Registration Opens January 8, 2025
Pulling community together to support families
Uplands Park Elementary recently hosted some very successful fundraisers to support Uplands families. The Frosty Foot Race brought in more money than ever (more than $3,000). The event is spearheaded by Laurie Dyck every year. She sends out pledge forms to each class a couple weeks before the race. She also leads a short assembly just before the foot race. Mr. Entner set up a speaker to play holiday music while the race was on.
The Santa Shop is a PAC organized event that has been going on for 10 years! It is organized by the PAC and the lead organizer is Erin Race, an Uplands parent and school district employee. The PAC starts collecting donations of gently used items starting at the beginning of November. On the week of the Santa Shop, parent volunteers set up the “Shop” in the gym. They spread the items out over about 35 tables. They also set up a ‘wrapping station’ where volunteers wrap the gifts for students. On Tuesday last week, all classes had a time to go to the gym and students were able to purchase one item. (Each item costs $1). After every student has had a chance to buy one gift for someone, they can return with their classes and buy more. Some buy quite a lot. Every gift is wrapped by volunteers and this year more than $1,000 dollars was raised. This means that over 1,000 gifts were purchased and wrapped and will be given to someone. It is a lot of fun for students and helps them get their Christmas shopping done.
Between the two events, more than $4,000 was raised to support families at Uplands. This is more than is usually raised so they plan to support a few families for the holiday season but there will be money left over to support families at other times of the year as well.
Business Committee Meeting
At the Business Committee meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, the committee received the internal audit report, the building envelope and made several recommendations to the Board of Education, including:
- Approving the SOFI Report
- Approving the temporary suspension of the Business and Education Committees to be replaced with a Public Committee of the Whole entitled Strategic Directions Committee (once a month) and a monthly Board working session entitled Professional Learning Working Group effective January 2025
- Approving the joint agreement with the City of Nanaimo to use the multi-purpose space and washrooms at Hammond Bay Elementary
- Approving the recommendation of staff to discontinue intake for late French Immersion for Grade 6 for the 2025-26 school year and that late French Immersion will be discontinued for the 2026-27 school year. The recommendation will go to the Board of Education, Wednesday, December 18 for a final vote.
Find the entire agenda here.
.
Turn It Off Before You Take Off
Prime Minister's Awards
Consider nominating an educator for the 2025 Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in STEM or the Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Education. The deadline to nominate is January 15, 2025. Help celebrate those who go above and beyond to create safe spaces for their students and continue to work hard to making learning fun and inspiring the next generation to be bold innovators and creators.
TRC57 Speaker Series Season 5 Schedule
The schedule for Season 5 is here. Mark your calendars for the thought-provoking virtual speaker series. This free learning series is in collaboration with UBC Press to help promote a deeper conversation and rebuilding our relationships with Indigenous peoples and the land.
Employee Wellness Hub
This holiday season, in the spirit of practicing kindness and finding joy, we invite you to think about how understanding the importance of setting and maintaining healthy boundaries is a gift of self-compassion that may be long overdue.
The Setting Healthy Holiday Boundaries article explores how embracing the concept of creating boundaries to address social commitments and family dynamics can help you better manage people-pleasing pressure. You can reclaim your peace and maintain routines over the holidays. Realizing this can be incredibly liberating. You’re not alone: we’ll guide you on how to identify, communicate, and protect your personal limits. With clear boundaries, you can have more meaningful and enjoyable holiday celebrations.
Find out more about identifying your boundaries and tips for setting boundaries that you can keep as well as practicing self-compassion. View the entire article here.
Santa Workshops
There's still time to see Santa. Pet night is tonight, December 12 and Santa will be in his chair December 14 & 15. Everyone is welcome to attend these free events thanks to the support from Santa Clark, Harbour Air and many volunteers.
Nominate exceptional citizens for a provincial award
The call for nominations for the British Columbia’s two top honours – the Order of British Columbia and Medal of Good Citizenship is now open! The Order of B.C. recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement, excellence or distinction in a field of endeavour benefiting the people of the province or elsewhere. We encourage you to recognize someone for their accomplishments provincially, nationally or internationally by nominating them today.
The Medal of Good Citizenship recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to their local communities without seeking remuneration. This prestigious honour recognizes acts of selflessness, generosity and contributions to the betterment of someone’s local community. Youth aged 15 to 25 and posthumous nominations are welcome.
Please consider nominating someone for these honours and forward this information to others in your organization and/or community. The nomination deadline is April 4, 2025
DAC & FAC Closures During Winter Break
The District Administration Centre (DAC) and Facilities Department (FAC) will be closed during winter break. Details for each are listed below:
- DAC closure from Monday, December 23, 2024 until Friday, January 3, 2025; reopening on Monday, January 6, 2025
- FAC closure from Monday, December 23, 2024 until Friday, December 27, 2024; FAC will by open Monday, December 30, 31, January 2 & 3 by appointment only
Credits:
Created with images by Li Ding - "Spa still life" • MarekPhotoDesign.com - "share your story word abstract in letterpress wood type with an antique journal, business, education, communication concept"