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Story of our School

Outside of school building and playground

About Rideau Vista Public School

Rideau Vista has so much to offer! Our staff is dedicated to providing each student with a stimulating, innovative and safe learning environment and educational program. By nurturing our students' needs and interests while promoting good character and citizenship, we provide an enhanced education as well as a solid foundation for every student to have a successful life. We strive to provide a promising future for every child here at Rideau Vista!

Student Voice

At Rideau Vista, we have created a culture of thinking. That means we value what our students think. We work hard to ensure that they have a voice and their thinking is heard and respected. What they think matters! By making all of our students' thinking visible, we are creating confident and independent critical thinkers and problem solvers... traits that are essential for success in the 21st century.

Instructional Programs

Rideau Vista provides a comprehensive literacy program which involves a balance of oral, reading, writing and media literacy components. We believe that literacy activities should expose our learners to materials that reflect the world they live in as well as the diversity of Canadian and world cultures. The literacy program here focuses on comprehension strategies for listening, viewing, and reading; on the most effective reading and writing processes; on skills and techniques for effective oral and written communication and for the creation of media texts; and on the language conventions needed for clear and coherent communication. In addition, it emphasizes the use of higher-level thinking skills, including critical literacy skills, to enable students not only to understand, appreciate, and evaluate what they read and view at a deeper level, but also to help them become reflective, critical, and independent learners and, eventually, responsible citizens.

Our mathematics program focuses on developing conceptual understanding and procedural skills so our learners are able to think critically about complex issues, analyses and adapt to new situations, solve problems of various kinds, and communicate their thinking effectively. Our math instruction equips students with knowledge, skills and habits of mind that are essential for successful and rewarding participation in an information-based and technology-based society. We provide experiences in authentic problem-solving that help learners develop mathematical understanding; learn important facts, skills and procedures; develop the ability to apply the process of mathematics; and acquire a positive attitude towards math.

Our Core French program consists of 200 minutes per week of French instruction in JK-Grade 6. This instruction focuses primarily on providing students with the conversational skills required to engage in authentic French language dialogue.

Science and Technology, Social Studies, the Arts, and Health and Physical Education are all taught with the intent that our learners are not simply learning various facts but that they acquire the ability to think and to process content in ways best suited to each subject. The content is rooted in a 'big idea', an idea that we want our learners to delve into and retain long after they have forgotten the details of the content they studied. Through exploration of the big ideas, students are encouraged to become creators of their understandings and not passive receivers of information. Many of the big ideas are transferable to other subject areas and provide opportunities for students to think about the content in an integrated way.

Kindergarten

We offer a full day Kindergarten program with a team of educators, including a classroom teacher and an early childhood educator. Our classroom program is based on learning through play with high quality instruction in both literacy and numeracy. Our educators intentionally plan and create challenging, dynamic learning opportunities that focus on extending children's cognitive, physical, social and academic skills as well as self-regulation skills. It is a fun and engaging place to learn!

Environmental Stewardship

Here, we believe strongly that environmental education be offered to our learners to enrich and enliven their education in all subject areas. We foster exploration, observation and investigation to promote questions and solutions when considering action that can be taken to protect the environment. Along our journey of sustainability and stewardship, Rideau Vista was recognized as an Ontario Eco School. Our team of educators and students works hard daily to conserve energy, effectively manage waste, recycle and compost. We also create and participate in 'greening' activities and other Eco-friendly school events.

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Health and Fitness

Rideau Vista believes in providing quality daily physical education and fitness opportunities to all of our students. Our staff is committed to modelling and instilling the importance of choosing a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a high level of fitness as a life-long pursuit. Our students participate in fitness activities throughout the year including the Terry Fox Run, the Fun Run, Fitness Fridays, the 60 Minute Club (national competition) and many other activities integrated into school events and programs. We believe that a healthy body contributes to a healthy heart and mind!

Technology

Rideau Vista believes in using technology to engage and enhance student learning. Every classroom in the school has a Smartboard and students have access to iPads throughout the day. Our Learning Commons has a SmartTV, compatible with our school iPads. All teaching staff use mobile devices such as iPads for both instruction and assessment purposes. Educators share documentation of the learning happening in the classroom using social media. This also provides a window into the classroom for parents.

Learning Skills and Work Habits

The development of learning skills and work habits is an integral part of our students' learning. Our educators teach them as part of their daily instruction and personalize their teaching based on individual strengths and needs. These skills and habits include responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation. The development of learning skills and work habits is needed to succeed in school and in life. This development begins early and as students move through the grades, they develop and then consolidate their learning skills and work habits in preparation for post-secondary education and the world of work. 

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We are very proud of our close connection to our community here at Rideau Vista. As part of our Reaching Out program, our students participate in Random Acts of Kindness and events throughout the year to give back to our community. Also, we engage our learners in choosing various organizations or charities we want to support and plan events each month to collect items or raise funds to support those in need.

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We also believe strongly in promoting the values and character traits that are essential to being an inclusive, accepting, safe and character-filled school, by embedding these in all we do every day—in learning activities, sports clubs, and during play at recess. We want to recognize our students when they demonstrate the qualities we value here. We do this through our 'Pawsitive 'Behaviour program. We acknowledge our learners publicly when they receive a 'paw' for demonstrating traits like generosity, courage, empathy, caring, responsibility, resilience, perseverance, honesty, fairness and respect.

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The WITS program is a strategy we teach our students to use to make safe and positive choices when faced with peer conflict. The WITS acronym provides our learners with a common language that everyone can use to talk about and respond to peer conflict.

 

 

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