Prince Street Home and School

The first Home and School meeting for the 2012-2013 was held on October 4, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. in the A+ room at the school. There were approximately 20 parents and guardians in attendance, along with Principal MacIsaac, Vice-Principal Mullen-Doyle and grade one teacher Patty Caseley.

Peter Rukavina acted as Chair; Dana Doyle was recording secretary.

Peter introduced Samuel K. Wang (Mandrin) and Tek Basnet (Nepali) as translators for the Home and School meetings for Prince Street School. Terry MacIssac then conducted a tour of the school for those who wanted a look at the layout of the school.

Principal's Report

Enrollment is down from last year. Last year there was 282 students; thie year there are 267 students. 57 children left the school last year due to either going to junior high or moving and 45 children came into the school this year.

Over the course of the year there is a 20% turnover in the student population. as the school is transitional school.

There are 41 EAL students in Prince Street, representing 11 countries and 14 languages. 54 EAL students finished the school year last year at Prince Street.

There are 15 home rooms. Three kindergarten classes and two classes of all of the other grades.

September 12th was Meet The Teacher night. Attendance was down from previous years.

School pictures were taken October first and second. Retakes will be taken later this month.

Fundraising has taken place so far this with chocolate bars and coupon books being the items sold. Coupon books took half the time and effort to sell then the chocolate bars and ot created a little bit more then half the money that came in.

The playground swings will be up and ready to us on October 8th. Also, part of the playground equipment had to be retreated. There will be retreatment bi-yearly on the equipment. There is an 8 year warranty on the equipment that has been replaced over the summer.

During the professional development days this year there will be work done on Transitional Writing, Numeracy and Concepts of Art.

The school will be equipped with Art Frames at each class room door so that during the teachers can display some of the art that the students do during the school year.

On October 19th, there will be the first Art Blitz in the afternoon.

On October 20th, Doug Currie will be hosting a Pancakr Breakfast at the Charlottewn Curling Club. The proceeds from the breakfast goes to Prince Street, Parkdale, and Birchwood's Breakfst programs. Prince Street's Breakfast Program is running in the A+ room and sees 80-90 kids every morning.

October 8th is Thanksgiving and October 11th and 12th is a Teachers Convention. These days are holidays for the students.

Parent-Teacher interviews will be on October 25th (evening) and October 26th (all day).

President's Report

Peter Rukavina presented a brief update on our ongoing projects:

• Principal MacIsaac, Vice-Principal Mullen-Doyle and all of the teachers and staff at the school deserve our thanks for their tremendous effort in getting the playground repaired last year.
• The wireless network the home and school installed for educators -- TeacherNet -- is still in its "pilot project" phase until the end of December. There's complete information about the project on the home and school website.
• The SHAPES report on the health of students at the school was released and Principal MacIsaac has provided us with school-level data which Peter will summarize and post to the website.
• If there are parents who don't speak or read English that we should be providing translations services for in languages other than Chinese and Nepali, please let Peter know and we can make arrangements.

Elections to Home and School Executive

The Home and School Executive elections were held and the following people were voted in as the executive members for Prince Street:

• President: Peter Rukavina
• Treasurer: Shelley Muzika
• Secretary: Dana Doyle
• Directors: Jane Ledwell, Joni MacKenzie, Heather MacEwen

Ramona Doyle made the motion, seconded by Joanne Brown, and it was voted on and approved on by those in attendence at the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

The first Home and School parent meeting of 2012-2013 will be held on Thursday, October 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the school. All parents and guardians are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Provincial Home and School Tool Kit

Binders are available in school library and have been translated into Chinese, French and Farsi; also on website, and can be photocopied if needed

Provincial Home and School Federation Meeting, April 15th

New executive elected. All resolutions were passed with the exception of one that was sent back for clarification; accessible use policy for computers resolution was altered, primarily adding more detailed information

