We, the officers of the Pretoria Parents Association, would like to say welcome back to returning families and a warm welcome to our new families. We trust that everyone had an enjoyable holiday. We had a great first semester and we would like to thank the AISJ community for supporting our program. As a recap, we had a back to school social in September, held a series of coffee mornings, assisted with the Halloween carnival by volunteering at booths and organizing cookie and cupcake contributions, held the brown coin war (which raised more than R 2 700.00) in support of saving the rhinos in November, and organized food contributions for the International Food Festival in December. In addition, we made progress towards establishing a spirit wear shop on our campus, implemented financial procedures, set up the MySchool account, and initiated a partnership with the Service Learning coordinator. Not bad for a newly established organization.
During the second semester, we plan to continue our efforts to enhance the sense of community on our campus; to develop and nurture a positive, collaborative relationship amongst Pretoria parents and between the PA, parents, and the school; to provide assistance to families with regard to AISJ and the South African communities at large; and to raise funds to finance PA-sponsored activities.
All parents with children at the Pretoria Campus are members of the Parents Association and we hope to get to know each of you through the activities we have planned for the 2012 - 2013 school year. This is our first year as an independent organization separate from the Parents Association in Johannesburg. We look forward to the challenge but need Pretoria parent participation to make the organization successful. No previous experience with a parents or parent-teacher organization is required to participate, just an interest in your child’s education.
We hold monthly meetings at either 6:30 pm or 12:30 pm to accommodate working parents’ schedules. Our main method of communication is the school’s newsletter, Izindaba, but we also send e-mail messages to the community to reach as broad an audience as possible. Occasionally, we send hard copy information home, although, in support of the school’s green effort, we rely mostly on electronic dissemination. Information on the PA and its activities can also be found under the “Community” button of the school’s website. Please refer to the website to contact any of our PA officers.
The AISJ PA is a wonderful part of our school and the PA team is very proud to represent you. We would like to wish you all an enjoyable and successful year ahead.
Respectfully yours,
Kimberly Jemison
President, AISJ Pretoria PA |
