Our staff and students have been back at it again, showing some amazing seasonal creativity with the Rosedale Heights P.S. Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Class pumpkins will be awarded prizes in the days ahead. But there is one special award, the People’s Pumpkin Choice Award! So we now turn the job over to … you! Review the photos of the pumpkins below (you can click for enlargements) and help by casting your vote for the People’s Pumpkin Choice Award for the Best Pumpkin.  Have your say … be sure to cast your vote now. The pumpkin with the most votes wins a special prize!

All pumpkins are on display in the school foyer if you’d like to take a closer look … before nature takes its course and they have to be composted!

The Scholastic Book Fair is once again returning to the Rosedale Heights P.S. Library!

From Monday November 13th through Friday November 17th the Book Fair will be open. There will be opportunities throughout that week for classes to visit, and the Book Fair will also be open after school on Thursday and again on Friday morning, so parents can drop by during parent-teacher interviews.

This is an exciting time as our school library continues to add to its growing collection of favourite books!  All proceeds from the Book Fair support our purchasing of additional resources to enhance our Library.

Let’s continue to spread a love of reading. Books make great gifts!

We wanted to share with our community regarding the upcoming School Council Meeting on Thursday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m. in the school library. We welcome everyone’s involvement and encourage all those interested to attend. Minutes from the previous School Council meeting can be found here. You needn’t be an elected member of the School Council to get involved. Simply come out and lend a hand!

We thank you for your continued support of our school.

How about spending some time cooking with your family and submitting a recipe to the Rosedale Heights P.S. Community Cookbook?

Rosedale Heights P.S. serves families from diverse backgrounds hailing from many countries around the world, and delicious food and flavours abound in our community members’ kitchens!  Do you have a favourite ‘go to’ dish for dinner?  Perhaps a fantastic side dish?  Or maybe a much-loved homemade dessert your family is sweet on?  What are you feeding your children every single day of the week (and on the weekends too?!)

We are inviting all members of the Rosedale Heights P.S. community to share a recipe close to their hearts with others in the community.  We are inviting submissions for appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, side dishes, baked goods and desserts.  A dedicated team of our School Council members will be compiling these recipes into a community cookbook we hope to have available to order in the Spring.  So dig into your family recipe collections, put on your aprons and participate in our community endeavor by submitting your favourite recipe to us at https://bit.ly/RHPSCookbook.  We’d ask that families submit only one recipe, so be sure to choose something special!

Submissions should include the name of the contributor and contributing family, recipe title, ingredients list, and step by step cooking instructions.  But most of all, this is a community cookbook, so the submission should include you and your family.  We’d ask that you include a few sentences about why the recipe might be meaningful to your family, and perhaps even whose favourite dish it is.  As well, we’d ask that you submit any high resolution photos of the preparation of this dish, the finished product, or your family enjoying it.  (Pictures of students are especially welcome!) We will be accepting recipes through Friday, December 1^st.  Simply go to https://bit.ly/RHPSCookbook to submit your recipe and email any accompanying photos to cookbook@rosedaleheightsps.com! 

Once submissions are collected, the Community Cookbook Committee will be collating them and laying them out into an easy-to follow cookbook that you’ll be able to order and keep with you as a wonderful reference for many years to come.  Let’s capture the collective spirit of warmth in our Rosedale Heights P.S. community by ‘inviting’ one another into our respective kitchens and share the best of our culinary efforts.  And don’t forget to involve your children in these gastronomic adventures! 

Let’s get cooking!

Parent-Teacher Interviews for students in SK through Grade 8 will be scheduled for after school on November 16, 2023 and on the morning of November 17, 2023.  You will have an opportunity to meet with your child(ren)’s teacher(s) and learn more about the classroom.

Rosedale Heights P.S. will continue to use an online process through Edsby to manage our Parent-Teacher Interviews scheduling.  Edsby is an intuitive, cloud-based platform that will allow families to easily reserve times to meet with their child’s teachers.  YRDSB in partnership with Edsby have created a secure platform that protects the privacy of information for our YRDSB families.

If you already have an Edsby account, there’s nothing you need to do at this time.  The Parent-Teacher interview schedule will open for bookings on November 6^th at 10:00 a.m.

