This monthly Parent Council News E-zine provides NWS parents with information about Parent Council activities and volunteering opportunities.  Ensure you receive it in the future by adding the "From" email address to your Address Book.  You can 'Unsubscribe" at the end of the E-zine, or "Forward" it to a friend, or "Update your profile" to change your subscribed email address.  There's also a link on the NWS Parent Council Website where you can subscribe. Use the links on the left to contact someone for more information about volunteering opportunities or to offer your support. Thank you! Best wishes, Iain Pardoe.

Each year, Class 5 participates in a "Greek Olympics" at a Waldorf School in the region. Check out some photos from last year's Class 5 Olympics on Vancouver Island here.

The Festival Supply Room near Class 1 is complete. A group of parents hauled away a mountain of garbage, cleaned and painted the room, and built shelves to store totes to protect supplies from mice and dust. Festival supplies have been sorted, stored, and catalogued. The current library room is being cleaned up and organized, with library materials going to class libraries or to the music room, which is being made into a Library and Resource Room (requiring painting, shelf-building, and set-up). The current library room will be transformed into a Meeting Room for staff and parents. The Costume Room will now be located in one half of the Class 9 building, with the new Parent Room taking up the other half. Renovations will begin over the February break, including: building a wall to divide the two spaces; painting floors; installing shelving and bars to house costume supplies; moving, sorting, and cataloguing costume supplies; adding a portable costume rack; sprucing up the new Parent Room space with new furniture, and making the space inviting and cozy. Contact über-parent, Georgia Argyle, if you can help.

What does Parent Council do? Read all about this in the new Parent Council Guidelines.

Just what is eurythmy for anyway? In the words of Class 2/3 students: it is fun; it helps our bodies, brains, and muscles grow strong; it helps us concentrate; it helps us learn what quiet is; it helps us learn music tones; it helps us learn to be gentle with our friends; it helps us learn how to start and stop things; and, it helps us learn to cooperate with each other. More info here.

Since we pay tuition, why is the school always asking parents for help? There are a couple of ways to view this question. One is that building healthy community honours the vision of the school, where everyone, including teachers, parents, and administration, participate together. A second perspective is that the school's current financial situation means that the school could not offer all the curricular and extra-curricular activities and opportunities it does without parental support and assistance.  Parent-led festivals like the Halloween Journey, Winter Faire, and Kinderhouse MayFest would not happen without parent help, and every year each of these events brings new families to the school. Classes support annual trips though class-specific fundraising efforts, but the school also relies on all-school fundraising as part of its operating budget. For example, the 2009/10 operating budget includes almost $30,000 in projected income from fundraising. This is needed to cover general operating expenses and doesn't cover such additional expenses as upgrading the stage lighting and creating a third kindergarten. In the current financial situation, the school is dependent on continued parental support and fundraising efforts.