CedarBridge Academy Holds Parent Expo
[Written by Vejay Steede]
Numerous studies have shown that parental engagement with a school community directly affects student success. The more a parent takes an interest in their child’s schooling, the more likely that child is to succeed.
With this simple tenet in mind, CedarBridge Academy recently held a Parent Expo at the school – an event designed to encourage parent involvement, and provide tips and strategies for parents to use at home that could ensure that their child gets the best possible outcome from their formal education experience.
Lead organizer, and driving force behind the Expo, Ms. Tresca Trott [School Social Worker] spoke to us recently to outline her thoughts on the response to this inaugural parent Expo:
“One of the things that I was most pleased with regarding the parent expo was how us as staff and students worked together to make the event run smoothly. We had student volunteers who came in to play music for parents who were entering, so that they felt welcome, and just lightened the mood for a Saturday.
“Then we had students handle the sign in desk, and also escort parents into our meeting room. One student assisted one of the presenters by providing his feedback as a student, which was very valuable; so that was one of the highlights of the day’s event – I love that fact!
“Also, the vendors who participated – everyone came, and everyone was excited, so it was it was a great thing to see. The workshops were very direct and specific; to provide parents with some concrete strategies on how to deal with making their young person a more successful student.”
The event was well executed, and represented a good start for a community engagement affair such as this was. Ms. Trott expounds on the excellent presenters who delivered invaluable information to the attendees, and where she envisions the event going from here.
“Our presenters were just on point, and they each, literally, just blended in together to create a wonderful overall presentation for the day; so it was honestly a great feeling.
“We hope to grow the event. We hope that we’ll have more incoming parents, as well as some of the more senior parents – you know education is not finished yet, and we can all benefit from continuing to hone in on certain skills, and just support each other.
“So, yes, hopefully the event will grow. We’ll change the day so we can offer it to more parents; so the next one may be an evening, or lunch hour session. The feedback that we did receive from the parents that were there was that a Saturday was best, but we do need to accommodate the needs of all parents.
Education always thrives when the wider community contributes to it as well. Day release programs, collaborative initiatives, student experience opportunities, and the like always provide great community support. Ms. Trott was thankful for the community involvement during this wonderful event as well.
“One of the highlights of the event was that we had our community partners that were there, and were very engaging. We had the Family Center present, presenting the parents with their services; so that we meet the needs of families comprehensively – not just academically.
“Our Student Service Department, represented by Miss Angelita Outerbridge, and one of the S3 students, Dante Sousa, did a wonderful presentation on What Success Looks Like Through All the Year Levels. Mayvera Wellness took the baton and followed that up with Building a Deeper Connection with Your Child, so that was great. Then we had Helping Your Child to Study with our learning support teachers, Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Michelle Samuel; so that was really great.
“We ended with Power School and Google Classroom session, with parents very grateful that they were able to get some questions answered. We also had Mr. Shinah Simons, from the Ministry of Education as a vendor, and he was helping parents get their password sorted and put the app on their phone, and things of that nature – so that was really great.”
The presentations on offer at this amazing event were quite comprehensive, and even the ominous cloud of school reform was addressed, by an actual Teacher who is active on the School Reform Team.
“Of course, we had Mrs. Natasha Thomas, our co-lead for our school reform team, who explained to our parents the exciting programming that school reform entails, and what that looks like. So it was really good – and then they also had a vendor table, so they were able to speak with parents, and have more individualized conversations with parents surrounding school reform and what it looks like, and what it means for their young person. So that was really exciting for the day.”
Finally, the vendors at the Expo were bringing education and fun to the fore, especially the Virtual Reality table.
“One of the most exciting parts was our VR Teacher, Mrs. Kimberly Tucker, who had the VR goggles and it was so much fun watching parents put on the goggles and experience what their students go through in class using the VR goggles, and how it looks in English, and what it looks like in Science, and what it may look like in other classes, and how we in the counseling department would use them as well. So that was really, really exciting to see, and just to see people smiling, and happy, and just trying to meet their needs.
Awesome stuff; but will there be more of these?
“We will definitely be doing more parent sessions, upcoming. This was just the beginning, and, as I said, they will be offered at different times to accommodate the needs of as many parents as we can. So, possibly evenings, and lunch times – just to make sure that we reach as many parents as we can because not everyone can do a Saturday, but this format was a good start, and we will continue to grow.”
Please do.
Results will follow. Be encouraged.You have more resources than any other generation of teachers.Well done.