Community Arts Project 2010

Our Project Outcome

• To increase parent participation in the school by involving parents and students in the design and production of:

A mosaic

A story quilt representing every family in the school.

Project Outline and Partnership Profile

• Involved P-6 during Art Specialist classes• Incorporated into Units of work where it naturally fitted• Addressed our Annual Action Plan goals in both Student

Wellbeing and School Community Partnerships spheres • Used our own artist in residence, Mrs. Mary Lanera. Mary

is our Arts Specialist• Engaged the expertise of a grandfather and father who are

both craftsmen in tiling and mosaic• Used a School Community Partnership Approach (an

initiative is developed with the specific goal of engaging parents)

STUDENT WELLBEING 2010

To provide a safe, healthy learning environment for all students at St Paul Apostle South School.

SCHOOL COMMUNITY

•To foster and strengthen active links between the school, its parent group and also the wider community.

Intended Outcomes Target Key Improvement Strategies

That parents and the wider community will form a more positive view of the school and its educational programs.

That parent involvement in the school will be strengthened.

That parents in SRC Parent Opinion Survey move from a score of 76 to 85 in General Satisfaction.

That parents in SRC Parent Opinion Survey move from a score of 70 to 80 in Parent Input.

Actively involve parents in the Asian Art – NALSSP project and the Student Wellbeing Arts Grant Project.

To develop strategies to harness the richness of the schools multicultural communityInitiate an annual school event which promotes the multi-cultural diversity of its community

Cultural DiversityMore than 44 countries are

represented

across our parent population.

The predominant countries, other than Australia, are:

India

Sri Lanka

Mauritius and Vietnam

Other countries include:

Chile, China, East Timor, Italy, Iraq, Lebanon and the Philippines

Engaging Parents

Monitoring Parent InvolvementNumber of families in our school – 188

Parent Questionnaire – 16 returned out of 188

Information session on Community Arts Grant- 7 parents (am session)

5 parents (pm session)

Mosaic workshops – workshop 1 : 12 parents

workshop 2: 14 parents

workshop 3: 14 parents

Story Quilt Parent Workshop – 22 parents (afternoon session)

12 parents (evening session)

Parent volunteering in the Art room has increased.

Engaging Staff • Application was jointly written in 2009 by Principal and

Student Wellbeing Co-ordinator. Agreement for project was sought from Student Wellbeing Team and Art Specialist.

• Powerpoint on Community Arts provided by Judy Jack was cut and pasted to suit our school community and shared with Staff at a staff meeting early in Term 2.

• School Leadership Team were also informed about the project.

• Regular updates have been provided to Staff at Staff meetings and School Leadership meetings.

Challenges…• Involving parents who work full time• Communication: Staff who work part-time and

on different days• Parents with English as a Second Language• Keeping up the momentum and maintaining

parent involvement• Balancing project time with new buildings being

constructed and other projects e.g Contemporary Learning

Special moments….• A discussion that occurred between the Arts Specialist and

the Student Wellbeing Co-ordinator about the power of the Arts to build community.

• Meeting the grandfather of a student who shared his story of how he became a mosaic artist

• Parents sharing their story quilt ideas with other parents• Parents talking and laughing together while completing

mosaics• Deciding on the final mosaic design• A Parents and Friends meeting held in Term 3 was

attended by record numbers – was it a result of our project?!

 

Question time….