This year we want to focus on increasing parent involvement in the day to day lives of their children whilst they are here with us at Peace Lutheran College. Gone are the days of dropping the kids at Boarding School and then seeing them three months later and asking how their term went, we have the technology for parents to be involved in every part of their child's journey here at Peace and feel it is important for you to stay connected with what is happening at the College so that your children know that you are supporting them, but, also encouraging them (with a forceful push) to make the most of their opportunities.
How can you stay connected:
Parent Portal
As explained in a separate section the Parent Portal is a great place to see what your children are doing at school. The Portal displays lots of information for parents but for us the most important support you can provide us is to help us ensure your children are meeting their Academic deadlines. Teachers this year have been asked to display on the Parent Portal what each student will be working on for the term and for the week and this will include homework tasks so with this ammunition in mind we want you to engage with the portal and ask your children about specific information that you see in relation to their subjects. i.e. You could ask "I see you are working on digestion in science this week, can you let me know how that works?" - of course you're probably thinking to yourself I have no idea, but that doesn't matter because they are now thinking, 'hey, Mum and Dad are watching what I'm doing" (we call it showing an interest), and this will show to them that you ARE interested and supporting them while they are here at boarding school.
Student Leave
Being involved and aware of what you child's movements are also an important part of parenting a boarding student. While we don't expect that you will have to provide approval for every time your child leaves the College we do expect for times that are overnight, full day leave, community sport and employment related leave that you will approve those outings for your children before we do. In previous years our staff have been frustrated at having to chase families for permission for their children to go on leave from the Boarding School, especially on weekends, and end up being heavily pressured by the students because parents and guardians have not fulfilled their commitments. The main reason we have moved to REACH is primarily because of the APP and it's ease of use - if you have internet connection, you have access to REACH and therefore the ability to look after the leave requirements of your child. Of course there are areas of our country and world where families do have connection issues and if this is you then please speak with your House Parent to discuss alternative options.
Facebook Pages and School Newsletters
The school newsletter is usually published once a month and we will be aiming to publish the boarding newsletter each fortnight. Again, these two mediums will provide you with an overview of what has been happening in the College and what is coming up, and from a boarding perspective will also provide you with a one stop shop for specific boarding information. The plan is to build on this page so if you have any suggestions or ideas of what you feel would be good to be displayed here then please email hob@plc.qld.edu.au.
There is both Peace Lutheran College and Boarding Facebook pages that if you are Facebook user can be followed. They provide a terrific snapshot of what is happening at that point of time in the College and is used extensively for advertising upcoming events.
Drop in to Visit or Have Dinner With Us
Please feel free to drop in at anytime to visit your children and if nearing dinner time take the time to join us for a meal. Your children love to see you and it brightens up their day if you take the time to see them. Sharing a meal in the dining room also helps you to get an understanding of the food the children are eating and helps you to provide some sort of answer when they ring and tell you the food is ............ not great!!
Money
Please be sensible with the amount of money that you provide your children. They generally don't need to pay for anything when they are at school and would only need something if they go to Redlynch or to a weekend activity. We recommend $20 a week and this be through an account that you have access to (i.e see the transactions) and has a card attached. This way you can monitor what your children are spending and can talk this through with them.