Parent Participation
Vancouver College's Parent Participation Program is to support our sons and develop a stronger community. The program supports many events, activities and traditions that make your son's experience memorable. This exceptional experience is possible thanks to the volunteer hours of our parent community!
In addition to the benefits to the boys, the program's fundraising efforts raise money to support school needs. The amount raised is shared at the Annual General Meeting in June. We encourage you to be a part of our community, meet parents, and support our school.
Volunteer FAQ
- How to Navigate the Parent Participation Portal
- First Time Log In and Family Account Update
- How to Volunteer and Receive Hours
- Program Details and Important Deadlines
- Parent Participation Agreement
- For Coordinators Who Need Volunteers
How to Navigate the Parent Participation Portal
First Time Log In and Family Account Update
1. Click on FIND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES.
Username: your email address
Default Password: VC@PPP
If you can’t login, try using your spouse’s email address.
How to update your family account:
After your first login it is important that you perform the following steps to keep your account safe and to validate that your family information is correct. You will only need to do this once. Click on your name in the top right menu bar to access your account information, and do the following:
1. Confirm First User information:
Check that the username is the email address of the parent that does the most volunteering! If it is not, change it to the email address for this parent.
Confirm that the First Name, Last Name and Email match this user. If any are incorrect, please change.
2. Reset your password for the first user, by clicking on the Reset Password button.
3. Add/Confirm Second User information:
If your spouse will be volunteering, your spouse needs to be listed as a second user, so that we have their name and information when they show up to volunteer. Otherwise we are unable to connect your spouse to your family. Add or confirm that the second user username is your spouse's email address, and add or confirm that the first and last name and email for your spouse are correct. Have your spouse set a password.
If your spouse will not be volunteering, he/she does not need to be listed as a second user.
4. Write down your usernames and passwords in a secure location, for future reference.
5. DO NOT update your child’s information. If it is incorrect, please contact us at vcppparents@mail.vc.bc.ca and provide your full name, child’s full name and grade, and a description of the issue.
6. Add your Skills:
If you have any of the skills listed in the choice list for Skills, please select the skill(s), and add them to your profile. Examples of skills include Serving it Right, First Aid, and Food Safe.
7. Click “Save my profile” at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
Need help?
Our new volunteer website is easy to use and very intuitive. Please watch our Quick Start Video and read the “How to volunteer & receive your hours” below, for information on how to sign up for volunteer opportunities and our new process.
If you are unable to login with either your own or your spouse’s email, please contact us at vcppparents@mail.vc.bc.ca, and include your son’s full name and grade, for faster troubleshooting.
How to Volunteer and Receive Hours
Step 1 – LOGIN
Login to the Parent Volunteer Website by clicking on the FIND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES link above.
Login with your username (your email address) and password. See “How to login for the first time & update your family account” if it is your first time logging in.
If you forget your password, follow the procedure on the login page to reset it (check your junk folder if you don’t receive a password reset email within a few minutes).
Step 2 - REGISTER
From the homepage of the Parent Volunteer Website, you will see tasks listed in the “People Needed” section. Don’t forget to scroll down to see all of the tasks. If the People Needed section is empty, then all current tasks are filled. Rest assured that there will be many opportunities to volunteer throughout the year. You can check back at any time to look for opportunities, and each Thursday, the VCPA newsletter may announce new opportunities.
You can also view volunteer opportunities by clicking on “See Tasks by Activities”, which presents the opportunities in a streamlined view. Expand the list to see the available tasks.
Click on a task to take you to the details about the task, and if you’d like to register to do the task, click on the checkbox to the right, and hit “register”.
Please do not register for tasks “just in case” as it makes planning very difficult for coordinators.
If you need more help, click on “How-To” in the top right menu bar, and watch the “how to view activities and tasks” video to learn more.
Step 3 - SHOW UP
When you show up to do the task, you will be asked to sign a Sign-In Sheet, as evidence of your participation. You may be asked to sign out as well.
If you registered for the task using the website, your hours are automatically tracked for you. There is no further need for you to log these hours. Please see the My Activities and Summary boxes on your homepage.
If you did more hours than were posted, the coordinator for the task will adjust your hours for you, based on the Sign In Sheet. DO NOT submit an ad hoc request for adjustments to hours. Reach out to the coordinator for the task, if the hours do not get adjusted.
If you do not show up for a task that you registered for in the website, you will be assessed as a “no–show” and those hours will be removed from your account. So remember to sign in when you show up!
Step 4 - AD HOC
You usually only need to use the AD HOC process for volunteer work that was NOT listed for sign up on the Parent Volunteer Website.
In this case, you are responsible to submit your hours for tasks that you did for Staff, a Teacher, or a Coordinator and were NOT listed for sign-up on the Parent Volunteer Website.
Please enter these hours using the AD HOC area found on the homepage. Enter AD HOC hours ONLY if you did not register for that volunteer task on the Parent Volunteer Website, OR as instructed by the coordinator for the Activity.
Ad hoc hours may be approved or denied, and may be audited.
Please use the category that best fits your ad hoc request. The categories “Miscellaneous” and “Athletics” have been set up as general buckets that can be used for most Ad Hoc requests. Be sure to include the full name of the coordinator that can verify your hours.
If you need more help, click on “How-To” in the top right menu bar, and watch the “how to submit ad hoc task requests” video, or watch out Quick Start Video, found on this webpage.
Need more help?
If you still need help after watching the videos, please contact us at vcppparents@mail.vc.bc.caProgram Details and Important Deadlines
Volunteer Year: The volunteer year will always run from July 1 to June 30, thus, the deadline to complete volunteer hours for the current school year will be June 30 at the end of that school year. The deadline for parents to report any extra or ad hoc hours for the current year will always be the third Friday in June. This gives the parent participation team time to process the ad hoc requests, and run the year end reports, before the volunteer year rolls over to the next year on July 1. Please note that if you have signed up for, or been assigned any tasks, in the OnVolunteers system, these hours will already be in your account. Hours done after July 1 will count in the next volunteer year.
Carry Forward Hours: Hours cannot be carried forward into the next year, except when the activity is built in the volunteer website and shows a next year credit date.
Donated items: No Participation Hours will be given for donations when tax receipts are issued. In keeping with the PPP goal of encouraging participation by parents in school events exchanging hours for donations is not encouraged.
Pre-arranged Commitment: Parents who attend a volunteer event without reserving a time slot will be turned away if there are enough volunteers for that event.
Parent Participation Agreement
As part of your son’s registration package, you will have filled out a parent participation agreement and made a choice to participate or not.
For families who choose TO participate:
Complete 30 hours through the Parent Participation Program. All families are encouraged to support our fundraising efforts by volunteering at Mayfair, Finnegan Ball, or the Mother’s Christmas Tea. At the end of the school year, should you have any unfulfilled hours, you will be billed on your tuition statement at a rate of $30/hour.
For families who choose NOT to participate:
Families who choose not to participate enclose a cheque for $900.00 post-dated for the first school day of the upcoming school year (usually the Tuesday after Labour Day). The cheque will be cashed on this day.
For Coordinators Who Need Volunteers
If you are a parent coordinator, teacher or administrative staff person, we can help you get your jobs posted in the OnVolunteer portal.
Please contact the parent listed below at least four weeks in advance of your need, This allows one week to build, check and publish the posting in the portal, and three weeks for parents to sign up.
- For all job postings tied to the Athletics program, please contact pppathletics@vancouvercollege.ca
- For all fundraisers, and any other requests, please contact pppactivities@vancouvercollege.ca
- For all other inquiries, please contact pppchair@vancouvercollege.ca
Activity Coordinator QuickStart Video
