One of the ways in which we hope to build a sense of community and belonging at the school, as well as foster parent engagement in learning, is by inviting parents to join the Parent Network.

The Parent Network is a committee made up of parents who act as liaisons in our school. It is open to any and all parents! We would love to have at least one parent liaison for each classroom and welcome any and all parents who would like to join Parent Network.

We meet as a school committee with a member of the leadership team 2 times per term, to share and brainstorm ideas, organise parent driven initiatives, and learn more about the learning taking place at our school, with the attitude that we can create positive experiences for parents & families at our school. Parent Network is also very social… a great chance to meet other parents and help create a welcoming parent community and culture at Woodend.

Meetings this year will be held in each term in week 3 on Friday 2pm & in week 8 on Wednesdays at 7pm in an effort to accommodate different schedules (we would like parent network members to attend at least one meeting per term!) We also use a closed Facebook for ongoing communication and discussion between meetings and to organize the majority of our efforts.

We ask members to help out with ongoing Parent Network initiatives such as school banking, car boot sales, the Woodend Cafe, and other parent community events, as well as helping to share information with classroom parents.

We realise that things will come up and committee members may not be able to attend every meeting or help with every initiative, but we would like members to have the genuine intention of attending meetings, maintaining communication with the Network via our Facebook group, and helping out when possible. In other words, we would like active, engaged participation!

We will be holding a welcome meeting for all members of the 2017 Parent Network in week 3 on Friday February 17th at 2pm in the staff room. Refreshments will be provided.

During this meeting we will be going over essential information such as roles & responsibilities, procedures & policies, volunteer rosters, and more. We will present current Parent Network initiatives and brainstorm new ideas for how we as parents can help build our community and foster engagement at our school.

If you would like to join the 2017 Parent Network please let your classroom teacher know on or before the acquaintance night on Monday Feb 13th, and RSVP to the welcome meeting by emailing wpsparentnetwork@gmail.com or texting 0404240050. We will send you the link to join our group and collect your contact details. If you cannot make it to the welcome meeting but would still love to join the Parent Network please be sure to email so we can share the welcome information with you.

We would love to have you on the 2017 Parent Network, and look forward to meeting you at the welcome meeting!

Parent Network Organising Committee