Parents Helping at School
Parent Volunteering in Australian Primary Schools
There are many ways that parents can be involved with their child's school. Consider some of these options for occasional or regular assistance.
Teachers are responsible for many time-consuming tasks in the classroom beyond their primary role of actually teaching students. There are many tasks that can be performed by parent helpers at school that enable teachers and other school staff to give more of their attention to the educational needs of students.
Helping Students
Particularly in earlier school years, there are often many opportunities for parents to be involved in helping within the classroom. Classroom reading activity groups and school excursions or field trips often require parent assistance to be feasible. Parent assistance is also often required to exchange books for students in a home reading program. Some schools offer courses to parents that are not only beneficial for their own children, but make it possible for them to do volunteer work as remedial reading tutors.
Athletic and swimming carnival activity days benefit greatly from parent involvement. Assistance with noting times, organising students at starting lines and a variety of other organisational tasks are all part of helping these days to run smoothly. More helpers minimise the amount of time that each activity takes to complete.
Many school sports teams require parent assistance with coaching. The school sports co-ordinator is the best person to consult if a parent has a particular sporting expertise that they wish to make available.
In a similar way, many schools have a school band or choir that could benefit from the involvement of parents with knowledge of musical instruments and singing.
Helping Teachers
The best way to support school staff is to always speak positively about teachers and other school authority figures in front of students. Teachers should be approached directly if there are any issues and always with an open mind on the part of the parent to listen to what the teacher has to say. Students are more likely to listen to and respect staff is this behaviour is being modelled by parents.
School librarians are often very grateful for offers of assistance. This could involve returning books to shelves after students have returned them or covering new library or text books.
In primary grades particularly, students complete a lot of art work. These projects often require time for preparation on the part of the teacher before the students commence and additional time to place each artwork on display in the classroom. Parents can offer assistance to prepare materials for projects and to put up and take down artwork when required.
Helping the School
The Uniform Shop at many schools is run by volunteer parents. Even if there is someone employed to manage the overall running of the shop, parents are often needed to help.
The Canteen is also often run on a day to day basis by parent volunteers.
A Parents and Friends (P&F) or Parents and Community (P&C) group is often involved in fundraising and organising activities and events of benefit to the students and staff. Being actively involved in this group provides many opportunities for positive involvement in the everyday life of the school.
Parents with specific occupational or creative skills can help at school careers days or by offering to be available as a guest speaker.
Parent involvement at school can increase the amount of time teachers have available to focus on educational tasks within the classroom. It can also help to foster a great sense of community and provide an encouragement for students as they see their parents showing an interest in their school.
