Bringing the community in

Show video transcript

Title slide: Bringing the community in

Ioane Ioane, (speaking), Pastor, Deputy Chairperson, Parent, and Rebecca Wood, BOT Chairperson/Previous Parent, Kingsford Primary, Auckland facing camera

As a board, we’ve actually opened the door. We've let the parents know that it's not just the board and the teachers, the principal, the deputy principal, it's all of us. The one focus is education. We know we can’t do this 50/50. We need them on board. So now we’ve reached out to the parents. If you're good at netball, cricket, whatever, we want you to come in. So now they sit there thinking, did these, the board actually think of us and we're giving them that power, the ownership to actually come in and do something. So like what Rebecca was saying, the environment it’s there. You know we still have the… everything all put in place, all our values and that, but it's just reaching out to them. Now it makes them feel important, because it’s their kids’ education.

Rosaline Tavelia, (speaking), Deputy Principal, Parent and Anna Smythe, Acting Principal, Kingsford School, facing camera

Because they are the most amazing resource that we could, any school could have. And we, I think, we're quite lucky, we're quite fortunate to have some amazing parents who are just here everyday. And the thing I love the most is you know we could go to John, “Hey John, you know bit stuck with this”, and he’d be like, “Hold on, hold that thought. Let me get back to you”. And then he's tapping into … and that’s all part of networking. Networking within our community. I'm stepping out into the wider community and I think when we have resources like that that we could tap into, my gosh you know, our community we’re slowly getting that transformation that we've come, you know, we put it, we've put into our strategic plan. But slowly but surely, we will get there with everyone on board. I think it's also about being specific about, you know, what we want to achieve in our school.

Phil Muir, Principal, Northcote Intermediate, Auckland, facing camera

So we encourage our community to be part of our school community in a number of ways. And we see our school as a hub for the community that they can come to, to share ideas, that they can come to obviously learn, to play, to participate in sports and other events that we hold. We have opportunities for parents and whānau to come to hui’s and our fono’s – so we do those twice a year. We'll have a number of open days for all kinds of fun things. You know we've even got something open today. We open our school physically and we open our school also electronically.

Jane Clifford, Teacher, Hornby Primary School, Christchurch, facing camera

So I found a really useful way to engage Pacific families because sometimes they were feeling a little bit reluctant, like the school is the domain of the teacher and it's our job. We've tried to send a message out through our families, through children, and through the Seesaw blogging and in Facebook messaging, in any way we can that we really need people to come and do jobs for us to help us. We have used people/families for translating, given people jobs and to help prepare kai if we have a celebration of our learning, and helping… asking parents to come and help children to get ready into their costumes, to their ta’ovala, and to prepare hair and lei and lava lava ready for the performance, to put tablecloths on the table, to welcome people, to set out chairs. Those are the sort of things that people... by giving families a job it has, I think has bought families more into the school especially around times when we are celebrating learning.

This video is about inviting the wider community to be part of the school community. Connecting with the community helps to encourage Pacific parents to engage with and support their child's learning. In the video, you’ll hear about the importance of connecting with parents to support learners’ learning. When parents, and communities, feel connected to and welcome at the school it helps them to support their child’s learning at home.

Relevant turu
  • Turu 2

Reflections for individual teachers

As you watch this video think of how you are connecting home to the classroom.

  • How are you enabling community conversations in your classroom? Share how you are fostering parent engagement in learners’ learning. Do you provide practical tools for parents to support classroom learning at home?
  • Do you seek support from other Pacific teachers when reaching out to Pacific parents and communities? Are translators provided for parents whose communication in English is limited?
  • Think about a learning framework and toolset to offer Pacific parents. What specific advice can you give about how to support their child’s learning? Share ways that you work with parents to help them understand their child’s school assessments and learning. How do you foster active engagement and learning partnership with parents?
  • Share examples of effective classroom practice and describe how connections with your community support learning and teaching to get great outcomes for learners.

 

Reflections for staff or departments

This video looks at home-school partnerships. If you are watching this story as a staff member or member of a department team, think of how your school is engaging with Pacific families and the community.

  • Community engagement is one of eight principles in The New Zealand Curriculum that provide a foundation for schools' decision making. What is your school’s approach to supporting parents and communities to fully engage with and understand school assessment? How are you working with parents and communities to support targeted learning?
  • Using digital technology enhances the engagement of families and wider community networks. What channels does your school use to communicate with diverse communities?
  • How are you developing and strengthening home-school partnerships in which parents, families, and communities are involved in and support learning?
  • In department groups, think of ways that you collaborate with Pacific parents and families to design a local curriculum that meets the needs of their community. How are you enabling parents to support their child's learning? Discuss how different forms of communication have helped to engage the community to support and share learners’ learning.