 Dear Tennyson families,
We are very excited to announce that Lord Tennyson Elementary will be participating as a school team at the RBC Race for the Kids on Sunday, June 3, 2018. This wonderful event is held annually as a part of the BC Children's Hospital’s Miracle Weekend and raises funds for childhood cancer programs in addition to mental health initiatives at BC Children’s Hospital. Chances are most of us have been touched by the life-saving care of BC Children’s Hospital. This year's event takes place on Sunday, June 3th at 9:00 a.m. in Vancouver. It is a fantastic family event, where participants run or walk a 5 km or 2 km Fun Run, followed by a carnival for the kids including live music, face painting, crafts, games, and fresh fruits and veggies. It is easy to register for the run or simply donate on behalf of the Tennyson Team: secure.bcchf.ca/SuperheroPages/team.cfm?Event=RFTK&Team=12746 We will receive Tennyson-specific t-shirts if we have 20 team members registered by May 14 (including students/parents/siblings/others). Our goal is to recruit at least 25 team members and to raise a minimum of $2000.00 – let’s work together to make this happen! Thank you for supporting such a worthy cause, and hopefully we will see you out on Sunday, June 3! TEAM NAME - Lord Tennyson Elementary School CAPTAIN CONTACT INFO - Karen Barron barron_karen@hotmail.com (604) 505-8205  The Spell-a-thon is only a week away so it's time to start practicing the dictee and collecting pledges from friends and family. The funds raised by the Spell-a-thon are used to provide additional programs and educational resources beyond those provided by the VSB and government in order to significantly enhance the educational experience provided to our children. So let's see how much we can raise. Pledges may be made ‘per correct answer’ or as a total amount (forms are attached). Any cheques should be made out to the Lord Tennyson PAC. If you didn't receive a pledge from and info sheet you can download it here. The slideshow below shows some of the great prizes students can win at the Spell-a-thon. Prizes will be awarded to the top fundraiser in each class and the top fundraiser overall . As well, there will be several random prize draws for any participant, and a pizza party for the best fundraising division. Thank you to everyone who generously donated prizes; our students will be spoiled for choice! The DPAC received an invitation to share with parents and guardians who are interested in confidentially sharing their experiences and stories re: getting health services for child and youth mental health and substance use through Vancouver Coastal Health.
The workshop takes place this Thursday (same day as DPAC's general meeting focused on VSB's budget for next year, but hopefully you've got parents interested in both events). See below for more information. Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is seeking to improve the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (CYMHSU) system of care in Vancouver. One of the areas we are exploring is how our website can provide access to the services provided by VCH. To gain insight into some of the current obstacles that individuals may run into when looking for support and service we would like to invite you to a 3 hour storytelling (anecdote circle) workshop scheduled on April 12, 2018 at 5:30-8:30 pm and at 2750 East Hastings Street Vancouver, BC V5K 1Z9. This is an important activity for VCH CMYHSU as it provides an opportunity to explore and share your collective experiences around important issues which will impact the development of the VCH website. A storytelling workshop consists of a small group of people gathered to recount experiences. The workshop can look and feel much like a dinner party discussion. The experiences you share as a group will remain confidential. In case you're wondering, how can we spend 3 hours telling stories, there will also be some hands on activities that will fill up the 3 hour workshop. We hope that you will find this opportunity to share your experiences enjoyable and insightful. To help us arrange child care needs and meals, please RSVP to Nathaniel Lim at Nathaniel.lim@vch.ca or at 604-716-2381. We can only accommodate 20 participants so please respond as soon as you are able. We look forward to you sharing your stories, CYMHSU Strategy Team Thanks, Nathaniel The second and final PAC fundraiser of the 2017/18 school year is a Spell-a-thon (all details are here) that will take place Friday April 20, 2018; the pledge forms are going out this week. Thank you to everyone who has already donated incentive prizes for the event. We have received nearly 40 prizes which is more than half-way to our goal of 70 prizes. The kids are going to be spoiled for choice with prizes including computer games, Lego sets, gift cards for Trees Organic and Tangram Creamery and some lovely books. Check out the prizes in the picture rill below. Thank you all for your generosity. The Spell-a-thon organizers are still looking for small incentive prizes for all grades. Examples of some awesome prizes include books (from the Scholastic book fair perhaps!), cinema tickets from Costco, gift cards from local businesses, small toys, Lego, crafts, puzzles and games. If you want to donate a gift through the Scholastic book fair you can leave cash or a donation through your credit card and we can pick something for you or you can pick an item yourself. All donations are gratefully accepted; please leave them in the Spell-a-thon bin in the photocopy room, across from the office. If you have any questions, please email orlasturgess@gmail.com. Thank you for your support! Greetings from PIE; we hope that you had a great spring break and are looking forward to beautiful spring here in Vancouver!
