Announcements and Introductions s1

LCA 2011-12 Announcements and Introductions

Welcome . . . For some of you this is your first year at London Christian Academy and for others you’re down to your last child after many years involved in Christian Education. I would like to welcome all of you to the 2011-12 school year at LCA. We’ve had a great start to the year and we have 187 students enrolled at LCA to start the year.

Here is the list of our staff members this year:

Principal Mr. Hesman Vice-Principal Mr. Gaunt JK Miss Gillis French Mrs. Embree SK Mrs. Froom Resource Mrs. Standish 1 Miss Demers ESL Mrs. Ediger 2 Mrs. Boersma 3 Mrs. DaFrada 4 Mrs. van der Velde Office Manager Mrs. Fink 5 Mr. Gaunt Facilities Mr. Clow 6 Mr. Bignell 7 Miss Bird Admin. Assistant Mrs. Dephillippeaux 8 Mrs. Carter Fundraising Mrs. Prigioniero

The Board of LCA is made up partly of parents within our school community as well as other Christians within the general community of London who have a heart for Christian Education. Here is a list of our Board members for this year:

Glen Smeltzer (Chairman) Nancy Whynot Liz Russell (Secretary) Bernard Tangelder Mike Boorsma (Treasurer) Nick Dykstra

Student Life . . . A lot of things are happening at the school this year and here are some things to be aware of right from the start. We will be having prayer pals again this year with students being connected with one or two other students from different grades to build relationships with and pray for. Students are welcome to send encouraging notes to their prayer pals and sometimes like to share treats at special times like birthdays, Christmas etc. We will have weekly chapels focusing on this year’s theme “Wisdom for Life” where we will focus on aspects of wise living from the book of Proverbs. We also have special chapels from time to time involving prayer pals or focusing on special celebrations such as Thanksgiving or Easter.

There are opportunities for students to be involved in music through choirs, a recorder ensemble, a concert band, and student worship team. We will have a student council to give leadership to some fun activities for students. We will also have school sports teams

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life and intramural teams as well as several special interest clubs for students to be involved in.

These opportunities, as well as other important information, will be announced at school during morning announcements and may appear on our website as well. We encourage you to check our website regularly (www.londonchristianacademy.ca) for information about each class as well as general announcements and sporting news. You will find most of this information by clicking on “Parent Portal”. You will need a password to access this information which you can obtain from your child’s teacher. We will also continue with our regular eblasts where we email school families some important information or highlights a couple of times each month. You will also notice announcements on our sign out front of the school while you wait in Kiss N Ride.

Announcements and Reminders 1. After School Program : I would like to call your attention again to our policy for after school supervision. Regular supervision occurs after school from 3:30 until 3:45 p.m. after which all remaining students will be escorted to the after school program. Parents picking up their children after 3:45 are required to sign their children out from the After School Program and will be billed a nominal fee at the end of the month for use of the program. Those in need of regular supervision after hours are asked to sign up in the office (there is also a discount built in for regular users who sign up for the program ahead of time). Siblings of students participating in extracurricular activities outside of school hours will need to be supervised directly by parents or placed in the After School Program.

2. Before School Program: This program is available from 7:30 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. Normal supervision begins outside on the playground at 8:30 a.m. Students arriving earlier than 8:30 will need to be placed in the before school program and will be billed a nominal fee at the end of the month for use of the program. This program is similar to the After School program but runs before school hours. Please see Louise DePhillippeaux for details.

3. Kiss & Ride : There is a sheet available in the office outlining the procedure and guidelines for safety in using the Kiss & Ride program. If you aren’t sure of the procedure or need some reminders, please pick up a copy from the counter in the school office.

For the safety of your children, we still need more volunteers to help with the Kiss & Ride Program for this year. It would require only about half an hour a week of your time, which is a small sacrifice to make to uphold a safe pick up process each day. Please contact Kathleen Magwood at 519-690-2105 or Mr. Hesman at the school to indicate which days you are able to help.

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life 4. Punctuality : I would like to remind parents of the importance of arriving at school on time in the morning. A habit of good punctuality shows respect towards others. This habit can be developed early and will serve students well into the future. Habitual lateness can also be developed early, causes great inconvenience for many and will be a detriment in the future for the individual. Please be intentional about choosing to arrive on time.

5. Food Allergies : I would like to remind you again that we continue to have a couple of students with severe allergies and we continue to operate as a nut free school. Please ensure that no products containing nuts are sent to school with your child. We also have students with allergies to latex, milk, eggs, etc. We will not be attempting to be entirely free of these products at the school but we do ask that you be sensitive to specific requests from your child’s teacher and we will ask all children not to share food while at school. We would also ask that you avoid sending in high concentrated egg products such as egg salad sandwiches or hard boiled eggs. If you have any questions about this please contact the school office.

6 Report Card and timing: Last year the Ministry of Education changed its report card format and timing at which time we also made changes to ours. This year we will continue to follow two report card dates along with a progress report in November. You will find these dates in the school calendar. We have created our own report card which combines elements of the old and new ministry report cards along with elements of the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools report card. If you have any questions about these changes please contact either Mr. Gaunt or Mr. Hesman.

7 . LCA Team Shirts: Last year we made a change to new team shirts for our school teams. At the same time we offered parents the opportunity to purchase a personalized team shirt for their child(ren). This is not something that we do every year but, if there is enough interest, we will pursue having another round of custom team shirts made. Please let your child’s teacher know if this is something you are interested in.

