Dear Families and Friends of Trinity,
Two weeks from today we are altogether to commence the beginning of the 2017-2018 School year! Research proves “When parents are involved in their child’s education and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, earn higher grades, stay in school longer, go on to postsecondary education and like school more.” Under my leadership we will not have the same parents that are volunteering event after event; this is not healthy for a school community or for our children. I recognize many parents just do not have the time that others do or some parents are introverted and just don’t know how to get involved.
Trinity plays an important role in determining the levels of parental involvement in school. Specifically, our role is to outline our expectations of parents and regularly communicate about what children are learning and how we can provide opportunities for parents to talk with school personnel about parents’ role in their children’s education. We, as the premier Independent school on this island, must create many opportunities for parent involvement, ranging from volunteering and fundraising to providing parents with home-based learning activities. Working closely with Rashida Jolivet, this will be one of our priorities this school year.
Joyce “Epstein” of the Johns Hopkins University, Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships has divided school parent involvement programs into six broad categories:
- Communication, This Monday Message and the Friday Folders are your homework as a parent. You must find the time to create dialogue with your child about the upcoming school’s events.
- Parenting, Trinity will help families with their parenting skills by providing information on children’s developmental stages and offering workshops and forums on parenting and the school/home relationship.
- Volunteering, which ranges from Trinity offering opportunities for parents to visit their child’s classroom, set-up or clean up at events, or accompany the class on a field trips.
- Learning at home, in which schools and educators share ideas to promote at-home learning through high expectations and strategies so parents can monitor and help with homework. Stay current through your child’s class webpage. Look for links on our website.
- Decision-making, in which we include families as partners in school through PTO, task force or committees.
- Community collaboration, a two-way outreach strategy in which community or business groups are involved in a Trinity education.
The Agenda for the Back-to-School Orientation Monday, August 14th begins at 5:45 sharp
- 5:45 Garth: Meet and Greet
- 6:00 Church: Rector, HOS, School Board Chair, PTO President
- 6:30 Session I: Parents to visit classroom
- Beginning School Parents to stay in the Church
- Middle School Parents to walk through their child’s schedule
- 7:15 Session II Parents to visit classroom
All Class Supply Lists are on the school website under the Academics tab.
With warm regards,
Mark Ravelli, M. Ed.
Head of School