November 17 Parent Council Meeting

Agenda Items:

1. School Update
2. 2010-2011 planning
3. Update on Volunteers
4. Fundraising Discussion
5. Other

Greening Project Inviation for October 15th

2010-2011 School Council Elections

When: Wednesday September 22nd
Where: Library
Time: 7:00-8:30 PM


Agenda:
(1) Elections (30 minutes)
. Introduction to Council process – Richard
. 2009-2010 Council dissolution – Richard
. 2010-2011 Council elections – All
(2) School welcome (15 minutes) – Randy, Lori
(3) 2010-2011 planning (45 minutes) – All
. Financial status – Ozzie
. Preliminary plans – All
. School “wish list” – Randy, Lori
. Next steps - All

Coming Soon...

June Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for the Wednesday June 16th meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Financial update
• BBQ summary
  
• September programs set up, i.e. school entry, Treasures Book
  
• August meeting scheduling
  
• Other

May Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for the Wednesday May 19th meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Financial update
• BBQ planning
• 2010/2011 fundraising programs
• Other

French Immersion Information Meeting Recap

This provides a summary of discussions at last night's French Immersion Information Session:

• Waterloo Region District School Board only offers "partial french immersion" as per provincial standards. The province stipulates that instruction from grade 1-7 must be 50% and reach a minimum of instructional french hours 3800hrs. Due to the fact in grade 7 and 8 we fall to the mid 30%, this reduction equals a 318hr shortage over the grade 1 to 8 time span.
• If you choose to have you child continue in the immersion program in high school it is the principal of that schools discretion whether your child will be allowed in the program. The reason is that our children do not hit that 3800hrs milestone of french instruction and therefore have not met provincial standards. That being said as long as children go through the 1-8 in our school board the principal will always approve them to continue. There is no recorded cases where a student has not been allowed to continue.
• Other boards are offering immersion earlier like JK and/or are providing 100% french instruction in jk and grade 1. Studies prove that children are like sponges in earlier years and pick up second language easiest at this stage in their lives.
• If your child moved to another school board you might have to "make up hours" or not be able to continue the immersion program since we fall short in instructional hours. It would be the discretion of that school/school board.
• Our high school program is on par with school boards across the province and meets provincial standards.
• The only reason our school board is running the partial french immersion program is because that is what we have always done historically. Seems to be no other reason.
• There have been some motions in recent years (2008 and 2009) to have this changed. The motions were to bring the board in line with provincial standards. There was also a motion to create a french immersion school. One of these motions was brought forward by a school trustee and one from the school board itself, both were voted down.
• Some discussion at the board level is if they were to offer 50% immersion at grade 7 and 8 what subjects would they teach in french that are being taught in french currently? Some of the subjects being looked at were math and visual arts.
• Parents can form a delegation and present a proposal at a school trustee meeting.
• Parents need to inform their principal of their desire to have the system changed.
• Parents need to let the respective school trustees know that they would like to see changes. Unless the trustees know that the community would like to see changes why would they otherwise?
• Parents should try to form a unified voice in order to have one consistent message along with showing the board there is a greater interest in changes to the program.
• CQAO provincial standardized testing is administered in only english even though immersion students learn math only in french up to that point. Some other school boards do offer both english and french based test. The results are always very consistent that immersion students always score the highest right across the board in all subjects across the province. Learning a second language at an early age helps develop a higher cognitive thought process which helps results in stronger results academically.
• There is not a shortage of teachers who could teach immersion if the board decided to change. This ruled out that concern as to why we do not meet that 3800 hours bench mark.
• The demand for french immersion in the region is growing each year. Parents are seeing the value in the program and are making the switch more and more.

Any questions? Reach out to any CMPS council member.

French Immersion Information Meeting

Bonjour! You have made a great decision to enroll your child in the French Immersion program offered by Waterloo District School Board. Did you know, however, that your child is in a partial French Immersion program only and not a full French Immersion program? In order for the Ontario government to recognize the program as French Immersion there needs to be 50% instruction in French. Our partial immersion program from grades 1-6 has 476hrs of French instruction which represents 50%. In grade 7-8 we drop to 313 instructional hours of French which equates to 35%. Other school boards do offer a recognized full immersion program through the 1-8 grades. Should we not have that at our schools also?

The good news is that with recent changes this school year we now have G.C.I. offering a French Immersion Certificate Program.

Join us for an information session with a school board representative. Take the time to attend, ask questions about the program, along with what we can do to make changes.

• Date: Thursday May 13th
• Where: Clemens Mill PS library
• Time: 6:00 - 7:00PM

Let's Help Make Cancer History

Our school has joined the battle against cancer by deciding to host a Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life event at our school. Relay For Life is a non-competitive event in which participants walk, run or stroll around a track and raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society to support research and community services for people living with cancer. Relay For Life brings together students, teachers, family members and friends to celebrate cancer survivors with a Survivors’ Victory Lap and to honour the memory of loved ones with a special Luminary Ceremony.

* When: Friday, April 30 from 11:32 t0 3:00 p.m.
* School contact: Agnes Guillou
* Phone: 519 -740-2364


All are welcome. Join us, make a difference!

April Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for the Wednesday April 21st meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Financial update
• BBQ planning
• French Immersion information session
• 2010/2011 fundraising programs
• Other

All parents welcome!

Priorities Survey Budget 2010-2011

Want to say in Waterloo Region District School Board planning? Contribute to this simple and short survey.

March Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for the Wednesday March 24th meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Equity and Inclusion Committee
• Financial update
• Parent seminar follow up
• BBQ planning
• French Immersion information session
• 2010/2011 fundraising programs
• Other

All parents welcome!

Workshop for Parents - Raising Responsible Children

Clemens Mill at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver

Courtesy of Willy Bassin, Race Course Volunteer, Alpine Skiing Events

February Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for the Wednesday February 17th meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Financial update inc. PRO grant status
• Status parent seminar
• Update on school ECO challenge
• Brainstorming 2010/2011 fundraising programs
• Pictures for Dolphin newsletter article(s)
• BBQ planning
• French Immersion information session
• Other

All are welcome to attend!

Community clean up day on Saturday, April 17, 2010

Preston High School is hosting an information night to share information about a planned community clean up day and are looking to partner with and involve other schools in this initiative.

As Earth Day is approaching, the Preston High School Parent council, would like to bring our communities and schools together to clean up our neighbourhoods. Our parent and student councils are working alongside our Neighbourhood Associations to bring this initiative together. The City of Cambridge is also involved and has plans to provide some equipment and supplies for our clean up event to make our City a cleaner place to work, play and be educated. We are making plans to have a community clean up day on Saturday, April 17, 2010 (10 a.m. - 12 noon). We would like to invite your school council chairs/members, and/or any staff who are interested in becoming involved or get details, to join us for an information evening on Wed. Feb. 24, 2010, 7 p.m. at PHS in the Library.

We look forward to having some members of your school councils present.

Making connections to Haiti

Making connections to Haiti. Clemens Mill Public School teacher Dana Papalia and students (from left) Marley Abraham, Alex Whitman and Kimberly Evans donned IPods and hats Friday to raise funds to help Haiti. Lisa Rutledge, Times photo

When Clemens Mill Public School teacher Dana Papalia talks to her students about life in Haiti, she doesn’t have to look at the pages of any textbook.

After spending a year teaching in a small suburb outside of Port-au-Prince about 13 years ago, the Grade 7/8 teacher can teach lessons about world poverty straight from the heart.

“It’s such a poor country,” she said of Haiti. “Going there is like stepping back in time.”

Yet somewhere in the chaos that reigned in the country during her year there, she remembers how children felt happy and lucky just to have a plastic bottle for a game of soccer.

Those somehow seem like the good times now. Papalia can’t imagine the tragic scenes now playing out in the country in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake that has seen more than 150,000 Haitians buried in government graves. She can’t tear herself away from news coverage about Haiti and relief efforts being co-ordinated worldwide.

That personal connection to Haiti helped fuel a school fundraising campaign at Clemens Mill. She put out a call to students, staff and parents for support.

“Having taught there for a year, I really felt compelled that we do something as a school,” she said.

That call hasn’t gone unanswered. In a matter of days, the school raised $4,000 through ticket raffle sales, cash donations and various fundraising events. On Friday, students paid $1 to wear a hat, $1 to chew gum and $1 to listen to an IPod, – at appropriate times – during the school day. Kids lined up for a chance to buy raffle tickets during their lunch breaks.

The individual efforts, many led by a group of students, have helped fundraising totals skyrocket by hundreds of dollars each day. And donations are still coming in. The school hopes to reach $5,000 before the end of the week.

While Papalia is overwhelmed with pride at how quickly donations have been raised by the school, she’s also energized by students’ genuine interest in learning about Haiti and how they can make a difference. It’s global issues playing out in real time.

“This is not a textbook,” she said. “This is not a documentary. This is part of real life.”

Donations raised by public schools in the district will benefit a number of charities offering aid to Haiti including the Canadian Red Cross and the Mennonite Central Committee.

CambridgeTimes.ca

French Immersion and Extended French Programs

For parents wanting more information about French Immersion and Extended French Programs in high school, see the Galt Collegiate Institute (GCI) website for more information. We will also be holding a session at Clemens Mill PS for parents wanting to learn more about French Immersion in general. Stay tuned for more.

January Council Meeting Agenda

This provides a preliminary agenda for this Wednesday's meeting, 7:00PM, in the Art Room:

• Update on budgets (Ozzie)
• Update on spending (Roger, Alison)
• Update on fundraising (Ozzie)
• Update on special lunch programs - learning (Kathy)
• Second half planning and programs (Richard)
• Parent seminar selection (Richard)
• French Immersion information session (all)
• People for Education school council survey (all)
• Other (all)

All are welcomed!

SAVE BIG, parents - Last call for Treasures Coupon Books!

What You Need to Know …

1. Each book sells for $32. As a bonus, Clemens Mill Public School will also benefit from the sale of the 2010 Treasures® Coupon Book. But that’s not the goal of the program. It’s to help you save your money!
2. To get your 2010 Treasures® Coupon Book(s), just return the attached order form and envelope with cash or cheques payable to Clemens Mill PS Council.
3. Savings can really add up and the book quickly pays for itself with as little as 1 or 2 coupons. Tell neighbours, tell family and tell friends! And the more books your child can sell, the greater the prizes!
4. Everyone who purchases a Treasures® Coupon Book can also sign up for additional online offers at www.TreasuresBook.ca. More savings, no hassles!
5. There a lots of fun prizes for students

Thanks in advance for your support of Clemens Mill PS.