Last Week: CML Snider School
Tina Jones, Principal of CML Snider Public School, says her goal is to prepare students for today and what is coming tomorrow. Students have to learn to communicate, to engage, to be community-minded inclusive citizens. So far this year the school raised funds for Terry Fox, for prostate cancer and donated 1504 food items to the Storehouse Food Bank.
Teachers support students in developing their technology skills beyond social media. Thanks to the School Council, by end of year the school will have 100 Chromebooks for a student body of 235. The Arts are important at CML Snider. The whole school attended the show Mother Goose at the Stirling Theatre and we saw images of students making gingerbread houses as a math activity. Athletics are an important part of school life. The Wellington Dukes partner with the school in a Breakfast Club and students have participated in Cross Country and Volleyball.
The school’s mission is to develop learners and leaders of today and tomorrow. Students need to be able to read, write and do math, but also need to be able to think, problem-solve, collaborate and care for each other, with kindness and empathy seen as important life skills.
In response to questions, Principal Jones said the population of the school is fairly steady, between 235 and 250, and the capacity of the school is about 400. The average class size is 29-30 in the junior-intermediate grades and the school has one less teacher than last year.
Club Business: Faye Moxam did her classification speech. After graduating from Lakehead U, Faye travelled in s/e Asia and Australia and spent 2 ½ years in Taiwan teaching English. Her career has been very diverse, changing jobs every 2-3 years. She was an auditor for corporate accounts at BMO, sales auditor at Softchoice, account manager at Microsoft, worked at Workopolis, opened a retail shop in Parkdale, and worked at Shopify before being recruited by Facebook. When Faye moved to the County with her husband and two kids, she was recruited by their r/e agent and got her r/e license in 10 months. Faye joined Rotary to be involved in the community. She is also on the Parent Council at CML Snider and is involved in Scouts.
President Dave reminded us that Family Day is coming up (Feb 17) and although the activities have not yet been decided, we want several activities in the Rotary Room that parents and kids can do together. He will be communicating further on plans for the day.
Barry spoke passionately to Phyo’s email regarding Adnan and Suhaila’s relatives in Syria who are victims of recent bombing. But concern was expressed about dealing with the black market, which appears to be the only way to get tents and supplies to them. A grant request will go to the Board later this month.
Re aid for victims of the Australian wildfires, Dave reported that a link has been set up so that clubs can donate directly to Rotary in Australia.