Parent engagement

Parents engagement

Objective:

The objective of this policy is to increase parents’ roles and responsibilities as partners in their child’s education and participation in meeting the educational needs of children.

Applicable to:

This policy applies to all parents.

Rationale:

Responsibility, Win Win

  • The school believes that the child’s education can be best when the school and the parents are in partnership and agreement.
  • The parent should arrange for appropriate learning environments at home to enable the children to learn, without which children will not be able to perform to their potential. Therefore it is important to understand that your role as parents must be played responsibly by you.

We promise to avail best and experienced teachers, however the results depend largely on support of the parents. We agree that it requires loads of courage to leave your precious possessions with anyone; but the right decision at the right time is going to be beneficial for your child. As the child spends more time at home than school, so it need not to be mentioned that these three aspects combine together gives a child a safe, healthy, and strong environment to develop their bubbling brains. We have introduced following steps to increase engagement of parents in child’s learning:

  • Online Parent Portal: We upload all the course content and additional resources on our parent portal. All the important news and updates is easily accessible through the portal as well as email notifications.
  • Open House Saturday: The second and fourth Saturday of each month is an “open house”. Parents can meet the teacher and discuss the progress of their ward. During these sessions we also share the teaching methodology followed in the class so that parents can help their child effectively at home.
  • Home visits: At the start of every academic year class teacher’s visits home of each student for 15-20 min. The bond created by this and the understanding got by the educator regarding the various aspects of the child’s background and the child herself is of immense value. This truly helps her to play the role of a nurturer and facilitate the overall development of the child.
  • Parent Teacher Conference: A compulsory parent teacher meeting is conducted once in six months. A detailed assessment report card is also handed over on the same day

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM PARENTS

School Activities & Expectations:

  • Strive to attend all Parent Orientation sessions so as to be familiar with what is new in the upcoming grade. Strive to attend all the Parent-Teacher Conferences (PTCs) or Student Led Conferences (SLCs). These are the occasions in the year when you can learn about your child’s overall progress.
  • Attend and participate in various events you have been invited for- class presentations, role plays, exhibitions and school events such as sports day, annual day celebrations
  • Volunteering for school events or activities such as arranging for field trips, excursions, camps etc.
  • Follow schools rules and regulations in intent and spirit. Support your child to do self-study and homework (but not do the homework for them). Give them the support as outlined in the homework policy.
  • Take an active interest in the child’s activities in school by understanding what’s really happening – by discussing with the child when she wishes to discuss (not by nagging her to tell you what’s happening).
  • Understand which topics are being taught in the various subjects. Help them with surveys, projects, research, communication, presentation but don’t do it for them or outsource them. Help them by asking the right questions, by leading the child to find answers for herself.
  • Support the child during student led projects like PYP Exhibition, Community Project, Personal Projects etc

With your child:

  • Build a culture of reading. Read aloud to them, encourage them to read, make good books available to them, help them find reading buddies or reading club.
  • Do encourage your child to talk and express herself in her own time and way
  • Encourage them to be independent in work, learning habits as well as in their daily routine habits
  • Build a relationship with him/her based on mutual trust & respect rather than fear and force.
  • Getting to know the child’s friends (in and outside of school) to know who he/she values in life.
  • Exposure to a wide variety of happenings (rather than the standard malls, restaurants and cinema halls) and places (inside and outside of Surat)
  • Give him/her exposure to a variety of activities and yet build his/her talent in 1 or 2 areas if possible. Have reasonable expectations from your child – don’t expect him/her to fulfill all your unrealized dreams.
  • At the same time, do not over- schedule your child’s free time before and after school/ This leads to stress and can be detrimental to your child’s overall development. Apart from activities that enrich the child’s life, the child must also get some time for free unstructured play (such as simply running around in the garden) and for relaxation.

Build a positive and educational family culture:

  • Family-value building: Role model, discuss & help your child build universal human values such as integrity, commitment, respect & tolerance etc.
  • Balanced Routines: Role model and help your child also maintain balanced routines which include avenues for physical, mental and socio-emotional development

Consequences:

There are no enforced consequences for lack of proper role played by parents in their child’s education. The consequences suffered shall be the natural ones.