Parent Spotlight  Bronwyn Murray (with Rhiannon in Kindergarten and Alex in Class 2/3) has been a pioneering force in the current incarnation of the Parent Council, helping to organize meetings, providing leadership in the marketing realm, spearheading the Kinderhouse role at Winter Faire and MayFest, and helping with the Grocery Card fundraising program. And who can forget those delectable cookies at meetings.
How You Can Help Please consider helping us continue to grow our school in any of the following ways: - We've sold out our allotment of Coop cards this year, but there will continue to be Save-On and Safeway cards available for the rest of the year. In particular, we need more Safeway shoppers! Contact Ilana for more information.
- Come to the Parent Council Meeting on Tuesday March 30th, 3-4:30pm in the Parent Room. Childcare will be available! We'll be looking ahead to activities for the remainder of the school year.
- The B.C. government gives the school roughly $4,500 for each child enrolled. So, the more students at the school, the lower our tuition can be for every family. Help promote the School and Curriculum Presentation on April 12 and the Windows on Waldorf School Tour on April 15. Distribute flyers, put a poster in your car, and accompany a friend to these events. If you help bring one new family to the school, you'd raise more money for the school than in eight years of class fundraising!
- A Benefit Concert by Dharmas has been tentatively scheduled for Friday May 14th. We need parent volunteers to be part of an Organizing Group to help make this as successful as Dharel Verville's concert earlier this month - contact Phil to help.
- Make a tax-deductible donation to the Lighting the Way to the Future fundraising campaign - you can even donate online.
- Contact Bev if you could help develop an Alumni Database.
Joke of the Month How many Waldorf moms does it take to open a can of biodynamically grown chick peas? Three:
~ one to open the can with her hand-carved, maple-handled, hammered steel-bladed can-opener (imported from Germany, of course);
~ one to strum the harp while debating the value of chick peas in the spiritual incarnation of the child's three-fold nature;
~ and a third to welcome the peas by singing a little, pentatonic, chick pea song. Send your favourite joke for future inclusion here.
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March 2010 This monthly Parent Council News E-zine provides NWS parents with general information of interest about the school. Ensure you receive it in the future by adding the "From" email address to your Address Book. At the end of the E-zine you can 'Unsubscribe," 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. Local Business Directory Did you know there is a directory on the school's website listing local businesses in Nelson that are owned or operated by Nelson Waldorf School parents. To add your business to to the directory contact Iain Pardoe. New Board Initiative on Tuition The NWS Board of Directors has re-worked tuition at the school to be fairer and easier to understand. You can find details about tuition and fees for 2010/11 on the school website here. Some highlights include: - Sibling discounts mean you pay full tuition only for the oldest child at the school; you pay half the tuition for the second child, a third for the third child, a quarter for the fourth child, and so on.
- For example, including sibling discounts, the total tuition for a family with one child in Grade 5, one child in Grade 2, and one child in Kindergarten would be $9,901.50.
- But, tuition reduction means that each family pays no more than 11% of their 2009 net income for total tuition for all children at the school.
- So, the example family above would receive tuition reduction as long as their net income was less than about $90,000. For example, if their net income was $30,000, they would pay just 11% of $30,000, or $3,300.
Contact Bev for more info. New Parent Council Initiative on Parent Participation  A Parent Council Task Group is currently putting together a supplement to the registration packet, which will clarify for parents questions around participation in the life of the school, expectations, volunteering, areas of interest, vision for the school, etc. There are many wonderful parent-led and parent-supported activities that continue year-round at the school. The idea behind this supplement is to provide structure to all this parent participation so that: it continues to grow in a healthy way; as many parents as possible are inspired to be involved; and there is not so great a burden on just a few parents who can feel overwhelmed and burned out. Look for details in the forthcoming registration packet, due out soon after Spring Break.
Parent Education Contact Hillary Ries if you are interested in being part of a Parent Group to discuss Steiner's teachings and anthroposophy. Frequently Asked Questions Why do Waldorf schools teach reading so late?
There is evidence that normal, healthy children who learn to read relatively late are not disadvantaged by this, but rather are able quickly to catch up with, and may overtake, children who have learned to read early. Additionally, they are much less likely to develop the "tiredness toward reading" that many children taught to read at an early age experience later on. Instead, there is lively interest in reading and learning that continues into adulthood. Some children will, out of themselves, want to learn to read at an early age. This interest can and should be met, as long as it comes from the child. Early imposed formal instruction in reading can be a handicap in later years, when enthusiasm toward reading and learning may begin to falter. If reading is not pushed, a healthy child will pick it up quite quickly and easily. Some Waldorf parents become anxious if their child is slow to learn to read. Eventually these same parents are overjoyed at seeing their child pick up a book and not put it down and become, from that moment, a voracious reader. Each child has his or her own optimal time for "taking off." Feelings of anxiety and inferiority may develop in a child who is not reading as well as her peers. Often this anxiety is picked up from parents concerned about the child's progress. It is important that parents should deal with their own and their child's apprehensions. This is based on one of the FAQs on the AWSNA Website. |
