Voices need to be heard. Schools encouraged to send parents, guardians, educators and students to 66th annual meeting and convention on April 13.
The Prince Edward Island Home and School Federation’s 66th Annual Meeting & Convention will take place on Saturday, April 13 at the Rodd Charlottetown hotel. Every school is encouraged to send parents, guardians, educators and students to ensure their school community is represented.
Sign up this week at: https://peihsf.ca/agm.
Home and school engages with policy-makers by writing resolutions to identify progressive policy changes in P.E.I.’s education system that impact student learning. Resolutions to be discussed this year will include requests for school renovation and construction recommended guidelines and establishing a working group to research homework policy for P.E.I.’s school system. Review the proposed Policy Resolutions online.
Home and School Associations are asked to discuss resolutions at local home and school meetings and request voting delegates to reflect the opinions of the parents, guardians, teachers, and staff in your school. For information, contact the federation office at 620-3186 / 1-800-916-0664
The annual meeting’s round table offers opportunity for partners in education to gather in discussion on issues in education, to celebrate successes, examine challenges, and to learn from each other about how to best carry out the home and school mission and influence educational policy from the bottom up.
Table topics for this year’s brainstorming carousel will include: student well being, safety, healthy school food, building strong relationships within school communities, support the needs in classrooms, engaging newcomers and parent engagement.
Home and school parents and school staff fundraise and work together on other school project initiatives. And while members support these activities, the organization is about so much more. The common view of volunteering at school activities somewhat misses the mark. There is a vital role for volunteers to better understand what is happening in the classroom and education system. The overall mandate is to work collaboratively with partners to make every child’s potential in their learning path, health and well being, a reality by engaging and empowering parents and guardians and the community-at-large.
The federation prides itself on being the parent voice in education, working in cooperation with the ministry of education, school boards and others in health, and safety on behalf of every child. With the right kind of information, parents can meaningfully engage in their children’s education by providing direct support for learning and by working with educators on student achievement efforts.
Congratulations to Extra Mile Awards recipients: Gordie MacEachern, custodian, West Kent Elementary school and Seana Evans-Renaud, Principal, Montague Regional High School. Nominate individuals for a School Crossing Guard of the Year and School Bus Driver of the Year by April 26th and May 10, respectively, at: https://peihsf.ca/awards
Welcome to Kindergarten is designed to help prepare preschoolers for a positive start to their school journey. Find the session dates on the Public Schools Branch website.
It is vital that parents' voices be heard with the message that education is the most important investment that P.E.I. can make to ensure a better future for all its citizens.
For more information, contact the federation at 620-3186 / 1-800-916-0664, as well as at peihsf@edu.pe.ca
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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.ca or 902-620-3186.