FUNDRAISING EDITION

YAY you survived Halloween now you have maybe month to recover until the next big commercial event.

Well that is a lie. There is no running away from the fact that the planning and preparation is already beginning for some of you right now.

We have some fabulous fundraising opportunities that you can make a use of to not only get prepped for the holiday season but also to contribute to your kids’ school.

• Card Project – fundraiser featuring artwork by Ross Road students – 25%
• Ski Pass – 15% of the purchase comes to the PAC
• SPUD – 25% of purchases come to the PAC
• Two River Meats – 15% of the purchase comes to the PAC

 

Card Project 

The Kids have done a fabulous job creating their masterpieces!

ONLINE ordering is now OPEN!  – Visit the Card Project website at www.thecardproject.ca

 

Ski pass – Deals for children in grades 4 or 5

Ski Canada offers a ski pass to children in grade 4 and 5 for the cost of $29.95. The application is now available on-line. If you apply in grade 4, the pass is valid for 2 years till the end of grade 5.

All the details about this program and how to apply are on their website https://www.skicanada.org/grade–4–5-snowpass/ Promo Code: PAC-ROSS

 

SPUD

Have you ever thought about having fresh organic produce (veggies and fruit) delivered to your front door? Here’s your chance! Whether you are a current SPUD customer or a new one, consider placing an order just once or on a regular basis, and 25% goes to our school! Plus, you can order other grocery items as well from them (but only the produce boxes count towards the fundraising)!

Check out  http://www.spud.ca/catalogue/FundRaising.cfm for more details.

Two Rivers Meats

Two Rivers Specialty Meats is a purveyor of fine local meats that are free of antibiotics, hormones, and chemical feed additives.

Ross Road and Two Rivers Meats has teamed up to help raise money for the school through an ongoing meat pack program. Place your order before 8 pm on Sundays to Thursdays for pick up the next day.

Ross Road PAC will get 15% when you order through the link below;

https://www.tworiversmeats.ca/fundraiser/ross-road/

 

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK ON SUNDAY AT 2am

Have a great week and remember to talk to your fellow parents about this webpage, the wonderful email updates that you receive and our Facebook and Twitter sites.

Ross Road PAC Executive
rossroadpac@gmail.com

 

It is Friday before Halloween…Remember to BE SEEN.

Upcoming Fall Events

• Christmas Fair – Friday, December 9th
• Parent Social Night – February 2017

PAC General Meeting

This past Wednesday saw many parents attend the first PAC GM of the year. Thank you for those that made it out. It was very informational especially for the first-time school parents.

Here are some highlights of what went on:

• We filled our Exec roles!!! 3 new members of the PAC Exec Committee were voted in:
  ○  Lauren Watson – Secretary
  ○  Laks Kutty – Website and Communications Coordinator
  ○  Susan Neale – Co-Chair
• Fundraising Updates
  ○  Munch a Lunch – Last academic year there was high uptake of this program raising $21,365 for the PAC. And this year there just as much if not more which equals lots of happy kids (and parents!)
  ○  Card Project – Kids’ artwork will be used to make greeting cards and sold to parents to use as Xmas cards. In the past the PAC has donated 25% of the proceeds to North Shore Search and Rescue which we would like to continue doing. Last year we raised $1633.75 and donated $545.
  ○  Two River Meats – Reintroducing this service – First launched last year and raised $750, we are hopefully that this number will continue to grow. It’s very simple. Anytime someone orders their high quality meat through this link, Ross Road PAC will get 15 % of their order, http://www.tworiversmeats.ca.
  ○  SPUD – New Fundraiser
  Have you ever thought about having fresh organic produce (veggies and fruit) delivered to your front door? Here’s your chance! Whether you are a current SPUD customer or a new one, consider placing an order just once or on a regular basis, and 25% goes to our school! Plus, you can order other grocery items as well from them (but only the produce boxes count towards the fundraising)! Check out http://www.spud.ca/catalogue/FundRaising for more details
  
