Mid Winter Christmas Party - Community Evening

Wednesday, 8 August, 5.30pm - keep this evening free

I let you know a couple of weeks ago that we will be having this term's community evening Wednesday, 8 August at 5.30pm. The theme is a Mid Winter Christmas Party. As per usual, the family games and activities will be followed by a session with parents. The focus for this part of the evening will be on consulting with parents to assist the development of a "partnering-type" document which describes how we will work together as a community to ensure that our children receive the best education possible.

Research is very clear - the partnership or sense of community between parents and the school is an essential ingredient in the success of children's learning. Research by Timperley and Robinson suggests that a strong community (or strong "partnership" as they call it) is built around a central purpose or task that the community has been formed to achieve. To achieve this task a number of key shared understandings are required to aid in the success of the group. These are:

• Acknowledgement that achieving the task is a joint endeavor;
• A shared understanding of what the central task of the community is;
• Clear agreement about what each community member's roles and responsibilities are in achieving the purpose;
• Members of the community are committed to supporting the other members to carry out their roles;
• Agreement on how we are going to treat and communicate with each other as we carry out tasks; and,
• Understand that other's members perspectives are just as valid, rather than think our perspectives are the only valid ones.

When we do this, the community will be most effective and students will learn. Also, when we do this, we will all thrive together, rather than just survive.
 
Parents - Melinda Jones, Debbie Dunbar and Simon Law - have agreed to help me as together we develop a "Partnering-Type Document" which will cover the above aspects of the relationship. In order to do this, we need input from as many Amesbury School families as possible.


Following on from the family actitivies at the community evening we will run focus group discussions with parents. The focus groups will be led by parents and will be the first step in the process of gathering information from which to develop a "partnering-type"document. Please put this date in your diary and plan to be there.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Simon, Melinda, Debbie or myself.