Here Comes Santa Claus… and Mt. Pleasant School’s Parade Float

As the saying goes, it takes a village. For Mt. Pleasant School’s students and staff working together to build a float for this year’s Brantford JCI Santa Claus Parade, that couldn’t be more true. The dedicated group brought to life the village the school calls home in an impressive display that showed their pride as it made its way down the parade route.

“Working together, Grade 7 Teacher Judy Gardner and Sabrina Beauregard, a school council member, came up with the concept for the float,” explains Graham Purcell, Principal at Mt. Pleasant School. “We wanted to show how wonderful a place this is, so the call went out to our classrooms to create different, distinctive locations in Mt. Pleasant and recreate them in float form.”

The school believes that it takes a village to raise a child, so it was decided that the float would represent that ideal. Using donations received from school community members and businesses such as Beauregard Tree Service, Teaka Carpentry, Printmate Graphics, and Macland Farms, various buildings were designed and built by staff and students. The result was a float everyone was proud of.

“During the evening of the parade some families braved the cold to ride the float and spread holiday cheer to those in attendance,” says Purcell. “This was a great experience that brought the school and families together for an engaging task.”

That task was challenging and fun, and as a bonus, the Mt. Pleasant float was awarded the prize of the best school float.

Grand Erie’s Multi-Year Plan includes Community as one of its central indicators, and endeavours like this one go far to foster relationships, involve families, and celebrate the contributions of the many community partners who contribute to Success for Every Student. As student await Santa’s arrival, they’re already thinking about how to make next year’s float even more impressive.

MPS learns about Ontario's role in the Underground Railroad

In honour of Black History month, Mt. Pleasant School welcomed a guest speaker, Mr. Michael Toby, to discuss Ontario's role in the Underground Railroad. Mr. Toby's unique presentation combined video, story telling and song to help students understand significance of the Underground Railroad. Students learned the role of music and song in guiding slaves towards the North. Students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we thank Mr. Toby for bringing his presentation to us.

Mustangs pledge their hands

Students and staff created individual handprints and contributed them to create this amazing piece of art. Each handprint is different and unique....kind of like our students! This month we celebrate our diversity.