Roncalli Elementary School

We want to extend a HUGE congratulations to Bennett Hayley on his outstanding performance in this year’s NLAA Cross-Country Running Series. Bennett earned the title of Overall Grade 4 Winner for this year's series! To make this accomplishment even more impressive, Bennett recorded the fastest time among all Grade 4–6 runners, both male and female, in the final race. What an incredible achievement. We are so proud of you, Bennett. Your hard work, determination, and dedication have certainly paid off. Way to go!

We also want to extend a big congratulations to ALL of our Roncalli Rockets who participated in this year's cross-country races. Many of our students achieved new personal bests, demonstrating tremendous perseverance, sportsmanship, and school spirit. Whether you crossed the finish line first or worked hard to improve your own time, you have every reason to be proud of your accomplishments! Congratulations, Rockets! You represented our school exceptionally well, and we couldn't be prouder!

As part of our ongoing commitment to student safety and emergency preparedness, we are pleased to share that we have now completed our school bus evacuation drills with most of our classes. We will continue working with the remaining classes (Grade 6's) to ensure all students have an opportunity to participate.

Just as we regularly practice fire drills, secure school procedures, and lockdown drills, bus evacuation drills are another important part of our school's safety and emergency preparedness procedures. These drills provide students with an opportunity to become familiar with school bus safety procedures, including how to safely and calmly exit a bus in the unlikely event of an emergency.

While we certainly hope these procedures are never needed in a real emergency, practicing them helps ensure our students and staff are informed, prepared, and confident in knowing what to do should a situation arise.

Thank you to Bursey's Busing for the leaving us a school bus to practice these on.

In just a few short weeks, our school community will come together to observe Remembrance Day—a time to pause, reflect, and honour the courage, dedication, and sacrifices of the brave men and women who have served, and continue to serve, our country and nations around the world. It is an important opportunity to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to express our gratitude to all who have dedicated themselves to protecting peace and freedom.

This year, our Grade 5 students and teachers will lead our Remembrance Day Assembly, providing a meaningful opportunity for our school community to come together in remembrance, gratitude, and respect.

We invite parents and guardians of our Grade 5 students to join us for this special occasion. Due to space limitations, attendance will be limited to two guests per Grade 5 student.

Assembly Details:

• Date: Tuesday, November 10th, 2026

• Time: 1:00 PM

• Location: Roncalli Elementary School Gymnasium

• Entrance and Exit: We kindly ask all attending parents and guardians to use the rear gymnasium doors when entering and leaving the school.

We look forward to gathering as a school community for this important occasion as we honour the sacrifices of those who have served and reflect on the importance of peace, freedom, and remembrance.

Lest We Forget.

We would like to extend a congratulations to our School Counsellor, Ms. Erin Butler, who was recently awarded the prestigious Dr. Ron Martin Memorial Scholarship by the Newfoundland and Labrador Counsellors' and Psychologists' Association (NLCPA).

This scholarship recognizes excellence demonstrated by a student member enrolled in the Master of Education in Counselling Psychology Program within the Faculty of Education at Memorial University. This is a wonderful achievement and a testament to Ms. Butler's hard work, dedication, and commitment to her profession. Congratulations, Ms. Butler! We are incredibly proud of your accomplishment and so fortunate to have you as part of our Roncalli Rockets family.

Student cell phones should remain at home. If parents or guardians deem a mobile device necessary for logistical reasons, the following guidelines must be adhered to:

• Storage and Status: Devices must be turned off and secured in the student's assigned locker immediately upon arrival. Phones are not permitted on a student’s person at any point during the school day.

• Prohibited Times & Areas: Cell phone usage is strictly prohibited throughout the entire school day—including recess and lunch periods—as well as during transport on school buses.

• Alternative Communication: Main office phones remain available at all times for students who need to contact their families.

• Liability Disclaimer: Bringing a cell phone to school is a personal decision. The school assumes no liability or financial responsibility for lost, stolen, or damaged electronic devices.

Please note that Personal Electronic Devices include, but are not limited to, mobile hand-held devices, laptops, cell phones/smart phones, smart watches, smart music players, earbuds, and gaming devices.

We have noticed a significant increase in the number of students bringing/wearing smartwatches to school. Unfortunately, these devices are becoming a growing distraction and disruption to the teaching and learning environment, both for the students wearing them and for those around them.

