Hello to our Vimy Ridge Families,  

Mother Nature decided to give us early spring weather this week. Between the chilly weather and the rain, our grass is growing nicely. The garden at the front of the school has been spruced up by our local Scouts and Cubs (1st Gloucester Scouts). We are grateful for their continued support to keep our garden looking beautiful.

As important as water bottles are, we are having an issue with water bottles being used as squirt bottles. If your child has a water bottle that squirts, please keep it at home. We understand that having water at school is important especially as we move into the warmer months. Please make sure your child has a water bottle that can be used to drink from not as a squirt bottle. Water guns, balloons and anything else that can squirt water should not be brought to school. Thank you.

A reminder that this coming Friday, 6 June is a PD Day for students. There is no school and students are to stay home. Staff will be working on Report Cards and professional learning.

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The Grades 5-8’s participated in a Pickleball student workshop this week. The students really enjoyed learning how to play the sport and had matches with each other. Next school year we will be offering this workshop again to grades 4-6.

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EQAO’s will be next week for our Grade 3’s. EQAO is a standardized testing to assess student achievements in reading, writing, and mathematics. Please make sure your child arrives at school on time and stays until the end of day.

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Vaccination Clinic Cycle 2 for Grades 7’s will be on Thursday, June 12, 2025. More details to follow next week.

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Freezie Friday is back for grades 1-8 on Friday, June 13th and Friday, June 20th. A half freezie is $1.00 and a full freezie is $2.00. Please send in exact change with your child as we can not give change back to students. The organizers will be going to each class to collect the money and distribute the freezies. Just a friendly reminder that the office will not be collecting money for the freezies and students will not be permitted to call home to ask for money. So please remember to send in money with your child.

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Dear Vimy Families,

Vimy’s second annual talent show is almost here! The students have been working very hard to perfect their talents and put on a fantastic show.

We’re asking adults to purchase 3$ tickets to view our evening show only, which will be on Tuesday June 10th in the school gym at 5:30 pm. Proceeds will be used to enhance next year's performance. 

*adult tickets only, students do not require a ticket. Please see link below to purchase your tickets on school cash online.

https://www.schoolcashonline.com/

Thank you for your support,

The Vimy Ridge Staff

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Save the Date: E-Waste & Metal Fundraiser – June 6th–8th!

Dear Vimy Ridge Families,

We’re excited to announce that our upcoming E-Waste and Metal Fundraiser will take place the weekend of June 6th–8th, coinciding with the popular Findlay Creek Community Garage Sale!

This is a great opportunity to clear out your old electronics and pieces of metal while supporting our school. Simply gather your acceptable items and drop them off during the event weekend.

Please refer to the link (below) of the event poster, for a list of acceptable donation items. Your contributions will help reduce waste and raise funds for school initiatives.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Ai-GNkuM7KL7oIkp_Tl6x78t4VJ4ypj/view?usp=drivesdk

Thank you for your continued support—we can’t wait to see you there!

Warm regards,
Vimy Ridge Parent Council 

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Save the Date: Ottawa Lions Club will be having a Food Drive at Vimy Ridge Public School on Saturday, June 7, 2025, from 9AM to noon, during the E-Waste & Metal Fundraiser. The Lions Club will be collecting lunch box items such as juice boxes, pudding cups, granola bars, etc. to support the Pavillion Food Bank. Thank you for helping us support this cause. Every donation helps.

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Dear Vimy Families,

As we approach the end of another fantastic school year, we are excited to invite you to our End-of-Year Celebration on Thursday, June 19th, from 5:00 to 7:30 PM!

Bring your picnic blanket and join us on the school grounds for an evening of fun, food, and festivities for the whole family. Food trucks will be onsite serving up delicious treats including:

• Hamburgers & Hot Dogs (halal options available)
• Mini Donuts
• Shaved Ice

We’ll also have a variety of activities and entertainment, including:

• Exciting raffle prizes
• Bubbles and games for kids
• Ottawa South United Soccer and Ottawa South Basketball
• Mathnasium
• And much more!
  
  

Please note, some vendors will accept cash only, so we kindly ask you to bring cash for your convenience. We would also like to recommend that families walk to this event if possible, as our neighbouring school will be having an event on the same day and time.

Let’s wrap up the year together with great memories and community spirit. We can’t wait to see you there!

Warm regards,
VRPS Parent Council

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We continue to remind students to put their phones and earbuds away. Some of our students have been reminded multiple times, and for some we will be calling parents to help remind their students and/or ask that phones be left at home. Phones, and other devices, are to be off and out of sight during the school day, including recess, nutrition break and getting on the school bus. Leaving the phone off, or at home is a successful way to manage this distraction.

As per PR 622 IT - Appropriate Use of Information Technology (Students), The District will not accept liability for loss, theft, or damage to any Personal Mobile Device while on District property, except where it can be shown that such loss was due to negligence on the part of the District.

A reminder to families that the school day ends at 3:45 pm and it makes for better learning and less interruptions when students do not leave early.  We understand that appointments are unavoidable and so when you need to pick kids up early, please notify the classroom teacher and the office the morning of. If you know of an appointment sooner than the day of, please let the teacher and office know as soon as possible. Notice to the teacher and office is greatly appreciated. This makes it easier for the teacher and the office to have your child ready for you. We ask that all early pickups happen before 3:00 as some classes have outdoor DPA or are getting ready for end of day routines and it may be difficult to locate students.

Have a great week! 

Sandra Walker, Andrew Thorp and Jannah Campbell

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As we shared, we will be having 3 leaving ceremonies in June. We have set our dates for the 3 leaving ceremonies. All of our leaving ceremonies will be held in the gym. UPDATE: Tickets went home this week for families to sign up to attend the ceremonies. Please note: due to safety regulations and chair limitations, there is a maximum of 2 guests per student/family who may attend. You can sign up using this link.

Grade 8 - Wednesday, June 25 at 1 PM

Grade 7 - Thursday, June 26 at 9:30 AM

Grade 6 - Thursday, June 26 at 12:30 PM

Idling - When you are dropping off or picking up your child(ren), we ask that you follow the City of Ottawa's bylaws to help keep the air around our school clean. The Idling Control By-law limits the time that a vehicle can idle when someone is in the vehicle:

• Maximum of three minutes per hour when it is between 0 °C and 27 °C outside
• Maximum of 10 minutes per hour when it is colder than 0 °C or hotter than 27 °C outside

Respect for all. For the past few years we have focused on learning about the impact of hateful speech and racist comments. We appreciate your support in this continued learning. Unfortunately, examples of this type of conduct are easy to find on social media outlets. Racist, homophobic and hate language is not acceptable at school. Vimy Ridge is proud of our diversity, and wants to celebrate each and every individual. We are grateful for all your support. 

Outdoor play includes playing safely. This includes being careful in the mud, puddles and on the pavement. When playing soccer at school slide tackling should not be part of our soccer games. The professional players we all watch make slide tackles look easy, which also includes a lot of training and practice. At school slide tackles are dangerous and should not be part of a school game.

Breakfast Program. Our Breakfast program is now serving over 70 students each school day! Children who walk are welcome to come to the servery starting at 8:45. If your child is on a bus they can come when they get to school. We are looking for volunteers to help with the Breakfast program. Please email andrew.thorp@ocdsb.ca if you are able to help.

 No Food Sharing. A reminder that Vimy Ridge has a “no food sharing” policy in our classes. We have too many allergies at Vimy Ridge for this to be done safely. Sharing candy, treats and other snacks also presents an equity issue between students. Please remind your students to eat the food provided by their family and not to share with other students in class.