APE News KELOWNA a——— BY Nicore Lesianc, APE PresipEnt ——————# There’s new blood at Anse-au-sable this year! We welcome our energetic new director, Mrs. Denise Bourassa, who comes to us from Alberta. We also welcome two new staff members. This new trend was also evident during school council elections, when Chantal Diaz, Sue Clement, Anne McGraw, Eva Vazquez, Aline St-Denis, Brenda Butler and I accepted the challenge to contribute, with help from everyone, to a year packed with rewarding experiences! Last year ended on a high note with the launch of our first yearbook—a real masterpiece!—and a fine end-of-year show (of a calibre unequalled among school reviews!). Here’s wishing you all an outstanding year! Norpb VANCOUVER a———— By CuristorHe Simon, APE Presipent Just one year after our old school was demolished, this will be our last school year in our temporary space at North Vancouver. Leaving the traditional site of André-Piolat School, even for a short time, was at first a great source of tension, especially since we could not keep all classes together at a single location. We had to divide the group between two Anglophone schools several kilometres apart. It would be easy for the school identity and parents’ confidence to flag. Happily, this break in our routine gave us an opportunity us to better understand why we chose André-Piolat for our children’s education in the first place. We could see the advantage of French classes over immersion classes and we could see how important a francophone school is to our community. Keeping the school together takes a great deal of effort, however. For example, a group of parents, in cooperation with the school administration, organized a monthly community day that brought together the students from both sites. Parents also organized a francophone food fair, which was an outstanding success. The parents’ association made every effort possible to fund class outings and make our children’s education as attractive as possible. Through the dedicated efforts of administrators, teachers, and, of course, parents, we lost only a few students last year, and this year our numbers have increased. This bodes well for our new school. Preparing for next year is already a priority for the APE. Next year, high school classes will be added to the elementary levels. Our new location will also enable us to host events. And, why not develop a francophone community centre at the same time? We must also look very closely at our budget, since some of the facilities for the new school, particularly the playground, depend on our contributions. Lastly, the School Planning Committee’s role is unique this year, since the committee’s recommendations will apply to any new school. More to follow... TERRACE a— By Anprea Geiter, APE Presipent ——————a The Jack Cook School has had a very busy first month. We kicked off the year with a “Festival du Blé d’Inde.” The festival king and queen welcomed parents, pupils and staff to the feast that followed. Many games were played and lots of corn devoured—it was a great start-of-the-year event! For financial reasons, the school district, from which we rent our school, has adopted a four-day school week. Because of our integration with their system we have had to adopt a four-day week as well. Each school day has been extended by about 45 minutes, with no school on Fridays. We all had huge concerns regarding this major change (especially for our full-day kindergarteners) but pupils, staff 12 Iufo-Parents and parents seem to be adapting quite nicely and many even prefer the new schedule! Last year we were very sad to say good-bye to our long- time teacher/administrator, Johanne Langlois. As many of you know, Johanne was instrumental in founding our school. We all miss her and wish her well in her future endeavours! At the same time, we would like to welcome Renée Syvret to Jack Cook! Renée will be teaching the senior class (grades 4-7) as well as acting as school principal. We feel extremely lucky to have Renée. She is full of energy and ideas and will be a great addition to our already fabulous staff!