In January 2007, Pius XII Catholic School Council was awarded a grant of $2,500 from the Ministry of Education: Parents Reaching Out Grant. The grant was made available to the school council for their project proposal which consisted of a five-day parent workshop, (one workshop per month), with each workshop focusing on the developmental characteristics of children and adolescents. A core group of eight parents received a course in the TRIBES process by Jean McHarg, Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. Parents were introduced to the TRIBES process for the purpose of encouraging parents to work together as a professional learning community to bring forth the care, active participation and positive expectations for all students.

Pius XII Catholic School parents were invited to participate in all five workshops being offered at the school. The focus of the workshops is to build inclusion among the parents. Parents participated in a number of activities, such as Getting to Know You, Finding What We Have in Common, The Characteristics of Birth Order, Goals for our Children, and Goals for Our Parent Workshop. Guest speaker, Debbie Smith from the Family Enrichment Centre offered parents a very informative workshop re “the affects of birth order on children.”

The March 21 workshop was also a tremendous success with 15 parents joining the Parents for Parents group. The focus for this day was learning about child development from “birth to teen.” The Pius XII Catholic School Council would like to see more parents join the
May 16 and June 13, Parents for Parents Workshops which will be held at the school. “At Pius XII, parents are sharing information, learning from one another and building community,” states Louisa Bianchin, Principal of Pius XII Catholic School. “Our parents gather together because they believe in, value and care about creating a better home and school for their children.”