Maud McLeod High School staged impressive ‘Parents Day’

Western Bureau:

In keeping with the Ministry of Education’s strategic mandate of encouraging parental involvement in their children’s education, the Maud McLeod High School, in Westmoreland, staged ‘parents day’ on Thursday, and it was such an overwhelming success that the school’s administration is now looking at making it an annual affair.

“Overall, it was a very good day and looking at it, it has the potential of being an annual event,” said Acting Principal Beverley Feare, who was quite impressed with the response from the parents. “It provided an avenue for parents to help their children to improve in the areas of literacy and numeracy.”

The parent of grade-five and grade-six students from the primary school in the area, whose children are now preparing for high school via the PEP examination, were also invited to be a part of the day’s activities to give them an idea of what the school will be offering to their children, should they be selected for that school.

The day’s programme, which was quite a diverse one, which featured games, give aways, exhibitions highlighting social graces and civic pride, alongside live demonstrations and presentation of awards to students for academic excellence. Every department was allowed to showcase not only their best practices, but also the work of the students.

“We had some activities where parents and students teamed up in activities, such as mathematics relay, where we started them off by counting in Spanish … then they move off to the parent with a mathematics sum, which they work out together, and then they went on a whiteboard and show the audience of they got the answer,” said Feare. “We also did it for language as well.”

While a motivation speech, which was delivered by guest speaker Carol Smythe-James, in which she highlighted the importance of parental involvement in education and encouraged collaboration to nurture student success, was one of the highlights of the day, nothing could beat the look of satisfaction on the faces of the parents as the admire the work the students did in the various vocational areas.

Among the highlights of the work done by the students were, a fully functional car, which was built by the students in the auto mechanic class, the tools created by the welding and electrical installation class, the scrumptious juices created by the human ecology department, the impressive displays by the social studies and language department, and the professionalism displayed by the students in the business department.

“We are going to make this an annual event … it is a two-fold activity in the sense that we wanted to have the department exposition where we invited the primary schools to come in and see, but having it twinned with the parents, it will not be the children will make the decision to want to attend our school, but we want the parents to be aware of what we have here.”

As it relates to the entertainment activities, which was one of the highlights, the music department delivered soul-stirring performances that showcased the school’s talented young musicians, while the performing arts society captivated the audience with a vibrant dance presentation.

In recognition of their involvement in the life of the school and their children in the event, which was staged under the theme, ‘Surf beyond the surface’, the parents were serenaded then awarded certificates and treated to refreshment.

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