Back to school for parents at St Paul’s

Each year parents of Year 7 students at St Paul’s Catholic College, Booragul, are given the chance to step back inside the classroom during the annual Parents in the Classroom event.

Amy Theodore PUBLISHED March 13, 2018

As part of Catholic Schools Week, the initiative sees parents head back to school for the morning and attend three lessons with their child.

This time gives parents the opportunity to see how well their children have adapted to high school and witness how easily they can navigate the school grounds and interact with their teachers and peers.

After weeks of hearing about her daughter’s adventures in secondary school, Joanne Isaac, Communications Officer (Projects) for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, finally got the chance to experience it for herself, taking part in music, science and technology lessons.

“It was wonderful to spend the morning with my daughter and meet some of her new friends. Having finished secondary school almost 30 years ago it was fantastic to be back in such a vibrant learning environment,” said Joanne.

“Our day started with music and I learned so much! The students warmed up with some body percussion before putting theory into action utilising glockenspiels and xylophones. I now know about ostinato patterns, melodic variations and dynamic changes. The students split into groups to work on some techniques and original pieces and then gathered together to show us what they’d come up with.

“We then moved on to science and were tasked with making a parachute. I was a little daunted at first but thanks to Google, Sienna and I found a simple design and set about using the materials on hand to make it. It was fun to work together and great to see the students and their parents working on various designs around the classroom.

“Finally we had a technology class and we spent our time working on an assignment – researching and designing a party. The ease with which young people can operate their laptops and the software they now utilise is fabulous to see.”

After spending the morning with their children, the parents gathered together for a morning tea as the bell rang for recess.

“So do I want to go back to high school? Despite spending the entire morning thinking how fantastic it is to learn and continue to learn throughout your life, I think I can do without another round of high school.

“Am I glad to see my child starting her secondary school journey at St Paul’s? Absolutely! The Year Co-ordinators, Trish Furey and Sam Heagney, and teachers have done a wonderful job of settling the Year 7 cohort into such a large and unfamiliar environment, and the students themselves are handling it with the familiar confidence of their generation.

“And the best thing about the day was I managed to get through three hours without embarrassing my daughter!”