Thank you for another incredible Yard Day

A huge thank you to everyone who braved the rain for Saturday’s Yard Day and Welcome Back BBQ.

The group of approximately 50-60 volunteers accomplished a great deal of important work, including:

Critical removal of invasive species throughout the Hillside Garden
Significant weeding of the Kinder-Garden and Hillside Garden new planting area
Litter patrol and sweeping
Trimming to clear the overgrown trails
Hula hoop maintenance

Thank you to the Spirit Committee and the volunteers who added FUN to the event with:

Apple peeling
A great Fall Owl craft
Amazing face-painting
A delicious and much-needed and appreciated BBQ to end the morning of work (the hot dogs that did not get cooked today will be donated to a charitable food bank/kitchen which is great)

And thanks also to the volunteers who arranged for coffee and who brought baking to fuel the workers.

Our kids are incredibly lucky to have Runnymede’s gardens as part of their school experience, and it wouldn’t be possible without the families who volunteer their time for Yard Day.

Fall Yard Day and Welcome Back BBQ – September 21

Please join us this Saturday for our annual Fall Yard Day and Welcome Back BBQ. Bring your gardening tools and help clean up our amazing Runnymede yards. (Click the poster to see it in pdf.)

Welcome (back) to Runnymede!

The Runnymede School Council welcomes you (back!) to Runnymede. Our website is a great place for up-to-date information, so bookmark this site and visit it regularly.

We’ve assembled some valuable information for you as we start the new school year:

Key Council & Committee Dates for Fall: Add these key dates to your calendar.
Runnymede Parent Handbook: Find all the information a parent needs, including safe arrival, lunch hour and dress code policy.
How Do I Get Involved? Read how you can get involved at the school and in your child’s education at Runnymede.
The Arts at Runnymede: Learn about the many arts programs available at the school.

Other important information for the fall

Fundraising at Runnymede

Our simplified fundraising strategy was a success last year: we raised $71,542! So, this year we will do it again. Donation envelopes will be distributed in October for parents to return with a recommended per-child donation of $50. We thank you and look forward to your support of our simplified fundraising!

Additionally, the school receives a percentage of sales from QSP Magazines and Mabels Labels. If you need magazines, clothing or lunch box labels, please visit the school website homepage under Hot Topics to make your purchase and support the school at the same time!

Lost & Found Process

Lost & Found is located on the main floor outside of Room 126. Please talk with your children about keeping track of their belongings but also please be aware that items can go missing through no fault of your child! It will be easier to find lost items – especially lunch bags – if you label items with your child’s name and classroom number. Want to help with the Lost & Found? Please contact Juli Belliveau to help!

Back to school!

We hope you all had a fantastic summer, and are ready for another wonderful year at Runnymede P.S. We can’t wait to see everyone back at school. Here’s some important info for day one and beyond.

Welcome and new year information from Principal Dennis
JK Essentials for new Runnymede families
When to arrive: For the first day, please be at school for 8:50am.
Where to line up: On Tuesday, September 3, please line up at the door shown for your grade on the first-day-entry map below. (Click the map to open it in PDF.)
After the first day, please use the entry and entry doors by class as listed in the attached doc.

Thank you for a fantastic year

Hope everyone is enjoying their (hot!) summer.

As a wrap-up to the council year…in 2012-2013, council raised more than $71,000 through fundraising and donations. Thank you for your generous contributions in all their forms!

Here are just some of the important ways your money benefitted your children and the school this past year (you can also see this in pie-chart form in the first edition of our Council Newsletter):

$18,700 towards the Teacher’s Resource Fund, which translates into $16 per student, for teachers to spend on in-class enrichment for our children this year. (e.g. Scientist in the School, digital cameras, resource rooks, butterfly larvae program)
$14,500 towards Arts Enrichment: JK-Grade 3 students received 4 hours of professional art instruction and Grade 4-8 students continued to be offered amazing opportunities in Drama, Band and Strings that are only available at a handful of other TDSB schools.
$11,500 towards science and technology enrichment
$7,250 towards maintaining our incredible schoolyard and outdoor classroom
$5,500 towards the many extracurricular activities offered at Runnymede and the associated equipment/material costs, bussing and tournament costs. Cross-country, football, softball, hockey, volleyball, badminton, chess club, glee club, and choirs are but a few of the activities your child may participate in during his/her time at Runnymede.
$4,000 towards our upcoming Centennial celebration and related activities
$2,000 towards library and class Borrow-a-Book programs
and $8,900 to other valuable things!