Dear Parents & Children,
A sincere thanks to the Parents that attended our first Parents' Talk of the school year on Tuesday. Led by facilitator Ms. Martina Boylan of the National Parents' Council, we explored what a Parent Association is, how it can work, and what kinds of activities can be undertaken and explored.
We were delighted to host this event in partnership with parents from the Junior School and the Senior School, and many thanks to Mr. Reilly, Senior School Principal for his insights and collaboration.
It was extremely beneficial to take stock of all the work our Parents Association and parents involved in school life have contributed to our schools over the years including many educational programmes such as the Bedtime Story Library Club with our infant classes, Power Hour involvement, Maths for Fun, Story Bags and many more. We reflected on how the children's learning and family learning was at the heart of these initiatives, and how parents could work together with the school to support parents in engaging with their child's learning.
Even during the last couple of years which have been challenging in the context of restricted access to school, our Parents have continued to support our schools in many ways such as assisting in the organisation and covering of new literacy resources from home in teams, and we also commend the Parents Association exemplary teamwork in refurbishing the Senior School Library during lockdown- a wonderful project that will serve the children and school community for many years to come.
It was affirming to hear the voices of a number of parents who have been selfless contributors to the parent and school community over recent years and to reflect on the successes to date. It was also extremely heartening to welcome new parents to the school, and parents who were exploring parental involvement in this way for the first time. We welcome the involvement of all parents and your input and support is extremely appreciated.
We were also realistic and reflected on the challenges schools and society have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic in particular. We reflected on a flexible and responsive approach to parental involvement where we seek the voice of all parents, while equally appreciating that parents can be involved in different ways, at different times, and in different projects. We discussed the importance of communication and keeping the larger parent body informed of the activities of the Parents' Association as it progresses.
As the next step, the Junior and Senior School invite you to attend the joint Parents Association AGM next Friday 22nd of October at 9:15 a.m. via Zoom. We will explore the election of the roles of Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer, as well as general membership- every parent is a member of the Association. We can also explore where to go from here. Unfortunately the restrictions mean that we cannot meet face-to-face as group just yet, but there are still many ways that we can progress!
We thank you for your support and involvement to date and look forward to talking again, and enabling parents to talk together next week. We will be in touch next week with the Zoom link.
Kind regards,
Jane O'Connell
Principal St. Philip the Apostle JNS