On Pink Day, we had a small but very pleasant first PIE coffee with parents at Tennyson. A reminder that the next PIE meeting will take place on April 10 in the library at 7-9PM. Our principal Doug Roch and vice principal/resource teacher Regina Vosahlo will both attend. We will prepare a structured discussion to facilitate sharing our children’s experiences and needs and start planning the 2018/2019 school-parent team agenda. We are looking for ideas about how to build inclusion and belonging to our school culture. Please feel free to share any advice that you see may fit, we are making a list of everyone's ideas. Important news from the Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada (CADDAC): There are currently two issues impacting BC ADHD physicians and patients, new prescribing guidelines for stimulant medications and proposed changes to BC Special Education Guidelines. While CADDAC and CADDRA have done advocacy work on both of these issues, it is time for patients and medical professionals to also become involved. For this reason CADDAC has developed two BC advocacy campaigns and material to assist patients in making their voices heard. Please see their website for more information (www.caddac.ca), and read the attached PDF:s. Some good news to from the presentation that was organized with Bo Heljskov Elwén in February in Burnaby. Someone from Surrey school district attended and was so inspired by the message about the low arousal approach and how effective it is with students who have autism, ADHD and/or anxiety, that she now will send a number of teachers from Surrey to Calgary for training in the method. The teachers will then educate their colleagues. Would it not be nice with a similar VSB intiative?! Finally, one of our members has a touching story to share about two brothers with autism who navigate life together, here's the link: https://www.npr.org/2018/04/06/599738145/you-would-always-have-my-back-brothers-with-autism-navigate-life-together Warm regards, Lena Normén-Younger, Sonya Cressman and Jacqueline Crummey  Registration open now for BCCPAC members (Early bird deal until April 9; non-members can register as of April 10)
 Operating Grants 2018/19
Capital Funding
K-12 Public Education Funding Review
VSB Budget 2018/19
 Hope everyone is well rested after Spring Break.
If you were unable to join us last month at our Executive meeting. draft minutes are available on our website and we hope you can join us soon. Minutes and presentations from previous meetings are also on our site. DPAC has two meetings this month, in a reversed order to accomodate VSB's budget timeline. The General Meeting will be on April 12 with the main focus on VSB's 2018/19 budget plus a discussion on the provincial K-12 funding formula review currently underway. Please bring your thoughts and ideas of what is missing in VSB and your funding priorities. This is our opportunity to get parent perspective in before the 2018/19 budget is created. Please also review the funding model review discussion paper so we can discuss and add parent voices to the process. The Executive Meeting will be on April 26 and will include a district update by VSB Superintendent Suzanne Hoffman and a presentation by Family Smart. Note: all DPAC meetings are open to parents and guardians of VSB students. While only DPAC executives can vote at Executive meetings, and only official DPAC representatives (PACs to self-determine) can vote at General meetings, all parents and guardians of VSB students can participate. Important Dates
Upcoming:
DPACVSB Working Groups
Input for DPAC
Expand/Embrace Your Indigenous Knowledges
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