October
29th
Medieval Banquet
November
11th Remembrance
Day (no school)
The school is pleased to welcome the2005-2006
Steiner Educational Society Board of Directors:
President – Nadeane Nelson
Vice-president – Adrienne Brown
Treasurer – Diane Dous
Secretary – Lorna Lawson
Members
at Large – Trish Bishop, Donna Huston,
Larry Lenske, Peter Spohn
“As most of you know, Lynda has been part of
the dreams for, and the daily reality of, Island Oak High School since its
earliest days. She has been one of
the tireless labourers of this past decade of work – this work of “building
a cathedral” brick by brick, bucket of mortar by bucket of mortar.
As everyone prepares for her departure and adjusts to her absence we will
be reminded frequently of how much Lynda does and how much she knows.
Those who have read the Harry Potter books know that in the world of
wizardry, very experienced wizards can perform a piece of magic that allows for
the temporary extraction of memories from one’s head to the pensive, a magic
bowl. The memories are then
available for others to experience. If
anyone knows how to do this magic it would aid the transfer of knowledge from
Lynda to others immeasurably.”
At
the AGM last week, Nadeane spoke briefly to the coming year.
Lynda is resigning from her position as Business/Office Administrator;
this will be a challenge for the school and she will be missed in more ways than
we can count, but she also wishes it to be an opportunity “to examine how we
operate, define roles and various job descriptions, so that the administration
will be efficient, without being too much for any individual”.
Direction for this coming year has been tremendously helped by
the visioning process we participated in. Larry
Lenske led this endeavour; our thanks go to him for his hard work and expertise.
Areas highlighted by the working
groups were:
-
Enrolment/PR and the need for a coordinator
- Improving
internal and external space; this is being done in stages as funds become
available.
Main
requests were – a playing field, a student lounge, improved lighting in
classrooms, more
Classroom
space, improved efficiency of office space.
- All
students want more activity space
- Enhancing
curriculum – including more P.E.& science equipment, trade school,
possible adult ed.
- continuing
to build a parent volunteer network
- Board
development to keep pace with needs of a growing school.
Major fundraising project – Auction. This
could bring in up to $40,000 and become the sole annual fundraiser for the
school. We would have the support
of professionals, including one, Barb Richards, who makes a successful living
organizing auctions for non-profit organizations and has twice been world
champion auctioneer. This
undertaking would require strong involvement from many in our community.
It would also be important to partner with another, higher profile
organization, such as Community Land Trust or Providence Farm.
Two goals for this year
– finding new ways to afford additional administration, maintenance,
renovation, etc., and moving ourselves firmly out of the “poverty
mentality”.
An event which combines PR, fundraising and
community building is well under way – the Medieval Banquet on October 29th.
This is a wonderful opportunity to dress in unusual finery, eat exotic
and delicious dishes, be entertained by minstrels and dancers and even take a
turn yourself in a dance that was popular 4 or 5 centuries before your
grandparents’ time. Lynda and
Lorna are the key organizers, and will welcome all offers of help.
Tickets are $25, and the venue is Cobble Hill Hall.
2004-05 Grade 10 Results
Last
year was the first time that Grade 10 students across the province wrote a set
of Provincial Examinations in English, Math, and Science.
We are very proud to report that our students’ final grades were above
the provincial average in all three subjects.
Congratulations Grade 10 (the now Gr. 11s)!
Island Oak High School
B.C. average
Math 70.66%
70.56%
Science
77.33%
70.83%
English
81.11%
70.97%
Absentee
Notes
The flu season is upon
us and students are missing school due to illness. Please phone the school
if your son or daughter is ill, and when they return please send a note advising
of the reason (I.a. illness, doctor's appointment). We must have these
notes for our annual attendance audit, a requirement of the Min. of Education.
Saturday, Oct.
