Message from the chair

Dear Clairlea Families…

The school year is well underway and things are getting busy and we as your School Council are working hard to put forth a fun year!  We have had our first School Council meeting which included the elections for the School Council executive.  Congratulations to our 2015/16 elected positions:

Vice Chair – Wendy Whittle

Treasurer – Russell Preece

Fundraising – Joanne Benson

Secretary – Reka Nicholas

WHEN DO WE MEET…

School Council meetings take place every 3^rd Wednesday of each month.  The next school council meeting is on Wednesday October 21^st from 7pm-8:30pm. Free child minding is available.  All are welcome and we hope to see you there! 

The Agenda for School Council meeting usually follow this format:

6:50 – 7:00pm Sell 50/50 tickets (optional)

7:00 – 7:10pm Introduction and voting in the past minutes (Irit)                              

7:10 – 7:35pm Administration Report (Mr. Mcgilvray and Ms. Karsh)

7:35 – 7:45pm Treasurer’s Report (Russ)

7:45 – 8:00pm Fundraising Report (Joanne)

8:00 – 8:25pm Open Discussion (All)

8:25 – 8:30pm 50/50 draw

WHAT'S COMING UP.....

I’ve outlined below some key dates coming up as well as where we could use your help for the upcoming HALLOWEEN HOWL FUNDRAISER on Friday October 30^th!  Please have a look through and as always we want to hear your comments so please contact us via clairleacouncil@gmail.com   Other places to look for information about Clairlea School Council Events are; The School Council bulletin board located outside the Main Office  and the School Council Blog http://clairleacouncil.blogspot.com to keep up to date of what is going on! 

PLEASE HELP! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE HOWL… We are looking for volunteers to help out during the Halloween Howl Event on October 30^th.  The Howl is one of our largest and most popular events that we run at Clairlea.  In order for it to be a success we need people to run the many moving parts that make up the fun event.  Year after year we have had the strong involvement and support from the staff at Clairlea but this year given the work to rule situation that is not possible even though the staff want to be involved the situation does not allow them to do so, which makes parent involvement even more critical.  If you want to help out please email us at clairleacouncil@gmail.com.

WHAT IS THE HOWL? Please save the date and bring the children out for a fun time on Friday October 30^th from 5:30-8:00pm.  We encourage the children to dress up in their favourite costume so that they can participate in the contest at the end of the evening!  Bring your own loot bag/recycle bag to the Howl to enable the kids to collect all their goodies when they travel from room to room and partake in fun activities – featuring our very popular “HAUNTED LIBRARY”.  Entry is only $5.00/per child and parents are free.  We will be offering the option of a pizza dinner during the event so there is no need to make dinner.  Make things easier on yourself and leave the dinner to us and you just need to enjoy the event and pick up your dinner in the gym. Check the backpacks over the next couple of weeks to look for a preorder dinner envelope along with a map featuring all activities for the night.  In order for this event to run we need your help and I have listed below ways you can help make the Halloween Howl a great success!

 OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

1.        DECORATION DROP OFF: We need Halloween decorations to get the school ready for the Halloween Howl!!  Starting October 5^th there will be a large blue bin in front of the main office of the school where you can drop off all items.  Spend $5 dollars in the dollar store and drop it off in the bin.  We are looking for:
-  Spider Webs – many of these
-  Black plastic dollar store Table Cloths – many of these

-  Candy Lollipops for the Lollipop Pull Room
-  Lots of Candy (nut free) to hand out or in small jars or baggies

2.       PERSONAL AND/OR CORPORATE DONTATIONS:  We are always looking for gift donations that we can use as prizes or raffles during the Halloween Howl.  If you or your company would like to donate a prize or gift to be used as one of our prizes during the event please contact us at clairleacouncil@gmail.com.

3.       HOME MADE CANDY JARS/BAGS:  We need many candy jars to be used as prizes for the Lollipop Pull room.  You can help by filling any sized jar or little baggy with (nut free) candy and bring it to the school office anytime between now and the Halloween Howl.  The more jars we have the longer this room will be able to stay open and it is definitely one of the favourite rooms.  In past years we have needed approximately 400 jars/bags to have this room open for the entire event.  Feel free to decorate your jars as well.   

4.       HALLOWEEN CANDY:  We need peanut free Halloween candy to be used as prizes in various rooms.  Please pick up a bag of candy and drop it off in the blue bin in front of the main office.

NORCARD…  (DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 9^TH)  Over the last few days you should have received a Red and White Holiday Magic Norcard Fundraising Catalog.  This shopping catalog is filled with items you can order such as; calendars, greeting cards, stationary items,  jewelry, kitchen items, phone charge cords, USB adapter wall chargers and much more just in time for the holiday season.  The Ordered Items will arrive approximately the end of November 2015 (perhaps sooner).  All money (cash or cheque) and order forms (with completed legible contact information and order details) must be returned to your classroom no later than FRIDAY OCTOBER 9^TH 2015.   Cheques must be made payable to “Clairlea School Council”.   If you have not received the Catalog or need an additional order form we have left extras in the Main Office.  This fundraiser enables Clairlea to receive up to 50% of all orders made.  Late orders will not be accepted and will be returned back to you.

HOW TO REACH US…

If you would like to unsubscribe to this email (we hope you don’t) or know someone that would like to be added to the distribution list please send a request to clairleacouncil@gmail.com.  We would like to hear your feedback and suggestions.  If you are not able to come to the next meeting and want to contribute ideas please email them to us or drop a note in the council box in the office and we can bring them forward to the meeting.   

You can contact us via email at clairleacouncil@gmail.com, on the blog at http://clairleacouncil.blogspot.com, or have a look at our bulletin board outside the office for the latest news.

Best Regards,

Irit

Chairperson, Clairlea School Council
2015/2016

clairleacouncil@gmail.com