To Our Whiteside Families,

What a week it has been for our Whiteside Wolves! Under sunny skies at the Track and Field Meet, students sprinted, soared, and showed off their best running, jumping, and throwing skills. From exciting races to giant cheers from teammates, our Wolves experienced all the thrills of a true track and field event — and we could not be prouder of their effort, sportsmanship, and school spirit!

And the excitement is far from over… Looking ahead, our Grade 6 students are getting ready for their Outdoor Education adventure at Camp Cheakamus (wish them luck surviving cabin life and campfire songs!), we are excited to welcome our future 2026–2027 Kindergarten Wolves to Whiteside, and our school community continues to dance, move, and groove through our Movathon fundraiser. Every step, wiggle, and hop helps us move closer to an incredible new mural that will brighten the entrance of Whiteside Elementary for years to come.

We also have some exciting school community news to share! It has been announced that Ms. Lesa Schulz will be joining Whiteside as our new Principal effective July 1, 2026. Ms. Schulz comes to us from Lord Byng Elementary, where she has been serving as Principal, and we are thrilled to welcome her to our amazing Whiteside community. At the same time, Ms. Rooney will be heading to Garden City Elementary as their new Principal — an exciting new opportunity for her! We are also happy to share that Ms. Lai will continue at Whiteside Elementary as Vice Principal.

Go Wolves! With only a month and a half left in the school year, the energy around Whiteside is stronger than ever — and we are ready to make every moment count!

Thank you for your care and support. You make Whiteside a special community to learn, teach, and play.

Ms. Sara Lai, Acting Principal

The Richmond Board of Education acknowledges and thanks the First Peoples of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language group on whose traditional and unceded territories we teach, learn and live.

FROM OUR WOLFPACK

Division Eleven shares their thoughts on an exciting project that they took part in:

Cette semaine dans Division 11 nous avons appris comment tricoter avec les petits métiers de tricot. On a regardé un vidéo pour apprendre comment le faire. C’était un peu difficile au début, mais nous avons eu Mme Dennill là pour nous aider. Nous avons tricoté dans les cercles de tricot. C’était très amusant!

À la fin de la semaine nous avons les très longues chaînes qu’on peut utiliser pour les bracelets, les foulards minces ou les décorations. Tu peux le faire aussi!

 This week in Division 11 we learned how to knit with the small knitting looms. We watched a video to learn how to do it. It was a little difficult at first, but we had Ms. Dennill there to help us. We knitted in the knitting circles. It was a lot of fun!

At the end of the week, we have the very long chains that can be used for bracelets, thin scarves or decorations. You can do it too!

Coming Events at Whiteside:

May 18 – Victoria Day (school closed)

May 19 – Gr. 7 Day at McRoberts 

May 20 – Welcome to Kindergarten

May 20 – Universal Hot Lunch

May 21 – Gr. 7 Day at McRoberts

May 20-22 – Gr. 6 Camp at Cheakamus Centre

May 22- PAC Hot Lunch -order deadline – McDonald’s 

May 22 – Spirit Day – “Animal Day”

May 27 – Jay’s Care Wrap Up Event 9:45 am – 1:15 pm

May 29 – Hot Lunch

June 3 – Universal Hot Lunch

June 12 – Sports Day / Hot Lunch

June 17 – Universal Hot Lunch

June 19 – Grade 7 Farewell

June 25 – Final day of school for students

WHITESIDE INFORMATION AND EVENTS

Movathon Fundraiser – Donations Due June 5

Whiteside PAC is excited to organize a special fundraiser to help beautify our school community. Renowned mural artist Sandeep Johal will be creating a mural inside the front entrance of Whiteside Elementary, with hopes of expanding this inspiring artwork into the gymnasium as well.

To support this project, students have brought home pledge sheets encouraging exercise, movement, and healthy activity for a meaningful cause. Throughout the fundraiser, students will be moving, dancing, walking, and staying active while helping create a vibrant and welcoming space for our school community.  Cash and/or cheques for pledges should be brought to Whiteside.  All by June 5^th!