Principal’s Report

• Last movie night had good attendance.  Terry MacIssac reminded us that animated movies tend to hold the audiences’ attention better; movies should be between 90 and 95 minutes.
• International Potluck dinner was another success with 150 people in attendance
• Skate –a-thon fundraiser is going ahead, despite a lot of fundraisers this year.  Teachers felt it was worthwhile as money raised goes into classroom and to pay for year-end trips.  Concern that not enough money would be raised to send whole school to the play at the Confed Centre, and that money may be needed from Home and School to cover some children for year-end trips.  Executive of Home and School has offered to try and raise funds/make up the shortfall for these two events.
• Wireless Internet pilot project is coming very soon.  It will be a closed network, accessible by educators and will have filters.  Peter Rukavina and Ken Williams are loaning and installing the small boxes, and Bell Aliant has offered six months of internet connection.  Suggestion made that six months not be continuous, as school not active in July and August.  Approved request for approximately $200 from Home and School to cover cost of wires and cables for the installation.
• LCD projectors or Smart Boards will soon be every classroom, save one of the kindergarten rooms.
• Ms. Kiley’s Grade 5 class will be premiering their science videos at a Media Launch in May, further to their project funding through ArtSmarts.  On the same day, after school, their will be a Talent Show for Matuto.  Date TBA in the first week of May
• April 25, 10:15 am, Easter Seals Ambassador visit
• Dental Clinic coming on May 14th for 3 weeks this year.  Treatment plus initial examination.  Discussion on whether parents know what is available to them through provincial dental program.  Comment made that if Dental Clinic finds an issue, they contact the parents.  Newcomers Association may need to be involved to assist with translation and getting parental consent.
• Provincial assessments for Grade 3 & 6 Reading and Writing are underway
• May 15 is Young Author’s Night
• May/June will see kindergarden parents and incoming kindergarden students will be visiting the school; registration for K is currently at 41 students, 3 classes
• Ms. Rehberg has written a musical that the students have been busy rehearsing.  Will be at the Carrefour theatre on May 31st at 7pm; ticket price still to be set.  Dress Rehearsal will take place at the school for the students

Spring Fling Discussion postponed to an Executive Meeting next week.

No further meetings scheduled for this school year.

The PEI Home and School Federation's 59th Annual Meeting and Convention will be held Saturday, April 14th, 2012 at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel. Among the items on the agenda will be the consideration of resolutions presented by local home and schools and by the provincial board. 

Approved resolutions become Federation policy, which is used by the President and other board members when speaking on behalf of the Federation. All resolutions are mailed to the appropriate destinations (e.g. Minister of Education, Health, Transportation) and follow-up meetings arranged with officials, if applicable. Follow-up information is provided to the membership at subsequent Semi-Annual and Annual Meetings of the Federation and on our website.

Resolutions are one of the most powerful tools in the home and school movement has to affect change and offer feedback.

This year there are 8 resolutions being presented:

• REQUEST THE GOVERNMENT OF PEI TO INVESTIGATE AND IMPLEMENT SCHOOL EFFICIENCIES
• RENAME THE CAPITAL BUDGET LINE ITEM FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• RESTORE CAPITAL FUNDING FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• SIMPLIFICATION OF THE ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
• ENHANCE AND AFFIRM THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MINISTER’S IT ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES IN THE HOME
• CLASS SIZE / COMPOSITION

You can review the complete text of all the resolutions in this document.

At Prince Street School we will review and vote on these resolutions at our meeting of March 13, 2012, and then our delegates to the meeting will vote accordingly at the 2012 Annual General Meeting.

As part of a coalition of five downtown Charlottetown elementary schools – West Kent, St. Jean, Prince Street, Spring Park and Parkdale – the Prince Street Home and School has received a grant of $4,400 under the PEI Home and School Federation's Parent Leadership Grant program.

The project we're conducting is formally called "Engaging Parents, Students and Staff though Informal Recreational Opportunities." You can read the entire application here, but the heart of the project's idea is: let's get parents, students, teachers and staff together over the winter and spring to have fun together.

To understand better what kind of activities the families at Prince Street might be interested in, we sent out an activity survey (download it here as a PDF) in early February; so far we've received 69 responses, which represents about about one quarter of the families in the school (the survey also went home to families in the other four project partner schools).

Here's a summary of the results of the survey (you can download this as a PDF too):

Our next step is to meet with the home and schools of our partners and plan activities based on the results of everyone's surveys combined.  Stay tuned!

The January meeting of the Prince Street Home and School was held on January 10, 2012 starting at 6:30 p.m. in the A+ room at the school.

President's Report

The first movie night of the year is Friday, January 20th. The doors open at 6 p.m. and the movie starts at 6:30 p.m. The movie will be Bolt. The rules for the movie night will be set out at the beginning of the night. Students who attend Prince Street will be allowed to be dropped off. Kids that are related to students from Prince Street will have to be accompanied by an adult.

