Parents key to success as students head back to school

With kids in the city back at school, routine, consistency and parental involvement can be the keys to a successful school year.
“Kids are successful when they…believe they can succeed,” said Our Lady of Wisdom School Principal Rosanna Laratta.
Parents play an important role as elementary aged kids head back to class. Teachers provide consistency and routine at school and rely on parents to continue that in the home.
“This is the time of year that we set the routines in the classroom and that our expectations are clear,” she said.
These younger students need good sleep schedules, healthy diets, to be encouraged to read and to be given the chance to grow into more responsibilities. Laratta suggest these responsibilities revolve around preparation for the school day.
“Giving them little jobs at home that have to do with preparing for school,” she said.
Starting the year with these good habits helps young kids to develop the confidence to excel in their studies.
Involvement and interest in the school day shows the students that their education is important to their parents. Laratta said parents need to ask about their child’s day and keep lines of communication open.
Communication with teachers and volunteer involvement at the school also shows kids that school is important.
“Kids love it when they see their parents here, they feel so proud,” she said, “they realize school is important if my mom’s here or my dad’s here this is a big deal, this is important.”
As older kids make their way back to high school parental involvement takes on a different form as kids take on more responsibilities and independence.
“Parental involvement seems to change at the high school level where parents tend to be a little more hands off,” said Chestermere High School Principal Jordan Fenton.
“Students are building resiliency through solving their own problems,” he said.
At the high school level, parental support comes more in the form of preparing the kids for school with enough sleep and providing learning supports and materials.
“Being active in a child’s life doesn’t mean they have to be at the school every day,” said Fenton, “it just means that they are aware of what their student is doing after school and they’re aware of their progress.”
As students take more responsibility for their success, Fenton said that being involved in school life will give them a well-rounded experience through high school.
It is also an important part of high school for kids to learn how to schedule their time.
“There has to be time for your school work but there also has to be time for your friends and family and you have to know how to balance that,” he said.