9. Driver Forms: Any parents wishing to drive students to school related field trips or sporting events must have a completed driver form on file in the office. The school requires a new form to be completed for each new school year.

8. TRIP: The TRIP program was instituted a number of years ago to provide families with opportunities to fundraise designated, specific amounts over the course of the school year to help the school maintain reasonable, affordable tuition levels. Over the years, it has come to represent about 10% of our yearly budget. We have tried to offer a variety of ways to help you raise these funds each year. This year, we have the following programs in place to help you raise funds:

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life Gift Certificate Program (all year long) This is, by far, the easiest way to raise your designated amount. There is no selling or canvassing to do. You simply purchase gift certificates or cards here at the school for items that you normally buy, such as groceries (Metro, Loblaws, etc.), Tim Horton’s products, gasoline (Petro-Canada), etc. A portion of the purchase price is donated to the school by the retailer. So, there is no money out of your pocket. As an example, if you were to purchase a $100 Loblaws gift card, you would pay $100 and you could use it to purchase $100 worth of goods. Loblaws, as a donation to the school, would charge us $95 for this certificate. The school would raise $5 from this transaction. Families are able to raise their entire designated amount through this program.

Louise DePhillippeaux established this program and will coordinate it again this year. She will be filling orders out of Susan’s Place (the clothing store) on the first day of the week as well as Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. until 9:00. Also, instead of long line ups in the mornings to order gift cards, we encourage you to complete your order form ahead of time and drop it off, with payment, at the office OR send it in with your child and your child’s teacher will send it to the office. Louise will then compile your order in an envelope that will be available from Louise at Kiss N Ride. Please make sure you see her if you have sent in an order. Order forms can be picked up at the office or found online on our school website.

Walk-a-thon (May) The LCA School Walkathon will take place at Springbank Park on Friday May 4th or May 11th this year. You are encouraged to join us for the Walkathon as staff and students take part in this event to raise money for the school. Students will gather sponsors (friends, relatives, neighbours, etc.), with proceeds going to your TRIP. More details about this will follow.

Susan’s Place (clothing store) This is a great place to pick up some gently used children’s clothing ranging from footwear to outerwear. Proceeds from clothing donated and labeled by you can go towards your TRIP amount if you are willing to help out in the store on at least two occasions. Even if you are not able to help out in the store, we still encourage you to donate your used children’s clothing as the proceeds will go to the school.

Card making Need cards??? Of course you do!! Come out and make some very useful cards at the same time!! It's a chance to get to know some of the other parents in the school, and just have a good time out!! No experience needed, and you don't have to be 'crafty' at all!! Contact Heather Bennett ([email protected]) for more details.

Other From time to time, we have other fundraising opportunities such as Jennard Cheese, Elmira Chicken and introducing Norwex to help with TRIP. We will advise as those opportunities come up.

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life Committees and Help Groups 1. Yard Supervision: We would love to have help from parents with supervising the playground at the lunch hour. This would allow teachers more time to run clubs, coach sports programs or lead choirs, bands etc. The students are the ones who will ultimately benefit. Lunch supervision runs from about 12:00 until 12:45 p.m. each day. If you are willing to help in this area, please contact Mr. Hesman at the school.

2. Kiss N Ride: See earlier notes for details and please contact Kathleen at 690- 2105 or Mr. Hesman at the school if you are willing to help in this area.

3. Library: Helpers are needed to sort books and place back on the shelves as well as other odd jobs that keep our Library functioning well for the students’ use. If you are willing to help in this area, please contact Mrs. Standish at the school.

4. Fundraising Event Planners: Our big events this year are: Deck the Halls (a unique Christmas shopping opportunity) Nov 18 & 19; Solid Foundations Fundraising Dinner & Silent Auction March 24, Spring Fling Fashion Show in May; Walk-a-thon May 4 or 11; Golf Tournament June 16. Please contact Evri Prigioniero ([email protected]) if you are interested in finding out more about these events and how you might be able to help. We will require a lot of volunteer help to run these events.

5. Promotions Committee: The Promotions Committee is involved in a number of initiatives (Pastors’ Breakfast, Family Connections Event, etc.) to promote the Christian Academy and Christian Education in general. Contact Kerry Wilson (519-641-4325) or Mr. Hesman if you would like to be involved.

6. Food Days: We regularly have special food days for the students, such as pizza day or hot dog day. Often, they are every other Friday. Please contact Mrs. Fink at the school office if you would like to help with this.

7. Church Liaison: As we reach out to the churches in our community with the message of Christian Education, we would like to have a person from our school community to help us liaise with churches in the city. Ideally, we’d like one person for each church represented at LCA. You would help us with information about your church, and perhaps ask if we could put up posters or other promotional information on our behalf. If you would like to be the liaison for your church, please contact Mr. Gaunt or Mr. Hesman.

8. Other: From time to time, there are other opportunities to serve that arise over the course of the school year (events, cleaning days, clothing store volunteers,

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life etc.). Check the website (and eblasts) for details as they come up. Or, you may think of a way to help that’s not listed here. Please feel free to indicate your preferred way of serving below.

------Please fill out the information below and drop it off to the office or your child’s teacher to let us know how you’d like to be involved this year. We REALLY appreciate your support and involvement! Thanks for serving!

Name: (please print) ______Phone: ______

I would like to help with ______

Christ-centred education providing a solid foundation for life