If you do not have an Edsby account, you will need to create an Edsby account to access the online appointment scheduler with their child’s teachers for Parent-Teacher Interviews.  Only families who create an Edsby account prior to the schedule being opened on November 6^th will have access.  If you need help setting up your account for the first time, please contact the school office.

For help with using Edsby, please visit https://www.edsby.com/help/parents/.

If you have any other questions about this process, please contact our main office.

Important Timelines

On or before Nov 6	Parent(s) and/or Guardian(s) to create Edsby accounts
Nov 6	Parent-Teacher Interviews schedule opens at 10:00 a.m. for booking, an invitation to book appointments will be sent to your Edsby inbox with a notification to your email.
(Beginning) Nov 9	Progress Reports Distributed Electronically
Nov 14	Parent-Teacher Interviews scheduler closes at 4:00 p.m.
Nov 16 (evening) and 17 (morning)	Parent-Teacher Interviews

Each year, many students choose to show off their Halloween spirit by dressing up in costumes that meet our school’s dress code.  Students will be able to dress up on Tuesday, October 31st.

Please note that on October 31st, the focus of the day remains on instruction, any Halloween related activities are optional, and students will have a choice to participate in alternative activities.  Students will be allowed to dress up but they must follow Board Protocol.  York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0 in accordance with the Education Act, includes the following: “during a school-related activity or event, the principal will suspend the student and shall consider expulsion [for infractions including]: possessing a weapon or replica weapon, including possessing a firearm.” Students celebrating this occasion in costume at our school must comply with this policy.  Costume accessories including, but not limited to, toy guns, knives, axes, swords, etc. are not in compliance with York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0.  Similarly, costumes should be respectful of others. For example, if something is representative of a person’s culture or religious beliefs, then it should not be worn as another person’s costume. We ask all students to reserve coming to school in costume to Tuesday, October 31st, only.

As always, we wish to promote healthy eating at our school, and strongly discourage students from bringing candies that are in abundance around Halloween to school.  We kindly ask our community to be especially mindful that nut and nut products —often found in Halloween candy—are not brought in to the school, as well.  Rosedale Heights P.S. has a very popular healthy snacks program, where preferred options for snacking, such as a fruits, vegetables and dairy products, are regularly available for our students to enjoy.

We hope all our students who celebrate have a fun, safe, and healthy Halloween!

Our partners at York Region Public Health want to encourage all families to have their child’s eyes checked. Eye exams are free for children 19 years of age and under with an OHIP card. For more information, visit york.ca/HealthyEyes.

Order today … before it’s too late! Chicken combos can be ordered on School Cash Online.  If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

Tired of making lunches?  Our School Council is excited to share that Kid’s Kitchen school lunch program will be returning starting Monday, October 16th, with hot lunches available to order for Mondays and Tuesdays.

Kid’s Kitchen is a family owned and operated business that serves nutritious meals to elementary school children throughout York Region and the Toronto area.  They take care of everything, from preparing customized menus and taking orders, to making the meals and delivering them directly to the school.

Program details:

• A la carte menu with a variety of entrees, side items, & snacks
• Everything from wraps to pasta to chicken teriyaki
• Secure & flexible ordering
• Allergy management
• New combos offered every month
• Menu developed in consultation with a Registered Dietician & compiles with the Ontario Government Food & Beverage policy

Ordering is easy!  Online orders can be placed up until 10:00 a.m. the previous business day.  For more details on setting up your Kid’s Kitchen account, see the flyer and visit the Kid’s Kitchen website.

Please note: If the school buses are cancelled due to inclement weather and the schools are open Kid’s Kitchen lunches will still be delivered, unless cancelled by the family.  See Kid’s Kitchen’s Inclement Weather Information for more details.

We hope you and your children enjoy this convenience service for families.

October is Islamic Heritage Month. The Government of Canada first declared the month of October as Canadian Islamic History Month in 2007. In 2016, Ontario passed the Islamic Heritage Month Act to recognize, celebrate and affirm the significant contributions that Muslims continue to make as part of the vibrant social, economic, political and cultural fabric of this province.

This year’s Islamic Heritage Month theme is Imagining Muslim Futures. Students, families, community members, and staff of all identities are invited to join the Alliance of Educators for Muslim Students (AEMS) at the Islamic Heritage Month Launch at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School on Thursday, October 12, 2023 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. There will be speakers, workshops and various student activities. For more details, including how to register, please see the linked flyer.