Annual Fundraising Report

Mission: To foster a culture of community, by prioritizing the student experience and serving as a trusted partner to King’s Road School.  

Purpose: The School Council (as per HDSB) shall be a liaison between the parent community  and the school and provide the school with support to enhance and enrich each student’s education where possible. At King’s Road specifically; our purpose is to elevate the student experience, through active collaboration and strategic fundraising.  

Brief: King’s Road Public School Council focused on three strategic pillars during the  2024/2025 school year. 

• school/parent community 

• student experience 

• fundraising

This annual report reflects what the council was able to accomplish during this year. 

*Denotes members who resigned from council during the 2024/2025 school year  

Council Goals: At the start of the 2024/2025 School Council term, a detailed review of past King’s Road activities was presented. Some of these programs were Council driven, while others were School/Board driven. Based on this review and the follow-up discussions, three main themes were presented:  

School Community – a continued desire to rebuild connections and drive a sense of community within the school through strategic offerings such as BBQs, Potlucks, Movie  Nights, Yoga Nights, and other family/student events. In addition, a more thoughtful approach to content published on the King’s Road Facebook page and increased visibility of parent volunteers at school events.  

Student Experience - A desire and drive to help improve student well-being and improve school brand within the Burlington school community. Work in this area included a review of school resources (specifically indoor and outdoor infrastructure), with a focus on themes of inclusion and belonging (ensuring support in both athletics and arts). 

Fundraising – A pointed need to create a fundraising strategy and execute on this plan.  Work in this area included identifying key areas of opportunity for fund collection and subsequent resource allocation throughout the year. 

Activities & Achievements: Over the course of the 2024/2025 School Council term, the Council was able to successfully execute several initiatives based on the strategic pillars defined under the Council Goals:  

School Community 

School Council Volunteer Visibility: In October 2023, the School Council purchased King’s  Road branded black volunteer vests. 50 vests of various sizes were purchased to support the SC and volunteer program moving forward. In 2024/2025 during school-based events, the vests and name tags are worn proudly by all volunteers for the duration of their  volunteer shift and returned at the end of the event. In addition to these vests increasing visibility of parent volunteers, this year, our junior volunteers (typically grade five and six  students as well as our grade seven alumni students) asked to wear the vests and name tags.  These “uniforms” were worn with pride by students, who relished the opportunity to flex their leadership and responsibility skills, while also strengthening their sense of purpose, inclusion and belonging within the school. The vests and name tags have personalized the interactions between volunteers and families ensuring new school and community connections are made.  

King’s Road Facebook Page: Again, during the 2024/2025 school year, specific focus was  placed on increasing membership on the King’s Road FB page. In turn, additional focus was placed on quality of the content. A Communications Coordinator was assigned to manage and monitor the page. Promotion of the page was done via word-of-mouth and the King’s  Road Friday Family Connect (KFC) message. The coordinator updated the page with relevant content, appropriate images, community information, heads up and continued vigilance around positive and value-add content. The site was used to ensure both general  school news was spotlighted as well as the specific promotion of council related events.  

PRO GRANT Art Night: In April, the School Council hosted its second annual Art Event. Students worked with their teachers in advance of the event and created beautiful art that was posted throughout the school. Families of King’s Road were invited to the school gym where a local artist led the guests in a paint-by-number style event. Each participant  painted an image of “Cherry Blossoms at Spencer Smith Park” (signifying Spring) and at the end of the event, took their art home. Over 80 people signed up for the event. 

Yoga Night: In November, January and again in May the School Council hosted an adult only Yoga class. Parents and guardians (18 and older) were invited to participate. Mrs.  Gradson led the participants in a one-hour mindful yoga session, and this was a pay-what you-can style offering.

Movie Night: In November and again in March, the School Council hosted a movie night. Students along with parents and/or guardians (18 and older) were invited to participate.  

Outdoor School Property: Throughout the 2024/2025 school term, the School Council advocated for continued focus on the state of the school grounds. School Council asked for a review of the outdoor basketball hoops which were previously damaged during the installation of the outdoor classrooms. In addition, SC volunteered on weekends to weed and maintain the new front garden landscaping. In May/June activity expanded to the back property with a request to clean up the nature debris in and around the bike racks and kindergarten pen.  

Indoor School Property: This year, the School Council advocated for updates to the gym.  The School Council asked for a review of the indoor basketball hoop system, which is  outdated, misaligned and poses a health and safety concern (specifically as it relates to the  mechanics of current the winching system). SC has been working closely with school admin and has focused nearly all fundraising activities toward this project.  

Community Fun Fair: In June, the School Council hosted the annual Family and Friends  Fun Fair. The event included BBQ (supported by the Lions Club), photo booth, professional  DJ, lawn games, gratitude table, pay-to-play/game of skill event, group challenge and community donations.  

Student Experience 

Halloween Dance: In October, the School Council hosted a Halloween dance for the  students. A professional DJ was hired, and each class was able to partake in the dance over  the course of the day. 

