Hello Ross Road Parents,

As this year’s PAC Chair, I would like to share all the wonderful things our PAC has been doing during this school year.

But first here are a few details about your PAC and what to expect next year.

There is a PAC Executive committee who meet once a month to plan and discuss all school and PAC related business. This year’s group consists of Chair, Co-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications, Class Rep Coordinator, IT Coordinator, and Fundraising Coordinator.

All parents are welcome to join us at any of our meetings and be part of the Executive body. We also have three large meetings every year, one per term. Fall is our General Meeting, Winter is our second General Meeting and Spring is our Annual General Meeting. Our website has a lot of great information including an up-to-date calendar of all our meetings, events and activities. Our meeting minutes, budgets and PAC email posts are also found on our website. We encourage everyone to visit it often, rossroadpac.ca.

In order for the PAC Exec Committee to continue functioning next year there are two very important roles that urgently need to be filled: Co-Chair and Secretary. Without these two roles, the committee will be dissolved. Please consider joining us to carry on the wonderful work we do for our kids. In addition, we recognize the incredible value a Communications volunteer brings to the group. To ensure information is shared in a timely manner we need someone to manage our emails and social media messages (stay tuned for our new Facebook and Twitter accounts for next year). If you are interested in an opportunity to become more involved in this way, please email me at corbenst@telus.net.

Finally, next year we are launching our first ever assigned PAC Events to specific divisions. This idea first introduced at our February GM in response to increasing difficulty in finding volunteers to take the lead at which time parents were invited to give input. At our May AGM, the PAC formally decided to use next year as a trial run. For simplicity, we’ve used grades to indicate volunteer groupings, but in September we will adjust according to next year’s division list. The goal is of course to share volunteering, but also to encourage more integration between French and English families and build community. Class reps will facilitate the initial communication but will not be responsible for organising the event. We ask that you be open to this initiative and are happy to receive feedback.

K-1: Staff Appreciation Lunch
Grades 2-3: Spring Carnival
Grades 4-5: Christmas Fair
Grade 6: Grade 7 farewell
Grade 7: Grade 7 celebrations

As one proud parent to another, we do so much for our kids. Ross Road is a big part of their childhood and we all strive to make it a positive and rewarding experience.

I have the great privilege of helping with this alongside many other PAC volunteers. The money raised this year afforded us to spend $43,200.00 on IT, sports, playground  and music equipment which our kids will enjoy for next year.

Here is a quick snapshot of the past year:

SEPTEMBER

• Welcome Back Coffee. PAC Executives put together coffee, tea and baked treats for all returning families on the first day of school.
• Welcome Kindi Coffee. PAC Executive put together another coffee, tea and baked treats for all the kindergarten parents on the first full day of class.

OCTOBER

• Food days begin. Kids and parents love this program and it’s our biggest fundraiser each year. Thus far, we have raised approximately $22,000. Our coordinators Wendy Ross and Kim Berg have been amazing at organizing this for years, but need to pass it along to another fabulous duo. Training and support is provided. Please let me know if you are interested.
• The Card Project. This is also another favourite with students and families. With the support of the teachers, students create works of art and have them converted into beautiful greeting cards. Families choose to purchase sets with 25% of sales going to the PAC. This year we raised $1633.75 with a portion of the money being donated to North Shore Search and Rescue.
• Family Photos. This annual event offers families a chance to have their family photos taken before the holidays. It is also another fundraiser and this year we raised $720.
• PAC General Meeting. As our first GM, we invited one of the school trustees to speak on the Argyle Rebuild project. It was a very informative evening and spurred on good discussion.

NOVEMBER

• Safe Teen workshop. With the generous donation from Polygon Homes, we were able to offer this amazing program to our grade 6 and 7 students. We also offered a parent information night the day before the workshop to parents who wanted to learn more about it.

DECEMBER

• Christmas Fair. Jody Labriola stepped up to take on our traditional Christmas Fair event. It was smaller than usual, but with only three weeks of planning, it was a huge success raising $7,720.50.

JANUARY

• Jesse Miller, Social Media Safety. The PAC has regularly been inviting Jesse Miller to speak to our children about internet safety and social media awareness. We also offered a parent night for parents to gain some insight and tools on how to support their children with their online activity.

FEBRUARY

• PAC General Meeting. The PAC invited the Argyle Principal, PAC Chair and the school trustee to give an update on how the Argyle Rebuild project is going.

MARCH

• Best ever Parent Night at Toby’s. Shan Bodie and Jacquie Stebbings organized a fabulous evening with good food, music, games and lots a fun hats. Although this event wasn’t intended as a fundraiser, it did raise $2,375.67. If you missed out, don’t worry because the party is on for next year.

APRIL

• Tennis Club. The PAC rotates three themes every year, Sports, Science and Math, and Arts and Theatre. This year was our Sports theme and we decided to fund a three week tennis program for our kids. We’ve heard fantastic feedback on the instructor, and the school is considering having the program return next year.
• Kilometre Club. This has been a Ross Road tradition for quite some time and with the help of the KM committee and funding from the PAC, we had a record year of participants and weather.
• BrainSTEM demo night. This is an after school program offered at Ross Road for families who choose to pay for a five/six week session. It was a lot of fun building roller coasters and learning all about kinetic and static energy. Please contact Sarah Baldwin for more information about next year, sarah.baldwin@brainstemlearning.ca.
• Two River Meats. New fundraising initiative that allowed families to purchase quality local meat in a convenient way. We raised $750.75. This is an ongoing fundraiser that families can continue to order year round. Just remember to mention Ross Road and the PAC will receive a portion of the sale.

MAY

• Clothing Drive. Our first ever clothing drive. We collected about 120 bags and raised $240. This is an easy way to raise money, get rid of things you don’t want and donate items to charity. It’s a win, win, win all around!
• Theater and Music performances. The PAC funded three performances this year: Tillers Folly, a trio band and Raven Meets the Monkey King, a play.
• PAC Annual General Meeting. This was our final meeting of the year and unfortunately our lowest attendance. The PAC works hard to prepare for these meetings giving opportunities for parents to vote on how we spend our money and what they’d like to see in their school. It’s important the parent community try to attend these meetings to give feedback to the PAC Executives. Minutes and budget are posted on the website, on our Meetings page.
• Bike to School Week. Jackie has been spear-heading this event for the last couple years and it’s been great. It’s wonderful to see how active our kids can be.

JUNE

• Spring Carnival. Susan Neale coordinated this year’s carnival and did a fantastic event. We raised $7550 and had a lot of fun doing it. We’ve also received some great feedback on how we can make it even better. Thank you.
• KidsWorld. This is our last fundraiser of the year. Another quick and easy way to contribute towards the PAC, but more importantly a fabulous way to spend the summer. The membership offers opportunity for parent and child to try a wide range of new experiences, and to see what types of activities they love but have not tried. You can see the calendar of summer events here and remember to use the code KIDS ROSS ROAD 2016 to earn money for our school.
• Aboriginal dance troop. This year the PAC invited an aboriginal dance troop to perform for our kids in honour of Aboriginal Day and incorporate this amazing culture with our new curriculum.
• End of Year Assembly. This year the PAC recognizes M. Ponton and the many years he has taught at our school. We also say goodbye to Carla Orr for her time as principal.
• Grade 7 Farewell. As we do every year, we say good bye and good luck to all the grade 7 students and families who leave Ross Road. May your memories of Ross Road be ones to remember.

Thank you again for a fantastic year. Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing everyone again in September.

Sincerely,
Tamrah Corben
corbenst@telus.net