29th
6:00 pm $25.00
per person
Cobble Hill Hall
Our third annual Medieval Banquet is at the end of this month. The recipes are being dusted off (after all they are authentic from the Middle Ages), the cooks, servers, dancers and decorators are getting ready and so should you! Tickets are now on sale either at the school or at the Community Farm Store. Last year we had a full house and expect to do so again this year. This event is a lot of fun, so bring your family and friends, and start planning that fabulous costume sure to win a prize!
Just for fun, on Saturday, October 15th, a number of students will be biking on the TransCanada Trail to Lake Cowichan with Hilary Walkley. We will meet at the Trans-Canada Trail near Holt Creek in Glenora (in the parking lot beside the rifle range) at 9:30 am. Bikers are to come equipped with a well-functioning bicycle and helmet, a backpack or panniers to carry plenty of water, a lunch and snack, and clothing for the weather (always include raingear). A pump and bike repair equipment would also be useful things to bring. This will be an all-day bike trip with a picnic lunch along the way, returning to Duncan late in the afternoon. Please call Hilary (746-7229) if you have any questions. She will have her cell with her for the duration of the trip in case of emergency (709-9192). In case of extreme rain, the trip may be cancelled.
During the weeks of November 14th to 25th grades 10 and 11 will be participating in their work experience. The requirement is 4 days per week, a minimum of 4 hours per day. The rest of the time the students should be working on their Science or Social Studies project. All students have been given several weeks to find job placements, which need to be in place by Oct. 14th to allow ample time to register with Workers' Compensation, a requirement of the Ministry of Education.
The
school trip to Mt. Washington will be January 24th- 27th.
All students are encouraged to take advantage of this fun and snowy trip.
We will go up on the Tuesday afternoon (3 p.m.), enjoy the snow for 3
days and return to Duncan at 7 p.m. on the Friday. The cost of the trip will be between $190 and $230 depending
on the number of students signed up. This
price covers the cost of transportation to the mountain, lift and lesson costs,
and lodging. There will be an
additional cost for food (we bring the food), and equipment rental if necessary.
Based on last year’s rates, rental costs vary from $18 per day
(x-country) to $43 per day (snowboard). A
deposit of $50 is due by October 20th
(it has been extended) to ensure a spot on the trip.
Thanks very much. Please
call Hilary 746-7229 if you have any questions or comments.
More details about the trip will come out in January.
If there are parents interested in coming, please be in touch with
Hilary.
If you have attended a Board meeting or the
Annual General Meeting this past week you heard the initials PPOC used: Per
Pupil Operating Cost. Staying under
the PPOC of the public School District 79 means that Island Oak is a Group One
Independent School. As such we
qualify for a per pupil grant of 50% of the operating grant paid by the BC
Ministry of Education to the local public schools.
If we go over the PPOC, we fall to
Group Two, and are paid 35% of the public schools operating grant.
Bothe these grants are paid only for students who parents live in BC.
IF we have 30 BC students registered, our grants would total $90,000 as a
Group One school for the year, or $63,000 as a Group Two school. This is based on the present PPOC in School District 79 of
about $6000 per student, per year. As
a Group One school, we get $6,000 x 50% or $3000 per student, per year.
Our PPOC for 2004-05 was safely
under $6000, and so our grant be
about $3000 per student in 2005-06. The
problem for schools like Island Oak is that we cannot practice economies of
scale. We have to offer certain
courses, such as English 12, whether we have five students or 25.
As a Waldorf school, we have to offer Art, Music, Drama, Practical
Skills, and Foreign Languages to all four grades.
In Physical Education we are able to double our classes, but in many
others the curriculum needs are so different, doubling is not possible.
And so a healthy enrolment has a
positive effect in many ways: the
students have a bigger social group; the
classes are a cross-section of temperaments, learning styles and strengths; the
school’s finances are healthy; and the BC ministry supports our students at a
higher level. (And by the way, the
taxpayers of BC are saved 50% or more on operating costs and 100% of capital
costs of educating the 62,000 Independent School students in the province.)
We should all be pleased and grateful that costs have been controlled, and our enrolment increased, to the point of gaining Group One grant status. (Thanks Diane!)
