Make the most of the annual meet-the-staff night

In the weeks to come, as we begin this new school year, the yearly “meet the staff” night will be held at each school across the province.  “Meet the staff,” though, is a misnomer, for these events are as much an opportunity for staff to meet families as they are for families to meet staff. If home and school is, at its core, about the ongoing conversation among parents, guardians, teachers, administrators and staff, then these meetings are an important start to that conversation, an opportunity for setting the scene for a year of engagement.

In this spirit, all members of the school community are encouraged to rethink “meet the staff” night and to create opportunities, beyond “everyone gathers in the gym to hear about when the bells ring” toward building the relationships upon which successful home and school partnerships are built.

Many parents and guardians, for example, haven’t seen the inside of their children’s schools, and know almost nothing about school facilities: a tour of the school quickly solves that problem, and helps to make families feel welcome in the school.

At intermediate and high schools, where families from many feeder schools are often coming together for the first time and there are a lot of unfamiliar faces, building in an informal social activity – blueberries and ice cream in the school yard, for example – gives everyone an opportunity to meet.

These meetings also provide an opportunity for the local home and school association to introduce itself to the school community, and to help parents and guardians understand that home and school isn’t all about bake sales and selling raffle tickets: participating in the home and school conversation can mean everything from drafting policy resolutions to helping to organize new clubs to simply talking to your child about how life at school could be improved.

One way that P.E.I. Home and School Federation can help is through Leadership Training Workshops, events held this fall for everyone in the school community who’s interested in taking on a leadership role in home and school. The workshops – Sept. 22 in O’Leary, Sept. 24 in Summerside Intermediate, Sept. 28 in Cardigan and Oct. 1 in Sherwood – are free and open to all, and will cover the “ins and outs” of home and school, from running meetings to managing money to maintaining an healthy dialogue with all home and school partners. Contact the PEIHSF office at 902-620-3186 or, toll free, 1-800-916-0664, for more information and to register. Home and schools from across the province will come together on Tuesday, October 20 at Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside for our 62nd Semi-Annual Meeting.

Officials from the Department of Education and from the English Language School Board will join parents, guardians, teachers, administrators and staff for discussion about current issues in education, focusing on the federation’s policy resolutions adopted at the April Annual Meeting. Registration packages will be circulated to home and school presidents in September, and each school is encouraged to send representatives.

One item that every home and school should place on the agenda for its first meeting is a discussion of the English Language School Board’s proposed “School Change” policy, available on the board’s website. The board is inviting comments on the policy until October 2, 2015, and as this policy will guide the opening, closing and changing of schools in the coming years, it’s vital that home and school members review it with an eye to highlighting strengths and weaknesses in the approach suggested.