There will also be prizes for the students and classes who raise the most funds. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm as we work together to make Whiteside an even brighter place to learn and grow.

Let’s move for Whiteside!

Learning Updates

Your child’s Term 2 Learning Update has been published and is now available to view and download.

Please login to the MyEducation Parent Portal using your account and look under the ‘Published Reports’ section to view the learning update.  

Once you have viewed the learning update, please download and save a copy for your records. This Learning Update will only be available until June 5, 2026.

Here are some resources to assist you:

• Login instructions
• Need help? Send an email to myedparentportal@sd38.bc.ca and include your full name, relation to the child, child’s school and child’s full name.

The 56^th BC Elementary Track & Field Championships

For families seeking opportunities for their child to participate in track and field experiences, the Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club is hosting the BC Elementary Track and Field Championships on May 22 - 24, 2026. This is an external community-based event hosted at Minoru and is open to children 9-13 years of age, including those who have no previous experience. More information can be found on https://www.kajaks.ca/bcec

IMPORTANT: Hot Lunch Volunteers Needed

Thank you to our PAC for providing these yummy meals. We need more volunteers to join us on our PAC hot lunch days to organize and distribute the meals to our students. Without the hard work of this team, our hot lunches can’t happen. If you can help, please email our team at jameswhitehotlunch@gmail.com. 

Hatch PreK Program Registration

Registration for the 2026/27 school year for PreK at Hatch Kids Learning Whiteside is now open! Email info@hatchkidslearning.com for more information or to schedule a tour. This program is for children ages 30 months to 5 years old and operates out of the modular building by the basketball courts.

Universal Hot Lunch Update

Ordering for our winter and spring Universal Hot Lunches are open at: https://munchalunch.com/. Please select the “Feeding Futures” option and ensure allergies are noted on your child’s profile. Our Universal Hot Lunch Dates are:

May 20 (Chicken Quesadilla/Veggie Chili Mashed Potato Bowl)

June 3 (Chicken and Veggie Chow Mein/Veggie and Edamame Chow Mein)

June 17 (Shepherd’s Pie/Butter Chickpeas and Rice)

Please order the age-appropriate size for your children. All orders must be placed one week prior to the hot lunch.

PAC Updates

Our PAC is a great group of parents that care for our school and students. PAC are amazing resources for our entire school community. A strong PAC bonds our school community with our families. PAC is an excellent way for our families to connect directly with the action at our school as well as develop relationships within the parent community. Please reach out to our PAC at whitesidepac@hotmail.com for more information and an invitation link for our next PAC meeting. Our next PAC meeting is online at 7:45 p.m. on June 16.  It will be our AGM.  Let us know if you are interested in becoming part of the PAC Exec next year.  Date TBA.

Wolf Wear Wednesdays

To show our school spirit, we invite our students, staff and community to wear their favourite Wolf gear every Wednesday

Food Security and School Affordability Support

Please reach out to our acting principal, Sara Lai (slai@sd38.bc.ca), if you require financial assistance for school-related costs.  As always, all requests will be treated with dignity, and your privacy will be respected. We want to work with families to ensure that students have everything they need to be successful at school. Do not hesitate to reach out if we can help.

Whiteside Fundraising – Return It

Help raise funds for our school by recycling at home! Return your cans and bottles to our local Return It depot (Unit 110 - 11020 Horseshoe Way), go to the Express area, type in our number 604-668-6419, affix the label to your bag, drop, and go.

DISTRICT INFORMATION AND UPDATES

Allergy Alert:

All families should be aware that Whiteside School has many students with severe, life-threatening food allergies. Some classrooms may be designated nut free to protect the health of these students. Please help us limit the nut products entering our school overall, as the impact on a student can happen anywhere in the school. If possible, please do not send food to school containing nuts. 

THE MORE YOU KNOW…

Save the Date! Richmond Celebrates Soccer (2026 FIFA World Cup)

The Richmond Olympic Oval would like to invite the SD38 community to join members of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Vancouver Rise FC on Friday, June 12th as we celebrate Team Canada's first game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Grade 4-7 students are invited to cheer on Team Canada as we welcome the world to our country.

Stay tuned for more details.