The Gledhill Guardian

Happy March!

If you want to order tickets for the Apr 2 Marlies Game, please order by today, Mar 1 at 12pm.

Details on how to order can be found here: https://gledhillguardian.com/fundraising-efforts/

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

Gledhill School Council

Date: Tuesday, February 28th

Time: 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Location: Zoom Meeting: https://tdsb-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtdOihqzgvE9N09k13PaHx4Qg_apGM_12e

Please note that ALL Gledhill parents and staff are welcome to join these meetings and are considered voting members of this community. We hope that you’ll consider joining us to contribute to your child’s academic year!

1. Principal’s Update
2. Skate Day
3. Family Fest
4. Committee Updates
5. Other Business
6. Gledhill Goodies

Next Council Meetings:

• Thursday, April 13th
• Tuesday, May 16th

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Sunday, April 2, 2023 – Gledhill @ The Marlies – Ticket deadline Mar 1 at 12pm!
• Thursday, June 15, 2023 – Gledhill Family Fest

Just a couple quick reminders coming off a busy week.

Pizza Lunch: Feb 24
Tomorrow is pizza lunch at school for those who purchased slices for their kiddos. Please provide snacks and water for the rest of the day.

Marlies Ticket Deadline: Mar 1
If you want to order some tickets for the Apr 2 Marlies Game, please order by Mar 1 at 12pm. Details on how to order can be found here: https://gledhillguardian.com/fundraising-efforts/

Wear pink tomorrow to school to create a more kind, inclusive world by raising awareness for anti-bullying initiatives

Did you know? Our Gledhill Guardian blog includes important dates and a calendar – Find out more https://gledhillguardian.com/calendar/

We’ve also added an Events section here – https://gledhillguardian.com/school-wide-events/

Think an event is missing? Feel free to email us at thegledhillguardian@gmail.com

Skip cooking tonight (Tuesday February 21) and have a family pizza night instead! Order from one of the four Dominos locations listed below using the order codes provided and $5 will go to supporting the Gledhill yard enhancement project. Feel free to share with your friends and family in the neighbourhood of these locations.

Thank you for supporting our school!!

Skip cooking tonight (Tuesday February 21) and have a family pizza night instead! Order from one of the four Dominos locations listed below using the order codes provided and $5 will go to supporting the Gledhill yard enhancement project. Feel free to share with your friends and family in the neighbourhood of these locations.

Thank you for supporting our school!!

Just a reminder that Pizza Lunch orders for February and March Pizza Lunch days are due by midnight on Wednesday, February 15th.

Open to all Gledhill students (Kindergarten – Grade 5), slices of cheese, pepperoni, dairy-free cheese and cheese with gluten free-crust from Pizza Pizza will be available for $3 per slice. Up to three slices per student may be ordered for each Pizza Lunch day and students will receive the same order for both dates.

Pizza orders must be placed and paid for through the School Cash Online system – no pizza will be available for sale on the day of the Pizza Lunch.

Pizza Lunches will take place on Friday, February 24th, 2023 and Friday, March 31, 2023.

All pizza orders contribute to Gledhill School Council’s fundraising efforts – thank you for supporting Gledhill and our students!

Should you have any questions about Pizza Lunches, please email thegledhillguardian@gmail.com

Are you interested in contributing to your child’s school? There are so many great ways to get involved at Gledhill and we are actually in need of your help for some more than others. Currently, we have 30 volunteers with valid police checks at Gledhill. We can’t depend on only those volunteers each time we need them and we are asking for your participation!

Please review the list of current opportunities the Gledhill Parent Council needs volunteers for. As best we can, we have put the number of volunteers necessary next to it. Keep in mind that even for field trips with your child’s class, you will also need a police reference check.

Gledhill Pizza Lunches – Approximately 10 occur each year and each lunch requires approximately 15 parent volunteers. Pizza Days fall on Friday’s over the lunch hour and the volunteer commitment is approximately one hour each time.

