Queen Elizabeth Elementary 4102 W. 16th Avenue • Vancouver, BC • V6R 3E3 • Ph: 604-713-5408 • Fax: 604-713-5410 School Website: http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/qe Liaison Trustee: Principal: Vice-Principal: Mr. Rob Wynen Ms Magdalena Kassis Mr. Mike Bolianaz Director of Instruction: Mr. Rob Schindel 604-713-4448 PAC Co-Chairs: Ms Jane Taylor/Ms Kristin McAllister NEWSLETTER #10 – January 17, 2014 Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, January 21st: PAC Meeting – 7:00 p.m. Monday, January 27th: Kindergarten Audiology Screening - 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, January 29th: Hot Lunch Friday, January 31st: Pro D Day – no school for students Monday, February 10th: Family Day Holiday – no school Wednesday, February 12th & Thursday, February 13th: Goal Setting Conferences – Early Dismissal – 2:00 p.m. Planning for 2014-15 School Year We are now slowly beginning the process of administratively planning for the next school year. One crucial piece of information that we will now start collecting from families is finding out whether you anticipate that your child will be returning to Queen Elizabeth School next year. This information is critical to us as a school community, as it has an impact on our anticipated staffing allotment. We are sending home a form today for all families to fill out and return for each child (except for grade 7 students, whom we know are heading to secondary school). We would much rather know sooner than later if you know that your child is not returning. Please do not hesitate to contact the office or the Principal if you have any questions. The form is attached to the email with this newsletter, and will also be sent home as a hard copy with students. Pizza Lunches It's time to order pizza lunches again! This is a PAC fundraiser for the school, and is very popular with students. The lunch consists of a slice of Flying Wedge pizza and a drink. Parents need to order online, and it is one order that covers lunches until the end of June. Cheques can be brought to the school office. The deadline for ordering online is Tuesday January 21st, and payments are due by January 23rd. The first pizza lunch will be on January 29th. Please order online at http://pacpage.ca/qe/index.php. The link can also be found through the "Parents" section of the school website. Please note that there are no pizza sales on the actual hot lunch day. If you did not receive an email about pizza lunch, it is possible that we don't have your email address on file. Please call or drop by the school office to provide your email address if this is the case. Thank you for your support of the hot lunch program, and a special thank you to the parents who organize it. Kindergarten Registration Any families with a child born in 2009 who will be going to kindergarten in September 2014 should be registering now. The deadline for early registration (to guarantee a spot) is Friday, January 31st. Please let your friends and neighbours know in case they are not aware. Registration forms are available at the school office. A Thank-You for the Holiday Hampers We have received a thank you letter from one of the inner city schools to which we provided Holiday Hampers for a few families last month. I would like to share the letter with our school community: "Dear students, staff and parents of Queen Elizabeth School, The students, parents and staff of Hastings and Tillicum Schools would like to extend a heart-felt thank you to everyone at Queen Elizabeth for making the time to help us to support our families. Your sponsorship of families with Christmas Hampers is greatly appreciated. The families have made a special point to express how much this meant to them. May your New Year be filled with happiness, good health and peace. Once again, on behalf of the students and their families, thank you so much." (signed by the school Principal, Community Coordinator and Neighbourhood Assistant) Safe Arrival Parents/Guardians please call the Safe Arrival line and leave a message if your child is going to be late or absent. The phone number is 604 713-5970. Please do not call the main office phone line. Invitation from Lord Byng PAC - "How to Get Better Grades" Master teacher and learning skills specialist Terry Small is world renowned for his expertise in the development of brain research based study strategies. Parents and students are encouraged to attend together to learn the secrets that have helped over 150,000 students to excel. The presentation is suitable for students of all abilities in Grades 4 to 12 and any parent looking for a brain boost! Terry works as a resource to the educational community and his dynamic presentation style have made him a sought-after speaker at workshops and conferences worldwide. Terry’s philosophy is simple: "Success is a skill anyone can learn”! Tickets are $5 and available now for online purchase at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/m6kh6cy. The event is Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 – 8:30 pm in the Lord Byng Auditorium Draft VSB Calendar for 2014-15 A draft calendar for the 2014-15 school calendar is available for parents to look at. It can be found on the VSB website www.vsb.bc.ca. It includes dates such as the Winter Holiday, Spring Break dates, etc. Any feedback from parents is welcome until February 7th, 2014. Please see the VSB website for further details. School Website Our new and updated school website is now up and running. The school website is at: http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/qe. The previous website will automatically redirect to the new site. We will endeavour to keep the site as updated as possible with all school events, field trip, notices, newsletters, etc. We hope that families find it to be a helpful communication tool from the school. Foundation Skills Assessment/Satisfaction Surveys Information will be coming home soon to parents of Grade 4 and Grade 7 students regarding Ministry FSA testing and Ministry Satisfaction Surveys. Community School After School Activities Next week, registration forms will be sent home for after-school programs. Please watch for the following program registrations coming soon: Mondays: Creative Expression (grades 5-7) Tuesdays: Mandarin for Beginners (grades 4-7) Wednesdays: 3-D Animation (grades 5-7) Thursdays: Film Acting (grades 4-7) Traffic Concerns We continue to have serious concern about traffic and parking issues on Camosun Street. PAC and the school are both working hard, and are also liaising with the City of Vancouver and VSB for possible strategies and solutions. There will also be new and clearer signage very soon. In the meantime, we urge parents to follow these simple guidelines:  Parents dropping off children on Camosun Street should let the children get out of the car quickly and safely, then we ask that you please drive on to allow other families to also pull up and drop off their child. Please do not get out of the car, as it stops other parents from being able to drop off their children safetly.  We encourage you to bring your child to school early. Staff supervision begins outside at 8:40am.  If you wish to park your car for any reason, and walk into the school for any reason, we ask that you not park on Camosun. Please park on West 16th or on a side street.  We encourage you to consider a drop off location other than Camosun Street; consider parking on West 16th and walking a block or so.  Please do not drop off your child in the middle of the road.  Please do not pull a u-turn, or block driveways As a final reminder and request -- if parents find themselves in a frustrating situation with traffic or with other drivers or parents, we ask that parents follow the same expectations as students in terms of respectful conversations and actions towards others. As adults we are all being role models to the students at the school, and they are looking to us for guidance and modeling. We thank you very much for your support and understanding of this issue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAC NEWS The Holiday Bazaar held on December 11th, was a great success once again! Students came, saw and shopped! This fundraiser enjoyed its 13th year and is still going strong. The success of this event is mainly due to the mass of volunteers that show up over the course of two days: they set up, sell and clean up. It is truly a marathon for those involved and we could not do it without the help of everyone that comes out. That includes some older students who helped carry tables and wrap presents for younger children. Thank you to all of you who volunteered! Thank you also to everyone that sent in their former treasures and trinkets. Each item donated becomes a gift purchased by a student. We had an excellent assortment of things from which the children were able to choose this year - keep sending us great items and you'll receive great gifts next year! The PAC would like to sincerely thank Maryanne Crossman who has run this event for the last 7 years and who, along with her youngest child, will be leaving Queen Elizabeth Elementary at the end of this year. Maryanne is the reason the bazaar has continued to grow and has remained one of the students' favourite events of the year. Thankfully, she has passed the baton to Diane Katrusiak, another star volunteer, to carry on her great work. Thank-you again Maryanne and Diane! Please join us for our first PAC meeting of 2014 next Tuesday, January 21st at 7:00pm in the Library. The PAC relies on the valuable input from parents at these meetings to guide our activities throughout the year so thankyou to all those who attend.