Queen Elizabeth School Parent Council 2015-16 Year End Report June 27, 2016 Prepared by Jennifer Kresin and Cheryl Turgeon, Co-Chairs Queen Elizabeth School Parent Council Sault Ste Marie, ON

The primary function of the Parents School Council at Queen Elizabeth School has been to act as liaison between the school parent community and the staff and administration of the school and the Algoma District School Board. In the past school year, this function was fulfilled as the Council helped to serve an advisory role on certain issues brought forward by our school's Vice-Principal and Principal, representing the concerns and ideas of the parent community, and helping to disseminate information to parents from the ADSB and staff and administration of Queen Elizabeth School.

This year provided some new challenges with 2 changes in our staffing of the position of Principal and a work-to-rule situation for teachers and staff for the first few months of the school year. As a result, some of our traditional fall events had to be altered or cancelled and many parents stepped up to help make the school environment a safe and welcoming one despite the volatility.

The Council was comprised of a large group of enthusiastic, dedicated individuals, who shared the goal of ensuring that Queen Elizabeth School would continue to be a place to instill confidence, knowledge, skills and a sense of belonging in our children.

In addition to the general role as liaison, our Council has worked to provide many opportunities for all parents to be involved in the school community and to support our staff and students. Some of the highlights are as follows:

Green Apple Grant Programs The Council applied for, and was successful in obtaining, 4 grants of $1000 each from the Metro Green Apple Grant School Program for 4 specific projects within the school to promote healthy eating and lifestyle choices. These programs were carried out throughout the Jan-June portion of the school year due to the date of confirmation of receiving the grants and due to work-to-rule staffing issues in the fall of 2015. The four programs were very successful and greatly appreciated by parents, students and staff. The programs included: 1. "Queen E Eats": Part 1 - Superhero Food Fun Night - April 13, 2016 This program was designed and executed by parent volunteers with help from the APH School Nurse (Karen Hooey), our VP and Principal. This evening event of fun food "crime fighting" featured several tables of food demos, recipes and sample tasting. We focussed on healthy snack options, trying new, unfamiliar foods and packing healthy, eco-friendly lunches, and also set up an "x-ray germ vision" hand washing station, some fun, educational games and a superhero photo station Part 2 - Food Fun at the School BBQ - June 16, 2016 Food demos, recipes and samples of healthy party food and snack options, "Fun with Fruit" and a smoothie samples for the entire family Part 3 - Healthy Food Quiz Challenge - June 2016 aimed to grades 6,7,8 A fun, music-themed quiz to inspire thought towards healthy eating and lifestyle choices, with prizes given for participation

2. Healthy Treats Cooking Club A series of small group sessions hosted by parent volunteers to teach healthy snack and meal options that kids can prepare themselves, allowing kids to try out these new recipes. This program was run one day a week during first meal break over several months.

3. "Fruit and Veggie Friday" This program morphed (due to volunteer and food availability) into Soup Thursday, with parent volunteers making fresh vegetable-oriented soup for all students on most Thursdays for the second half of the school year. Several mugs were donated to the school by 4imprint.ca for this program and can be signed out by students.

4. "Healthtastic Smoothie Club" This program was run by parent volunteers and our public health nurse to provide fresh-made healthy smoothies and smoothie recipes one day a week for many weeks in the second half of the school year.

PRO Grant night In the spring of 2015, our previous Principal (Mrs. D. Kent) and current Vice-Principal (Mrs. C. Velcich) aided the Council in applying for a PRO Grant designed to bring parents out to the school to learn about technological aids and their role in education. The grant was approved and our event on May 11, 2016 was named "Appies and Apps", and helped illustrate various applications available to students of all grades in a variety of areas of educational growth. In order to encourage parent attendance, the grant helped cover costs for child care providers at the school during the event, the cost of bus passes as per advance requests and for refreshments focussing on fresh fruits and vegetables. Several teachers were in attendance at multiple stations, demonstrating several apps and providing information to aid in their use. Parents were encouraged to bring their own devices so that demonstrators could help download recommended free apps if desired. There was good attendance to the event (approx 85 people) and very positive feedback regarding the value to those present.

Annual Turkey Dinner This annual pre-Christmas event at Queen Elizabeth School has become a beloved tradition for all involved. A full turkey "dinner" with all the fixings was prepared and served for all students, teachers and a few special guests as a lunch on December 16th, 2015. The dinner was organized by Mme Coccimiglio (teacher), with a team of volunteers made up of parents and teachers. The event was funded by donations from Queen Elizabeth School, student families and School Council fundraising. The event served approximately 250 people and was a great success.

Breakfast Program This program, which provides breakfast to any student in the school who is interested, started in the second week of school in September and ran through the whole school year. Our Vice Principal, parent volunteers and student volunteers prepared and served healthy options to approximately 80 students each morning both in our breakfast room and in the classrooms as well. This program is funded through School Council fundraising, Algoma Family Services funding, as well as corporate and community donations. Of note, this year saw the installation of new cupboards in our Breakfast Room (courtesy of AFS and ADSB), and the donation of a new stove and a commercial grade dishwasher, courtesy of AFS.

