The Holy Trinity Catholic School Division is one of five school divisions in the province taking part in the Parent Teacher Home Visits pilot project. 

The schools taking part in the program from Holy Trinity are All Saints Catholic School in Swift Current and St. Margaret School in Moose Jaw. 

Participating teachers and parents meet twice during this school year. These meetings will take place at the family home, or a safe place such as the doorstep, driveway or public place. The idea is to set up a simple, informal meeting. 

“The main idea of the parent-teacher home visits project is to reconnect families with the schools to build trusting relationships because we believe that students should be supported by co-educators and those two are the home and the parents, as well as the school and the educators within those buildings,” said Holy Trinity Superintendent of Learning Sarah Phipps. 

Holy Trinity has about 25 families taking part in the program and the school division is funded for 50 visits. St. Margaret School has completed about 11 visits. A COVID-19 outbreak at All Saints delayed their program, but they are expected to start visits this week. 

The visits include the parents and students as well as a primary, or homeroom, educator and one other trained staff member whether it’s a coordinator, administrator, student support services educator or educational assistant. 

Participation in the program is completely voluntary. 

“A letter would have gone home to the families explaining the program and explaining the goals of the program and then asking parents to reply, saying whether they would like to volunteer or not. Once the letters came back, teachers then reached out to the families to set up a home visit,” Phipps said. 

The process began in September as the teachers and staff members underwent training. Afterward, letters were sent out to the parents and families were selected among those who agreed to take part. Teachers and staff members taking part are compensated for their time. 

The Government of Saskatchewan has allotted $200,000 to the Saskatchewan School Boards Association to fund the project. 

Phipps says so far, the school division is gotten good feedback about the program. 

“It's been really fun to see actually the families and the educators are so excited to, once again, meet in person, even from a COVID safe distance and being masked, but they're very grateful to have met in person and just be able to put a name to a face,” she said. 

This program is modelled after the Parent Teacher Home Visits Organization that has been running in the United States since 1998.