One of the most important but often overlooked aspect of education is communication. I don’t mean the ability of students to communicate but that there is open communication between the stakeholders in the education process.
At Elea High, we promote the triangular relationship between student, school and parents, noting that a triangle is the strongest shape and that if each part of that triangle plays its part to the fullest, the student will be successful.
Part of this relationship is based on regular and open communication; communication with honesty and integrity, giving praise when its due and constructive criticism when needed. This doesn’t just mean between school and student or parent and student. Each stakeholder needs to be fully informed about where the student is in their education journey, the path ahead and how to traverse it successfully.
We have to be wary of overcommunication – too much communication, especially when it is trivial, leads to the recipient not reading it or listening to it. Communication has to be pertinent, clear and concise, given the limited time each of us has these days.
As part of our communication plan, we involve students and parents in the development process of our school. All communication to parents, mainly in the form of a detailed weekly newsletter, is reproduced in a student friendly format so students also know exactly what’s happing in our school.
This has emboldened student voice and we now have regular conversations with students, initiated by them, in which they offer suggestions as to how we can help them to the best of our ability and develop the education our school offers.
Our communication policy is particularly successful as we have committed to not grow so large we lose sight of the people who have made our school the success it is today – the students and their parents, who are no doubt reading this now!
