At last Saturday’s VERY busy Open House at our three campuses, we noticed that families are thinking much further ahead about their child’s education these days. 10 years ago, parents were looking for their school of choice for “next year” but we are seeing more and more that parents are investigating well in advance. Families with Grade 7 students are looking for high school options and parents pushing a toddler around in a stroller are looking into our kindergarten programme.

The other thing that has become more obvious in the past decade is that men are more and more involved in their child’s education. I am in the Primary Campus parking lot each morning and today, there were 6 cars in a row with a “Daddy Dropoff”. One of the benefits for our students is that they have the chance to have either parent dropping them off or picking them up each day. I know that when my girls were in the elementary grades, I would try as much as possible to get them to ask me to sign the homework book (and teachers tell me that families now are doing a better job of this than I did!).

I also don’t want to forget the grandparents who are helping with our students’ education. Some are part of the morning and afternoon chauffeuring, some provide after-school care, and some (like my parents) subscribe to this email update and have a point of conversation with the grandkids the next time they phone/email/text/Skype/Facebook (insert level of grandparent tech-savvy here).

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

PS: If you are going to be at the Osler Health Centre fundraiser on Saturday night, make sure you come and say “hello” to the Mentor/TEAM contingent.