The Home and School from West Kent, St. Jean's, Parkdale, Spring Park, and Prince Street applied for a Parent Leadership grant and received $4,400 to organize informal recreational opportunities for parents, students and staff among the 5 partner schools. The Home and Schools for these schools will get together and discuss ideas as what to do for this money. That meeting for the Home and School Executives for the above schools will be on January 17th at 7 p.m. at Prince Street.

The traffic lights at Euston and Prince Streets have been finished. There was discussion that not all of the push buttons have been installed and that there isn't enough time to walk across the street before the lights change. There is a possibility of going to the city to have the time changed to twenty seconds from ten seconds.

Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week is from February 12-18. Lunch will be provided on the Friday and goodies will be provided during the week for the staff. Yard duty will be done during the lunch hour by volunteers so the staff who is to do yard duty can enjoy the lunch. Also, there will be a sheet sent home so that students can fill in the following, " I appreciate___________ because__________".

There will be a PEI Home and School Federation Annual General Meeting on April 14, 2012. Here, resolutions are bought forward from each Home and School. Last year, Prince Street brought forward the resolution about translators in the schools. If the resolutions are passed, they then are forwarded to the Dept of Education and to the boards. The deadline for resolutions to be brought forward by January 31st.

This year, the Spring Fling will be held on Friday, June 1st and we will be looking for a co-ordinate for the event. THe job of the co-ordinator will be to keep a list of items that are needed, what items are already received, what jobs there are needed to be filled, who already has put their names in for jobs and to call people.

Doug Currie (MLA for District 11, which is the area that Prince Street is in) was invited to this meeting but was unable to attend due to a prior commitment. He has mentioned that he will attend the next meeting.

There will be a possible survey sent home about computer/internet use in the home sent home.

Principal's Report

Before the Christmas break, the Christmas Concerts were done. Both concerts were interactive. Both concerts were well done and well attended. The night of the second Christmas Concert, the draw for the $1000 was held. $2000 was raised and $500 was donated over the $1000. The money was won by Cassidy McKellop, a student at Prince Street School.

Two days before the Christmas Break, Trinity United Church made a turkey dinner for the students and staff.

Karla Wildey (a teacher at Prince Street) applied for an Art Smart Grant. The school received just over $4000 dollars. The money will be used to make four mini movies.

Joe Burgess and Terry MacIsaac will be running a wrestling program every Tuesday and Thursday after school for about 5-6 weeks. The after school program will be for grade 5 and 6 students and is free of charge.

February 1st is a P.D. Day for elementary and junior high students.

Another fundraiser is coming up. There will be a Fashion Show and a Silent Auction as the fundraiser. It will February 23 at the Murphy Recreation Centre. Tickets will be sold for $25 each.

The Science Fair will be held for grades 4-6 on February 17th. Grade 4 will be judge just in the school. Grades 5 and 6 will be judged and sent on to the Provincials. Information will be sent home accordingly.

Thank you to all the Prince Street School parents who contributed to the Christmas Concert Bake Sale this year: the amount and variety of delicious baked goods was fantastic, and, together with the Christmas Basket Raffle, we raised almost $1,000.

Meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with a tour of the school led by Mr. MacIsaac. Various classrooms were visited, as well as the library, resource, computer lab, and A plus room. FM systems and smart boards were demonstrated, and parents had a chance to ask questions.

Principal's Report

• Funding for 10-week fine arts programs has been secured by the Ministry of Health; Art, Dance, and Drama classes will be offered again. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis, and money will need to be submitted right away to secure a place. A small fee is charged to the students participating.
• Kindergarten registration begins next week for future students who will be 5 years old by December 31, 2012.
• Playground Fundraiser: A raffle has been organized by the Prince Street Staff. The prize will be a $1000 bill. Each child will be asked to sell 10 tickets.
• Barb Jones will be the new school counselor, beginning November 21. Beryl McMillan has been filling in while we await the new counselor.

Upcoming Calendar Events

• December 2 – Art Blitz
• December 6 – Report Cards home
• December 12 – Kindergarten through Grade 3 Christmas Concert
• December 14 – Grade 4-6 Christmas Concert

Playground Discussion

Guests from West Kent Home and School made suggestions for funding grants (Home Depot) and offered to connect our Home and School Association with the team that raised the funds for their playground.

Question and Answer Session

An issue was raised of children warming up food at lunchtime. Mr. MacIsaac pointed out that each class had a microwave, and different heating policies; he also said that if each child needed something heated for 2 minutes, it would take the entire lunchtime in the classroom. Suggestion was made that perhaps students were not finishing their lunch because of the quantity of food, and not a heating issue.