YEAR-END MESSAGE FROM SCHOOL COUNCIL

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take some time to recap all the great things we accomplished together as a school community!

First of all - a HUGE THANK YOU to each and every one of you! You donated your time, money, food, toys, stuffies, boxes, baked goods…we couldn’t have accomplished anything without your help this year.

School Council met almost monthly, and worked together on many events and projects - teacher appreciation potluck brunches and dinners, bake sales, movie nights, dance-a-thons, Spring Fling, Fernapalooza, and Grade 8 boat building. Our sub-committees organized Community Building workshops, Pride celebrations, food and toy drives, protests, Grad, and supported important projects with the staff and admin such as staffing allocation process and all the amazing landscaping and gardening in collaboration with the Eco Club. And we finally saw the long-awaited installation of the benches and new bike racks!

This year our communications committee built a beautiful new website, which will serve Fern’s School Council for years to come, and we launched an on-demand swag store, which helps us raise funds year round.

With your generous donations through events and our direct giving campaign, we were able to raise over $50,000 to support the school and our students in many ways. We bought new jerseys, a new banner and tent canopy for the athletics department, instrument mouthpieces, a set of headphones for every class, new lunch bins, Primary Phys. Ed supplies, garden supplies for the Eco Club, Kindy Grad, Grade 8 Grad and Pride parade supplies, funded arts & STEM programming for every class and division, and funded Fern’s participation in the Forest of Reading Program.

Funds raised will carry over to next year, to help us hit the ground running in the fall and immediately start booking performances & workshops for our students, and supporting staff with any classroom needs.

We are so thankful for your help this year in making Fern the best place for our kids to learn – thank you for making this community so amazing! Without you none of these things would be possible. It really takes a village, and we are so lucky to live in a great one!

If you are interested in getting more involved with School Council next year, we would love to have you! Whether it’s coming to meetings, volunteering, helping us organize events or joining council in one of our permanent positions or committees - we would love you to join us! It’s a great way to get to know your neighbours, make a direct impact on your community, and see how the sausage is made at the TDSB. Email us anytime at fernaveschoolcouncil@gmail.com if you want to learn more about how you can get involved.

Have the most amazing summer and see you in September!