Assistant Principal / Leader of Pedagogy
Mr Stephen Chapman
It's "Parent Information Night" Season!
Connections between home and school are vital. By working together, and knowing about each other, students are more likely to reach their potential. An important part of this are the information nights we are having this term for each year group.
We’ve just reached the end of the fourth week of school for 2022. Time certainly is flying! I’ve enjoyed walking around the school, visiting classes and talking to students about their learning. The action in the classroom is something parents and carers don’t get to see in person at school, although I expect many of you are talking with your children at home about their learning. There is nothing more inspiring and affirming than listening to a young person talking about their learning (Fultz, 2022 & Dell’Angelo, 2014)! Positive and active connections between school and home are vital for each student to move their learning forward. This is what I am focusing on in this article. How can school and home connect effectively?
We have begun what some of us call “Parent Information Night Season”. We have a parent information night for every year group during Term 1 each year, and 2022 is no different. We’ve done the Year 7 and Year 11 nights. There are still five to go. Here is the schedule:
Year 7 Parent Information Night (Zoom)
Week 2, February 7, 2022
Year 11 Parent Information Night (Zoom)
Week 3, February 14, 2022
Year 9 Parent Information Night
6 pm - 7 pm
Week 5, Monday, February 28, 2022
Year 8 Parent Information Night
6 pm - 7 pm
Week 6, Monday, March 7, 2022
Year 12 Parent/Student Senior Success Night
6 pm - 7 pm
Week 7, Monday, March 14, 2022
Year 10 Parent Information Night
6 pm - 7 pm
Week 8, Monday, March 21, 2022
Year 7 2023 Parent Information Night
6 pm - 7 pm
Week 8, Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Due to covid restrictions, we ran the first two of these evenings via Zoom. Thankfully, we are welcoming parents back on site for the remaining nights. The remaining Information nights will be in the College Library.
I’d like to thank all the presenters that put these information nights together. This includes the Year Leaders of Learning - Year 7 Kath Czinner, Year 8 Nat Mellowship, Year 9 Mark Fulloon, Year 10 James Russell, Year 11 Amanda Bell and Frank Patricks, Year 12 Vicki Channon and the School Leadership Team - Clare Healy, Damian Roff, myself, Katie Biddle, Mellissa Bell and Melita Roache. On different nights, we have other presenters such as Lily Moar Leader of Learning - T-VET and Glenda Lemon/Dea Trigwell-Lindley Careers.
On these information nights we cover a variety of content that is specific to each year group, plus some general information relevant to our entire community.
Other ways to connect
Parents and school staff often connect in person at extracurricular activities and community events. This includes shopping and socialising. In a relatively small town like Armidale, we often get the chance to talk to each other in informal ways. Meeting like this builds valuable connections between the students, their families and the school (Fultz, 2022).
As teachers, we are regularly connecting what we are learning to the real world. A valuable part of this is involving families and home life in the learning process (Dell’Angelo, 2014). For example, students in Year 10 5.2 Mathematics have been learning about finance. There is real benefit from students going home to ask questions of their parents/carers about earning money and investments.
Finally, there are many structures set up for keeping the communication lines open between home and school. Of course, there are the traditional means like phone calls, text messages, emails and in-person meetings. Compass and Google Classroom are two additional systems.
Compass has each lesson listed for each child. At a glance as each day, parents and carers can see what lessons are on and what the teacher has planned by reading the lesson plan. Parents/carers can email specific teachers or all their child's teachers. Attendance records, payments and permission notes can all be accessed through Compass. The News Feed shows news relevant to those parents and children for each year group. If any parents need help setting up their Compass, please contact the College office.
Each class has a Google Classroom. This is a place where teachers give tasks, run quizzes and provide information. Students can complete work and receive feedback from their teachers. Parents are invited to join as “parents/guardians” and receive a summary for their child at the end of each week. This year, we have put together a list of all join codes for the classes. This is to help students to join these classrooms. The list is here. You can choose the year group from the tabs at the bottom of the page.
I look forward to seeing you in person soon if you are coming to the information nights that are on in the near future. Feel free to contact any of us at O’Connor as working together is what we all want.
Mr Stephen Chapman
Assistant Principal - Leader of Pedagogy
Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing - Jack Lewman
References:
The Beginners' Guide to Connecting Home and School.
Dell’Angelo, T., December 10, 2014. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/beginners-guide-connecting-home-school-tabitha-dellangelo
Improving Parent Engagement at the High School Level
Fultz, A., February 10, 2022. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/improving-parent-engagement-high-school-level
