Curriculum night

In case you missed the notice over on the school blog: unfortunately curriculum night has been postponed until the work-to-rule situation has been resolved.

Pizza lunch - September 30

Pizza lunch is on Wednesday September 30. Orders are due Friday September 25th. You should already have received an order envelope; if not, you can download and print a copy. Please circle the Sept 30 date.

Pizza lunch is one of our School Council’s most important fundraising initiatives. Thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated volunteers, pizza lunch raises thousands of dollars for the school. The proceeds fund things like library books and e-reading materials, iPads for classroom use, sports equipment and more. Attend an upcoming school council meeting to share your views on what the school needs most.

Thank you very much for your support. 

Supporting student achievement

We had a productive school council meeting last Wednesday. We have a new executive, which includes chair Irit Hartman, vice-chair Wendy Whittle, treasurer Russ P., secretary Reka Nicholas and fundraising chair Joanne Benson. These are time-consuming volunteer commitments and and on behalf of the rest of us -- thank you to the executive for taking them on!

As there were funds left over from last year's fundraising, the council approved some new spending to support student achievement at the school:

1. We've allocated $3,000 to purchase 10 new Chromebooks for the school. These join the ones that we already have (40, I believe - please post below if I am mistaken). Teachers can sign out a group of these computers for their class to use for a period of time, then they are returned to the administration to be recharged for the next group. Students usually use them in pairs, so 15-20 are usually sufficient for one class. The goal is to have 60 by the end of the school year, so that more classes can use them at once.

2. We also assigned $100 per homeroom class ($2,700 total) to be put toward an experiential learning activity of some sort. This can be either a field trip or an in-class activity such as Scientists in Schools, music or art workshops, an author reading or musical or theatrical performance. Classes can use this money individually or pool their spending to take best advantage of these funds. We will report back later in the year on specifically what activities these funds supported.

None of this would be possible without the incredible volunteers who organize our fundraisers. If you can help too, please write to clairleacouncil@gmail.com. Volunteers are needed for various one-time events, both daytime and evening, throughout the year. Even an hour or two is a huge help.

It also wouldn't be possible without you, all the great Clairlea families who buy pizza, attend fund fairs, come to movie nights and order through our Norcard shopping campaign (coming soon). Thank you!

As you know, the Clairlea snack program is moving to 5 days/week starting in October. Thank you to everyone who sent in their donations. You should be aware that your donation of $10/month covers approximately one-third of the total cost. One-third is funded by a grant from the Toronto Foundation for Student Success. The remaining one-third must be raised by school fundraising - so your active participation is greatly appreciated by those 600-odd hungry mouths at Clairlea! thank you! 

Phase 3 of teachers' work-to-rule strike begins Monday

The ETFO has directed teachers to escalate their work-to-rule/strike activity starting Monday.

CTV news has the details on what this means. In a nutshell: no meetings with parents unless there's a specific concern; no blogs, websites or newsletters; no changes to IEPs after the initial deadline; no report card comments; no extra-curriculars on Wednesdays.

The TDSB posted this information for parents about the labour negotiations.

The union is threatening rotating strikes in October if no agreement has been reached by then.

School council tomorrow!

Welcome back to Clairlea, everyone! I hope that all the kids are settling nicely into their routines. I would like to introduce myself - I'm Catharine, the parent of a grade 5 student at Clairlea. I write this blog to share information about the Clairlea School Council and the school community.

This year's first school council meeting is tomorrow evening, Wednesday Sept 16, 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the school. Child-minding is available.

Please join us as we elect our school council executive and begin to plan the year's activities. Everyone is welcome, whether or not you wish to become a voting member of school council.

What is school council?

School councils are a way for parents and guardians to get involved in their children's education. Their primary function is to improve student achievement and enhance the accountability of the education system to parents.*

Every school in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has one. According to the TDSB, school councils "advise the principal and the Board on a variety of issues and activities relating to student achievement, curriculum goals and priorities, school budget priorities, school safety, renovation plans, after school activities, and criteria for selection of new principals." School councils can make recommendations to their principals and school boards on any matter.*

School councils also raise money to help improve the school. Come to tomorrow's meeting to find out what Clairlea School Council's 2014-2015 fundraising accomplished!

Who gets to be a member?**

Any parent can be a member (up to 50 parent members)
The principal or vice-principal is a (non-voting) member
One teacher (elected by his/her colleagues)
One non-teaching employee of the school (elected by his/her colleagues)
One student can be a member, if appointed by the principal
One or more community members, if appointed by the council

Who can attend meetings?

Anyone in the Clairlea community can attend meetings. That means you! Whether or not you are a voting member, please do come and share your views on how we can enhance the school. Join us tomorrow, Wednesday Sept 16, 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the school. Child-minding is available.

*School Councils: a guide for members (p.1.1)
**School Councils: a guide for members (p.3.1)