Dear William Reid Families,

This coming week highlights the connection between mind and body as we recognize both Mental Health Week and physical well-being.

Mental Health Week in Canada runs May 4–10 with the theme “Come Together, Canada,” focusing on the importance of connection in supporting well-being. To help mark the week, students are invited to wear a hat on Wednesday.

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Jump Rope for Heart campaign is also underway. This long-standing program encourages healthy habits like staying active, eating well, and reducing screen time, while supporting important heart and brain research.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Scholastic Book Fair—your contributions will help us add new books to our library.

For upcoming events, please review the information below. You can also stay up to date by visiting and subscribing to our school calendar. 

1. Care of our School Yard

We’ve noticed an increase in damage to the plants and trees in our schoolyard. We would appreciate your support in having a reminder conversation at home about maintaining our outdoor spaces and treating our environment with care and respect. We have such lovely spaces here and would like to honour all the past work that was done to create these spaces and promote a sense of gratitude for the land we are on.

Thank you for your support in encouraging your child to help care for our school community as a place we can all enjoy.

2. Virtual Parent Session – Online Safety | Follow Up

As a follow up to the virtual presentation on online safety and digital citizenship for today’s children that we hosted on Wednesday evening, Paul has shared some additional resources. See links below.

Resources:

For extra resources I offered, please click here: https://beacons.ai/paul.davis

Social Media Contract & Phone Contract

At the request of my Facebook followers, I created a Social Media Contract. https://lnk.bio/smcontract

Instagram: @followpauldavis
Facebook:  facebook.com/pauldavistips

3. William Reid 2025-2026 Yearbook

Order your 2025-2026 Yearbook now! The yearbook is a valuable keepsake which captures memories and key moments throughout the school year. The book contains 32 color pages and features a custom cover created by one of our students – this year’s cover contest winner is: Ariana B! Congratulations! It was such a close competition with many fantastic covers submitted. Some of the runner-up covers will be featured on the back of the yearbook. Order yours now, to see if your cover entry is featured!

• Final deadline to order: Tuesday, May 12 2026
• Use this link to order: WR Yearbook Orders   Our Yearbook ID code is 14464826

4. Year End BBQ | Seeking Alumni Volunteers

We are excited to celebrate the incredible efforts of our students this year—especially their hard work raising funds through our bottle drives! To recognize their contributions and bring our community together, we will be hosting our 2nd Annual Year-End BBQ and Western Day on:

📅 Thursday, June 11, 2026
🕛 12:00–1:30 PM

This special event will include a school-wide western day celebration and barbecue, providing students and staff an opportunity to celebrate as a community.

A big thank you to our parents who have volunteered!
 We are no longer in need of any additional parent volunteers.

Calling All Alumni!
 We are excited to invite former William Reid students to volunteer at the celebration. Alumni can volunteer in a variety of ways, such as:

• Preparing food and drinks
• Assisting with activities
• Helping tidy and support event setup

This is a wonderful opportunity for former students to reconnect and serve as positive role models within our school community. Please note that alumni volunteers may be assigned to different roles based on event needs.

All alumni students must have parent/guardian permission and are responsible for informing their current school of their absence.

If your child (alumni) would like to attend, please contact

Mme Kathryn Ferguson at kaferguson@cbe.ab.ca.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us build a strong, connected, and vibrant school community. We look forward to celebrating together!

5. Staff Appreciation Lunch – Call for Deserts!

The William Reid staff appreciation lunch will be held on June 2 2026. We are in need of some volunteers to provide some deserts! If you are able to provide a desert, please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4AA4AE2AA0FAC70-63853694-staff

From the School Council Staff Appreciation Lunch Organizer, Merran.

6. Volunteer Celebration | June 4, 2026

To all our parent volunteers, thank you for helping us grow!

On Thursday June 4, 2026 at 8:30 AM, we are honoring our amazing volunteers in the gym at William Reid School. There will be coffee and an assortment of treats for you to enjoy. There will also be performances by the students.

Our school simply wouldn’t be the same without the dedication of our incredible parent volunteers. Your time, energy, and generosity make a meaningful difference in our school community. We are truly grateful for all that you do - from chaperoning field trips and participating in School Council, to supporting teachers and students during residencies, helping with fundraising, organizing special events, distributing lunches, and so much more. We would love the opportunity to thank you and celebrate the many ways you give so generously of your time.

Please RSVP to your child’s teacher by May 14 to let us know if you are attending.

7. Healthy Hunger Special Lunch Volunteers

Our next Healthy Hunger fun lunch day is on May 28, 2026 – EDO. The Saturday prior is the last day to get your orders in! Order here: https://healthyhunger.ca/

 Thank you to all the Volunteers that have signed up to help organize and distribute food! 

8. Elementary Track & Field City Championships | Grades 3 - 6

The Elementary School Track & Field City Championships will take place on Saturday, May 30 and is open to students in Grades 3–6. This event is designed to build physical literacy through fun and inclusive experiences in running, jumping, and throwing, helping to address a gap in opportunities for younger students.

This is a great opportunity to support student well-being, confidence, and engagement in physical activity while introducing them to track and field in a positive, accessible way. The entry deadline is May 27.

Please click on this link to find out more information: Brochure Link

Bottle Drive:

Manchester Bottle Depot – 410 – 38a Ave SE – Donate your bottles here for William Reid School

Please return empties to the Manchester Depot and let them know that you would like your refund to be donated to William Reid, the funds will come directly to the school. And, your visit at the Depot will be super quick, no wait time, just drop-tell-leave.

Kind Regards,

 “Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things but learning another way to think about things.”
Flora Lewis