Rideau received a $1,000 grant from Caldwell & Co. Kingston Real Estate Agents to support the purchase of Beaverbots (cardboard cutters). Additional funds were raised through a raffle featuring items donated by the Limestone Quilters Guild, the sale of DIY Rad Rhino buttons at two Boo Bash events, and a generous $300 contribution from the School Advisory Council. Thanks to this amazing community support, we were able to purchase four Beaverbots for the school!
Students have since used the Beaverbots to create planes, famous buildings, 3D ornaments, and bridges. To see their work, please visit our album here.
We are very grateful to Caldwell & Co., the Limestone Quilters Guild, and our School Advisory Council.
Merci mille fois!
Field Trips
We have lots of field trips and events coming up so please keep your eyes on School Day so that you don't miss anything. Many families have offered to cover the cost of other students attending field trips as some families appreciate this support for theor children to go on field trips. We used to have paper field trip forms on which you could check a box to help support another child, but with digital permission forms this is not an option. We now have Products on School Day for supporting other students on field trips if this is something that you would like to do.
ENRICHMENT WORKSHOP SERIES at RIDEAU:
A Series of Workshops for Students by Visiting Experts
Workshop #2: Poetry with Sadiqa de Meijer
Wednesday, April 8 at 10:45-11:45 and Thursday, April 9 at 10:45-11:30 in the library
Students in grades 4-6 are invited to join Sadiqa de Meijer, Kingston's Poet Laureate, for a 2-part workshop on poetry that asks the question, What would Lake Ontario sound like in a poem?
This poetry workshop will explore, through reading a poem, improvising on it with some humour, and then creating our own works, a deeper engagement with where we live.
The workshop will be documented by members of The Rideau Tribune, our school’s student newspaper, and some of the resulting poems may be published in the upcoming issue.
Please encourage your child to attend!
Save the Dates:
May 9 - Pop-cycle Sale
May 12 - Kindergarten Social
June 10 - Yead-end Family BBQ
This week:
April 6 - Easter Monday – no school
April 7 - Parent Council
April 8 - Morawiec Swim to Survive
April 10 - Holy Friday
Upcoming:
April 13 - Kindergarten & Grades 1-3 to Grand Theatre
April 14 - Fouride varnish for JK/SK/Gr.1 who missed it; Vaisakhi
April 15 - Rea Swim to Survive
April 17 - PA Day
April 21 - Ridvan
April 22 - Rea Swim to Survive; Pitch-in Kingston
April 28 - Bayridge Road Race
Christine Kennedy
Acting Principal
Parent Council Corner
It is never too late to begin attending meetings!
Our next meeting is April 7 at 3:45 pm. Babysitting is available.
This is our year-end School Council Official Report 24 25 from 2024-2025.
Here are the minutes for Parent Council Meeting February, 2026.
The next meetings this year will be:
April 7, at 3:45
May 5, at 3:45
June 2, at 3:45
To reach out to parent council, email Rebecca at welfarerebecca@yahoo.ca.
Pop-cycle Used Clothing Sale
Rideau is hosting a second hand clothing swap to help keep items circulating locally in the Kingston community. Good for your wallet, good for the planet! See info, posters, and links below for details!
DONATE
May 7/8 , 8:00am-5:30pm
Clean clothing (sz 0-14), Books, and Tiny toys (smaller than your fist)
Drop off donations @ Rideau Public School (look for signs near Toronto St entrance)
Rideau students can bring small bags to school with them!
Can't make it to drop off? Schedule a porch pick up for your donations here
SHOP
Sat May 9 , 9am-1pm
All sales are pay what you can. All $$ goes to the school
Pre-loved kids clothing 0-14 & Books
Rideau Public School Gym
Open to everyone, help us spread the word in the Kingston Community (through your socials, word of mouth, parent group chats, day cares, hockey teams, dance groups etc etc!)
Have neighbours, friends or co-workers with items kicking around (don’t we all?)? Consider organizing a mini clothing drive to bundle items for efficient pick ups!
Sample text:
“I’m collecting items for PopCycle, a local initiative that finds great homes for pre-loved things. If you have clean, gently loved kids’ clothing (sz 0-14) or books to pass along, send them my way before May 8 and I’ll add them to my bundle.”
Volunteers needed
May 8: Sorting
We need help! May 8 anytime between 2:30-until it's done (~8pm)! Come for 15 min or come for 5 hours. Pop in for a few minutes before or after pick up, with or without kiddos! Every little bit helps!
Fun fact: The kids who came to help last year had a great time, bring your kids so they can be a part of this event that supports our community and the environment.
May 9: Take down
Swing by the school at 2pm to pick up a few boxes of leftover items to donation locations
Our Parent Council is recruiting volunteers for Bingo!
- Rideau Public School is now a registered charity for bingo fundraising at Community Spirit Gaming Centre at 900 Montreal Street.
- Volunteer shifts are two hours long and are various times including during the day, evening, and weekends.
- Duties are very light: mostly greeting people, walking around the bingo hall, and getting a runner's attention if someone gets a bingo.
- Shifts are very lucrative: each two-hour shift earns about $600 for our library renovations, kindergarten yard shade, and many other initiatives for students.
- There are currently only two shifts a month so the time commitment is low. However, volunteers must be reliable and punctual.
If you are up for joining their crew of bingo volunteers, please fill out this form and someone will be in touch with you!
Information & Events
Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten Registration Open! If you have a child ready to start kindergarten next year, find more information about registration HERE.
Parking at School
Hot Lunch Orders
2025-2026 LDSB School Year Calendar
A PDF version of the 2025-2026 School Year Calendar is available online.
Nut-Free School
Thank you for packing nut-free snacks! Please communicate with teachers before sending any treats in for your student's class.
