Tiger Pride

Hours of Operation:

7:30am: Doors Open

7:55am: Tardy Bell

2:35pm: Dismissal

Website: https://ves.burke.k12.nc.us/

Address: 298 Praley St. Valdese, NC, 28690

Phone: 828-874-0704

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valdeseelementaryschool

Hello Tiger Families!

🍂 Fall is in the Air at Valdese Elementary! 🍂

We are excited to welcome the first week of October and all the fun that comes with the fall season!

A few reminders for the week ahead: PTO Spirit Wear flyers were sent home in THT folders. If your family would like to place an order, please return the completed form and payment by Friday, October 9.

We also have something special to celebrate! On Monday evening at 6:00 PM at Draughn High School, Valdese Elementary will be recognized for meeting expected growth during the 2025–2026 school year. We are incredibly proud of the hard work of our students and staff and excited to celebrate this accomplishment.

Next week, we will also recognize Fire Prevention Week! Our students will have opportunities to learn important fire-safety reminders, and we are especially excited to welcome a fire truck to campus on Friday during COMBO. This will be a fun and meaningful way for students to connect fire-safety learning with our local fire department 🚒🔥

We are proud of our Tigers and look forward to another great week of learning, growing, and making memories together! 🐯💛🖤

Go Tigers!

Courtney Hull
Principal

Be a Tiger Others Can Count On. Keep your promises, make good choices, and show through your actions that others can depend on you.

🎉🎉🎉Congratulations to 1st grade, who had the highest attendance percentage this week!

Consistent attendance is essential for academic success, personal growth, and future career readiness. Together, we recognize the importance of regular attendance in providing a well-rounded education.

We appreciate your continued communication regarding absences, excuses, and medical notes with both your child's teacher and Mrs. Stallings, our Data Manager. If your child is absent, please send a written note, doctor’s note, or a Dojo message to their teacher.

Our daily attendance goal is 95%, and we appreciate your support in helping us reach it!

We are so proud of each student for displaying courage, confidence, and perseverance throughout the competition. They represented VES so well!

A special congratulations to Joselyn Arzola, who will represent Valdese Elementary at the county spelling bee competition! 🎉

We would also like to thank our wonderful judges, Robey Wycoff, Sonja Rockett, Jeanene Burris, and Taylor Reece, as well as Mrs. Jordan Childs for coordinating the event with the support of Mrs. Holly Thomas. Thank you also to all of the parents and families who came out to cheer on our students.

We are so proud of all of our spellers! 🐯💛🖤

🧹💛 Friday was Custodian Appreciation Day! 💛🧹

Our students took time to show just how much they appreciate our amazing custodians by writing thank-you cards and notes and creating special posters for them.

We are so thankful for this hardworking team and all they do each day to keep Valdese Elementary clean, safe, and welcoming for our students and staff. We appreciate you!

Student safety is always our first priority on the bus. Students should remain in their assigned seat and use an inside-voice level on the bus in order to avoid distracting the bus driver. Students should avoid bringing drinks, food, or candy on the bus. Cell phones are also prohibited on the bus and in classrooms. Please be flexible and patient with bus times the first few weeks as we add students and drivers become accustomed to the routes.

All students can eat breakfast and lunch for free each day in the cafeteria. We have a grab-and-go breakfast program where students get their breakfast and take it to their classroom in the morning. The lunch schedule is posted below.

We love welcoming families to VES and appreciate the time you take to come enjoy lunch with your child. To help us keep lunchtime safe, organized, and consistent for all students, please remember that visitors may eat only with their own child. Students may not invite friends or other students to join a visiting family.

All visitors should check in through the front office, remain in the cafeteria during the visit, and exit through the front office when lunch is over. For safety and to protect instructional time, visitors should not walk students back to classrooms or enter academic hallways.

Thank you for helping us maintain a safe, welcoming environment while still allowing families to enjoy this special time with their child. We truly appreciate your cooperation and support.

Our 2026 Valdese Elementary PTO Spirit Wear order is now open! Flyers are going home in THT folders today. We have several fun options for showing your Tiger pride, including T-shirts, Comfort Colors shirts, crewneck sweatshirts, hoodies, blankets, and car magnets.

Thank you for supporting our Valdese Elementary PTO and our Tigers! 🖤💛

We are getting ready for our upcoming Trick-or-Read event and would greatly appreciate candy donations from our families and community!

To help keep all of our students safe, please refrain from donating any candy that contains peanuts due to allergies.

📅 Candy donations are needed by October 23rd.

Thank you so much for helping us make Trick-or-Read a fun and special evening for our Tigers! 🐯🖤💛

🍁September

9/30- Girls Running Club 2:35-3:30

October

10/2- School Spelling Bee @ 8:30

10/5- PTO Spirit Wear Sale

10/7- Fire Drill

10/7- Girls Running Club

10/9- Fire Truck Visit- Fire Prevention Week Celebration

10/16- End of 1st 9 Weeks

10/16-Rock School Arts Foundation Art Show Begins

10/19- Teacher Workday-No School

10/20- Teacher Workday-No School

10/21- Great Shakeout

10/21- Girls Running Club

10/27- Trick-or-Read and Mega Party 5:00-7:00

10/28- ELA Check In #1(Grades 3-5)

10/29- Math Check In #1(Grades 3-5)

10/29- Kindergarten to Henry River Farms

10/29- October Citizen of the Month Celebration

Families are invited to the 5th Annual Spooky Science Night at NCSSM-Morganton for an evening of fun, hands-on elementary school challenge events!

📅 Wednesday, October 28, 2026

⏰ 5:00–7:00 PM

📍 NCSSM-Morganton

Come enjoy a spooky evening filled with science, creativity, and family fun! We hope to see some of our Tigers there! 🐯🧡💜

There are lots of ways that you can volunteer to support our school!

• We can use your help reading with students.
• Supervising students in the cafeteria for short periods of time so teachers can have a duty-free lunch as a team.
• Help with fundraisers.
• Help the media coordinator with the Book Fair
• Serve with the PTO

If you are interested and available to help, please reach out to the office. Someone from PTO will be in touch with you. Our next whole group meeting will be in September. More information coming soon.

Courtney Hull, Principal

📩 courtneyhull@burke.k12.nc.us

📱 828-874-0704

📍 298 Praley St. Valdese, NC 28690

Savannah Cole, Assistant Principal

📩savannahcole@burke.k12.nc.us

📱828-874-0704

📍298 Praley St. Valdese, NC 28690