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From the President Welcome back! The exciting news to start off with is… we turn 50 this year! Who knew we’d look so good! As you may have heard, the preschool is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and we’re planning a community celebration. We recruited some volunteers at the September GM, however if you’d like to help out – we’d love the help. We’ll keep you posted as we plan this exciting event. As you may have noticed, over the summer the preschool had some “sprucing up”. Thank you to Ron and the Queen’s Park Facilities staff for painting the interior walls, doors and support beams, installing new and brighter lights outside, and giving the whole exterior a thorough cleaning. Thank you to Ram, with Two Lions Painting, for painting the indoor playhouse and climber. Still to come are some new ceiling tiles, an art sink sprayer, and a parent education bookshelf. Also in the planning stages is an expansion of the outdoor play space. We are so excited to announce that we are very close to having approval to expand our outdoor fenced play space to include some of the “natural” space on the side of the […]
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From the President Thank you Thank you Thank you. Thank you for a wonderful year at preschool. Sure… yes… we started off with a little bit of poop and a fire alarm – but it was blue sky & sunshine from there on in! As we come to a close for another year, I want to take a moment to thank our fabulous teachers. Thank you to Teacher Donna for joining us… we hope you are having as much fun playing as we are! Congratulations again to Teacher Jenny for finishing her first year as Supervisor! Thank you to Teacher Eleanor & Teacher Barb to taking on the challenge of the 4-year old classes and introducing such amazing projects to our kids. And thank you to our amazing executive team this year! For those brave souls who volunteer knowing it means extra meetings and more work – please know you are appreciated so very much. If you have an executive member in your class, please take a moment to say thanks… without them our school would not function as amazingly as it does. If it feels like it’s all ending too soon, then check out what is still to […]
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From the President Tell us what you think! Please take a couple of minutes to complete our General Preschool Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VSPBX2J. Over the past few months, the preschool has been redesigning our feedback processes. Our goal is to have surveys that be used annually with minimal changes needed, results that can be tracked over time, and higher response rates from members. We are trying to amalgamate the current survey questions into two categories: information about the preschool’s operations (such as enrollment, orientation, jobs, administration, etc.) and classroom programming (such as communication with teachers, classroom activities, etc.). Moving forward, hopefully we will have two surveys annually which will provide a baseline of information for the preschool’s executive to base decisions on. Thank to Tara for all her help is reworking our surveys. Let’s not make her efforts be in vain – please click the link above and tell us your thoughts! Our preschool was very privileged to host a delegation from the Parent Cooperative Preschool’s International (PCPI) conference, which took place in Vancouver this year. They toured the preschool, shared ideas and conducted a business meeting while onsite. PCPI is a North American organization A big thank you to Teacher Jenny […]
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From the President Wow do I ever have a lot of news for you this month! First off, don’t forget that the closure dates for Easter are April 3-6 – we will reopen April 6. And for the rest of my news, to keep it simple, I have broken it down into a few topics: Spring Break We have heard from a few families asking about extending our preschool Spring Break to two weeks. As this has been a question ever since the school district moved to a 2 week break, this year we will be discussing it at the April GM, with a vote taking place at the May GM to set the length of next year’s break. In preparation, here is some background information: – When the school district extended Spring Break to 2 weeks, the preschool’s executive at the time decided to remain with a 1 week break and see how attendance was. As attendance for the 2nd week was high, the decision was made to continue with a 1 week break. Attendance has been tracked each year, and has been within the normal range. – Last year, at the request of families, the preschool year […]
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From the President I am so happy to be the bearer of exciting news… our 3 and 4 year old classes beginning next September are now full! I’ve already thanked so many people… and I’d like to echo that again here. There have been so many people involved with this amazing success – please know that we are so thankful for your efforts! And for more welcome news… perhaps the most anticipated purchase of the year has now arrived… our new vacuum! If you are reading this and wondering why on earth this matters so much, then most likely you have never used the 2 vacuums currently in use 🙂 The new vacuum is an industrial canister model, easy to use, and will vacuum up virtually anything (but please don’t put this to the test!). It is fairly user friendly, however if you’re unsure, please do not hesitate to ask for help if needed.Also new to the preschool is our amazing new sandbox lid. Again, it may seem like an everyday item, but just picture a folding wooden cover, on a pulley system, with a hand crank. Our kids (and many parents and grandparents) have been highly entertained! A very […]
