Thank you to everyone who attended the first Regional SCC Meeting on October 25, 2011.  We were pleased and encouraged to see such a great response for these events.

The second Regional SCC meeting being held on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  The theme for this year's Regional SCC meetings is "Supporting Student Achievement and Citizenship in the Digital Age".

The second meeting will focus on "Linking to Learning: Supporting Student Achievement".

Our keynote speaker, Alanna Mitchell, is an award-winning, Canadian science journalist and author. Her literary non-fiction wins praise for its ability to describe complex ideas in plain language. Mitchell's subjects are science, education and human behaviour and she is known for her strong narrative style.

Alanna spent almost a year investigating the potential of using brain science research to improve education. Her series, "Brainstorm", in The Toronto Star in November, 2009, encourages us to rethink the way we parent and educate children by incorporating the latest scientific findings.

In addition to our keynote speaker, we will be holding three outstanding workshops. Please refer to the attached flyer below for additional information on the workshops being offered.

The School Community Council (S.C.C.)

Welcome to Pine Ridge all new and returning parents!

Elections for the 2010-2011 School Community Council were held at the first meeting in September, 2010.

SCC meeting dates can be found under Important Dates or in your child's agenda.

The Pine Ridge SCC, funded by the Ministry of Education's Parents Reaching Out Grant, is pleased to present Lesley Andrew - Beating the Odds on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the main cafeteria.

Lesley Andrew, accomplished singer and actress, speaks about taking responsibility for personal change and growth, overcoming obstacles, facing fears and attaining goals.  Please see the flyer for more information. 

2009-2010 School Year Report

Through 2009-2010, the council was quite busy supporting school initiatives, raising awareness of parental involvement, and remaining committed to student success. The council met seven times during the school year.

The council aims to find ways to support and encourage parent involvement in our children's education. An effort was made by the council to improve upon parent involvement by increasing our visibility at school and Board events including:

• Commencement presentation of two SCC awards
• Student recognition awards at Pine Ridge
• Grade 8 parents night
• Attend regional SCC meetings
• Hosting sessions on Student/Parents Budgeting for Post-Secondary Education in partnership with Credit Counselling Service of Durham Region, An Evening
  with Dan Hill and Son keynote speaker funded by the Ministry of Education, Parent Reaching Out Grant initiative
• Reviewed results of our annual website survey; to be administered again from June-Sept 2010

Although many items and initiatives were discussed at our meetings, perhaps the most prominent of those were:

• Continued Curriculum Presentations – department head presentations from Mathematics, Technological Education, Business and Art
• Ongoing updates from the Student Activity Council on extra curricular involvement
• Establishing SCC goals and preparing for elections for the 2010-2011 school year
• Selecting the Volunteer of Distinction award recipient; Gillian Amos
• Ongoing support of the breakfast program
• Having been approved by the Ministry of Education for our Parents Reaching Out Grant Proposals
• Completed report back process to Ministry of Education of Parent Reaching Out Grant initiatives
• Special Guest visit from Durham Regional Police Services

Some challenges we will continue to work on going forward include:

• Encourage more parents to be actively involved in meetings and in organising events

Our sincere thank you for the kind support from all volunteers and the PRSS School Administration.

The Durham District School Board recognizes the importance of strong links between home and school to create a positive learning environment for its students.  Every Durham school has a School Community Council and you are encouraged to become involved.

The council is composed of the school's principal, school staff, students, parents, and community and business representatives.  You may be an elected council member or an observer at meetings.

Each school has elections for school community councils, held in the early fall or spring.  You should keep yourself involved about the events and actions of the council as they affect your local school.

School community council members are invited on a regular basis to regional school council meetings held at the Education Centre.  Here, they receive information on board activities and decisions, provide input to board or Ministry of Education initiatives and take advantage of professional development activities to help them be more effective in their schools.

Taken from:  www.ddsb.durham.edu.on.ca/parent/scc1.htm

For further information on the Pine Ridge Secondary School S.C.C., please contact the main office at 905-420-1885 and check back soon for more updates.