September 20th, 2024

MJ School Council 2023-2024 Year in Review

Dear MJ Families,

MJ School Council wanted to take a moment to celebrate the incredible impact we made together on our school and community last school year, as we work to make this school year even better.  Here’s a quick recap of all the fun events, enriching programs, generous donations, and valuable resources we brought to MJ in the 2023-2024 school year:

MJ Events

  • Move-A-Thon [April 4th, 2024]: Our second annual Move-A-Thon was a huge success, raising over $2500 to sponsor a local school in need! They received whiteboards, literacy materials, DPA equipment, and arts & music supplies. A big shout-out to Kara Botelho and Sarah Bester for their leadership!

  • Math & Literacy Night [May 22, 2024]: Crafts, games, story time, and an amazing used book sale made this night unforgettable. Through the used book sale, we raised $450 for future MJ School Council initiatives. Thanks to Pooja Bhalla, Sarah Bester, Reza Ramezan, Andrea Labyt, Rebecca Pope, and all of our wonderful volunteers for making this night possible!

  • End of Year Party [June 13th, 2024]: Thank you to everyone who came out to this amazing event! Food trucks, pizza, candy, freezies, chips, a basket raffle, and The Peanuts Movie made this a night to remember, raising approximately $3,000 for future MJ School Council initiatives. Kudos to Pooja Bhalla and Kara Botelho for organizing and to all of the amazing volunteers!

MJ Programs

  • Pizza Day: Gino’s Pizza lunches every Thursday raised over $20,000 for our school! Moving pizza day from Fridays to Thursdays also helped reduce waste and brought back Friday pizza nights for many MJ families. Thank you to Alanna Hacking for leading this program!

  • Spirit Wear: The stylish new MJ gear you’ve been sporting helped raise additional funds by rounding prices up to the nearest dollar. Thank you, Leah Thomas, for boosting school spirit and raising money for MJ.

Positivity in Our Community

  • Nutrition for Learning: Nutrition for Learning is a charitable organization that supports the 1 in 5 children in Canada who are deemed hungry. Each day, one in ten children arrive at school without breakfast or lunch to sustain them an entire school day. We invested $11,000 (plus a $5,000 grant!) to ensure every MJ student has access to nutritious foods to help them learn. Thank you Francine Baruffi for leading this important initiative!

  • Winter Coat Exchange [November 28, 2023]: Thanks to your generous donations, we kept our students warm and donated extra winter wear to a local school in need.

  • Kodaly Choir Donation: We donated $1000 to help caregivers from other schools attend the Kodaly Choir event to watch their children perform.

  • Screen-time Presentation [January 23, 2024]: MJ caregivers learned so much from WRDSB psychologists about the impacts of screen time.

Investing in Our School

In addition to all of the above, MJ School Council approved the purchase of the following items for the school:

  • Gaga Ball Pit = $4068

  • Tarmac Paint = $3113

  • Class Field Trips = Up to $3600 ($200 allowance per class)

  • Whiteboards / Markers / Erasers = $3308

  • Colours of the World Crayola Pencil Crayons = $1000

  • French Games = $500

  • Grade 6 Celebration = $500

  • Calculators / Protractors / Playing Cards = $400

  • KW Symphony school tour = $375

  • Author Kevin Sylvester read-aloud to grades 3-6 = $300

  • 50 Caterpillars and 3 Homes = $260

  • Math League = $170

 

By the Numbers

We began the year with $51,000 and project to end with approximately $43,000. This funding has tremendously impacted our school community.

Looking Ahead

We’re excited to explore the possibility of creating an outdoor learning area and/or new playground in the coming years!

Thank You!

A huge thank you to all our volunteers and to the MJ community for your incredible support. Hope you’re all having a fantastic start to the school year! 🍂🍁

Your 2023-2024 MJ School Council

P.S. Please join us on October 9th at 6:30pm for our next MJ School Council meeting in the Mary Johnston library! Learn more about MJ School Council: https://mjp.wrdsb.ca/school-council/