2016/17 Info (May 2017 Trips)

1) Quebec Tour May 15-21, 2017
2) BC Film Camp – Gulf Island Film and Television School (GIFTS), Galiano Island May 15 – 20, 2017

On this webpage, we have provided most of the emails sent by the Senior Trip Committee to the current Grade 7 families in reverse chronological order to capture most of the major organizational issues.  Please contact the Senior Trips Committee if you have any questions.

Email sent April 7, 2017

Hi Grade 7 parents, Friday, April 7, 2017 at 8:16 AM

Well, we are happy to say that our fundraising year is now over and we have passed the baton over to Grade 6.
Final trip costs are now in. Quebec will be $2002.  GIFTS will be $679
We collected an amazing sum (not posted on the web) through fundraising which enables us to cover just under 50% of each trip.  I believe this is the record so far! ( Not that we are competitive at all!)
You can take a look at the attached spreadsheet outlining final trip costs and how our funds will be allocated. (not posted on the web)
There is still a small balance to pay for each trip:
Quebec: $220 per student
GIFTS. : $ 50  per student
You will note that these amounts are slightly higher than the balance shown on the calculation sheet but, we need to add a few
dollars to cover any unforeseen costs that come up from the trips. Anything we have left in the account will be used for the grad ceremony.
You will be receiving a message from Liz Toone regarding payment of the balance with a deadline for payment.
We want to thank everyone for their participation in our fundraising efforts this past year and also thank you all for the generous gifts you gave
Laura, Corinne and I. It was a nice surprise, not necessary but very much appreciated!
Now all we have to do is wish all our kids “bon voyage” for their trips on May 15th ~ 20th.
 
If you have any questions, please contact us directly.
 
Thank you!

Carol, Laura and Corinne.

Email update sent Dec. 11, 2016

We’d like to give you an overview of the fall fundraising, what we would still like to accomplish and some updates on trip specifics.

1.  Fall fundraising – we had a very successful kickoff to our fall fundraising with the continuation of hot lunch and pizza along with our back to school bash.  We then had our Whitecaps day and our book sale which yielded great results. The Halloween dance was  a huge success again and the fall photo night went well also.  The gala was a great night that netted us about $7500 and was a fun, community building event.  This year we started a student art card project with the support of the teachers.  This has proved to be a great success also (we are planning to give a portion of the proceeds to a charity of the teachers’ choosing) and the cards, puzzles etc went home with the students on Friday.

It’s impossible to list all of the wonderful people who have made these fundraising intiatives so successful, and we fear to miss people in our thanks.  However, a few special shoutouts:  Marina and her team for their amazing pizza efforts, Jenn,Denyse and Christianne for hot lunch coordination,  Lu for his tireless work on everything we need technically, Christine for her accounting prowess, Gemma and Catherine who have set up Mabel’s Labels and Fundscrip, Doris for the bulb campaign, Corinne and the people who helped make the book sale a success,  Martha and her team for yet another great Halloween event, Carol for her work on the photo nights, Jenn, Stacey, Leanne and their amazing team for putting together a fabulous gala, Corinne for her great initiative and hard work on the art card project and everyone who has donated their time in various ways to making this year such a huge success to date.   Committee members have put in countless hours and we are all very proud of the efforts achieved so far!

We are currently looking at just over  $45000 in fundraising monies heading into the winter break.   This is amazing and we have already surpassed last year’s very successful numbers.  But we’re not done yet!!!  We would love to get this number to $50 000 before we are done!

2. This brings us to post winter break activities. Hot lunch and pizza will continue on and we’ll be running those until the March break handoff.  We also have 2 big events still to come — JQ’s first spellathon and a danceathon.

We are happy to say that we have the teachers onboard for the Spellathon planned for late January.  They are essential to making this work and we are modelling after Ecole Bilingue’s very successful fundraising that they have been doing for several yearsl

Where do you come in?  We need PRIZES – as we mentioned several times, we need you to dig through your kids’ closets and pull out any unused, new kids’ toys, art kits, games, etc.  etc that they didn’t use or they simply forgot about.  We all have them!  And WE NEED THEM! Big or small as any child participating in the spellathon will receive a prize, with the largest prizes going to the kids with the most pledges.  WE NEED A FEW REALLY FLASHY PRIZES THAT ARE WORTHY OF THE TOP 5 PLEDGE RECEIVERS.    We will have a dropoff location at the school set up in the new year – however,  if you are trying to declutter before or after the holidays and want to offload them now – please drop off to Laura at 3019 Alma Street (REPEAT: NEW ITEMS ONLY THAT CAN BE GIVEN AS PRIZES – big or small, size doesn’t matter!!).

