When it comes to raising #ChangeMakers of the future, teachers and parents at Melkbosstrand Private School work together
One often hears the proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” and at MPS it definitely rings true with us. When it comes to raising MPS learners to become #ChangeMakers who are equipped to not only survive but thrive in the world and make a real difference – we firmly believe that a large part of achieving this is a collaboration between parents and teachers.
Massive effort from our dedicated teachers
The life of a teacher is sometimes misunderstood with many assuming they have an easy work day of ‘just’ 8am to 2pm and plenty of school holidays to enjoy. The reality, however, is quite different with afternoons filled with sports coaching, paperwork and marking lasting well into the night and often the prep working and communicating with parents and students, stretching long into the ‘after hours’ realm of their home life and holidays spent preparing for the next term’s curriculum. One doesn’t often hear them complaining and this is for one special reason – for most teachers, and MPS teachers in particular, it’s not ‘just a job’ – teaching is everything to them.
Teachers are the ones who know your child as well as you do, albeit within very different parameters. They get to spend a large portion of each day with the learners and get to know a different side to them. Thanks to our small classes and nurturing environment they are privileged to get to know each learner on a level which is unheard of in most mainstream schools. They know each child’s strengths, weaknesses, fears and character and are often the ones lying awake at night pondering…. the child who hurt themselves today, the child who is unwell, the child who is struggling with a particular problem, the child who is finding it hard to fit in, the child who made them laugh, the child that achieved a milestone today!
If you happen to chat to them and ask them ‘is it worthwhile?’ they won’t bat an eyelid in their response which would be something along the lines of “I wouldn’t change it for the world”.
MPS parents – why they make the difference
Teaching begins at home and at MPS we are blessed to have parents who have laid down a strong foundation in their children, for our teachers to work with. We understand the stresses of being a parent as most of our staff and teachers are parents themselves.
We can relate to the early mornings spent getting children ready for their day at MPS and getting their children to school safely and to their classes on time with tummies and lunchboxes filled, uniform sorted and ready to take on the day all before parents rush off to face their own work day and any challenges they may face.
Long work days, short weekends and the general rush of day-to-day life with the added stresses of worrying about your child’s overall development, academic progress and general well-being and happiness are all “part-and-parcel” of parenthood.
Being a “good”, attentive, super-parent on top of it all is an incredible achievement.
The MPS Collaboration
The MPS collaborative ‘magic’ happens in the space created when parents and teachers acknowledge each other’s struggles, points of view, their ‘humanity’ and can deal with each other respectfully and communicate openly – this is when parent/teacher collaboration not only happens but works!
MPS’ recent collaboration with Keller Education to implement our Primary School “no homework” policy and associated Active Reader campaign, is just one example of how we want to work towards making our learners’ and parents’ lives not only easier and better but rather the best!
The MPS parent/teacher collaboration is based or grounded in a single, common goal – the children – working together to raise them to be more than what they can even begin to imagine… Raising them to be Released into the world as MPS #Changemakers!