Movie Nights – Join your Gledhill Community in the Gym for a movie night! Pizza and Snack sales to be made. Occurs 4-6 times per year and requires approximately 10 parent volunteers. This opportunity would exist on a Friday evening with volunteer shifts beginning at 5:30 p.m. and ongoing until approximately 9 p.m.

Family Fest – This is Gledhill Parent Council’s largest event of the year and happens annually in June. For this event, we need 50 volunteers completing shifts over the course of this 3-4 hour event, plus set-up and tear down. Please note that the timing for this begins at approximately 2 p.m., but there will be volunteer opportunities up until 8 p.m. in the evening.

Parent Social Night – this is an event held once a year and usually includes a silent auction to raise money for the school. Volunteer roles required here are getting items for the silent auction, ticket sales at the event, assisting on night-of with the silent auction payment. Necessary to have 12-15 volunteers for this event, working shifts through the evening.

Please keep in mind that to volunteer in your child’s classroom OR to attend a potential field trip, a police check will be required to participate.

Now you’re asking, how do I get involved?! Great! We can’t wait to meet you. 

Please click the link below and fill out the form. We ask for your child’s name and teacher so that a police check form can be placed in their backpack for you to fill out. It needs to be completed and returned to the school with a certified cheque in the amount of $20.00.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AT GLEDHILL JUNIOR PS

In Fall 2022, Gledhill’s administration was approached about the opportunity to re-pave the rear yard to Gledhill Junior Public School. Upon discussion, it was discovered that additional funds were in place and a more fulsome redevelopment of the entire rear yard could be completed.

In consultation with the Board, the Ministry of Education, our Parent Council co-chairs, teachers and administration from Gledhill, a design has been finalized that will completely update the yard. The design plan as it is now is attached to this communication. It features a re-design of current elements that the school has, but allows for better flow and opportunity for play for our kids. The design includes more sitting areas, an additional outdoor classroom/stage feature, changes in location of current hockey and basketball nets, a proper soccer field and baseball diamond and a better situated kindergarten play area. In addition to those, this plan also accounts for a better drainage system for the rear yard. This will hopefully alleviate the ice and slush that many of our walkways tend to accumulate. At this time, the general timeline is for this to begin in Summer 2023 and be completed towards the end of this calendar year. As we all know, construction projects tend to have a more fluid timeline than other things and we will communicate any adjusted timeline to the best of our ability.

While much of the budget for this is being covered by both the Board and the Ministry of Education, there has been a request made for parent council funds to be donated to support this project. Despite the lack of fundraising over the last couple of years, Parent Council feels that we are in a position to support this project in the amount of $15,000. This will be a combination of funds that we have raised in the past as well as fundraising activities that will take place between now and the end of the year. What you will see from parent council in the coming months are the following fundraisers: Family Fest, Pizza Days, Family Pizza Nights, School Movie Nights, a Dance-A-Thon for the kids, a parent focused night out and a letter campaign requesting contributions.

We are offering you the opportunity to vote on this funding support at a meeting on Tuesday, February 7th at 4:30 p.m (Zoom details below). This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom and run for 45 minutes. Richard Christie, Senior Manager of Sustainability at the TDSB will be joining this call and able to answer any questions that you may have regarding the designs of this project. If you are unable to attend this meeting but do have questions, we ask that you send those by 5 p.m. on Monday, February 6th to thegledhillguardian@gmail.com. 

This is an incredible opportunity to re-develop Gledhill’s yard in a way that will transform it for our children for decades to come. Join us in building this legacy for our community!

This will be a VIRTUAL meeting on Zoom only, please join us Tuesday Feb 7th at 4:30pm

Updated zoom link: https://tdsb-ca.zoom.us/j/92739241420?pwd=V2tZc1J6c1JGSXZnVlpnT0NoUEJnZz09

Below is the current proposed scope of the project