CastlebridgeSchool Council
Annual Report to the Community – 2011/2012
This is the annual report of the school council of CastlebridgePublic School to
the parents and school community for the academic year 2011/2012.
Welcome back! I hope you had a safe and happy summer and are looking forward to another great year at Castlebridge.
The Castlebridge school council is a group of parents, staff, and community members who work together to foster student success. We provide advice to the Principal, the Peel District School Board, and the Ontario Ministry of Education and we help to shape the policies that affect our school. The school council gives parents a direct voice in the school and is one of the most important ways of making the public education system accountable to parents in our community. Last year the school council worked very hard to help make Castlebridge the best school it can be for our children. This report will highlight many of our activities and accomplishments.
All school council members are volunteers. I would like to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of those who were members of the school council and the many parents who assisted with various related activities at the school last year. Castlebridge has a well deserved reputation for being an exceptional school and for having a very active and involved parent community. I encourage you to learn more about the school council and the work we do for Castlebridge. I urge you to get involved by joining us or attending our meetings as a guest, or by volunteering to help with one of our many activities.
We hope that you have enjoyed the events and activities that the Parent Council hosted this year. Please feel free to contact me anytime with your comments, concerns or suggestions. Thank you to the entire Castlebridge community for your ongoing support.
Sincerely,
Nancy McDowell
Chair
Membership & Meetings
The following people served on school council during the 2011/2012 school year:
Parent MembersLigia Botea
Alexandra Deluca
Lorraine Doherty
Andrea Ellis-Campbell / Lana Gill
Kerri Gomes
Kerry Hrinco
Nancy McDowell / Debbie Nilsen
Megan Peart
Liz Rankin
Stephanie Reale / Helen Ren
Shelley Wira
Jen Wroblewski
Administration
Ana Lia Pauchulo / George Soultanidis
Teaching Staff / Non-Teaching Staff / Community Rep
Sabine Corras and Helen Tse / (position vacant) / Joel Brown
The school council meeting dates for the 2011/2012 academic year were:
September 20, 2011
October 18, 2011
November 15, 2011
January 17, 2012
February 21, 2012
April 17, 2012
May 15, 2012
June 12, 2012
School council meetings are open to the public. You are always welcome to attend, ask questions, state your opinions, participate in our discussions, or simply watch what we do. There is no better way to learn about and discuss issues that affect the school than to attend a school council meeting. Parents are alwaysencouraged to attend and participate.
To learn more about the school council visit the ParentalInvolvementarea of the school’s website at
School Council Activities
The 2011/2012 school year was a good year for Castlebridge and for the school council. Many new members joined the council last year and brought with them many new ideas, while a number of others have moved on. As always the school council is looking for new people to join the council and bring with them some fresh ideas.
During the 2011/2012 school year, the Castlebridge school council continued our tradition of being strong advocates for the school and for public education in general. We worked hard to continue good working relationships with the school administration. We were also involved in a number of programs and projects, both within the school and outside of it. We have worked with the Peel District School Board, other school councils across Ontario and with the City of Mississauga to help improve conditions for Castlebridge students and their families.
One of the primary objectives of the school council is to provide a voice for parents in the school and at the school board. In order to strengthen our community and ensure that the work done by the school council is based on a solid understanding of the opinions and priorities of the community we serve the council worked very hard this year at encouraging parents and students to participate in community events. These events allow the Castlebridge community a chance to socialize and get to know new families in an informal, fun family environment
Some of the many activities that the school council engaged in last year included:
Advocacy & Counsel
Advocating for the school and providing advice to the Principal and the school board are the most important responsibilities of the school council. Last year we continued our tradition of being an activist council, offering advice to the Peel District School Board the City of Mississauga as well as the Provincial government.
The school council consulted regularly with the Principal, Mrs. Pauchulo on a number of matters, including the school success plan. Throughout the entire school year we consulted with the administration on the mission, vision and values at Castlebridge and created the parent commitments to carry out these mission, vision and values
Community Connections
As stated earlier, the council worked very hard at cultivating a positive community environment by hosting a few different community events. We started the school year off on a positive note by hosting a family pizza night for community members to attend prior to attending Meet the Teacher Night. The evening was very well attended and seemed to be enjoyed by all. We are hoping to make it an annual event. We also hosted a Skating Night at Vic Johnson. This was a great success as a number of Castlebridge families and staff members came out for an hour of skating.All evenings were very well attended and great community events. Thanks to everyone for your support.
