Roncalli Elementary School
Parent/Guardian Newsletter Friday, October 9th, 2026
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.
Thank you for your cooperation and support in helping us create a safe, inclusive, and positive environment where students can enjoy the Halloween celebrations.
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.
A safe, caring, and inclusive school environment is an essential foundation for student success. Students are best able to learn, grow, and reach their full potential when they feel safe, valued, included, and respected.
With this in mind, we kindly ask families to be mindful of how birthday party invitations are distributed to classmates and peers. While we recognize that families may choose to celebrate birthdays in different ways, we encourage families, whenever possible, to consider inviting the entire class to help ensure that students do not feel excluded.
We understand that some children may prefer a gender-specific celebration. Therefore, the school will permit and assist with the distribution of paper birthday invitations only when the entire class/grade, or all students of the same gender within the class/grade, are being invited.
Please note that, for privacy reasons, teachers are unable to provide or distribute class lists or student contact information. Families wishing to send birthday invitations through the school are asked to provide the appropriate number of invitations, and the classroom teacher will assist with distributing them to the intended students.
If you have any questions, concerns, or require assistance determining the appropriate number of invitations, please reach out to your child’s classroom teacher.
In the spirit of Halloween, we would love to do our Halloween School Wide Walk with our students on Friday, October 30 weather permitting, but we will need some help in order for us to do it. The plan would be:
- All students with their classes and teacher would do a walk on the trail behind our school in the afternoon from approximately 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM
- On the trail spread out in various sections would be as many parents/guardians dressed up in school appropriate costumes giving out halloween treats to all the children (this will be a lot of fun for the adults as well !)
- It would be great if the volunteers could bring some treats to give out to the kids
- If you cannot attend, but would like to donate any halloween treats for us to use for various activities throught the day, that would be much appreciated as well
- If you are available and would like to help out with this event, please email trinapearce@nlschools.ca no later than Friday, October 23rd.
- We will make a final decision on this event once we see how many volunteers we are able to get
- Volunteers would have to be available from 12:50 - 2:00 PM on Friday, October 30th.
Our walk will also include our annual walk by Lane's Retirement to see some of the residents.
For the safety of all students, staff, and visitors, we ask that if your child rides a bicycle or scooter to or from school, please ensure you remind them that when on school grounds they must get off their bike/scooter completely and walk it to the bike rack. These peak drop-off and dismissal times is when vehicular and pedestrian traffic is at its highest. Prioritizing this safety protocol helps prevent accidents in our busiest areas and at our busiest times. We appreciate your cooperation in reinforcing this at home.
We are often asked whether parents/guardians are permitted to send Halloween treats to school for the students in their child’s class. Yes, families may send in treats, provided the following guidelines are followed:
- Enough for Everyone: If treats are sent in, there must be enough for every student in the class.
- Individually Wrapped: All treats must be individually packaged or wrapped for safe distribution.
- Allergy Awareness: Please carefully review and adhere to our school’s allergy alerts. Our current allergy alerts include:
- Peanuts/Tree Nuts
- Visible Eggs
- Fish/Shellfish
- Sesame
- Hummus
- Sunflower Seeds
- Sunflower Protein
- Distribution: The classroom teacher will determine the most appropriate time during the school day to distribute any treats that have been brought in for classmates.
- No Obligation: Please note that there is no expectation from the school that families provide treats. Sending treats is entirely optional.