How ICS Creates a Strong Relationship with Families

It’s conference season at ICS Addis!

At ICS, we place a high value on the relationships between our students, their families, and our teachers. The latest educational research shows that building a strong home-school partnership contributes significantly to student success, which is why we provide  a range of opportunities throughout the year to foster this collaboration.

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences are a key element of the partnership between families and the school, and October is when we host goal-setting and learning conversations for Elementary, Middle, and High School students.

“We want parents to feel welcome on campus and empowered to be contributors to their child’s success,” Elementary School Principal Calley Connelly said. “Along with conferences, we also offer a series of parent education sessions that equip parents with the knowledge and understanding about our curriculum and approaches to learning. That helps parents ask good questions, and we are creating a culture that encourages robust feedback loops that help us enhance student and family experience.”

For Grade 5 parent Hanania N., the conferences are a key part of her ability to make a positive impact on her child’s academic achievement, social-emotional wellbeing, and holistic development.

“A strong parent-school partnership is valuable to facilitate open communication, encourage parental involvement, and provide mutual understanding and support for parents and teachers,” Hanania said. “Involving students in parent-teacher conferences can present an opportunity for the students to set academic and personal goals with their parents and teachers, fostering a sense of purpose, direction, responsibility and accountability of their learning journey. It will also empower students to be active participants in their education, improving their communication skills, self-advocacy, engagement, collaboration, awareness of progress, and motivation.”

In the Middle School, this first series of conferences in the school year are mainly led by the teachers. It’s the starting point of the year's journey, and sets the stage for students to take on more of an active role in creating their success.

“We aim to help students create a sense of ownership over their learning by offering several opportunities throughout the school year to take on leadership roles,” Middle School Principal Kristine Adelsboell said. “This ownership supports students in planning their future, developing responsibility for their journey, and building a strategy for achieving success. Leading a conversation with their parents and teachers about this pathway creates a community around the student and a system of support.”

Check the ICS Calendars to see the next time your child’s school section is hosting an event, and visit our Learn page to find out more about how ICS Addis approaches teaching and learning.