All schools want family members to be active participants in their children’s education. It has been proven statistically that students with parents that take an active role in their education, achieve more and display generally more positive attitudes towards their education. Developing truly effective and equitable partnerships with families requires that school staff members work to create an educational environment that welcomes families into the school culture. Family members might also need training on how to become involved and how to reach out in supporting their children academically as well as socially and emotionally.
St. David Catholic Elementary School continues to partner with parents and family members to support student improvement in reading. Families participate in a nightly “read at home” program. This program greatly supports improved reading achievement as well as reading confidence.
St. David Catholic School hosted an annual “Family Guided Reading” morning. On this morning all families were invited into the school to participate in guided reading lessons with their children. Parents learned about how the school determines student reading levels and what reading level their child was reading at. Most importantly, the children read with their parents and conferenced about their individual reading goals.
Colin Lapalme, St. David School vice principal stated, “successful home / school relationships are built over time. The more opportunities families have to be in the school and witness for themselves the great learning that is happening each day, the more trust develops. We are appreciative of the families that come to these special mornings hosted by their children. We know the kids love having special guests in the school and we hope that the parents enjoy it as much as we do.”
