Movie night Friday Nov 27

Notes from School Council (CORRECTED)

In addition to what Irit shared recently, here are some things we learned at the School Council meeting earlier this week.

Ward 18 Forum

Trustee Parthi Kandavel will host a meeting for all Ward 18 parents on the evening of December 8. Guest speaker Trevor Brown will share information about helping students learn mathematics.  CORRECTION: this is actually December 10 - details here

Report Cards and IEPs will be sent home by Dec 11. Parent-teacher interviews, if needed, have already been requested by the teachers (usually only in cases where there is a concern). The next round of parent-teacher interviews will be in February after the Feb report cards. 

Trips and Extracurriculars are back on track now that the work-to-rule campaign has ended. Teachers have also started updating their blogs. (see list at right) Earlier this year, the School Council offered to contribute $100 to each of Clairlea's 27 classrooms; this money is to help defray the costs of an experiential learning activity for the kids (either a field trip or an in-class activity such as Scientists in Schools). 

Facilities

- The kindergarten sandpit, which was problematic, has been replaced with mulch and a slide. 

- All portables are now fully wireless (meaning that every part of the school where students learn is now connected to WiFi)

- The new portable (P3) now has a paved path, which will ensure the necessary snow removal in winter

- The broken bridge on the play structure at the back playground area is unfortunately not scheduled for repair. It would be ridiculously expensive to fix. It has been boarded up to protect children from falling. 

Clubs now underway (see school blog or contact the office for details)

- Gr 7 & 8 homework club meets Tuesdays and Thursdays after school

- Primary art club (Gr 1-3), led by older students

- Jewellery making club (Gr 4-6?) led by Ms Avdylaj

- Primary soccer

- Jr & Sr volleyball

- Student Leadership Team (Gr 7&8)

Events

- Book fair a huge success, raised $3000 worth of books for Clairlea library

- Nov 27 Spirit Day (wacky hat day) and Panther Assembly

- Dec ? - festive outfit day

- There will be a kindergarten holiday concert - during the schoolday, date TBD

The Howl was extremely successful, with 370 students in attendance. Proceeds of $3,600 will be put toward kindergarten play equipment; technology; and arts programming. 

Does anyone have photos from The Howl? Please send to clairleacouncil@gmail.com. 

Spending

In addition to the 10 Chromebooks that the School Council agreed to pay for in September, this week we agreed to pay for another 10 at an incremental cost of $3000. The school currently has 60 Chromebooks and seeks to bring that number to 90 by the end of the year. A third charging cart is needed but the hope is that a used one will be donated. 

The School Council also continues to support the snack program. 

Last month, we contributed to the cost of bringing an incubator to the school, so the kids can observe eggs hatching into chicks. 

Clairlea's fundraising programs have been tremendously successful this year, and great thanks are due to the volunteers who coordinate these programs as well as the many families who participate in things like The Howl, pizza lunch, the book fair and the Norcard catalogue. Thank you. Stay tuned for a possible Fun Fair when the weather gets warm! 

Please return overdue library books

Over on the Clairlea Library blog, Ms. Vincent is requesting that families scour their homes for overdue library books and return them to the school. Starting next week, borrowing will be suspended for students with overdue books.

Message from the Chair

Most of you will have received this via email directly from Irit, but just in case:

DEAR CLAIRLEA FAMILIES…

We have had a very successful couple of months with respect to fundraising and we have you to thank.  If it were not for the volunteers giving of their time and working behind the scenes as well as the countless donations and contributions from people along with all the students, Clairlea families, Clairlea Staff and Community that support the fundraisers by purchasing, participating and contributing we would not have the successes we’ve had.  Thank you to all!

HERE’S HOW WE ARE DOING SO FAR….

HALLOWEEN HOWL – We surpassed last year’s event.  Thank you to all the families that came to the event.   We had approximately 370 kids come through the doors, many with maps in hand!  We raised over $3600.00 in net profits.  We could not have done this if it were not for the generosity of the many volunteers and contributors in the Clairlea community.   We received countless decorations dropped off in the office, about 350 plus candy jars for the lollipop pull which raised approximately $441.00, wonderful people sought out many prize donations which were given for the Loonie Toss room raising approximately $500.00, as well as the front door raffle, and a dedicated group of high school students from the community, most of which were Clairlea alumni!  Clairlea students worked diligently to prepare the windows in the library to ensure a scary dark environment for the haunted library.  The fantastic signs for each room were made by our own Clairlea students. Thank you to the local police constables that dropped by and stayed for part of the evening to chat and answer questions.  Thank you to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly in the rooms during the event.   We thank the Clairlea staff for trusting us with their classrooms.  Also a big thank you to the administration for their help, flexibility and endless eagerness to always move forward in a positive direction.  All Loonie Toss winners and candy count jar winners have been contacted.

