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School-Home Partnership

Community is evident in the reciprocal school-home partnership that is formed between teachers, students and their families.

Teachers get to know their students intimately and partner with families to better understand their child’s learning and social-emotional needs and how our collective team of teachers can help support them. Students get to know our teachers as they have the same teacher for multiple years and remain connected to their teachers from their earlier years, even as they move on to upper grades.

Meet the Adkins Family

Matteo

Mateo Adkins

The Adkins Family

Diane Butler

Diane Butler, 3rd Grade Teacher

The Adkins Family shares that the classroom-home partnership is what sold them on TPS when their older son Darius was entering preschool. From the moment they visited TPS during their playdate, to the acceptance letter the family received that stated that not just Darius was accepted but their entire family was invited to join the TPS community, they have felt deeply connected to the school. 

That connection grew stronger through Darius' years at TPS, but really blossomed when Darius was in third grade and built a bond with his teacher Diane Butler. He had reached the pivotal halfway point in his TPS journey and was grateful to have just the right teacher to understand how to challenge him and when he needed extra support. Diane and Darius stayed connected all the way through his graduation and when he entered Friend's Central School. Diane's son happened to also go to Friend's Central and play baseball like Darius. It was so helpful to see a familiar face and immediately he felt at home at his new high school.

Tim and Girna have another son, Mateo, who is now a fourth grader at TPS. They gave Mateo voice and choice if he also wanted to come to TPS. After watching his brother go there to school for the last few years, he knew there was no better choice but to follow in his brother's footsteps. He couldn't wait to have the same teachers and learn all the cool things his brother got to learn. Mateo is a much different child than Darius, but his experience has been equally as great. He's had many of the same teachers, and because Tim and Girna had already built relationships with them earlier on, the teachers and the Adkins', knew how to partner with the teachers to help their child succeed. And the best news was that Mateo, like his brother, was also going to have Diane as his third grader teacher.

Diane was thrilled to have Mateo in her class and Tim, Girna and Mateo were equally thrilled. There was another lead teacher, Emma this time around, but Tim and Girna could see that the team teaching model was truly at work, as Emma also got to know Mateo as deeply as Diane. And she knew him not only as a student, but as a human. They both saw him shine during the third grade play, and show his confidence and acting ability start to come out. The relationships run deep between our TPS teachers, one another and their students.TPS works hard to create cohorts that are balanced and will create the right dynamic in the classroom. Teachers spend a lot of time getting to know students from other teachers. They prepare the next teacher for the students that will be entering their class. Students also spend time before school ends “moving up” to their next class and getting to know the teachers and what they will be learning next year, so that the relationships form early.

All of these reasons are what make the classroom-home partnership at TPS special. The Adkins family experienced what many of our TPS families say is the best part about TPS, that it's a community that cares about one-another and that the teachers and students really build a bond like no other. 

Read other School-Home Partnership Stories

 

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