Cathedral and John Connon School

How parents and school can work together for the betterment of children?

Parents are crucial stakeholders in the learning experiences that their children have, both in and out of school, and it is therefore crucial for them to work together with the school to ensure the best interests of the children.

For parents, to want to know what is happening in a school or to wish to monitor the progress of a child, etc., is not a point of contention. Even when it comes to giving suggestions, it can be helpful because it allows one to see things from a different perspective, which can help in making better decisions. In addition, parents are fundamental to providing home support to children, and the school and its teachers always appreciate a sharing of
individual contexts that allow us to understand our students better.

However, one must realize that the line between involvement and interference can sometimes be a thin one and one that is very easy to transgress, albeit at times inadvertently. Internal decision-making in schools must remain an internal matter.

Much of the information pertaining to administrative matters is usually on a need-to-know basis for parents. This would include, for instance, the management’s decision-making with reference to faculty and staff. The allocation of classes and sections amongst teachers, the processes with regard to appointments and terminations, the prioritization with regard to budget allocations, administrative decisions like timetabling, scheduling of events, academic and curriculum-based decisions, etc., must remain exclusively limited to school management and internal to its decision-making processes and criteria.

On some of the matters, schools such as ours do take feedback from students and other relevant stakeholders, but the final decision rests with the administrative and senior management teams. At some point, it becomes imperative for parents to trust that the school they have put their child in, will safeguard their child’s interests as a priority. If this basic trust is established, more than half the potential problems are taken care of. 
At the Cathedral and John Connon School, I must give full credit to our parent community and to our PTA for not just respecting the school’s rules and decisions and being enthusiastic volunteers whenever needed, but for always going a step further to help the school.
Our PTA is phenomenal in the manner in which it extends itself in innumerable ways to add value to the institution, and we have never had any issues with excessive interference. Our parents are, on the contrary, a tremendous source of support for us.

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