Creating and Sustaining a Positive School Culture
At the Home and School Federation, we believe in giving good ideas a platform to reach larger audiences. This is the one of the focus areas of our Semi Annual on Tuesday, October 20th from 6 to 8 pm at Gulf Shore Consolidated School. With an overarching focus on Creating and Sustaining a Positive School Culture, we have intentionally set aside a significant portion of this evening for sharing and networking between local Home and School associations. Prepared topics include fostering healthy school communities, breakfast programs, and fundraising.
Why are we making this a priority this year? One major factor is that working at the Federation level means we get a birds-eye view of what is happening in Home and Schools across the province. From Alberton to Souris, Gulf Shore to Belfast, we see the inspiring efforts of parents and educators working together to improve educational outcomes for students.
Sharing these ideas at our Semi Annual gives you the opportunity to hear about what is working well and to dream about what could be implemented in your school. We also know that networking sessions create bonds across school communities, and even spark new ideas that could be tried in the future.
HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS
School culture influences all aspects of the school environment. Healthy families, supported school staff and strong Home and School associations help increase positive school environments. Three local Home and School associations have been preparing topics based on strong, positive practices that have been implemented. While the Federation is not naive to challenges that exist in our schools, we think it’s time to shift the discussion towards creating welcoming, positive, inclusive school communities. So please come ready to listen and ready to share. Let this evening be the start of an ongoing conversation!
We will also walk through the results of the latest COMPASS survey at the Semi-Annual meeting. The major aim of the COMPASS project is to help support healthy students by providing the healthiest school environments possible for Canadian secondary school students. To accomplish this, COMPASS measures a wide variety of youth health behaviours as students progress through High School, and measures the school environment during this time.
Every school that participated receives a School Health Profile that highlights potential health issues and how schools can take action to address them. If interested, you can ask your administration about your school’s results.
LONGTERM SOLUTIONS
Overall COMPASS results help government, public health officials, parents and Home and Schools to identify areas of concern and emerging trends in youth health. Together we can work towards long-term solutions through programs and policies that will make a positive difference for students in schools.
Healthy children tend to do better academically than less healthy kids. To that end, the results of the COMPASS surveys can help promote the total well-being of students across the province.
By attending the Semi Annual, you will leave more informed about important trends among our youth, have tangible ideas you can bring back to your local Home and School association, and you will feel more connected to parents and educators across our Island.
Together, we can create and sustain a positive school culture. Register at: https://peihsf.ca/semi-annual/. See you at Gulf Shore on the 20th!
~~Tom Deelstra is president of the PEI Home and School Federation. He lives in Stratford with his wife and four children, who attend Charlottetown Rural, Birchwood Intermediate, and Stratford Elementary. Our schools are better when we work together.