Parental Involvement in School Activities
Parental involvement is the active and ongoing participation of a parent in the education of their child. It is the collaboration between the parents and the school to strive to improve children’s educational experience. It is a critical factor in the success of children’s education, as it not only promotes cognitive development and better academic performance, but also leads to increased social skills and a boost in self-esteem of the students. Here are some of the ways in which we, at Wisdom High International School, ensure the involvement of parents in school activities.
Counselling
One of the primary ways by which the parents of Wisdom High support their children’s education is by creating a safe learning environment at home. They diligently attend various counselling forums and parenting workshops organised by the school, some of them being on positive parenting, emotionally intelligent parenting, communicating with teens, conflict management and understanding before correcting. Here, the parents share their personal experiences, assiduously helping and guiding each other. These counselling sessions enable interactions between parents and teachers, and help in fostering and strengthening parent-child relationships.
Orientation programs
Throughout the year, parents attend orientation programs, by means of which they are introduced to the demands of the curriculum, and the expectations that the school has from the students as well as the parents to achieve good academic results. The parents actively participate by questioning the teachers about their teaching process and the subject-wise learning strategies to be adopted by their children. This facilitates greater involvement of the parents in setting academic goals for their children. The presence of the parents in these orientations makes the students approach the coming academic year with greater motivation and focus.
Parent-teacher meetings
Parent-teacher meetings are hosted by the school on the first Wednesday of each month, where parents can come and interact with the teachers, to keep getting regular feedback on their children’s academic and co-curricular performances. Here, the parents also get a safe space to express their opinions on the teaching methodology, and make pertinent suggestions specific to the needs of their children. Regular PTMs make parent-teacher interactions more accessible and allow the parents to work with the school in a more unified way. Happy Callings are also conducted by the school each month, which provides the parents with yet another opportunity to express their concerns and talk about their expectations from the school.
CEAF
The child education assurance fund is the joint venture run to support children who incase lose any earning parent due to which their education might get affected. Under this fund the School pays 25% of the child’s School fees & 75% is borne by the Parents who generously contribute towards this cause enabling the child to continue with his education without any worry.
Career booster programmes
Throughout the course of the entire year, career-booster programmes are conducted in various stages to guide the students better in choosing a career after school. They include psychometric tests, counselling by faculty members, guest lectures and many more steps. In the final stage of the process, parents are also included in the programme, where they attend expert sessions, to enable them to guide their children to pick a career that resonates with their interests and aptitudes. Parents also act as mentors for other students of the school (sometimes including their own wards), whereby they hold five-day workshops or mentorship sessions for the students to acquaint them with the know-how of their profession. This inspires students to work hard and serve the society in a responsible way.
Summer internships
Parents of Wisdom High extend their support to the summer internship programme organised by the school by helping in coordinating as well as by acting as mentors for the students in their professional fields. We have parents from diverse vocations, who guide students during these internships, by initiating them into the job profiles and work ethics in their respective fields. These internships unfold over a period of five days, where the students are exposed to the professional environment to enable them to set goals for
their future. The parents generously dedicate time from their busy schedule to contribute to the school’s efforts at making the children responsible decision-makers and independent citizens.Apart from these well-curated efforts, parents also take part in school celebrations and social activities such as our ‘Father’s Day Sports Extravaganza’ and ‘Grandparent’s Day’ celebrations, which, other than strengthening the bond between parents and their children, also instill certain core moral values in the children. These gatherings also provide parents with the opportunity to socialise with one another. And finally, parents are often involved in community service projects, alongside the school management, to benefit society as a whole. These are some of the ways in which the parents and the teachers at Wisdom High International School, strive to boost parental involvement in school activities, to have a positive impact on the overall development of students.
“As a parent, I feel that PTMs, parent forums and orientations are immensely helpful in understanding a child’s development from a very early stage. The parent forums help parents to reach out and extend their support to each other. PTMs help parents voice their opinions regarding school policies, teachers, and their children’s performance. They enable parents to give the school an insight into tackling any issues at the early stages before they escalate. They also help in building trust with teachers and in recognising them as a significant part of a child’s development,” says Mr. Jeevan Varma (teacher-parent).