Parents as Partners
Education is relational. A partnership if you will.
In Education, there are a number of partners in this relationship, all vital to the success of all our students. In order to best support our girls, it is crucial that the partnership between home and school is characterised by mutual respect, trust, and open lines of communication. This is the foundation for enabling us to concentrate on maximising your daughter and our students’ progress and development.
Some years ago, I came across a simple but effective analogy to reflect the importance of the partnership between home and school. Picture if you will a triangle.
Δ
Imagine the point where two sides of a triangle meet: the student. The other two sides are the parents and the school. When all three points meet, the foundation (base) is solid, however, when one or the other side does not meet, we have dissonance.
In educational terms, we are limited in what we can do to attain the ‘apex,’ (best student learning outcomes). Naturally, we have individual learning plans in place, and they go far to enable students with learning challenges and gifts to engage with the curriculum. However, without a harmonious partnership, we cannot and will not achieve the potential for our students. We depend on you.
Underpinning all we do is value the importance of student wellbeing. This focus runs in tandem with our academic care. Our teachers place an emphasis on nurturing our students. This is not merely a platitude but has been played out in a recent survey by Swinburne University which found over 80% of our students feel nurtured at St Catherine’s School. Many schools reported that only 60% of their students felt nurtured, a significant difference.
Head of Learning Plus, Mrs Elka Gaensler with Mrs Jasmin Kaur, mother of Rhea Werner (Year 10) who was featured on SBS, The Feed, discussing gifted and talented students.
As parents, the areas of learning difficulties and giftedness can be daunting. Sometimes asking about particular concerns can be onerous. But we, as your partners are here to support you and your daughters.
We are excited to share our Parent Hub which provides resources that may assist you in a journey to reach an understanding of the academic, social, and emotional factors that may be impacting your daughters’ learning development. There is a caveat on this, however. We certainly do not want you to take to diagnosing or identifying particular learning challenges, but rather share your concerns with us. As educators, we are not Allied Health providers who are the only individuals that can diagnose a particular disability or gift. However, we can guide you and make recommendations based on our expertise in education, and when designing individual learning plans, based on allied health professionals’ recommendations, and in consultation with your daughters where it is appropriate, and of course yourselves.
Our Parent Hub has a video articulating our unique delivery for Learning Plus. This encompasses students with learning difficulties and students who require extension.
The Parent Hub also includes resources and links that can provide some information that may prove to be informative and open the discussion around aspects of your daughter’s learning journey that may be of concern to you and her.
Dive into the link here and feel free to provide your feedback. As always please do not hesitate in contacting me directly at my e-mail address egaensler@stcatherines.net.au
We value your partnership and look forward to closing the triangle.