We will definitely need help with this in the new year and invite those who still need to contribute their volunteer hours to donate a few hours of time for this.  We’ll need volunteers to mark the spellathon answers, solicit and organize the prizes, help draw and distribute prizes etc.

The danceathon will be planned for early March just before spring break.  Last year it was a lot of fun for the kids and will be a fun way to end off our fundraising.   We will also need help with this.

As always, we invite any fundraising initiatives that you think will be worthwhile.  Please email us!
3. Trip updates – behind the scenes the details of the trips have been falling into place.  Trip dates have been confirmed for the week of May 15th.  Galliano will go from Monday to Friday and Quebec will go from Monday to Saturday night.  We have flights priced at about $706 which includes checked bags both ways (which airlines are now charging for on domestic flights at 20 to 25/ bag.  While we don’t have exact costs of trips finalized yet, these are the approximate costs (BEFORE FUNDRAISING):  Quebec $1950,  Galliano $700 to $750.  Hopefully after fundraising amounts are in, the amount that parents will have to pay is HALF of this total.
We will need another payment from those going on the Quebec trip coming up early in the new year.  At this point we will not be asking for another payment from Galliano.  If need be, Galliano may have a small payment to make when Quebec makes their final payment in March, but by then we’ll have a better idea of our fundraising achievements.

 Oct 17 (Monday) Library 7 pm

email sent Sat. Oct 15,

Hi Grade 7 parents,

It’s a busy time of year for us all. Please read to the end of this email as ALL items are important.

1. Reminder of our Meeting in the JQ library – Monday October 17th from 7 pm to 8 pm sharp! Please arrive for chitchatting anytime from 6:45 pm so that our meeting can start on time. The agenda is below and also attached.

2. Trip deposits: please remember that your trip deposit is due by October 21st. This is your indication that your child is indeed going to participate in one of the trips. This is preferably done on School Days website as per the school sent email.

3. Fundraising – it’s all moving along but we will need some assistance coming up. The book sale is still in need of filling up a few selling times. Please sign up on the google doc below.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ygTwfCkBL_9jlyU2EFMIxXudAhdUMp_Dlmzh56ygxyE/edit?ts=57f56226#gid=0 

4. We still need your donations of gently used books, magazines, and games for the book sale. Please spend some time this weekend and clear out some stuff and help us raise money for our trips! We will be sorting books at JQ from 10 am to 12 noon so you can drop them off directly then at the side kindergarten doors so they’re under cover.

5. There was talk at the last meeting about having the kids themselves do some of their own student driven fundraising. ex/babysitting Great idea but we need a parent to lead this initiative. Could this be your chance to get some volunteer hours in? Please contact us to take the lead on this, especially if you haven’t yet fulfilled any volunteer hours.

5. Online vote: we will be discussing the allocation of fundraising money at the upcoming meeting. This will be followed by an online vote that you’ll have a couple of days to complete. We will send out the link after the meeting.

See you Monday night!

Carol, Corinne and Laura
JQ SENIOR TRIP MEETING
October 17, 2016
AGENDA – 7 pm to 8 pm

6:45 to 7 pm – arrival

7 to 7:10 – current timelines, trip information, decisions

7:10 to 7:25 – fundraising updates, including gala

7:25 to 7:35 – explanation of 2 fund allocation possibilities

7:35 to 7:50 – discussion, question and answers

7:50 to 8:00 – voting information, final comments

8 pm – MEETING ADJOURNED

September 26, 2016 – Notes

Grade 7 Senior Trip Info & Fundraising Update

  • $24,000 raised so far
  • future fundraising events: book sale 19-20 Oct, Halloween Night, Gala, spell-a-thon, dance-a-thon, art cards, mabel’s labels, flower bulbs & gardening equipment
  • prize donations are needed!!!!!!

