The application for Blue Valley’s Chinese Immersion program for incoming kindergarten students is open. Blue Valley’s Chinese Immersion program is a dual language immersion model in which students are co-taught by two full-time classroom teachers, spending about half of the day in Chinese and about half in English.

Students residing in the Valley Park Elementary (VPE) attendance area will attend the immersion program at VPE. All other students' applications will be entered into the lottery for the Wolf Springs Elementary (WSE) program. The Chinese Immersion kindergarten classes at WSE and VPE are contingent on sufficient enrollment of 45. Selection is based on a random lottery, with no preference for early submissions. Siblings of current immersion students will have preference, regardless of home school. The enrollment application is available online through March 20, 2023. Consistent with past practice, if a program does not exceed program capacity by March 20, a lottery is not needed and enrollment remains open and monitored throughout the spring. For more information on the immersion program, visit www.bluevalleyk12.org/immersion.

Blue Valley has again entered into a partnership with Greenbush Education Service Center’s Virtual Academy for the 2023-24 school year. Blue Valley students in grades K-8 have an opportunity to enroll in the Greenbush Virtual Academy (GVA) for the 2023-24 school year. GVA is fully accredited by the Kansas State Department of Education and has administered a virtual program for several years. Last year, GVA partnered with nearly 90 districts, including Blue Valley, across the state to offer an all-virtual option to Kansas students.

GVA is a full-time virtual alternative to in-person attendance where students remain enrolled as Blue Valley students, but all coursework and content is delivered by GVA. For the 2023-24 academic year, we are asking families to make a commitment to remain in GVA for the entire school year. There will not be an option to switch back and forth between GVA and in-person learning.

Enrollment in GVA will be on a first come first serve basis. GVA has allocated a fixed number of spots to Blue Valley for our students. The GVA enrollment window will open on Monday, March 6th at 8:00 am and close on Friday, March 31st at 8:00 am.

To enroll your student in GVA, please complete the GVA Application Form. This form will not be open to complete until 8:00 am on Monday, March 6th. If you are enrolling multiple students, please complete a separate form for each student. After the enrollment window has closed on March 31st, you will receive an email letting families know if your student(s) have a spot in GVA, as well as further enrollment information required by GVA.

Heartland’s Culture Fair is returning during the school day on March 31st. We had an amazing Culture Fair in 2019 with many countries and cultures represented. Our students were able to immerse in different cultures and learn with artifacts, clothing, spices, dances, books and games. Please consider sharing your heritage and culture with all grade levels by bringing artifacts, clothing, spices, games, or anything else that has meaning to you and your family (no food please). The more, the merrier even if we have many repeats! Please email Sara Aitken, librarian at Heartland, with any questions. You can sign up here.

We are so excited to start the process to welcome our Kindergarten families for the Fall of 2023. Children who reside in Blue Valley Schools and turn 5 years of age by August 31 are eligible to attend kindergarten that school year. If you live in the Heartland Elementary boundaries and will have an incoming Kindergarten student next fall, please click on this link to pre-register.

More information will be shared with you after you pre-register including welcome videos, online registration instructions, and information about Kindergarten Round Up in April.

Please pass this link on to neighbors that might not have a student in our system and might not yet receive our weekly emails!

Click here for a list of Heartland Family Owned Businesses. Click here to add to the list.

Thank you to all families who donated to Heartland Library’s Birthday Book Club. Your donation helps to library to purchase new library books for all students to read and enjoy. Not familiar with our program? Read below for more information.

Students at Heartland have a wonderful way to have their special day recognized for years to come. Our library’s Birthday Book Club is available to students in all grades. By donating $15 to the Library Media Center, your child will be able to choose a special book to be placed in our library collection and be the first student to read the new book.

Here’s how it works. Prior to your child’s birthday, he/she can come to the library and select a Birthday Book from our cart of brand new books in all different genres. A nameplate will be placed in the front of the book and your child’s picture will be taken and displayed with the book in the library. This program is optional but it does provide our library with exciting new titles throughout the school year. The average cost of a library bound book is $17.30!

You can make your donation anytime during the year by paying through this Heartland link: https://bvpo.bluevalleyk12.org or send in a check made payable to Heartland Elementary to the front office.

Daily Snacks: Thank you for your support of our nut-safer snack plan at HRT. As a reminder: we ask that ALL daily snacks (i.e. snack time) for ALL students must come from the nut-safer food list as we have a significant number of students with life-threatening nut allergies. (click below for the link) If a student’s snack is not from this approved list, it will be sent home (and an alternate snack will be provided the first time) so we can help increase the safety for our students as a whole. Our continued focus this year, as an entire school, is to remain consistent on the daily snacks for student snack time in the classrooms—following the nut-safer list.

Please click HERE to access the Nut-Safer food list.

Heartland Elementary’s policy for birthday treats prohibits students and parents from bringing birthdays treats from home—edible or non-edible. This is due to several factors including health, safety, and the preservation of instructional time. Birthdays are a special time for each child and as such, the school will provide recognition throughout the day and throughout the school through announcements, birthday book club from the library, classroom celebration routines, and more. If birthday treats are sent to school during the 2022-23 school year, they will not be distributed and will be sent home. Also, if you send it invitations to birthday parties, please include all students in the class, or they will not be distributed. Thank you for understanding and complying to this policy.

• Call the HRT office at 913-239-6300
• Email HeartlandElementary@bluevalleyk12.org