November 1, 2007 School
Council Meeting
Topics of Discussion:
1) EQAO
The Grade 3 class did great!! The Grade 6 class however, did not do as well. The staff will now go through all of the tests to determine where the children need help in order to support them, whether that be with the staff or the aid of computer technology.
Homework Tutor Club has been organized and will start next week Tuesday, November 6 after school and will be for 2 nights per week (Tuesday and Thursday) for a six week period, three times per year. This is mainly for grades 3 to 6 but any children in grades 1 – 8 that require extra homework/study time may join the club. The club will be staffed by Kim Jackson and the main focus is on literacy and numeracy.
Book Club for the staff is well on its way, it helps with teaching techniques and in the end the children will benefit and also we should see ongoing positive results with the EQAO testing. (Remember to use full sentences when possible.) J
2) Treasurer’s Report
The approximate balance in the account is $3,384.22. The children and staff loved the Turkey Dinner and apparently we ran out of mashed potatoes but everyone did at least have one serving.
3) Sound System
Phase I of the sound system is well underway, and as discussed previously, the cost of this phase is $1,950.86. Al mentioned that the cabinet that will hold the sound system and CD player have already been purchased with the chocolate bar fundraising campaign. Great job Al!
4) Family Picture Fund Raising
The time slots for November 24th and 25th are filling up quickly, some time that was still available was for Saturday morning due to the fact that is when the majority are running to the local arenas for hockey etc. Jodi has made exceptions for some families due to Silver Stick commitments, so all in all this fund raising idea is turning out to be a major success!! Some parental supervision will definitely be required on both days as Jodi’s parents also sell Christmas Trees and Mrs. A’s General Store has items for sale and we would not want any complications that weekend. Jodi will send out a letter with respect to this matter and hopefully we can get some parent volunteers. The real busy times are 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. approximately.
5) Valentine’s Dance
On Saturday, February 9th we will have another exciting fund raising event – A Valentine’s Dance which will be held at the Bothwell Legion and we were looking at approximately $15 per couple admission fee. The Legion rental fee will be donated to us and the only other cost would be the D.J. and a midnight lunch. This should be a lot of fun!
6) Bake Sale
We very briefly touched base upon this topic to have a bake sale at the school, something like what St. Ignatius used to do, two dates were mentioned February 8th and the 14th, and this will be discussed further at our next meeting.
7) Other
– The Halloween Parade was missed by the Grade 5 and 6 class this year, and therefore, we will have to think of something for them next year.
– The Baptist Church does a can drive, perhaps next year, everyone that comes to school wearing a costume can bring in a canned item.
– Bob Hamilton is coming in to talk to the children about the United Way. Al mentioned that one idea would be that the children rake leaves and then the proceeds would go to the United Way. Helping the community and fund raising all go hand-in-hand.
– The fire drill was a record setting time of 49 seconds for everyone to be evacuated from the building, the firemen were very impressed. Great job, it shows just how great the staff and children work together as a team!
– The tornado drills have been executed and have also been very successful.
– Lockdown drills will be executed very carefully (i.e. with no children in the building). Lockdown drills are very serious in nature and could be traumatizing to the younger aged children.
– The silent auction will take place during Education Week in May and will be a major topic of discussion going forward.
– We need a parent volunteer to continue with the collection of Campbell Soup labels and Harvey Food receipts as this will be the last year that Lori will be doing this.