Revisions to the PAC Constitution – Please read!

Our Ross Road PAC Constitution has been in place since 2000. In the last 11 years we have seen many advances in technology which affect the way we all do business. Therefore, we have updated our constitution to reflect new business practices. We are posting our old (2000) constitution here for you to see as well as the revised version. Changes are noted in blue on the newer document.

Old Ross Road PAC Constitution (2000)
Revised Ross Road PAC Constitution (revised May 2011)

We hope to ratify this new constitution at our AGM next week. Please feel free to offer any comments on the changes you would like to see. All comments should be sent to Jane Ince, PAC Co-Chair, at jane@jimediaconnections.com. A vote will take place at the AGM to accept the newest constitution and have this be the PAC’s roadmap until such time as it should be further updated.

Ross Road PAC Exec., 2010-2011.

Calling RR Parents – AGM on Wed. May 25, 7 pm

Click on image to view poster

What an amazing year we have had at Ross Road! Our Christmas Craft Fair, Parent Night and Tropical Bingo event were all well attended and raised much needed funds for the Ross Road students.

Our Annual General Meeting is coming up on Wednesday, May 25th at 7 PM at the school library. Click here to see Agenda.

Consider getting involved! This year’s PAC Executive is an eclectic, fun-loving group of parents from many different backgrounds. We work as engineers and teachers, in public relations and administration, as graphic designers and power tool salespeople. We are on the PAC Executive because we enjoy being involved, we like to know what is going on at our child(ren)’s school, and we like being a part of the decision-making that goes on. Many of us are continuing next year, while others are moving on to other challenges.

For the 2011-2012 school year, we would like to welcome new parents and new ideas to the PAC Executive!

We have a number of positions available for next year, both big and small. While all of them require communication with the PAC Executive, not all of them require you to attend regular meetings. We meet once a month on a week day evening.

For those wishing to get your feet wet, we have a number of smaller positions:

Welcome Back Coffee — Organize the coffee served by the PAC on the first day of school in September. This is especially appreciated by Kindergarten and other parents new to Ross Road.

Welcome Back Luncheon for the Staff — Organize the luncheon, which is usually hosted by a parent who lives adjacent to the school. PAC executive members and others donate dishes. You coordinate food donations and a few volunteers to serve and clean up. This is an amazing opportunity to get to know staff members in a relaxed atmosphere.

‘Sponsor Children’ Coordinator — Liaise with the Administration, Student Council and PAC, create a more up-to-date display in lobby, oversee the program. We currently have one Sponsor child in Haiti and one in Tibet.

Meeting Coordinator — Check with the school secretary that the library is booked for meetings, advertise General Meetings and perhaps organize some simple refreshments for those meetings. Work together with the Speakers Coordinator when a special speaker is booked.

For those wishing something a bit bigger, we are looking for people to do the following:

Spell-a-thon Coordinator — Organize and coordinate the event, count the money and buy pizza for the class that raised the most money! A Ross Road Teacher (and parent), Anne Lawson, has all the spelling lists and will be a valuable help.

Staff Appreciation Luncheon Coordinator — Plan the luncheon, choose a theme, decorate the gym. Ross Road parents donate dishes. You coordinate. The teachers LOVE this event. Again, a fabulous opportunity to get to know both teaching and non-teaching staff in a relaxed atmosphere.

If you are looking for more of a challenge, how about one of these? All of these come with a complete instruction manual and experienced PAC members to help you!

Christmas Craft Fair Coordinator — Our current Co-Chair has organized this event for the past several years and has a simple, step-by-step manual to help you. This is one of our biggest fundraisers, and usually takes place the last Friday in November.

Spring Carnival Coordinator – Our past Chair has organized this the past several years, and like the Christmas Craft Fair, there is a step-by-step manual available. This is a favourite (and successful) fundraiser for Ross Road. It usually takes place the first Friday in June.

School Directory — Update the phone and address files from last year (school office to assist with new data), find advertisers, a printer, distribute directory to classes.

Haven’t found your dream job on the PAC Executive yet, but would like to be involved? We’d love to have you join anyway!

Don’t want to be on the Executive, but would like to go to the AGM to be involved in grassroots democracy and eat delicious treats? You’re all invited!

Hope to see you there, Wednesday, May 25th at 7pm in the library!
Coffee and treats will be served, babysitting available.

