To the families and friends of Gledhill:
What a wild ride the last few years have been! We are so thrilled to be able to see our children get back to a more normal way of life, particularly at school. It’s been incredible to see new friendships formed and new experiences made within the walls of Gledhill. The successes we see in our children is truly a community effort and we are grateful for your participation in this community.
A unique opportunity has been brought forward to our Gledhill administration to redevelop the yard behind the school. What began as a simple project of re-paving the space has grown into what will create a more beautiful space for our children to play, learn and laugh in for decades to come. While the TDSB and Ministry are able to fund the majority of costs, there are additional items that the parent community could come together and fundraise for. These include an outdoor classroom; benches and picnic tables for classes to gather at; additional colourful games and activities in the yard; and shade sails for the kindergarten areas. The costs of these are over and above what the TDSB and Ministry are able to do.
Where does that leave us? With this letter and with a series of additional events for the remainder of this year to hopefully raise $15,000 to assist in this build.
Below you will find a draft design plan for what this yard will look like, please have a look and if you have any questions, please forward them to thegledhillguardian@gmail.com and we will have them answered appropriately by administration.
In a non-Covid year, the Gledhill community is one that loves to come together – whether it is in the yard at dropoff or at more formal events such as Family Fest, Movie Nights, Dance-A-Thon and Parent Socials. The Gledhill School Council operates these events, most of which have a fundraising component to them. On an annual basis, the council is able to raise between $25,000-$35,000 to fund amazing enrichment opportunities for our students and valuable support to our teachers. With our Covid years, we haven’t experienced a normal fundraising year since the 2018-2019 year. We will be bringing many of these events back, but are also including this letter as an additional opportunity to support this project.
The population of the school is currently at 401 students. To provide context, if we were to raise $15,000 from this letter alone, that would be a $38 donation per student. With every fundraising campaign, every little bit counts. Not every family is in a position to give $38 per student in their family and others may be able to give more than that. This is a community effort and anyone donating through this campaign will be recognized in the same way, in a permanent spot in the school with all family names being listed. The TDSB is also able to provide a tax receipt for all gifts $25 and above.
All gifts can be made online by clicking here. We encourage you to circulate this amongst the community as well; there are many Gledhill alums and future Gledhill families that have a stake in how we can support our school and our students.
Please consider making a gift today to support the yard re-development project so that together we can create a legacy from the families of Gledhill Junior Public School 2022-2023. Join us in making this possible!
Sincerely,
Lindsay Tarvit & Kristen Grinyer
Parent Council Co-Chairs
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