To help maintain a focused and productive learning environment, we are asking for your cooperation and support in ensuring that smartwatches remain at home if at all possible. If a student does bring a smartwatch to school, it must be placed in their locker upon arrival and remain there until the end of the school day. Students are not permitted to wear or carry these devices on their person during the instructional day. We understand that families may use these devices to communicate with their children. However, should you need to contact your child during school hours, we kindly ask that you do so through the school office.

We appreciate your understanding, cooperation, and continued support as we work together to maintain a safe, respectful, and distraction-free learning environment where all students can focus on learning and achieving their best.

Here is the link to our NLSchools Policy on Personal Electronic Devices, for anyone who may be interested in learnig more about the policy.

Friday, October 23rd, our Roncalli Rockets proudly celebrated Janeway Jamarama Day! Students and staff were invited to wear their favourite school-appropriate pajamas to show their support and solidarity with the children at the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre, many of whom spend their days in pajamas while receiving care and treatment.

This special day is a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness, show compassion, and support the incredible children and families who rely on the Janeway. Thank you to everyone who participated and generously contributed donations to this very worthy cause. Your kindness and generosity are greatly appreciated and reflect the caring spirit of our Roncalli school community.

Way to go, Rockets! Together, we are making a difference!

Attendance & Participation: Students should remain home if they are too unwell to engage fully in classroom activities. While the decision to keep a child home rests with parents and guardians, we ask that you closely monitor your child's health, as illnesses can spread easily in shared school environments.

Guidance & Resources: If you are uncertain whether your child is well enough to attend, please contact NL Health Services at 811 or reach out directly to the school administration for guidance.

Illness at School: If a student becomes ill or experiences worsening symptoms during the school day, staff will contact a parent or guardian immediately to arrange for pickup.

As some of our students prepare to celebrate Halloween, we would like to provide families with advance notice regarding the school’s expectations for costumes worn during the school day on Friday, October 30th. These guidelines are in place to help ensure that Halloween is a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable experience for all students.

Please ensure that any costume worn to school adheres to the following guidelines:

• No Masks: Masks of any kind are not permitted to be worn in the school. This includes full-face and partial-face masks. Masks can be unsettling for some students and may also create safety and identification concerns within the school environment.
• No Weapon or Dangerous-Object Props: Props or costume accessories that resemble weapons or other dangerous objects are not permitted at school. This includes toy weapons, replicas, or any item that could reasonably be mistaken for a weapon.
• Appropriate Clothing and Images: Costumes and clothing should be appropriate for a school setting. Items displaying or promoting inappropriate, offensive, or illegal substances or content are not permitted.

Additional information regarding the Halloween activities planned at school will be shared with families at a later date.

If you prefer that your child NOT participate in any of our Halloween activites, please inform your child's teacher prior to Friday, October 30th.

To help keep everyone at Roncalli Elementary safe, we kindly remind families that we have students and staff with severe allergies that can cause potentially life-threatening anaphylactic reactions. We ask that you please avoid sending the following items to school:

• peanuts and tree nuts
• visible eggs
• fish and shellfish
• sesame
• hummus
• sunflower seeds
• sunflower protein

The holiday season is just around the corner, and we are all ready to welcome vendors to our Annual Roncalli Holiday Market & Fair!

We would love for you to join us and help make this festive event extra special! Whether you offer handmade crafts or items, unique gifts, holiday treats, or other wonderful treasures, we invite you to be part of the holiday magic! Feel Free to share with family and friends.

🎄 Vendor registration is now open!

A big thank you to everyone who reached out and generously offered to volunteer for our Halloween Walk! Thanks to the wonderful support of our school community, we have secured enough volunteers to move forward with this year's event. We truly appreciate your willingness to give your time to help make this a fun and memorable experience for our students. We look forward to a spooktacular afternoon filled with Halloween fun, excitement, and plenty of smiles! If you would like to donate any treats for this event, please drop them off at the mian office.

We are excited to announce that we will be having a Scholastic Book Fair at Roncalli this year. This is a wonderful opportunity for students and families to explore a fantastic selection of books, discover new adventures, and spark a lifelong love of reading! Whether you're looking for a new favourite story, a special gift, or simply hoping to add to your home library, there will be something for everyone!

Every book opens the door to a new adventure!

Our Kids Eat Smart School Breakfast Club is officially up and running! A huge thank you to our wonderful parent/guardian/grandparent volunteers who have generously given their time and energy to make this important program possible. Your kindness, dedication, and willingness to support our students is truly appreciated. Our Breakfast Club provides students with a nutritious and positive start to their school day, helping them feel ready to learn and succeed.

