The Family Commitment
Each family at our school contributes to our community:
- Duty days. One family member is required to become trained to assist in the classroom once or twice a month. This is a great opportunity to play an active part in your child’s school experience. You will help the children with their activities, provide some supervision and tidy up in preparation for the next class. If you are unable to commit to helping, please read the information in the Partial Participation section below.
- School Job. One family member is required to take on a job within the school. Job duties include hygiene, building and yard maintenance, washing and mending, shopping, floor cleaning, social convening and participating on various committees. There are also executive roles, including enrollment, orientation, fundraising, communication, parent education, treasurer, vice president, and president. Each family has the opportunity to express what they are interested in doing and always have great support from the community when needed.
- Attend monthly general meetings. Meetings are scheduled 6:45-9:15pm on the second Tuesday of every month and include both educational and business components. The parent education component provides an opportunity to have an open discussion on relevant topics pertaining to the preschool age group. You might not realize you share a common concern with parents in our school and parent education meetings give you the chance to share these concerns finding a resource within our preschool. The community expands with parent education but we bring it to you. Your input helps provide presentations on topics you want to hear. A simple survey after each meeting provides feedback on whether the topic and presenter warrant a return.
- Take part in seasonal school cleans. Shifts in the cleans run 2 hours long.
- Provide fundraising support. Take part in our major fundraisers throughout the year or by opting out of fundraising for an extra fee.
- You may also be asked to help collect household items for school crafts or to occasionally make playdough for the school.
Our preschool is a member of the Vancouver Island Cooperative Preschool Association (VICPA) which supports other cooperative preschools on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Please see the VICPA website for more information.
For more information about the school and our policies and bylaws, please download our Parents Handbook.
Participation Levels
Full Participation
If you register with the full participation option, your family is committed to the items listed in the Family Commitment Section above.
Partial Participation
If you register with the partial participation option, your family is still a full member of our preschool but you do not have to participate in the duty day component of our family commitment. Partial participation spaces are limited in each class.
You will not be required to:
- Participate in the duty day component
You will be required to:
- Participate in yearly fundraising activities (or pay the fundraising fee option)
- Perform a school job
- Help with seasonal school cleaning
- Attend the monthly General Meeting. You are a full member with a vote on all items brought to membership which are discussed the second Tuesday of each month during the general meetings.