Dear William Reid Families,
As we head into Fall Break, I want to wish all our William Reid families a wonderful and restful week. The changing seasons remind us to pause, take a breath, and appreciate the beauty of transition—whether it’s the leaves on the ground or the light snow falling today.
When we return, we have some exciting events to look forward to! Trickster Theatre will be joining us for a week-long Artist in Residence program. During this time, students will co-create an original theatrical production featuring every student in the school. We are seeking parent volunteers to support this special week, see below.
Following Trickster Theatre, we look ahead to Oktoberfest – our biggest fundraiser of the year, school conferences and our upcoming Winter Celebration—it’s hard to believe we’re already on the wind-up to winter!
Enjoy your break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for the excitement ahead.
Upcoming Dates and Events
Nov 10 -12 Fall Break – No students
Nov 17 – 21 Trickster Theatre – artists in residence (See #1 Below)
Nov 21 Oktoberfest (See #2 below)
Nov 25 Picture Retake Day
Nov 27 School Conferences Evening (4:00 PM- 8:00 PM)
Nov 28 School Conferences (8:30 AM – 1:00 PM)
Nov 28 Non-Instructional Day - No students
1. Trickster Theatre
Trickster Theatre is going to be coming to William Reid School. This is a week-long artists in residence program where students co-create an original theatrical production featuring all our students. Trickster provides all of the curtains, lights, sound, costumes, and props as the school gymnasium is transformed into a magical ‘black-box’ theatre with ALL the students performing in the final show.
With this event occupying our school for the entire week, we are seeking parent volunteers who can help out throughout the week. Please ensure that you have your police clearance prior to signing up.
William Reid Trickster Sign Up Genius
If parents would like to be involved with the residency, the sign up explains the different ways you can be involved. As we are going with Shadow and Blacklight pieces then some parent help would definitely be useful. Click here for more information.
2. Winter Concert
Given the time we’ve recently lost and our upcoming Trickster Theatre residency during the week of November 17–21, we’ve made the difficult decision to modify this year’s Winter Concert. Unfortunately, there simply isn’t enough time for students to be fully prepared for a winter concert in a way that reflects their hard work and talent as they have done in the past
We know this news may come as a disappointment, as it’s not what any of us had anticipated. We sincerely appreciate your understanding, flexibility, and continued support as we make adjustments to ensure the best learning and performing experiences for our students.
Further information will come out in the coming weeks as to how our Winter Celebration will be modified.
3. Season Changing
To maintain a clean and comfortable learning environment during these shoulder seasons as well as support our custodian in looking after our school, here are some reminders that we would like to draw your attention to:
- Please ensure that your child has clothing for changes in weather – winter hat, mitts or gloves; Layers for warmth; appropriate footwear
- Students are required to have a pair of indoor and outdoor shoes. Please ensure that your student has these and that their indoor shoes remain at school
- Students will be asked to take their shoes off when the weather outside is wet, this can lead to mud tracking into hallways and classrooms
4. Oktoberfest Fundraiser
Date Change – Friday November 21 at Last Best Brewing (607 11th AVE SW).
The William Reid School Fundraising Society holds a fundraiser every two years called Oktoberfest. This is a fun event consisting of: an evening out; a silent auction that is hosted online and a live auction held during the evening. In the past, this event has raised in the neighborhood of $20,000 for the school. These funds go directly to the school, and this is the only event that the Fundraising Society hosts for the year to generate funds.
5. Jacket Racket
Each year William Reid school participates in Jacket Racket, a volunteer organization that collects, sorts and distributes gently used, clean, winter jackets, snow pants, hats and mittens to Calgary children through the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District.
From now until November 21, a box will be set up inside the School across from the office for collection. We are asking parents and students to donate gently used, warm winter jackets, snow pants, hats and mittens (no boots), in all sizes (from small sizes for young kids in Kindergarten to large sizes for teens in Grade 12).
We encourage you to generously support this worthy project. Last year, thanks to the collection of donations from 50 + schools and businesses, Jacket Racket was able to provide warm winter wear to over 2000 students in 100 + schools across the city.
Please visit http://www.jacketracketcalgary.com or contact Sarah Simms at sarahasimms@me.com for further details or if you have any questions.
6. Healthy Hunger Special Lunch Volunteers
We are asking for three parent volunteers each month to come and help distribute the special lunches to each classroom. Lunch time for all classes is from 11:35am to 11:55am. The time expected for parent volunteers is from 11:10am to approximately 12pm.
Please click on the Sign-Up Genius link below to view the volunteer sign up for each month.
Healthy Hunger Volunteer Sign Up
7. School Council | Next Council meeting, November 18, 2025.
Volunteer. Parent Council is responsible for organizing a number of special activities throughout the school year. Every year we have turnover on our organizing committees, which provides an opportunity for new, enthusiastic parent volunteers to lend us their talents. We have open positions including Parent Council Chair, President Parent Society, VP Parent Society, Library volunteers, Naturalization volunteers, 2026 Casino organizer
Be part of Oktoberfest Friday, November 21. More details to be shared in the coming weeks - William Reid's biennial Oktoberfest raises needed funds to support our amazing school and staff! Oktoberfest is this year's ONLY fundraising event organized by William Reid School's parents that support the school. Please visit https://oktoberfestyyc.wixsite.com/2025 for details and if you would like to join the planning committee, please email WilliamReidOktoberfest@gmail.com with the subject line "VOLUNTEER".
Without the support of parent volunteers, the events and initiatives we organize are not possible. Thank you in advance for your support.
8. Items Lost at School
We have had a large number of items turning up in our lost and found. I would like to thank our parent volunteers that take the time each month to organize and take photos to share with our community
Here are some things to keep in mind in relation to lost items.
- If you are aware of a lost item at school, have your child check our lost and found or come and check it in the morning during drop off time or pick up at the end of the day
- Should your child show up with an item at home that does not belong to them, please ensure that the item is returned to school and we will make our best effort to return the item to the rightful owner.
- Labelling your child’s clothing on the inside eases our staff's ability to find the owners of missing items.
9. New Voices, Fresh Vision – Calgary Elects Its New Board of Trustees
Ahead of the fall break from Nov. 10-12, we want to highlight some system updates for CBE families:
- Learn more | New Board of Trustees Sworn in Oct. 31
- Watch | Message from the Chief Superintendent
- Register for Unique Pathways Programs by Nov. 21
- Information for School Councils
Read about these topics and more in this issue of CBE Connections.
Ongoing Fundraising Links
We have several ongoing ways that parents can contribute to our school financially throughout the year.
Financial Donations:
https://www.educationmatters.ca/project-matters/william-reid-school/
Bottle Drive:
Manchester Bottle Depot – 410 – 38aAve SE – Donate your bottles here for William Reid School
If you return your empty bottles to the Depot mentioned above and let them know that you would like your refund to be donated to the William Reid, the funds will come directly to the school.
Kind Regards,
Kenzie Rushton
Principal | École William Reid School
Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.Flora Lewis