Gala Information:

  • November 18, Luau theme, want it to be a community event, volunteers needed
  • Silent auction items needed(get kids involved), also depending on items donated, a live auction may also be possible. Please include the value of the items donated.
  • Volunteer leads will be contacted soon to discuss details
  • Wine can be dropped off to Natalie’s office.

Natalie

  •  2 trip options are available for all grade 7 students, people last year were happy with having a choice.

Trip 1: Quebec tour by Jump Street May 15-20 (to be confirmed)

  • Haley & Sarah are confirmed so far, male staff/teacher will also be going. Need ratio of 1:10 adults to students.
  • They will fly into Montreal on Monday morning.
  • Students stay at McGill residence, 4 kids per room in 2 queen beds.(security guards are placed on each floor at night)
  • Schedule is action packed with museums, hands on activities, ghost chase.
  • Wednesday after breakfast, they travel by charter bus to Quebec city.
  • Will stay at youth hostel within the walled city in rooms of 4 to 8 students.
  • Schedule will include sugar shack, museums, boat cruise, first nations village
  • Fly back to Vancouver on Saturday.

Trip 2: Galiano Film School May 15-19 (to be confirmed)

  • Mr D. will go. Will also have female chaperone.
  • 12 students went last year
  • Discover what it is like to make a film from beginning to end, all in French. Starting with an idea, script, wardrobe, filming, roles for each person, acting, editing.
  • Students are placed in groups of 4 with a mentor.
  • Camp style accommodation, bell rings for dinner
  • Can check it out website online, also up on pac site. GIFTS Gulf Island Film and Television

General

  • Teachers will be explaining to students both options so they can make their own informed choice, discuss with family. They may be asked to write reasons why they want the trip they do.
  • We have 65 grade 7 students this year.
  • Last year the trip costs were $2000 for Quebec and $700 for Galiano approx., before fundraising.
  • Fundraising cut those costs in half last year.
  • The school has subsidy available for families that need it.
  • Teachers in the past decided they no longer wanted to make the trip an exchange trip, therefore it became a tour.
  • $300 deposit will be required to commit to a trip soon, you will receive an email from JQ when the site is ready for the deposits.
  • You are strongly encouraged to pay this deposit on ‘school day’, but a cheque will be accepted.
  • Mid October you will be asked to make a final decision on which trip your child will be attending.

Always in need of more volunteers to help bring the trip cost down!! Please sign up on the PAC website.

If you do not wish to volunteer, you have the option of paying the full price, please let the organizers know.

Sept 26, 2016 Meeting AGENDA

This is a brief meeting and the focus is hearing from Mme Natalie. There will be another meeting sometime in October for the grade 7 group to discuss more fundraising needs and specific details.

Agenda:

6:45 to 7 pm – chat and get settled
7:00 pm – MEETING STARTS
7:00 to 7:05 – Trip leads will update on fundraising to date, list future events planned
7:05 to 7:35 – Mme Natalie will discuss trip options
7:35 to 7:55 – Questions and Answers for Mme Natalie
7:55 to 8:00 – Trip leads will discuss next steps for deposit cheques and trip commitments
8 pm MEETING ADJOURNED

Feb 11, 2017 – Planning Meeting

Two meetings of current Grade 6 Families was held to discuss next year’s Grade 7 Trip.  Between the two meetings, we had about 50% representation from all the Grade 6 families.

For those of you that couldn’t make it, here is a brief summary:

  • We had 58 families out of 63 complete the online survey.
  • Majority of families would prefer one trip
  • Approx 50% would like the trip to be to Quebec.
  • Most families would prefer the trip cost to be lower but are prepared to pay up to $2000 ( before fundraising )
  • We had lots of good fundraising ideas but, ideally, we would like to have a few, big fundraisers that are more community oriented.
  • Every family will be expected to put in their fair share of volunteer hours.
  • If you really do not want to volunteer, we will have an option for you to bow out and pay full trip cost.

We do not know our trip options for next year yet, so we will hold another meeting sometime in June, after we hear back from Nathalie and the teachers after this year’s trip in May.

Page last updated – May 3, 2017