I believe the partnership between home and school is critical in supporting the whole child. Each year I try to think about the best way to share information with parents and invite them into the life of the school.
I have blogged before on the importance of leveraging parents as critical partners.
Last year, I collaborated with my Early Years team as we invited parents in to build a new unit of inquiry and strengthen our learning community.
As a PYP School, I also try to ensure parents continue to grow in their understanding of the IB mission and PYP framework. Last year, I spent time with parents understanding the PYP programme model. The parents shared this was really helpful as they often see ‘the circle’ but felt they now had a better understanding.
This year I wanted to help parents unpack this even further. With help from the talented @colingally I was able to visually break down the model even further. This allowed me to support parents in not only exploring the form of the different elements of the model but emphasising their connection as a whole.
When planning parent workshops it is also helpful to engage the parents in learning experiences just as you would with your students. During a parent workshop on assessment, I use a tool like ‘Which one doesn’t belong’ and invite the parents to have a number talk. After documenting their ideas I am able to demonstrate the prior knowledge I have collected from them and how this can inform my next steps; assessment FOR learning.
By empowering our parents with deeper understanding and supporting parent agency, we gain critical partners in supporting our families and learning community.
How do you engage parents at your school?
Hello Sharyn!
What an amazing slide show you have to help explain the PYP. Would you mind sharing it? We have our Verification Visit next week and this would be tremendous as we take the next step in our IB PYP journey!
Thank you in advance!
Anne
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