On October 20th, Prairie Spirit School Division will be hosting a conference at Martensville High School to encourage engagement between the schools, parents, students and school community councils. “Growing Together” is about building partnerships within the Prairie Spirit Learning communities. “The focus of this conference is about building relationships and to provide an opportunity for School Community Councils, parents, school staffs and communities to connect with one another and build relationships. Prairie Spirit School Division is a large school division with great distances between schools. This is an opportunity to get together, get to know one another, talk, share, ask questions and build a much larger community,” Peggy Mattila-Bains, PSSD Coordinator, explained.
This event is open to all that wish to attend and will feature several key-note speakers and provide an opportunity to work together towards the greater good of the students. Speakers include Corey O’Soup, Saskatchewan’s advocate for Children and Youth and Dr. Debbie Pushor, a University of Saskatchewan Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies who is also an author on parent engagement. “40 years of research tells us that family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of a child’s success. We want our parents to be engaged partners in student learning,” Mattila-Bains added.
Numerous sessions and interactive panels will also be available such as; early learning; mental health, emotional wellness and traumas; SCC’s, communities and schools engaging and working together; navigating social media with children and teens; transition planning for students with special needs; high school credit and career opportunities in trades; hands on coding and robotics; parenting through adolescence; and much more. “The sessions at the conference offer something to everyone. The majority of our session leaders and presenters are from Prairie Spirit School Division: teachers, administrators, counselors, psychologists, facilitators, parents and students.”
Registration for the conference is $10, which includes snack and lunch or is free for half day or break out sessions. Contact Erin Olexyn at erin.olexyn@spiritsd.ca for more information. The full schedule can be viewed by clicking https://issuu.com/martensvillemessenger/docs/scc_growing_together_brochure
