School Council

How can you get involved?

Join us

Our group welcomes families to attend our monthly meetings, volunteer, and donate throughout the year. We value family and school staff feedback to determine the direction of our fundraising efforts and to identify key areas where funds raised can benefit the students and the school, which is also why our meetings are adjacent to School Council meetings. Meetings are usually held the fourth Monday evening of every month in the school year. Dates and times are announced in the Hornet Weekly newsletter.

Volunteer

Any family member can be a volunteer, including grandparents! There are regular and casual volunteer opportunities throughout the year, such as sorting and delivering hot lunches, organizing and/or running fundraisers and events. If you have any questions or would like more information, email us: LEHfriendssociety@gmail.com

Donate

Parents and supporters can donate directly to the LEH Friends Society - we gratefully accept monetary donations or donations in-kind. Donations may be made via:

• EFTs can be sent directly to LEHfriendssociety@gmail.com
• Cheques can be made payable to “Friends of LEH”

Where does the fundraising go?

We host community events and provide school enhancements, such as:

• Playground additions & maintenance
  • 2024: we installed more wood climbing structures
  • Next: we will need to plan on refilling the sand
• Outdoor space enhancements, including picnic benches
  • 2024: we celebrated the completion of LEH’s outdoor classroom
• Gym equipment, including the climbing walls
• Updating technological needs for classrooms
• Reusable cutlery for each classroom
• Special programming as requested by LEH

Fundraisers

LEH Friends Society volunteers organize many fundraisers throughout the year, including:

• Weekly hot lunch orders via Healthy Hunger
• Our volunteer-run hot lunch program is our biggest fundraiser!
• One-Stop-Shop multi-vendor campaigns
• Twice per year we offer a variety of Canadian products at the same time such as Purdy’s Chocolates, Stawnichy’s Sausages, Red House Salsa, Confetti Sweets, etc.
• Seasonal offerings
• Davison Orchards apple/pears in the fall, Growing Smiles plants in the spring
• Art Cards
• Applying for community and government grants, as well as casino fundraisers

Community Events

LEH Friends Society hosts a number of annual community events, such as:

• Monster Mash Halloween Dance
• Winter Market
• Year End Carnival
• Staff Appreciation Events

School Council News

Dear LEH parents and families,

Hope this finds you and your family safe and healthy. I wanted to update you on some details leading into the start of the year, specifically related to the school supply lists as well as some reminders for September.
The school supply lists have been updated since they were originally released in June. The most up to date list can be found on the LEH website.

**The change was to add hand sanitizer to the list. More on this below.

School supplies are available through purchase online at the Staples School Tools page: https://www.staples.ca/pages/schooltools#parents **Please note, the pricing for some of the items has been updated (and should reflect their bigger discounts), however the Staples list does not include hand sanitizer. If purchasing through the Staples route, it is recommended that you review the list with what you have purchased to ensure you have everything that is required according to the updated version.

The school supply lists require each student to bring "1-8oz bottle of gel hand sanitizer (child safe)". Some of you may be wondering how "child safe" is defined for hand sanitizer, as Health Canada itself does not have a definition and you won't be able to find this on any product label. I've spoken with Mr. Jones and here is what we are recommending when it comes to selecting a product to send:
- Ensure the ethanol content of the product is at least 60%. There is no need to look for products that are > 90% alcohol ( Health Canada has warnings about technical (high ethanol) grade hand sanitizers, which have been temporarily approved in some cases due to a shortage of products in general).
- If you are unsure of whether it is an approved product, review the Health Canada list of approved products (that is updated regularly): https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/disinfectants/covid-19/hand-sanitizer.html
- There is no definition of “child safe” or "approved for use with children", however we do not recommend homemade versions of hand sanitizer. The product should have an eight digit Drug Identification Number (DIN) or a Natural Product Number (NPN). If it does not have a DIN or a NPN, but was purchased at a store or online, you can also check and see if the product is listed on the Health Canada “List of Products Accepted (by Health Canada) under Interim Measure": https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/disinfectants/covid-19/products-accepted-under-interim-measure.html

4. Some families may be wondering about donations to the school in the form of hand sanitizer and/or Lysol wipes. Mr. Jones anticipates that they will have adequate supply at the start of school, however donations of these unopened products would also be welcome. We would ask that, if you wish to donate any such products to the school, that you hold off on this until after we receive instruction from the school on the safest and easiest way to get the products to school (ie. not on the first day of school). We will post further instruction once we have further information from Mr. Jones and/or the staff.

5. A reminder about a fund-raising opportunity for families, should you be purchasing labels from Mabels Labels or Olivers Labels for back to school needs. The school fund-raising group (Friends of LEH) receives a portion of the sales through these two organizations. Please see previous posts for information on how to order so that the school receives a portion of the sale.