JW Gerth School Council
June 12, 2024 at 6:30pm via Google Meet

Agenda

1. Land Acknowledgement (Trish)

2. Principal’s Report (Trish

● The Welcome to School Event was a great success. There was a large turnout and the future kindies were excited to attend.
● Grade 3s and 6s completed EQAO – This involved a large number of staff participation. We are proud of our students!
● WRDSB has designated June as six months of recognition – this includes: National Indigenous History Month, Pride Month, Filipino Heritage Month, Portuguese Heritage
Month, Italian Heritage Month, and Men’s Mental Health Month.
● Many field trips have taken place since our last meeting including trips to the Museum, the Ground Water Festival, and more.
● The last Kindergarten Open House of the year took place today where parents and guardians were invited to the gym to watch the JK/SKs perform a dance routine led by
Mrs. IJ, and sing a song led by Mme Friedel.
● The last staff meeting of the year took place today.
● The outdoor fencing has been changed to alter the entrance for YMCA families. The camera and doorbell will be moved soon. Once this change takes place, the YMCA
entrance location will officially change.
● A schoolwide art show will be held tomorrow (June 13th). All are welcome to attend (Kindergarten – Grade 6 art is displayed). There will be performances by the ukulele club
and choir.
● June 18th – Junior area track meet will take place at Jacob Hespeler High School

● June 18th – Kindgarten field trip to Huron Natural Area

● June 20th – Grade 6s to Pioneer Park

● June 20th – Grade 1s to McLennan Park

● June 21st- Grade 4, 5, 6s to the movies to see Inside Out 2, while primary kids have a playday at JWG.

● Grade 6 Grad will be held on June 26th from 9:00-11:30am. Certificates will be given out as well as pizza and cake. Families and guardians are invited.
● The Talent Show will take place during the last week of school.

● Report cards will be sent home on Monday June 24th. Thank you to the staff who have spent an incredible amount of time personalizing the reports.
● June 27th – last day of school

● Congratulations to the Eco Club who has been working hard all year and held a number of events to promote climate action. JWG is now officially certified as a Gold EcoSchool!

3. School Council  Funding in Review
Council contributed to:

a. Grade 6 graduation – covering cost of pizza and cake

b. End-of-the-year treats for each grade – Trish made a Google form and asked teachers to fill in what treat their class wanted and when it should be provided.
c. Kindie trikes were purchased.
d. French Immersion books and English novel sets to be ordered through Scholastic using the Scholastic dollars raised from Book Fair. Dollars expire in 2026. Trish asked teachers
to provide their wish lists by Friday June 14 th
e. Parking lot safety signs were purchased.
4. Walking School Bus initiative for next year – survey was sent out via School-Day today to gauge interest.
5. Parking lot and road safety – would council be interested in being in and around the parking lot in the morning to help to keep the areas safe? Natalie suggested that we work with Eco Club to
encourage walking to school so that there are less vehicles in the area. We could see if the Eco Club wants to make walk to school punch cards. Students get the card punched if they walk to
school for a designated number of days and then those cards get entered into a gift card draw. This could be done once a month.
6. Fun Fair – we would like to do this next year but need volunteers. We could not run it this year due to lack of help. How can we recruit more parents? We discussed sending home flyers at the
beginning of September. Ask for two parent reps per grade at minimum.
7. A lockdown took place on June 5 th – communication occurred via School-Day after the event because when the lockdown is taking place, staff are in the process of lockdown procedures. The
staff did an incredible job following protocols to keep students safe and calm.
8. Class assignments will likely be released the weekend before school begins. Students are not informed prior to this time because staffing can change.
9. Nutrition for Learning – One new volunteer has been training in preparation of taking over in the Fall, but others are needed.