• Budget Update
  Our new Treasurer, Scott Munro, did a fabulous job of informing us about all thing $$$.
  There is a new email address where you can contact him directly with any questions regarding $$ – treasurer@rossroadpac.ca
• PAC Purchases – Thanks to all the great fundraising efforts by the PAC, the many wonderful volunteers and of course the Ross Road community, the PAC was able to work with the school to purchase the items listed below:
  ○  2 desktops per intermediate classroom
  ○  1 iPad per intermediate classroom
  ○  1 iPad per primary classroom (the 8 additional iPads are TBC)
  ○  5 desktops for library
  ○  Music in Motion class set
  ○  Guitar capos class set
  ○  Wobble stools for LAC (8)
  Still working on:
  ○  PE Equipment (TBC)
  ○  Locked Sandboxes (TBC)
  ○  Garden Benches (TBC)
• Events
  ○  Please refer to ‘Upcoming Events’ in this newsletter.
  ○  We have the PAC Calendar that you can subscribe to which will keep you up to date of all PAC events that take place throughout the school year – https://rossroadpac.ca/rossroad-calendar/
• Principal’s Update – Susan Owens talked to a few items:
  ○  Halloween dress-up day on Monday 31st October.
  ○  There will be a school parade with a marching band @ 2pm
  ○  WE Day November 3rd
  ○  Special assembly for Remembrance Day on November 10th
  ○  Pro D Day on November 14th
• New curriculum update by Lise Smith – Vice Principal
  ○  Go to https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum-info for a overview of the new curriculum
• General
  ○  We are looking for more volunteers for:
  ○  Munch A Lunch coordinator – Kim Berg has been co-leading the food days for years and she’s asked for another parent to take on this role. Once a week you’d come to the school to receive the food orders and coordinate the classroom deliveries with a team of other volunteers. You’d also be partnered with Jackie Hicks who manages the online orders. Kim has also offered to provide all the training and support needed to facilitate the transition.
  ○  Family Bingo – A few years ago Ross Road hosted a fun bingo night for all families. Sarah Dennis lead this event and would be happy to pass on any planning advice needed.
  If these any of these interest you, please contact us at rossroadpac@gmail.com

Stay up-to-date with PAC news

Remember to join Ross Road PAC’s Facebook (École Ross Road School PAC) and Twitter (@rossroadpac) sites! Posts are happening. Stay up to date with PAC news and updates about local events and stuff! These links and more are also on our PAC website rossroadpac.ca

This weekend is a busy one for most and it intends to be quite dark and dreary so keep safe from all the ghouls and goblins out there.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the PAC

rossroadpac@gmail.com

HAPPY DRY FRIDAY (fingers crossed)

Hope your October is going well thus far. The storm is over and the Halloween decorations are starting to pop up. It’s an exciting time for kids (and some parents!). Remember it is getting darker out there so make sure your kids are seen.

A few updates below:

Upcoming Events

General Meeting on Wednesday at 7pm in the school library

Kids love it when parents know what is going on at their school and for once know more than they do!

Attend the GM on Wednesday evening to learn more – topics below;

• Are you a Harry Potter fan and want your child to be placed into a school house? Will it be Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?
  Come by on Wednesday and learn more about this exciting new initiative.
• Are you aware of a new curriculum in the school system?
  There will be an update on the new curriculum straight from the classroom and how Ross Road is working it into the classes.
• Wondering when there will be a Parent Social and/or Family Night?
  Come and hear about Family Bingo Night and the return of the Toby’s epic parent night.
• Have some ideas, comments or general feedback for the PAC Exec?
  What do you want to see and what have you not been impressed with so far if anything.
  Have thoughts let us know about them good or bad. We want to know.
• If your excuse is a babysitter then do not fear, childcare is available upon request
  Email Tamrah Corben, corbenst@telus.net for more information.
• Snacks will be available and we hope to keep it short.
• The agenda and meeting minutes from the May AGM will be sent out on Monday October 24th
• Hope to see you there.

Past Events

Last Monday we had a really successful Halloween Costume Exchange.

The aim of these smaller of events is to build community and this one certainly did that, it resulted in a lot of happy kids. Mission Accomplished! We did raise a total of $100 which is fabulous and an added bonus.

Thank you Christy Lutz for organizing.

General

• The Communications Coordinator role has been filled – Thank you Laks Kutty (Ms) for stepping up to support our PAC Executive body.
• Remember to join Ross Road PAC’s Facebook and Twitter sites!
  The PAC will start posting and tweeting to help broaden our communication base in November. Please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
• These links and more are also on our PAC website rosssroadpac.ca

Have a fabulous weekend and we hope to see you on Wednesday evening at 7pm in the school library for the GM.