— Ross Road PAC Executive, 2010-2011.

Spring Carnival 2011 – Planning meeting April 18th

Mark your calendars for this year’s Spring Carnival – Friday, June 3rd!
Stay tuned for more info about this exciting annual event that takes place on the Ross Road school grounds.

Call for Carnival Volunteers!
Jane Ince is our Carnival Coordinator again this year. She has years of experience at putting together events like this but, as you all know, it takes a lot of work and willing hands to get a party like this up and running.

Join Jane for a Spring Carnival Committee planning meeting:
• Monday April 18th
• 7:00pm
• at the school

If you would like to be involved with this year’s Carnival Committee, but can’t make it to the meeting, please contact Jane at jane@jimediaconnections.com or speak to any of our PAC Executive members if you think you might be interested in helping out. It is a lot of fun and a wonderful way to meet other parents and families in the community!


Kilometre Club 2011 – off and running! Join anytime!

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Km Club 2011 is underway! Remember you can join in any time, no need to sign up. Just show up at 8:10am (warm-up from 8:05  to 8:10am) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ready to run! Rain or shine!

The goal of the Km Club is to foster regular physical activity in a non-competitive setting. All grades are welcome, and parents/younger siblings are encouraged to participate as well. The Km Club 2011 started on Monday, April 4th and will run for a total of 15 days.  Students’ achievements will be tallied on a daily basis and ribbons will be handed out for landmarks achieved (5 km, 10 km…).

Students will also be rewarded for the following achievements
during the 15 running days:

• Kindergarten/Grade 1: 25 km
• Grades 2 and 3: 50 km
• Grades 4-7: 75 km

We look forward to seeing many of you out there for a great way to start the day.  Please consider volunteering (handing out sticks during the run, or tallying the distances at 8:30am) — your involvement  is key to running this club!

For more information or to volunteer:
Please contact Angela at atancon@nvsd44.bc.ca or at the school (604) 903-3750

— Km Club Committee
(Angela Tancon, Keith Nicoll, Lynda Faivre-Duboz)

2011 Staff Luncheon a huge success!

On Thursday March 31st, Ross Road staff members enjoyed a relaxed lunch in the gymnasium which was cheerfully decorated to go along with the fun “birthday” theme, complete with clown! [Scroll down to see a slideshow of photos the 2011 event]

The entire team loved the food and the luxury of sitting together. The thoughtfulness and generosity of this parent community is unique and so well received by the staff.

Thank you VERY much to Jane Ince and Gillian Gorton for organizing the luncheon! Also many warm thank you’s to all of the parents who contributed the amazing food and prizes, and who volunteered setting up, serving, cleaning up and, not least, supervising the playground, so that all the staff members could dine together!

Photos from the 2011 Staff Appreciation Luncheon:

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Tropical Bingo Night a Huge Success!

On Friday, March 4th, Ross Road gym was transformed into a lively, tropical-themed bingo hall! Parents and kids alike had a blast – it was just the summery thing we needed to cap off such a chilly week! Great to see so many smiling, happy faces and so many fantastic tropical outfits!

This event was planned as a community-builder… an opportunity for Ross Road families to connect and have fun together outside of normal school hours. But we are pleased to announce that it also raised some money for the school too! $1159 to be exact! Wow! So a big thank you to everyone who came out and had fun at Bingo Night 2011!

And of course, a HUGE Thank You goes out to Jen VanderMye who organized the whole event so efficiently along with her fantastic team! Including of course Harry Bulpit and Geoff Donohue, those dynamic MCs/bingo callers who kept the evening moving along with great humour and energy! So many other parents and students helped out …by creating those amazing tropical posters, decorating the gym, donating prizes, setting up tables/chairs, organizing food & drinks, signing people in, checking winning bingo cards, handing out prizes, clearing up afterwards, etc…a big thank you goes out to everyone who volunteered their time and energy to make the evening such a huge success!

Another big Thank You to Jen, and to Tovah Paglaro for seeking out and organizing all the fantastic prizes that made everyone so happy at the prize table up on the stage!

To the following local businesses for contributing so many great prizes, THANK YOU! Ross Road School really appreciates your generosity and support!

Click on image to see more Bingo Night photos!

