31 May to 4 June 2021
Monday, 31 May
- Gr7 fundraising tent
- Take the Cereal Challenge
Tuesday, 1 June
Wednesday, 2 June
Thursday, 3 June
Friday, 4 June
Looking ahead
9 Jun: PAC AGM
11 Jun: Spirit Day - Friendship Day
14 Jun: Pro D-Day
21 Jun: National Indigenous Peoples Day
25 Jun: Yearbook order deadline
28 Jun: Gr7 leaving ceremony
29 Jun: Last day of school
View the school calendar online
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Please make sure you review the daily health assessment before sending your child(ren) to school. Click here to review.
If you are late to school, your child(ren) must enter through the upper front door by the salmon mural and check-in at the office. Please call the office at (604) 713-5414 so they can let the child(ren) in.
If your child(ren) will be absent from school, please phone 604-713-5159 as soon as possible and leave your child's name, division number, the date and whether they will be absent or late. Our school code is 79.
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Hello Southlands Families,
This week I attended a webinar put on by the Vancouver Museum. It was an interview with Musqueam Elder Larry Grant and his nephew Wade Grant about their mixed Musqueam and Chinese Heritage. I learned a lot about the history and people of this part of the province and it led me to watch this video, which I think you will find interesting, too:
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At our staff meeting this week I encouraged the Southlands staff to continue to be calm, be kind and be safe. The Health and Safety protocols we have in place (masks, hand-washing, learning groups, playground zones) will not be lifted or lessened in June. We are grateful for this directive from VSB as the province begins to open up a little more, we want to continue to do what we can to protect our students. We know it is tiring and sometimes frustrating for our students, but we need to maintain a positive attitude. Here is a link to a great resource:
https://heartmindonline.org/resources/sharing-good-news-strengthens-relationships
We hope you read the Friday Newsletter that we emailed home with news about what's going on at Southlands. Don't forget to send a box of cereal on Monday if you have not already.
Be kind, calm and safe, Sockeyes!
Sincerely,
Margaret Paxton
Twitter | Instagram
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This weekend, the B.C. Teachers Federation has voted to ask all educators, their classes and schools to wear orange, hold ceremonies and fly flags at half mast from May 31 to June 4 in acts of reconciliation with Indigenous people. Please wear your orange shirts in support of this action, which was proposed by Chilliwack Secondary School educator Rick Joe, who is a member of the Lil'wat Nation.
This story contains more details about the decision and the reason it was taken (the story contains details some readers might find distressing):
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/teachers-in-b-c-to-wear-orange-hold-special-ceremonies-over-discovery-of-children-s-remains-1.6045964
Read more about Orange Shirt Day here:
https://www.bcachievement.com/2020/09/29/every-child-matters-the-meaning-behind-orange-shirt-day/
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Principled - to demonstrate being principled the grade 2 and 3 classes have taken action to help the Food Bank.
We are challenging the rest of the school to Take the Cereal Challenge! We are building a Cereal Box Domino Run!
We have collected 62 medium cereal boxes (approximately 400 grams) so far! We are hoping we can get to 200! Once we have created our Domino Run on May 31st, the cereal boxes will be given to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank to help families in need and to give children cereal for the summer!
Thank you sockeyes for your help!
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Grade 7 Online Auction
Grade 7 Grad Committee are planning to set up the PAC tent next Monday and Tuesday (May 31 and June 1) to promote our fundraising activities to support Grade 7 graduation. We will be show-casing the three raffle basket prizes and the online action items from 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm on those two days. Please check them out.
- Online auction will close at 2:30pm on Tuesday June 1 and the winner will be announced in the school on the same day.
- The raffle basket draw ticket sales will close at 4:00pm on Tuesday June 1. The winners will be announced the next day in school.
If you would like to make a cash donation on Monday or Tuesday, we will have a donation jar set up at the PAC tent. We are getting close to the goal and looking forward to planting the Pacific dogwood tree shortly!
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We are busy putting together the 2020-2021 Southlands school yearbook. This year they will be available in the fall.
Yearbook pre-order (Deadline June 25):.
You have the option to personalize your book. You can create your own back cover and up to 4 pages for free! Here's a video to show you how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qFXsgzrhw8
Pre-order your yearbook here: https://store.shopyearbook.com/southlands-21
Softcover: $19 + tax | Hardcover: $31 + tax
Unsure about how to order? Here's a video to help you out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKxWBzXphjQ
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Our PAC meeting on June 9th will be the Annual General Meeting, the last meeting of the year. An important job will be to elect the PAC Executive board for the 2021-22 school year. This is important, as we must elect people to each of the available positions. If the positions are not filled, the PAC cannot operate, and all of the funds in our PAC accounts - currently around $70,000, will have to be given to the school or the school District. Any future PAC will have to start from scratch.
Nomination forms came home with your child/ren last week. If you would like to find out more about any of these roles, please contact Nina at southlands.elementary@gmail.com
Right now, we have the following roles available, with some nominees already:
- Chair or Co-Chair: leads decision-making for the PAC, runs meetings, liaises with the school VACANT
- Vice Chair: supports the Chair as needed VACANT (not required if Co-Chair is elected)
- Treasurer: oversees PAC finances, manages the bank account, enters transactions into Quickbooks, produces financial reports for PAC meetings Nominee: Priya Gupta
- Secretary: takes minutes at PAC meetings, circulates minutes via the newsletter and website, prepares agendas for PAC meetings, tracks action items agreed by PAC VACANT
- Fundraising: oversees fundraising activities, advises volunteers for individual fundraising campaigns, coordinates with school staff as needed Nominee: VACANT
- DPAC Rep: attends DPAC (District PAC) meetings and reports back to Southlands PAC, represents Southlands in District-wide activities VACANT
- Members at Large: sit on PAC Executive board as advisors and offer knowledge and support as needed VACANT
All Southlands families are members of the PAC. We need your help so that the PAC can keep connecting and supporting all of Southlands' children, staff and families!
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Southlands PAC is gathering information from families who enrol at Southlands from out of catchment. We would like to learn more about what motivates families to come to Southlands, and to stay.
Please fill in this quick survey to let us know more about your family's choices, and we may use the data we collect to communicate with the VSB about why Southlands and the IB program should continue to be robustly supported by the District through funding, policy and staffing. Please be assured that there are no changes coming to Southlands or IB at this time, but the PAC wants to get ahead of any "enrolment management strategy" that VSB may apply to our school (see DPAC report later in this newsletter).
You can fill in the survey anonymously or provide your email address which will NOT be shared with the VSB and would only be used by the PAC to contact you with further questions. If you are interested in helping with our advocacy campaign please contact Nina at southlands.elementary@gmail.com
The survey can be accessed here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfljVl64dOmKjrqwoyGJ7YRv6nyjwE0Xg-1jTPYFKjE7jrLkw/viewform?usp=sf_link
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Thank you to the families who have joined our FlipGive team! We have already earned $486 for Southlands programs. We encourage others to join the team using code FRJ3Z5.
Use the FlipGive app or browser plugin before shopping online at stores like Starbucks, Amazon, Sportchek, Nike, Bay, The Gap, Indigo, etc. and you will be ensuring a percentage of your purchase gets credited to Southlands programs.
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In this world of social distancing, if you are ordering groceries online from Stong's, please pick "Southlands Elementary School" from the drop down menu so that the PAC can earn a rebate. Thank you for your support!
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