Volunteer Coordination
The active involvement of parents within the school is one of the hallmarks of CastlebridgePublic School and an important contributing factor to student success. Last year, the school council helped with and reached out to new Kindergarten parents with a package of information about parental involvement in the school. Also, as in past years, the school council supported volunteerism within the school by publishing a helpful guide to the background check process that all staff and volunteers within the school must undergo.
Fundraising & Program Support
We are fortunate at Castlebridge to have a diverse and generous community who support the school through the contribution of time, effort and money. Last year the parent council and staff joined forces to host aDance-a-thon. It was a great success with the children and was also popular with school staff and administration, as it minimized the disruption of school routines. Last year, we offered students a chance to fundraise by selling magazine subscriptions and gifts from QSP. This not only proved to be financially successful for Castlebridge but also encouraged our support of literacy. We also continued with the pre-payment only policy for the popular weekly pizza lunches. This significantly reduces the amount of interruption which pizza lunch ordering and collection can cause in the classroom. We ended the year on a fun note with our 2nd annual Fun Fair. The students and community were invited to jump on bouncy castles, play games, get their face painted, watch clowns make balloon animals, watch a magic show and visit a hands on reptile show. Parents were able to browse the vendor market. It was a great success, fun was had by all and many members of the community came out to participate.
With the generous support of Castlebridge parents, the school council was able to direct almost $14,000 to support the school success plan of improving communication between home and school. The largest purchase we made was for the communication board that you see on Castlebridge Drive in front of the school which administration and staff can use as one more means of communicating to the parents and community at large.
Other School Council Activities
The school council celebrated World Teachers’ Day by providing the staff with delivery of coffee/tea and treats to their classrooms and by presenting notes and small tokens of our appreciation for the hard work the teachers do to make the school what it is. The parent council also made a donation to ABC Dreams on behalf of the Castlebridge staff
The Peel District School Board provided two school council training evenings. Castlebridge representatives attended workshops on sharing effective school council practices, communicating effectively with parents and working with your trustee.
The school council decided to continue our support to a program called ABC Dreams. We have adopted a child from Tanzania by the name of Amedeusi. The children were updated on Amedeusi and his progress by Frank Smith who showed our students a DVD of Amedeusi’s life in Tanzania. We will continue to keep our students updated on Amedeusi’s life.
The school council continued its support of the Argos Hudddle Up Program. This is an anti bullying program offered by the Toronto Argros which teaches the students abourt the negative effects of bullying and encourages students not to be bystanders.
The school council continued to offer a hot lunch program provided by The Lunch Lady. The program was welcomed by parents who enjoyed a day off of making lunches as well as by students who enjoyed their hot lunches. Due to the success of the program we will be continuing the program in September.
We also offered parents a few information sessions. One was a session specifically for parents on bullying issues and internet safety. Another was provided by the staff to inform Grade 3 parents about EQAO. We also offered an orientation session for new parents as well as a networking session for parents in our ASD/PTP and GLD classes. All sessions were well attended and enjoyed by parents.
Financial Statements
Source or Use of Funds / Amount / Pre-allocated Funds for 2012/2013:Opening Balance as of September 1, 2011 / $4091.76 / Castlebridge Communication Board / 10000.00
Add Fundraising and Partnerships(see Figure 2) / 16514.67
Subtract Program Support Spending (see Figure 3) / (700.00)
Subtract Project Spending (see Figure 4) / (2945.29) / Total pre-allocated/reserved funds / 10000.00
Funds available for program support / 6961.14
Closing Balance as of August 31, 2012 / 16961.14
Figure 1 - Sources and Uses of Funds for the Year Ended August 31, 2012
Details of Funds Raised:
Source / Revenue / Expense / TotalDance-a-thon / 3033.16 / 952.61 / 2080.55
Pizza Lunches / 25973.45 / 18353.00 / 7620.45
Skating/Labels/QSP / 2812.40 / 2812.40
Welcome Back BBQ / 1126.31 / 1025.56 / 100.75
Lunch Lady / 884.40 / 884.40
Fun Fair / 8199.41 / 5183.29 / 3016.12
Total Fundraising and Partnerships / 16514.67
Figure 2 - Fundraising and Partnerships Details
Details of Funds Disbursed:
Program2 / AmountClassroom/Grade Level Teams / 700.00
Total Program Support Spending / 700.00
Figure 3 – Program Support Spending Details
Project2 / AmountWorld Teachers Day / 200.00
Huddle Up / 732.20
Konior Camp Scholarship / 300.00
Grade 5 Grad T-Shirts / 1113.09
SchoolGardens / 600.00
Total Project Spending / 2,945.29
Figure 4 – Project Spending Details
Castlebridge School Council
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