Forest of Reading/Festival of Trees Our teacher representative, Mrs. Burmaster, informed the Council of this literacy-based program and its success at our school. Council voted to help fund the expense to send 15 Queen Elizabeth students and staff members to the Festival of Trees event held on May 27th to take part in reading/writing workshops and have the opportunity to meet authors of books from the program. Those who attended the Festival felt it was very worthwhile experience.

3rd Annual Royal Christmas Tea and Bazaar (Nov 14, 2015) Our Royal Tea and Bazaar provided a fun event for the school community, its guests and the community at large to come to the school to enjoy a holiday tea and craft show and serves as a school fundraiser. Attendees get a chance to do some Christmas shopping, enjoy tea service and share some holiday spirit. Funds raised through admission, vendor table rentals and corporate sponsorship were divided between the Council (to the general administration fund in the amount of $1071.00) and the Grade 8 Class for their year- end trip. This event was generously sponsored by Tim Horton's, Thyne Family Bakery, Princesses R Us and Scotiabank.

School Dances School Council volunteers helped organize and run two school family dances this school year, with Halloween and Valentine's Day/Family Day themes. These events are a lot of fun, are well-attended and help with fundraising and school community spirit. Donations and food sales raised $229.31 through the efforts of School Council, and additional funds for the grade 8 class were raised through their bake sale.

Fundraising Besides the specific events of the Christmas Tea and Bazaar and school dances, the Council ran several fundraising campaigns this year. These included:  Little Caesar's pizza orders (raised $1299.00)  McMillans Muffin and Cookie Dough (raised $552)  Paint Nite (fundraising for "Save our Elms" fund - raised $578.77)

Playground Maintenance For many years, our School Council has taken great care to continually improve and maintain our playground for the safety and enjoyment of our children, the betterment of their environment and the encouragement of physical activity and exploration. As part of our yard is dedicated to the memory of Master Cpl Scott Vernelli, a Canadian hero, former student, and son of a former beloved staff member. We take great care to reflect pride and respect in our surrounding property and to encourage this in our children as well. This school year saw maintenance to our playground slide and plans to install new tetherball equipment in the fall of 2016. The Council continues to raise funds to cover costs ($1000) incurred in the spring of 2015 to proactively treat our several large elm trees in attempt to prevent Dutch Elm Disease which has claimed most local elms in recent years.

Parent Involvement Committee Workshop Our Council Co-Chair Jennifer Kresin attended the PIC Workshop presented by Algoma Public Health in April 2016 and reported back to the Council with its messages. The topics included the changes in the provincial Health and Physical Education Curriculum as well as provincial health statistics. Areas of concern included teen pregnancy, STI's, suicide risk in transgender and gay youth, consent, healthy relationships, precocious puberty, sexting and social media issues. The discussion by Council following this report precipitated a motion to base the PRO Grant application for the 2016-17 year on discussion of issues surrounding consent.

Council Meetings School Council met officially once a month for each of the 10 months of the school year. The minutes and agendas for the monthly Council meetings are available upon request through the Queen Elizabeth School office. Several Ad Hoc committee meetings were held informally for specific events/issues for which minutes were not recorded. No motions were brought forward at these meetings and these committees reported back to Council at subsequent official meetings.

Looking Forward to 2015-2016 In addition to its general advisory/liaison role, the 2015-16 Council has outlined some plans for consideration for the new 2016-17 School Council. These include:

PRO Grant 2016-17- an application has been made for an event to be held to focus on parents reaching out to parents for their involvement in a discussion regarding issues around consent

Green Apple Grants - apply as soon as possible to secure grants for healthy eating programs

Code of Conduct revision/reassessment - generally, Council has worked with the school Principal every 2 years to revisit the school Code of Conduct in light of relevant concerns and social changes that may need to be addressed. As this was last done in the 2014-15 school year, this should be revisited in the coming school year

Fundraising efforts Fresh from the Farm - fundraiser that sells Ontario-grown fruit and vegetable bundles, supports healthy eating initiatives and Ontario farmers - co-chairs will enroll school during the summer months

Christmas Craft Sale - November 2016 - new plan for the event to host more craft vendors, eliminate formal tea service as expenses greatly limited profitability. Possible Grade 8 or Council-run refreshments/lunch room/bake sale

Paint Nite - an additional event for the Save Our Elms campaign, plan an event for fall 2016

Little Ceasars pizza orders - plan for a fall fundraiser

Frozen Dough fundraiser - perhaps before Christmas

Drive a Ford event - current Council members are looking into enrolling our school for this program

Additional funding for "Save Our Elms" campaign, both to reimburse for any outstanding fees incurred, and to prepare for additional costs expected for retreatment of trees spring 2017 (as Council was advised that treatment is required every 2 years) It has been an honour and a welcomed challenge to serve as Co-Chairs for the Queen Elizabeth School Parent Council and we look forward to being involved in the school community in the coming school year.

Respectfully submitted by

Dr. Cheryl Turgeon Mrs. Jennifer Kresin Co-Chairs Queen Elizabeth School Parent Council 2015-16