CALENDAR

Next Week

Wednesday, April 17
Grade 8 Parent Evening 7:00 pm, GS

Thursday, April 18
Grade 4 Parent Evening 7:00 pm, GS

Friday - Monday, April 19 - 22
Easter Long Weekend No School

Upcoming

Find the full calendar in your Parent Portal or on our website.

Congratulations to our Waldorf Wizards who ran in the 42nd Annual Half-Marathon & Relay on the Sunshine Coast last weekend!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Spring Fair – Join us for our Spring Fair this weekend, Saturday, April 13, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. See the details below!

Mother's Day Flower Baskets - Spoil a loved one (or yourself!) with flowers this May by purchasing a Mother’s Day flower basket(s) today! The deadline to order is Friday, April 26 with delivery on Monday, May 6 at the Grade School. Place your order with any Grade 11 student, with Ronaye (GS), Sarah (HS), or online.

Cellphone Free Zone – You will notice that around the Grade School campus, there are now signs that our Grade 8 students have made alerting visitors that our campus is a Cellphone Free Zone. Please help model to our emerging digital savvy youth that cellphones should be tucked away at drop-off and pick-up and throughout the day.

Canada Book Day - It's time for spring cleaning and putting aside the books that your children have loved, but may have outgrown. On April 23 we will be hosting our first Book Swap in the Hall. Collection boxes are at GS Reception.

Upcoming Community Events - Apr 25 - Rudolf Steiner Centre Association AGM and The Vancouver Opera, May 3-5 - Metamorphosis in Life & Death Medical Conference, and May 12 - VAM Community Concert Series. Visit our website to learn more.

Community Classifieds & Marketplace - Newly listed: Beethoven VSO Kid’s Koncert Front Row Seats for Sunday, April 28, 2019. Visit our website to learn more.

Red Door Store - Our little Red Door Store has a brand new Instagram account! Follow along for shop updates at vws_reddoorstore. Use the hashtag #vws_reddoorstore on your photos. Email Ella reddoor@vws.ca or stop in to be in touch.

SPRING FAIR

Join us for our Spring Fair where you will find crafting activities and silk painting for children, a vendor’s marketplace filled with treasures, a teahouse serving High Tea, roving popcorn sales, and so much more.

Bring a container to take home some biodynamic preparation for your trees and gardens (yogurt containers work well).

It's not too late to volunteer to help! Extra bodies on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm to help with set up and grounds clean up would be appreciated. As well as assistance in both Silks Painting and the Red Door Store on Saturday. Contact Jann at springmarket@vws.ca for more information.

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Over the course of the Spring Break, as I witnessed the beauty of such a dramatic season change, I felt a deep appreciation for the time to get together with parents, alumni parents, colleagues and mentors over food, crafts, walks and playdates. What a gift it is to be invited into relationships with people and to connect over shared values, common interests and great conversation. Even when opinions and perspectives differ, a dialogue rooted in kindness and respect will always yield a healthy interaction.

My job at the school is to support the continued growth of our community and I am committed to ensuring the safety, visibility, and beauty of our diversity. I am working to formalize our approach to diversity and inclusion so our position and actions are clear. If you are inspired to participate in this work, or even curious about the work itself, please be in touch with me to learn how you can help.

Another area where your help has been tremendously valuable is in sharing your insights about fundraising. Building on your suggestions, questions and comments, we have decided to direct all monies raised through fundraising initiatives like the Grocery Card Program, one-off donations, our monthly donor program, and events like the Children’s Christmas Fair, to a Community Fund. I am so pleased to share that the balance of this fund currently sits at $37,103. Your willingness to participate in the Grocery Card Program at higher levels over the past few months has definitely had an impact. Our last fundraising cheque from SPUD was $1,007.05 (Sept-Dec), which brings the total raised through the Grocery Card Program to $7,205 this school year! Our next steps will be to work together to determine the priorities of this fund so it serves as a mechanism to reflect the values of our community. Please come and see me if you would like more details about the Community Fund or about fundraising in general.

I look forward to more conversations in the sunshine, seated on our incredible new yellow-cedar benches, as we move into the warmer months. Thank you for your ongoing support and care.

Mary Henley
Community & Resource Development Manager
mhenley@vws.ca
read on our website

GRATITUDE

We are happy to say that our new garden area in the main playground is complete! Thank you to arborist, Darren Silcox, of Bartlett Tree Experts for his advice on how to look after our three beautiful Beech Trees. Thank you to Maple Leaf Garden Centre for help in choosing plants for the garden under the trees. Note: If you mention that you are with the Waldorf Community you receive a 10% discount at their nursery. Thank you to the Parks Department of the City of North Vancouver for giving us the pruned branches from their willow trees for our willow fence and living willow dome. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped to build the fence and benches. Thank you to grade 3 who planted the garden under the trees. Thank you to the Playground Committee for the inspiration and dedication to the project. It truly took a community to bring it all together.

Bonnie Gosse
Volunteer Extraordinaire

ALUMNI UPDATE

"I went straight to university after Grade Twelve, moving all the way to Nova Scotia to attend Acadia University in Wolfville. Acadia is filled with pageantry, tradition, and has the warmest and most inclusive quality of student life. It is a very Waldorf-like university and, after my initial trauma at being left alone across the country, I loved it. I transferred to UVIC for my second year and graduated in June of 2018 with a BA in psychology. I have regrets around not graduating from Acadia, but I may have been too young to be so far from my family. During my university years, I also went on some non-academic adventures, such as travelling to Ireland to spend seven incredible days hiking along the Dingle Way!"
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UPCOMING EVENTS

The energy around campus is rising as we delve deeper into spring. Though the rains have been with us this week, there is still a sense of excitement, renewal, and new growth. I look around at the children here at the Grade School, some of whom seemed so small back in September, and they are now robust and filling the space with their joyfulness.

Earlier today I posted an article to our Facebook page titled: "Youngsters have greater energy levels than professional endurance athletes, scientists have discovered" which garnered laughter and knowing from parents. If you would like to read the article and are not on Facebook, you may find it here thetelegraph.co/uk

I hope to see as many as you as possible this weekend at the Spring Fair.

Many blessings
Laura Bergstrome
Communications & Events

The Vancouver Waldorf School is situated on the unceded ancestral territory of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) and Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilwətaɁɬ) Nations.

Did you see any errors? Or do you have something to contribute?
Contact Laura at communications@vws.ca

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