MULGRAVE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
	1325 EAST KEITH ROAD NORTH VANCOUVER BRITISH COLUMBIA V7J 1J3 PHONE 604/984-9030 FAX 604/984-9034

April 11, 1997

Dear Parents

Our Festival Choir who sang at the Kiwanis Choral Festival and our Odyssey of the Mind teams who were representing Mulgrave at the Provincial Finals in Kelowna last weekend, enjoyed tremendous success in both events. I am proud of their conviction, their abilities to function as team players, and of their spirit.

ODYSSEY OF THE MIND
PROVINCIALS

In its first year of participation in Odyssey of the Mind, Mulgrave School in North Vancouver sent two of its four teams to the Provincial Tournament in Kelowna on Sunday, April 5th. At the Regional Competition, held in March the "OMerdroid" and "Can You Dig It?" teams both placed second, sending them to the provincial championships, while "Double Trouble" and "Heroic Proportions" placed third and fourth respectively.

Dr. Knox Middle School, School District No. 23 (Central Okanagan) hosted the tournament in which 140 teams province wide participated. Mulgrave's "OMerdroid" team received bronze medals for their third place finish out of nine teams in Division 1 (Under 12 years) and "Can You Dig It", seventh out of seventeen.

Proudly representing Mulgrave School were, on the "Can You Dig It" team, coached by Mrs. Lesley Tetiker: Alexandra Chan, G.5, Jonathan Miller, G.5, Ashley Taunton, G.4, Joel Thompson, G.5 and Graydon Tullis, G.4. The "OMerdroid" team, coached by Ms. Jane Rees: Charlsey Anthony, G.5, Aaron Bolus, G.4, Farah Kassam, G.5, Kalim Kassam, G.4, Andrew Robertson, G.3 (not present for provincials) and Olivia Vipond, G.3.

The North Shore Schools that finished in the top three in their category include:

ODYSSEY OF THE MIND - A PARENT'S PERSPECTIVE

I didn't realize the amount of work needed for our teams to be involved in Odyssey of the Mind. It is indeed an interesting and challenging activity! The teacher, coaches and students spent lunch and after school meetings to practice the spontaneous question portion of Odyssey of the Mind as well as assisting the teams to form their ideas and organize their solutions to the chosen problems. Further along in this endeavour the parent coaches needed to be available to help them gather their props, purchase materials, supervise the production of required items, organize several weekends for the team to get together, drive etc. Although often the team required help, parental assistance must be kept to a minimum so we needed to exercise great restraint and remind ourselves it must be the children's work. As the regional date for the competition approached the team continued to fine tune the details of their required solutions as well as rehearse their presentations, which some of you may have seen at assembly. The team organised their paper work which tallied up the costs of materials spent (maximum allowed $100.00 U.S.), style/presentation forms, and various other forms specifically related to their problem.

Prior to the Odyssey of the Mind regional competition, I shared the feeling of relief with several other parents that soon our Odyssey of the Mind experience would be completed. But our teams "Can You Dig It" and "The OMerdroids" won 2nd place. I was pleased but as surprised when both Mrs. Tetiker and Ms. Rees showed no hesitation, rather great enthusiasm with "Well, lets go to Kelowna!"

With a few more rehearsals, lunch and after school meetings, the teams were ready to take on the Provincials. I was so proud to watch both teams present their work. They did so with great team spirit, excellent acting and such competence and confidence. They did their best! It was a great weekend.

I want to express my appreciation to Ms. Rees and Mrs. Tetiker. I find it amazing that we have teachers who are so willing to sacrifice their weekend and so much of their own time. I understand that there were very few teacher coaches from other competing schools. - You are exceptional!

I feel as a parent of students at Mulgrave we are very fortunate to have such wonderful and caring teachers. I wanted to acknowledge the dedication, hard work and enthusiasm of all our teachers here at Mulgrave.

Thank you with sincerity

Selina Quan (Alexandra Chan G.5)

ANOTHER 'OLIVER'

St. Thomas Aquinas High School students are also presenting "Oliver" at the Centennial Theatre on April 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. There is a special presentation for schools on Thursday, April 17 at 1:00 p.m. and our Grade 2, 3 4 and 5 students were asked if they would like to watch another "Oliver". They vociferously and unanimously expressed their desire to go (clearly they are not yet "Oliver-ed" out). The students to-gether with their teachers, will be driven by Cardinal Transport school-bus to the Centennial Theatre at 12:30 p.m. When the performance ends at 3:15 p.m. approximately they will return to the school using the same mode of transport, ready for dismissal at 3:30 p.m.

CANADIAN INDEPENDENT JUNIOR SCHOOL HEADS ASSOCIATION

I will have the privilege of attending this conference which will be held in Victoria this year, April 16-19, 1997. This is an association of independent schools whose heads meet annually to discuss items of mutual concern and interest, and to implement greater contact among independent schools. I may be out of sight, but I will not be out of mind, or contact, and the newsletter will be published as usual.

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

It is an honour and a privilege to serve as the new Chairman of Mulgrave's Board of Directors and I would like to thank Richard Bolus for all his very hard work as Chairman over the past eighteen months. I look forward to the adventures and challenges ahead as we expand our school and maintain the spirit and high standards that have been developed so quickly at Mulgrave.

The Board continues to work hard towards establishing a permanent school with multiple classes from Kindergarten through Grade 12. It has been a challenging task to date and we are still restricted from announcing our preferred site for our new development. We are doing everything possible to move towards construction of the new school and hope that we can make positive announcements soon.

In the meantime, we are looking at various alternatives for additional space that we can use prior to moving to the new school. We would very much like to expand the facilities that we offer our children over the next two years. The exercise area downstairs has now been partitioned to provide space for the school's morning assembly and general purposes. Other alternatives for special purpose rooms, gymnasium space, classrooms and storage are also under consideration.

The various committees - Capital Finance, Education, Fundraising, Site, and Technology - have all had recent meetings and we continue to move our plans forward. If you are interested in working on one of the committees, please contact the school office for the name and telephone number of the respective committee head. I can assure you that constructive help will be welcomed!

Finally, I would like to thank the parents and staff of Mulgrave for their patience as we move towards this exciting phase of our school's development and expansion. I hope we will be able to make further announcement very soon.

Jim Robertson (Andrew, Christopher, G.3)

Have a good weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Linda Hamer
Headmistress