Regards,

Ross Road PAC Exec

rossroadpac@gmail.com

After a few gorgeous days in a row, who’s going to believe the weather channel about all that rain…ok we do live in Vancouver, so you probably don’t need to be an expert!

Now let’s turn our attention to some ‘fun’ PAC related reminders.

WE STILL NEED A CO-CHAIR AND A COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR!!!

Our PAC Chair is not superwoman – despite what some may think – and wants to share her Bossy Boot shoes with another parent. Even if you are remotely curious, just send Tamrah a quick email to chat at corbenst@telus.net. You may be surprised at what you’ve been missing!

HALLOWEEN COSTUME EXCHANGE

We are still collecting gently used Halloween costumes this week. Please drop off by the PAC bulletin board in the lobby.
Costumes will be sold for only $5, and accessories $2.
Sales will be on Monday October 17th .

PAC GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday, October 26 at 7pm in the library – come and hear what we are up to!

PAC FACEBOOK & TWITTER POSTS

The PAC will start posting and tweeting to help broaden our communication base in November.
Please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. These links are also on our website https://rosssroadpac.ca.

Thanks and try to stay dry.
Ross Road PAC
rossroadpac@gmail.com

Greetings Ross Road families!

We hope this finds everyone settling into the school year.  Many of us have been enjoying a fresh round of coughs, colds and sore throats…head lice seem to also be a perennial joy at this time of the school year. Perhaps many of you are thinking that you aren’t quite busy enough and have been wondering what to do with the spare three minutes you have each week!  Ruminate no more…we have some suggestions. There are several volunteer positions on the PAC that remain available. Here are a couple of opportunities to get you warmed up…we really hope you will take a minute to consider getting involved.

PAC Co-Chair – this role would suit a parent who is often at the school, and can follow up with PAC activities at the school.  The role also requires attending monthly meetings and supporting our current chair, Tamrah Corben.  If you like to know what’s going on, and enjoy feeling you are part of something big, this is the role for you.

Communications Coordinator – this role doesn’t require you to appear at the school at all!  You can be tucked up in bed with your laptop.  The task requires updating the PAC website calendar, working with the Chair to plan posts and sending the weekly PAC posts.

If you are even remotely interested in getting more involved or have any questions about the above mentioned roles, please contact Tamrah Corben, corbenst@telus.net, and she’ll do her best to get you connected.

LAST CHANCE!!!

Munch a Lunch – to avoid disappointed children please submit your orders by MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY.  In the past the deadline has sometimes been extended, but this will NOT be happening this year. Please go onto www.munchalunch.com/schools/rossroad to order and pay as soon as possible as ordering will be closed as of Sunday Oct. 2nd.  If you do not pay for your child’s lunches before that date, your order will be cancelled.  If you have any questions please contact one of our new lunch coordinators Jackie at jackie_hicks@hotmail.com.

UPCOMING

• Halloween Costume Exchange – this is an excellent opportunity to clear out all those costumes that no one wants to wear anymore because they are so over being a bumble bee/fairy/superhero and to acquire, at minimal cost, a new set of costumes.  Bring your clean and gently used costumes on the week after Thanksgiving, Oct. 11th, to the office foyer. There will be a box under the PAC bulletin board. Once collected and sorted, drop by the school to purchase a newish outfit for your little darlings. Details to follow.
• General Meeting, Wednesday October 26th at 7 pm – we rely on our parent community to give us input on what they’d like to see from their PAC Execs. Come and hear how the PAC spends all the money that is raised during the year, as well as finding out what events are being planned for the year.  This is a chance to ask questions about what the PAC does and to make suggestions for events or fundraising. If for nothing else, come for the treats!!!
• Our website is in the midst of being updated. We will send out an announcement once it’s completed and you can visit us at rossroadpac.ca…this is really just a reminder for our PAC chair who had a momentary lapse in memory at the ‘meet the staff’ night last week. At least now you all know we are just parents who consistently suffer from short-term memory loss.

– Ross Road PAC Executive
rossroadpac@gmail.com