Rockcliffe Park Public School

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Rockcliffe Park Public School (RPPS) is a public elementary school in the Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1922. As it is located in the centre of Ottawa's wealthiest neighbourhood, it has long educated the children of politicians and ambassadors. In Canada, it is rare for elementary school students to attend private schools. Near the school are Ottawa's two most prominent private schools, Elmwood School and Ashbury College, to which many students move after Rockcliffe.

Perhaps the most prominent former students are Queen Beatrix and Princess Irene, who attended the school while the Dutch Royal Family was in exile during the Second World War. Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper's children attend the school, as did the three sons of Pierre Trudeau and the children of John Turner. Actor Matthew Perry and Simon Pulsifer also attended the school.

As well as Rockcliffe and neighbouring New Edinburgh, the school also draws students from the Lower Town and Sandy Hill areas of Ottawa, for its French immersion program, in which the majority of students are enrolled. The school is also well known for its annual Book Fair, a used book sale that acts as a fundraiser for the school. Rockcliffe is twinned with Guardian Angel Primary School in Pitseng, Lesotho. This twinning is helped by the organization Help Lesotho. Rockcliffe Park is the first school in Canada to twin with another school in Lesotho.

Since the school has a major relationship to the Dutch Royal Family, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ottawa is partnered with the school.

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Hughes, Graham. "This School is a Truce Slice of Society." The Ottawa Citizen. Friday, Jan 27, 2006. pg. F3