NORCARD WINTER CATALOGUE ORDERS – Thank you to all of you that placed orders for the Norcard Catalogue Fundraiser.  The items have arrived and have been sorted and given to your kids to bring home or you received a call if the order was too big to carry.  If you received a call please pick up your order in the office this week.  We managed to collect over $5000.00 in product orders of which 50% ($2400+) of it goes to Clairlea. 

SO WHAT’S NEXT…?

NEXT CLAIRLEA COUNCIL MEETING - Our next meeting will take place tonight Wednesday November 18^th @ 7pm until 8:30pm.   Free child minding is available and all are welcome!  Please note we will not have a meeting in December and council will meet again in January 2016.  

NOVEMBER AGENDA:

6:45 – 7:00pm - Selling 50/50 tickets to be drawn at the end of the meeting (purchase is optional)

7:00 – 7:05pm - Introduction (Irit)

7:05 – 7:35pm - Administration Report (Mr. Mcgilvray and Ms. Karsh)

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

7:45 – 7:55pm - Fundraising Report (Joanne)

7:55 – 8:25pm - Open Discussion (All)

8:25 – 8:30pm - 50/50 draw and wrap up (Irit)

PIZZA LUNCH OCTOBER – As per usual Pizza lunch is a big hit.  Thanks to the hard work of our regular pizza lunch volunteer crew we raise approximately $1000.00 net profit each month.  Reminder your pizza lunch envelopes are due this Friday November 20^th and pizza lunch is next Wednesday November 25^th.

CLAIRLEA MOVIE NIGHT NOVEMBER 27^th - Our first movie night of the year will take place on Friday November 27^th at 7:00pm sharp, featuring “Inside Out”.  We hope to see you there!  This event is open to children in grade 6 and under.  If you have never experienced a Clairlea movie night before please come out and give it a try it is a fun night out for the family.  All movies are shown in the gym and children are welcome to dress in their pajamas and bring blankets and pillows and get comfortable while they watch the big screen.  The cost is $2.00 per person (child or adult).  Snacks and drinks are sold at the movie.  All friends and family are welcome whether you attend Clairlea or not.  This movie is open to all children grade 6 and lower only.  All children must be have adult supervision with them for the evening.  (See flyer attached).

HOW TO REACH US…

If you 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.  Do you have any feedback about the Halloween Howl, Norcard or any fundraiser and how we can make it better for next year or what you liked about it this year?  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

Clairlea School Council

School Council meets tonight

The School Council meets tonight, 7pm at the school. Everyone is welcome.

Here's the agenda:

6:45 – 7:00pm - Selling 50/50 tickets to be drawn at the end of the meeting (purchase is optional)
7:00 – 7:05pm - Introduction (Irit)
7:05 – 7:35pm - Administration Report (Mr. McGilvray and Ms. Karsh)
7:35 – 7:45pm - Treasurer’s Report (Russ)
7:45 – 7:55pm - Fundraising Report (Joanne)
7:55 – 8:25pm - Open Discussion (All)
8:25 – 8:30pm - 50/50 draw and wrap up (Irit)

Pizza lunch – November 25

Pizza lunch is on Wednesday November 25. Orders are due November 20. You should already have received an order envelope; if not, you can download and print a copy. Please circle November’s 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.

Thank you very much for your support. 

Work to rule campaign ends!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for not posting for the past couple of weeks -- our family was travelling. I hear that the Halloween Howl was terrific. I know that was thanks to all those who volunteered their time, made donations, and came to enjoy the event.

You've no doubt heard on the news that the teacher's union has called an end to its work to rule campaign in light of the tentative labour deal that was reached yesterday with the government. I know we're all very glad to see the end of this disruption. The students will receive report cards, with comments, in December. Details in this Toronto Star article.