School Council Update, February 25th, 2021
Good morning Parents and Guardians of Priory Park,
On behalf of School Council, we would like to thank you for your continued support of the students, parents and staff at Priory Park. While this school year continues to be unique and provide challenges unlike years previous, the School Council at Priory Park continues to meet and work to help support Priory Park.
Over the past few years the focus for School Council fundraising has been school greening. This past Spring and Summer we were able to update two of our playground climbers, repaint play lines/games on our tarmac, we were able to expand the fence for the Kindergarten play area and we have purchased a sensory table for exploration in our outside play space for our Kindergarten students. We were able to get the front gardens cleaned up and mulched. Much of this work we were able to find support to help with the cost from different sources, therefore we continue to have the funds raised for greening that we can use to further with our greening.
This Winter School Council has been researching planters for the Kindergarten area and have found a source for 2, 5 foot metal planters with soil that will be installed in the Spring. These will be used for planting, exploring and creating. The Kindergarten team is just thrilled with the possibilities these two planters will bring. We are looking into replacing and repairing the grass area around the sand box and should have news to share soon about this upgrade. Finally, we have been sourcing tress to be planted in the Kindergarten area and the front lawn. The trees in the kindergarten area will provide much needed shade and shelter from wind. This Summer we had 3 trees removed from our beautiful front lawn because they had died. We will be looking to plant a mature tree and install a memorial plaque with the tree.
Last year, one of our newest fundraising ideas and a super fun experience was the Bag 2 School fundraiser. It was a great success from a school and community point of view. We very much appreciated the recycling/reusing focus and the opportunity to spring clean our closets and homes while supporting the school and recycling efforts. Our school community really stepped up and we had a tremendous contribution. Unfortunately, then like many items this past Spring there were closures and interruptions in business opening, etc. The sad news is that we have not been able to complete this fundraiser because we have not received the money for the donation. School Council has made a tremendous effort to try and get in touch with this company by phone and email, but to no avail. While this saddens us, we have learned that we value this kind of fundraise that has a social awareness/issue and environmental focus and will continue to look for fundraising ideas with these values for the future.
One of the items that we have discovered is experiencing great wear and tear and that we have a significant need/demand for is our school Chromebook collection. As we are looking at completing our greening goals and if we continue to have saved fundraising money remaining, School Council would like to use this greening money to purchase more Chromebooks for students to use. If you have a concern about the change in focus for fundraising money, please contact Mrs. Morris at the school and she will share your thoughts with School Council.
Again, thank you for your continued support of the school and school council. Our next meeting is May 26th, please join us if you wish. Again, call the school and Mrs. Morris will add your information to the meeting invitation. All of our meeting this year have continued to be held virtually.
Stay safe and enjoy the coming of Spring,
Hanna Morris
Categories: News