This page explains and informs parents and families/whanau about NZEI activities and explores ways in which parents and whanau can support their children's learning.
What's new
Primary Paid Union Meetings
What does it mean for your school? Read a letter to parents here.
Team Up booklet for parents and Whanau
Read more
Kindergarten Reorganisation
Find out what's happening in kindergartens after last year's dispute
Useful Links and Resources
Parents and families/whanau supporting children's learning
Read successful case studies
Background
Everyone in education knows that supportive and engaged parents, families/whanau are critical to a child’s successful learning, and this also contributes to the success of the school or centre community as a whole.
Underpinned by research, this issue is now being taken up by a number of bodies; the Ministry of Education has it as one of its three strategic priorities in the Schooling Strategy and resources the issue through its “Team Up” programme; and the PTA’s “Give Me 5” campaign also provides a colourful pamphlet setting out ideas how parents can be involved in their child’s learning and ideas of how teachers can involve parents.
NZEI's Annual Meeting 2006 recommended that innovative and successful initiatives engaging parents, teachers and students in learning be recorded on the NZEI website. It was recognised that we can all learn from each other’s experiences – as both teachers and family members – in building more sustainable and successful relationships with parents and the school community.
As Diane O’Sullivan, President of the PTA says, parents want worthwhile and meaningful ways to engage. She stresses we need to “keep thinking outside the square”, particularly when it comes to developing things that working parents, solo parents and extended families can do to support children. We also need to acknowledge that the ideas and energy on this issue is about two-way communications and relationships, and be open to involving ourselves in initiatives that parents, families/whanau themselves suggest..
Here are two case studies involving NZEI members:
Playcentre to School: Poroporoaki at Island Bay marks transition
Parents speak of their wishes for their children |
Perry Rush welcomes children |
Parents Cathryn Monro and Christian Penny wanted to celebrate their families's and Playcentre’s commitment to tikanga Maori, and to acknowledge the power of rituals in marking life changes.
With other parents at the playcentre, they developed the idea of basing a ceremony around a poroporoaki.
The parents found willing partners in associate principal and new entrant teacher Noeline Poulopoulos and principal Perry Rush at Island Bay school.
As Maori protocol dictates, teachers and former playcentre children now at the school are welcomed with karanga into the playcentre, and are treated as manuhiri. The parents of each child moving on to school get a chance to thank playcentre for looking after their child and explain to the school the unique values and nature of their child and to set out their expectations of the school community. The children going to school are literally “handed over” from the “tangata whenua” side to the “school” side, where the children are taken under the wing of the older children already at school.
Other parents decided to carry on the tradition with another poroporoaki, for 6 children starting school. Both Island Bay and Houghton Valley schools were represented. This year, ex-playcentre children in the junior school confidently performed waiata, while the playcentre children and parents spent time during sessions leading up to the poroporoaki learning waiata.
The transition has been a moving way of expressing a sense of wider community to the children, and of reinforcing and reaffirming the importance of the transition for both children and their parents. For Island Bay Playcentre President Suezanne Pohe, it has made “passing the baton” to school a much more engaged process for parents, and something the playcentre hopes to continue for other children in future. For principal Perry Rush, it has emphasized the “privilege we have as schools of taking on your children and helping them grow into powerful adults”. For Cathryn Monro, it has had the unexpected benefit of helping not just her daughter but the whole family feel more engaged with the school and with Ava’s learning.
Kids, culture and kai
Grandparents, parents,
children and teachers mix
Kids, culture and kai – and doing school patrol every morning - are Ash Maindonald’s answer to deepening a school ’s involvement with family and whanau.
Ash, principal at Kaiapoi Borough School, is adamant that parental and community involvement is critical to turning around students’ engagement and achievement at school. His top tips include:
- Constantly think of ways to involve people: their kids, kai (food) and culture are important pathways to most families; listening is critical. An ethnic food night at the end of the year can bring in lots of different communities.
- Constantly reinforce your cornerstone values, the first one being that the school community is a family and that the students are your “sons and daughters” while in your care.
- Make your assembly time “whanau time”, a gathering where parents and families are always welcome and welcomed.
- Go to parent’s territory rather than writing or phoning, or waiting for them to come to you.
- Your school newsletter can be a powerful tool – make your vision for the school explicit and talk about your strategies for getting there in a fun and accessible way. Use images and words to reward parental support. Use it to highlight children’s work all the time. Use good quality black and white photos, lots of photos, and once a term produce a colour newsletter with photos that help summarise the learning journey for the term
- Do a regular eg fortnightly survey on your school website using free software such as survey monkey.
- Use questionnaires on the bottom of your newsletter to ask parents for feedback on the little things, in addition to the community surveys that address the big issues.
- Train your year 7 and 8 students as school ambassadors, so that they can take new families on tours of the school and welcome groups from local kindergartens, playcentres, kohanga reo etc.
- Provide physical space for people in your community – make your staff room a common/community room where parents and families are welcome; set up a spare desk and computer in your office or the common room for parents to use.
- Phone four a week – ring at least four families a week to share some good news about one of their children. Ask each syndicate to provide you with one name and the reason for celebration. At the same time seek feedback on how we are going – what are we doing well – what could we do better – what might we do differently – what do you think of… (one of these or others…the newsletter, the web site, whanau time etc). Share the best of these with staff at communication meeting each week to keep staff feeling positive and encouraged.
If you're got an experience of school/whanau & family interaction you'd like to share with NZEI, please email stephanie.mills@nzei.org.nz
Kindergarten Re-organisation
Dear Families,
Thanks for your support during the kindergarten dispute last year.
The dispute has now been resolved and teachers have voted in favour of a short-term settlement which will safeguard the quality of education kindergarten offers, if and when kindergarten associations propose to change or extend session hours. Read a letter from NZEI and kindergarten teachers to kindergarten families about the settlement and the future of kindergartens.
Useful Links and Resources
There is no single recipe for a good school, but this NZ Council for Educational Research paper pulls together overseas research identifies some major ingredients.
What options are there when choosing a school for your child?
The NZ Council for Educational Research gives some sound advice on options for parents.
Choosing a School for a Five Year Old
The Education Review Office gives step by step guidance on the issue of choosing a school for your five year old.
Quality in Early Childhood Education - how do you find it?
NZEI gives some pointers on factors that relate to quality early childhood education, and gives you local centres where staff are part of NZEI collective agreements.
Other Resources
Close your Eyes - Lullabies from around the world compiled by the ESOL Home Tutor Services. More news from ESOL at http://www.esolht.org.nz/news/