Making a difference, one breakfast at a time! ❤️

Our Holiday Market & Fair is returning to Roncalli Elementary School on Thursday, December 10th, from 12:00–5:30 PM in the school gym.

This is a wonderful opportunity to get into the holiday spirit, listen to some festive music, support local vendors, and pick up those special last-minute Christmas gifts and holiday treasures!

We look forward to seeing you there and sharing in the joy of the holiday season with you! Feel free to share this event information with family and friends.

🎄 Everyone is Welcome!

The Event is Open to the Public! 🎁

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a beautiful Mexican tradition celebrated primarily on November 1st and 2nd each year. It is a special time when families and communities come together to remember, honour, and celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed away.

During this meaningful celebration, families create colourful displays called ofrendas (altars), decorated with photographs, candles, marigold flowers, and favourite foods of those being remembered. Music, art, storytelling, and family gatherings are also important parts of this tradition.

Although its name may sound sad, Día de los Muertos is a celebration filled with love, joy, remembrance, and connection. It reminds us that the memories of those we love continue to live on in our hearts.

At our school, learning about cultural traditions such as Día de los Muertos provides students with opportunities to appreciate diversity, develop respect for different cultures, and celebrate the many traditions that make our world so special.

Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights. It is one of the most significant and widely celebrated festivals in India and among the Indian diaspora around the world. It is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs, who each have their own historical significance for the observance. The festival universally symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is a five-day festival, with the main celebrations occurring on the third day, which coincides with the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartika. This year Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday, November 8th. We wish all of our families who celebrate, a Happy Diwali!

We are pleased to share a special opportunity for our students to spread kindness and encouragement to children around the world this holiday season. A family within our school community, who owns a small business here in Airport Heights, generously participates in Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child each year. With the support of their business, family, and friends, they prepare approximately 60 Christmas shoeboxes filled with gifts for children around the world who may otherwise have limited opportunities to receive gifts during the holiday season.

This family has kindly invited our school to participate by contributing handmade creations to include in the shoeboxes. Your child will have the opportunity to participate in this activity over the coming weeks.

No monetary donations or purchased gifts are being requested. Instead, students are invited to create a short letter, poem, story, drawing, painting, or colouring page to share a little kindness and encouragement with a child in another part of the world. These thoughtful gestures can bring joy and a sense of connection to children receiving the shoeboxes, while providing our students with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of kindness, compassion, generosity, and thinking of others.

Student Privacy and Confidentiality

To protect the privacy and safety of our students, all contributions must remain general in nature and must not include any personal or identifying information, such as full names, addresses, photographs, contact information, or school identification. Student contributions will be reviewed before being submitted.

Participation is Entirely Optional

We recognize and respect that families may have different beliefs, traditions, and preferences regarding participation such initiatives. If you would prefer that your child not participate in this activity, we kindly ask that you inform your child's classroom teacher. We will certainly respect your wishes. All student contributions will be collected by Friday, November 6th.

We appreciate the generosity of this family for extending this invitation to our school community. This is a wonderful opportunity to remind our students that even the smallest acts of kindness can make a meaningful difference in someone else's life.

Below are just a few displays of the beautiful artwork that decorates the hallways throughout our school. Our talented students have been busy creating wonderful masterpieces that showcase their creativity, imagination, and artistic abilities.

It is always a joy to see our hallways filled with such colourful and inspiring displays of student work. We are so proud of the amazing talents they share with us each day.

Oct 30 - School Halloween Activities

Nov 3 - CBC Weather Presentations to Grade 5's

Nov 10 - Remembrance Day Assembly @ 1:00 PM

Nov 11 - Remembrance Day Holiday; No School for Students

Nov 20 - PL Day for Roncalli Staff; No school for students

Dec 4 - Term 1 Report Cards go home via students

Dec 8 - Grade 6 Vaccinations (Day 1)

Dec 8, 10, 11 - Scholastic Bookfair @ Roncalli

Dec 9 - PL Day for Roncalli Staff; No school for students

Dec 10 - Term 1 Parent-Teacher Conferences 1:00 - 6:00 PM; Students dismissed at 11:25 AM

Dec 10 - Holiday Market and Fair from 12:00 - 5:30 PM School Gym

Dec 22 - Last day of classes before Christmas Holidays

Jan 4 - Return to School from Christmas Holidays; Day 4 on schedule

Stay in the Know...

Roncalli Twitter(X):@RoncalliSchool

School Website:https://roncallielementary.nlesd.ca/

Facebook Information Page: RoncalliElementarySchool