• Browns Social House
• Cypress Mountain
• Starbucks Coffee
• Booster Juice – Park & Tilford
• North Van Rec
• Save On Foods Bakery
• Scotia McLeod
• Scholastic Books
• Vancouver Canucks
• Vancouver Giants
• WestLynn Bakery
• Go Bananas!
• North Shore Athletics
BC Bike Race
• Whitecaps Womens soccer
• Lynn Valley Bikes
• Raspberry Kids
• MooJoes Kids Gear

Click here to see more photos from the event!

Bingo Night, Friday March 4th: Don’t forget to send your order forms and cheques in!

Click to view poster

Not long now until “Tropical” Bingo Night! March 4th is coming up, so make sure you get your order forms and cheques in to secure your family’s bingo game cards on the big night!

These forms went home on Thursday, Feb 10th and should be returned to your child’s teacher by Friday, Feb 18th. If you didn’t receive an order form, you can download it here!

If you’d like to help out, check out the Volunteer Sign-up sheets in the lobby (to the right of the office, by the back doors) or contact Jennifer VanderMye at jenandclark@shaw.ca for more info!

Next PAC General Meeting/“Artists for Kids” presentation – Wed. January 26th, 7:00pm

Join us for our first PAC General Meeting of 2011!
In addition to our regular Agenda items, we are pleased to announce that we will also have a speaker at the meeting!

Jean Mills of Artists For Kids will be speaking at the PAC meeting to introduce the Artists For Kids programs and talk about the new facilities going up at the old Lonsdale school site. The Artists for Kids Trust is a partnership between Canadian artists and the North Vancouver School District. Its mission, through the sale of original prints created by its artist patrons, is to build an art education legacy for the children of BC. Artists For Kids provides a variety of art enrichment program opportunities for thousands of students of all ages each year.

Date: Wednesday, January 26th
Time: 7:00pm (please arrive a few minutes early – our speaker will be starting her presentation right at 7:00pm)
Location: School library
AGENDA:

  1. Artists for Kids presentation (7:00-7:30pm)
  2. Approval of Minutes.
  3. Business Arising from the Minutes.
  4. Principal’s Report.
  5. Treasurer’s Report.
  6. New Business:
    Bingo Night update
    SPC (School Planning Council) – update on elections/participation
    Spring Carnival update
    • Ross Road PAC constitution review
    • Yoga Fundraiser announcement

Hope to see you there!

Ross Road Bingo Night – Friday, March 4th

We are gearing up for another exciting Ross Road School family evening –  mark your calendars for Tropical Bingo Night!

All money raised at the Bingo night will be put towards purchasing new uniforms for the Ross Road teams (cross country, track, basketball).

Date: Friday, March 4th
Time: 5-8pm
Place: Ross Road School Gym

In order to put on this fun event, we are looking for help from our very community- oriented & supportive families! Here’s how you can help:

  1. Fun Prizes: We are in search of some fun prizes for (mainly) kids ages 5-12 years to award for each bingo game at the event. Any parent themed prizes won’t be turned away either!  Wine anyone???
    We will have approximately 8 to 10 bingo games through the night all of which will have 30 prizes / winners per game. SO ….
    If anyone has great connections within the workplace/social network and could offer a collection of donated prizes for this evening, we would be really excited to hear about it!  Items such sports balls, small token coupons, toys, etc …. we’re open to it!  Perhaps your business could SPONSOR a bingo game with prizes given out at the end of that round – could be great advertising – we’ll put you in the newsletter …. could be a good thing ….get excited!!
  2. Volunteers: if there are any mums, dads, aunties, grandpas etc who may be keen on helping out for the bingo night we are going to put up sign-up sheets in the lobby of the school very soon!   Various positions such as set-up/tear-down, prize table are available – thanks in advance for your help!

More details to come but we appreciate any help you can offer!
If you have any suggestions or comments/ideas, send an email to:
jenandclark@shaw.ca

Thank you!
Jennifer VanderMye and Harry Bulpit
The Tropical Bingo team
/Ross Road PAC

Important dates for January 2011

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a nice relaxing break and are looking forward to a great 2011 at Ross Road! Here are a few dates to remember for January:

  • Monday, January 10: Grade 6 students go to Outdoor School for one week
  • Friday, January 21: Food Day (Pizza!)
  • Wednesday, January 26: PAC General Meeting
  • Monday, January 31: Pro D Day (School-based)
  • Monday, January 31: French Immersion Grade 7 students leave for one week in Quebec