November 23rd Update

principals-message
Dear Maple Grove School Community,

Well this has been a busy week #TGIF. There is lots of information on social media these days regarding seismic upgrades and swing sites, but I would encourage everyone to breathe and take the time to become as knowledgeable and well-informed as you can. The school district, admin teams at Magee and Maple Grove, as well as the PAC Co-Chairs (and or designates) of both schools, are trying to set meetings for next week to develop a process for sharing school and neighbourhood comments/ concerns regarding the proposed study of a possible Magee/ Maple Grove swing site with the district. No decision has been made at this point as Deputy Superintendent Nelson said in his letter emailed to the Magee and Maple Grove school communities yesterday. More information to come on this topic and I encourage folks to watch for emails from the school and to read the Maple Grove PAC blog.

Traffic Concerns

I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the VSB grounds department and the City of Vancouver for all their work cleaning the beautiful fallen leaves from the school grounds, sidewalks and streets.

traffic issues

However, the school is concerned with some of the fascinating and creative driving habits we witness on a daily basis on Cypress St and on Cypress St and 47th. I would like to remind parents that the school encourages parents to park a block or two away from the school and to walk the rest of the way with their children to enjoy some family time. The VPD and traffic Authority will be watching for reckless drivers over the next few weeks. You’ve been warned!

I’d also like to ask the parents who park/stop along Cypress or 47th to only stay for a short period of time and to vacate the area as soon as they can to make room for other parent drivers who may be looking to drop off their child. Your cooperation with this is much appreciated.

We encourage all parents to park your cars away from the school and walk the one or two blocks with your child – enjoy the time in the morning for good conversation and shaping the rest of the day with your child.

MOVIE NIGHT POSTER

Maple Grove will be hosting our first Pyjama Movie Night of the school year on Friday November 30th at 6:30 pm in the gym! The movie will be The Incredibles 2. Be sure to dress in your PJs, bring a pillow, blanket and stuffie!

A friendly reminder this is NOT a drop off event. Please ensure your child(ren) attend with an adult. We hope to see many of you there.

holiday wreath

Holiday Hamper Drive

Watch for this notice which will be sent home next week.

Please be generous.

Collection Period: December 3rd to December 14th.

We will be sponsoring families from our sister school, Nightingale Elementary, during our Holiday Hamper Drive. Each family will be given a hamper of non-perishable food, household items, small gifts and a gift card to purchase groceries. We need your help to make this annual tradition a huge success. This year there will be a sign up sheet with suggested donations in each classroom. Please ask your child what they have offered to donate. We are also asking for a $4.00 donation from each student to be put towards the grocery store gift cards. Class parents will be helping and will be available to help if you have any questions. Thank you to everyone – you will give some very deserving people a wonderful, happy holiday season that would otherwise be very challenging.

Food Bank Thank you

The Global Citizenship Club would like to thank all of you for the wonderful response to our We Scare Hunger campaign. Our goal was to collect 10 boxes of food. This year’s Halloween food drive collected 30 boxes and a grand total of 669 pounds of food! That’s a record for Maple Grove. Thank you for supporting families in need in Vancouver.

Food bank sign

November 15, 2018
Maple Grove Elementary School
Debbie Lam
6199 Cypress St
Vancouver, BC V6M 3S3

Dear Debbie and students,
Thank you for raising 669 pounds of food through your food drive to support the work of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank! We sincerely appreciate the commitment, time and energy you’ve taken to create a great opportunity for people to give so generously.
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s mission is to create empowering environments that provide and promote access to healthy food, education and training. We are proud of the many ways we demonstrate our commitment to achieve this, including working with local farmers to buy fresh produce, providing education and cooking demonstrations in schools and community kitchens, and expanding our volunteer program.
We love to see many of our members begin to thrive and gain new confidence through the programs the Food Bank delivers. You are helping us to accomplish all of this and more!
Thank you, once again, for your tremendous support of our work!
With Gratitude,
Aart Schuurman Hess
Chief Executive Officer

2018 Grad Legacy Gift Presentation

Recently some of the folks from last year’s awesome Parent Grad Committee dropped by along with some our our 2018 grads to present the school with a legacy gift. The beautiful plaque will hang in the school (somewhere near the office) for the next couple of years and then make the transition over to the new Maple Grove school building when we move in 2020-2021. Thank you to the Committee for their wonderful support and efforts to make last year’s grad special.

2018 grad legacy gift

marker recycling

Maple Grove Recycles

Ms Adams’ and Ms Lam’s classes are starting a marker recycling program at Maple Grove. If you have felt markers, dry erase markers or highlighters that have dried up, bring them to school. All markers can be placed in the blue box on the counter in the office. When we get at least 100 markers, we will send them off to a recycling facility. Let’s keep those markers out of the landfills!

Message from YMCA re YMCA Kids club at Maple Grove

Dear Maple Grove Families,

I would like to thank you for your continued patience as we work through all the required steps that are needed before we can open the Maple Grove YMCA Kids Club. The process has taken longer than we had anticipated but we want to assure you that our team is working diligently to keep things moving in the right direction, as we are eager to welcome your child(ren) into the program.

We do have some updates and want to take this opportunity to pass those along to you.

We have received confirmation from the VSB that the improvements needed have been done and approved by the City of Vancouver. We have scheduled our final licensing visit for Tuesday, November 27th. Once this step is completed, and should no further action be required on our wend, we will be able to officially open the Maple Grove YMCA Kids Club.

We are very hopeful that we will be able to host an Open House for families to see the space and meet the staff on Friday, November 30th and then be open on Monday, December 3rd and will confirm these details after our licensing inspection on November 27th.

Once we open the program we will do everything we can to accommodate a start date for your child(ren), as we know that notice may need to be given to another child care provider you are currently registered with.

Once again, we appreciate your support and patience.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cathy Poole

General Manager
Healthy Child Development

YMCA of Greater Vancouver
T: 604-320-5805
E: cathy.poole@gv.ymca.ca

Maple Grove Pac Website (Click to enter)

upcoming event

November 30th – PAC movie night

December 13th – Craft Day for Primary students

December 14th – Open house for Interested Montessori Kindergarten Parents 11:00 am

December 19th – Winter Concert Dress Rehearsal (1:15 pm)

December 20th – Winter Concert (Afternoon performance 1:15 pm, Evening 6:30 pm)

December 21st – Last of school before the winter break

January 7th – First day of school after the winter break