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From the President This month, I am not going to beat around the bush! To start off… we need your help (of course!). But this is an easy request! The preschool has had a Facebook page for quite some time, but it was rarely used. Moving forward, we are utilizing it more to connect with our community and advertise marketing- and enrollment-related events. Our registration information is already posted, and soon the parent education speakers will be added (only those open to people outside the preschool). For those of you on Facebook, please “like” us here and share the information. The Facebook page will be closely monitored and only used for events open to the community. There will never be information posted about the kids, such as their photos, field trip details, or any other in class activity that shows kids present. Next up for news… an offer of money. We are a member of the Council of Parent Participation Preschools of BC, and the Council is a member of the Parent Cooperative Preschools International. Both organizations offer bursaries to anyone directly involved in the preschool (family, teachers, staff) to pursue early childhood education related courses. To learn more, go […]
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From the President Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe & happy holidays… and as healthy as could be! To start with, a few thank you’s to pass along – always a nice way to start things off. First, thank you to everyone who brought things in for New West Family Place. Barb and Natalie (our enrollment coordinator) brought the donations down, and were very warmly welcomed. Second, thank you to Ron Booth, with the City of New Westminster, for the holiday swim and skate passes he donated to the preschool. Third, a BIG thank you to Jennifer Rhyne (*blushing*) for reprising her role as Newsletter Editor (for the 3rd time!). Pamela, our former editor, has moved to a role with the GM set up committee, so please stop by to say hi at our January GM. Finally, thank you so much for the gifts and treats you gave me. It was so generous and so thoughtful! For our New Years resolution, we will be trying very hard to consolidate our email communication in attempt to reduce the number of emails families receive. There are three main emails that are sent each month… our newsletter, the GM agenda […]
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Our preschool outdoor space has been changing over the last few months thanks to the New Westminster City Childcare Grant, and donations of time and materials from our families and the New Westminster Community. The children and teachers have really been enjoying the rejuvenated space! Some of the new additions include : A footbridge 12 planters….one which is a sensory garden, as well as two mobile planters for veggies A huge variety of perrenial plants and small trees/bushes A fairy garden planter and bench Rain Barrel A HUGE water wall area including two new water tables A Bird House Post and Mason Bee House A lovely shade umbrella Outdoor rugs and tables Worm Composter New child-sized rakes and garden shovels MORE SAND!!! Fresh Fibar for under our climbing structure More stumps for climbing on Outdoor mirrors An outdoor music experience area Check out the link in The Record Newspaper about the changes to our outdoor space: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/community/new-wet-and-wild-preschool-playground-1.1072811 On Tuesday, June 3 we will be having a celebration to say thank you to the City of New Westminster, the preschool families, and the many members of our community that made this project possible. There will be “tours” of the outdoor space […]
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Executive Positions Available We are fast approaching our Executive Elections, taking place at the General Meeting on May 6. We are pleased to report that there are families who have expressed an interest in just about all the positions, however there are a few that no one has indicated an interest in: Secretary – takes minutes at the executive and general meetings. This is a great position for someone new to the school – you get to be a part of the decision making process at the school, but in a position that requires little additional time outside of the two meetings. Class Representative 3PM and 4PM – organizes and distributes duty schedules for her/his respective class; acts as a liaison between her/his class and the executive. It is a great way to meet all the families in your class, and help everyone feel connected. Orientation Coordinator – oversees the orientation of new parents to the preschool and the New Parents’ Coffee Party. As this position runs from January to December, it is the perfect position for someone coming into the 3 year old class, or who will be returning again the following year with another child. The bulk of […]
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Jo’s Tidbits Thank you…..Thank you…..Thank you! My message is simple this month… I want to take the time to thank everyone who helped out with the silent auction. It was a great success and we could not have done it without the hard work of so many people 🙂 The membership, the teachers and most importantly our kids appreciate it! Healthy Easter Treats We always battle with too much candy at the Easter time of year (grocery stores with Cadbury displays have become the thing to avoid!) – so imagine the thrill at discovering this terrific little list of 7 healthier Easter treats. This is a post from the blog, Eat Drink Better, and the ideas are pretty great, plus it’s just in time for the “big day” – if you celebrate with treats! 1. Play Dough Eggs – Skip the food all together and give a fun activity instead! 2. Raw Truffles – Instead of refined sugar, these raw truffles are sweetened with whole fruit. 3. Fruit Leather – Another whole fruit treat, kids love fruit leather! Use mini cookie cutters to cut them into cute shapes, and eat the leavings yourself! 4. Raw Cadbury Eggs – Do your kids like those cream-filled chocolate eggs? Check out this unprocessed […]
