New school year good time to get involved. Upcoming weeks feature variety of events, including leadership training and semi-annual.

It’s September again, and time to head back to school. Parents are encouraged to get to know the school staff and to get involved at their child’s school early in the school year. In the coming months, the federation will continue to do its work of bringing people together around the common vision of an excellent education system, with the education and wellbeing of each Island child at the centre.
 

Every Home and School associations seeks to engage parents and all school community members in the daily life and activity of the school. Home and School is a non-profit organization made up of parents, teachers, school staff and citizens concerned about the education of our young people and their future. Provincially, the federation works as an advocacy group to improve the total well-being of every student.
 

The Public Schools Branch received government support in June, to continue the school food environment work. The project lead, Morgan Palmer, continues to research and develop a school food strategy.  In partnership with the project lead, the Home and School Federation has secured a Wellness Grant to implement youth engagement activities across PEI in the upcoming school year.   The federation is pleased to see this work continuing and will continue to support all efforts focused on providing healthy school food for students. If you want to become involved please contact mkpalmer@gov.pe.ca
 

Free leadership training will be provided to help volunteers learning more about facilitating meetings and bringing people together around common goals and visions. Workshops will be held at Elm Street elementary school on Wednesday, September 26, 7:00 p.m. and Spring Park Elementary on Thursday, September 27, 7:00 p.m. (location TBA). These sessions are open to all Home and School volunteers.
 

Two provincial meetings held in October and April provide opportunities to bring all stakeholders in education together to voice their comments about issues that are relevant to student learning across the Island. The resolution process provides an opportunity for members to discuss and design solutions together that will allow every Island child to reach his or her full potential. 
 

Home and Schools from across the province will come together on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at Central Queens elementary school for the 65th semi-annual meeting. Partners in education, parents, guardians, teachers, administrators, school staff, will be invited for discussion about current issues in education, some of which will focus on the federation’s policy resolutions adopted at the April annual meeting and progress that has been made on past resolutions. All federation policies can be found at: www.peihsf.ca. Registration information will be circulated to home and school presidents in September. Each school is encouraged to send representatives.
 

Parents who provide their kids with balanced information about the effects associated with cannabis can help them make informed decisions. If your school community is interested in hosting a presentation, led by professionals, on how to talk to kids about use of cannabis, contact the federation office.
 

Greenfield Home and School welcomed new kindergarten students at a spring Welcome to Kindergarten orientation session by giving every student a small tree sapling to plant at home with their parents, grandparents or guardians marking the beginning of the child’s education. If your home and school has a good news story, please send it to the federation. "From little saplings grow mighty trees.” "Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later." – Og Mandino. 

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Cory Thomas, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, lives in Summerside with his wife and two children, who both attend Elm Street Elementary School. His column appears in The Guardian during the school year on the first Thursday of the month. He welcomes comments from readers and information for the column. He can be reached at peihsf@edu.pe.ca or 902-620-3186 or 1-800-916-0664.