Aldershot School Band Concert: During the year, several proposals were tabled to bring  more “arts” experiences to our student population. As a result of this increased advocacy,  King’s Road partnered with Aldershot Public School to bring a live musical concert to our students. Council, Admin and student alumni worked in lock step to turn this idea into reality. In May, the Aldershot Concert Band bused to Kings Road with all their instruments  and performed a concert for our students. This cross-school collaboration helped our primary students have a unique arts related experience and helped our junior students learn more about the extra-curricular offerings at their next school. 

Equipment: During the 2023/2024 sport season, it was noted that King’s Road required  additional sport equipment to enhance the athletic experience. The Council requested a  “wish list” from the athletic department and was presented with a list of needed equipment tallying $1200.00 in value. Through unanimous vote, the SC approved the allocation of $1200.00 to support this purchase. Although the decision to support was made during the 2023/2024 term, the actual purchase was made during the 2024/2025 school year and therefore is captured in this annual report. 

60th Anniversary SWAG: During the 2024/2025 council term, it was noted that King’s Road would be celebrating its 60th anniversary next term. The Council tabled ideas relating to  this educational milestone and determined that a school wide gift would work well. The  council voted in favour of purchasing branded drawstring bags. These bags will be gifted to each student at the Open House in October (with a note from SC). The cost of purchase is  $1720.99(+tax). Through unanimous vote, the SC approved the allocation of  $1720.99(+tax) to support this purchase.  

Spirit Wear SWAG: During the 2024/2025 council term, it was noted that King’s Road would benefit from some additional school spirit, and community branding. The Council tabled ideas relating to additional school swag (for purchase) and determined that custom croc charms (with the King’s Road Warrior Logo) would work well. The council voted in favour of purchasing these charms and will sell them throughout the 2025/2026 school year at $3.00 per unit. The cost of purchase was $985.00(+tax). Through unanimous vote, the SC  approved the allocation of $985.00(+tax) to support this purchase.  

Fundraising  

Fund-raising Activities: As 2024/2025 was again considered a rebuilding year (following the pandemic, council turnover and relatively new administration) the School Council was tasked with revamping the fundraising program. Over the course of the term School Council was able to raise money through several initiatives: 

• Terra Cotta Cookie Sale - $810.00 profit 

• SWAG Bag Sale (Holiday Concert) – $238.90 profit 

• Yoga Night 1 - $40.00 profit 

• Yoga Night 2 - $208.00 profit 

• Yoga Night 3 - $70.00 profit 

• PRO Grant Art Event – $264.00 

• Lost & Found - $75.00 profit

• Movie Night 1 – $263.00 

• Movie Night 2 – $264.30 profit 

• Mabel’s Labels - $86.00 profit 

• Fuel For Kids - $3800.01 profit 

• Family and Friends Fun Fair – $3380.00 profit 

As part of the fundraising strategy, the School Council requested an update to the Halton District School Board on-line donation portal. Under the King’s Road School, donors can now select “School Council” or “Basketball Backstop Replacement” from the drop-down menu and donate directly to these buckets using the secure electronically portal.  

Mabels Labels: In June 2024, the school council launched the Mabels Labels fundraising  campaign. This campaign was run from June 2024 to January 2025. All purchases made under the King’s Road School had a percentage of proceeds going to SC initiatives. Although this campaign was not successful from a money generating perspective, it did pair well with our efforts to better manage the Lost & Found program.  

Fuel For Kids: King’s Road was extremely fortunate to be selected by Plains Road Fortino’s  as the 2025 recipient of their annual Fuel for Kids Fundraiser. This “Fundraiser-in-a-Box” involved a female drag racer arriving at the school, offering a 30 min school experience for students (intro to the sport of Drag Racing, road safety, etc.). Moving from the school, the event closes out at the Fortino’s parking lot with a community BBQ. All supplies provided by the store, and $100 of the profit earned goes toward the school. 

Communication & Feedback: This year, School Council focused again on rebuilding connections within the school community by focusing efforts on the continued  revitalization of the King’s Road Parents Facebook Page (driving communication with value-add content), the implementation of a weekly School Council stand-alone email  (published every Tuesday) and more collaboration with school admin in the King’s Road  Friday newsletter, the maintenance of highly detailed meeting minutes, and the collection of feedback and lessons learned documented within the School Council Google Account. This year valuable feedback responses have been gathered following each event. The overall message received is School Council initiatives are trending in a positive direction.  Families are excited about the opportunity to reconnect in person, the variety of initiatives was well received, and the School Council was able to successfully retain all but one member over the course of the term (a testament to the positive direction council has been charting). 

Conclusion: 2024/2025 has again been a rebuilding year in many ways, but the School  Council has been up for the challenge and has set a strong foundation for progress in the years to come. A strong focus will continue to be on collecting lessons learned following  Council led events to ensure the group is capturing both successes and opportunities on  which to build from. All in all, we are all very proud of the work and achievements of this  year and look forward to continuing with this momentum in 2025/2026 (our 60th year of education).