PA Open Meeting

Learning Tips for Parents of Middle and Upper Schoolers

The most important role you can play for your child during the Middle and Upper School years is that of champion. Be your child’s best advocate, cheerleader, and support system. Here are a few ways to effectively do this:

1.      Send your child to school ready to learn.

• Preteens and teens need enough sleep to be alert and ready for learning. Generally, preteens require 9-12 hours of sleep per night while teens need about 8-10 hours.
• Help boost your child’s attention span, concentration, and memory with breakfast foods that are rich in whole grains, fiber, and protein, and low in added sugar.

2.      Support Homework Expectations.

• Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit, distraction-free place to study. The space should be stocked with paper, pencils, a calculator, dictionary, thesaurus, and any other necessary supplies. Be sure to check-in from time to time to make sure your child hasn’t gotten distracted.
• Be there to offer support and guidance, answer questions, help interpret assignment instructions and review the completed work. Resist the urge to provide the right answers or complete assignments.
• Be in touch with the school: if you notice your child is hitting a frustration point during homework time, reach out. We are here to support you.

o   Middle School: Reach out to the teacher, academic advisor, or learning specialist and share your noticings.

o   Upper School: Encourage your child to reach out to the teacher, academic advisor, or learning specialist and advocate for themselves.

3.      Build relationships with your child’s advisor, teachers, and the school.

• Preteens and teens do better in school when parents are involved in their academic lives. Attend back-to-school night, parent-teacher conferences, and other events on campus. You’re an important part of our community.
• Lean into the partnership: your child will be most successful when we work collaboratively together.

4.      Offer and ask for help.

• Offer help: It is expected that children may need help with school or schoolwork at some point. With the right support, children can get back on track and succeed at school.

o   Talk to your child. Ask questions about the schoolwork, other kids, and teachers.

o   Talk to your child’s teacher about how your child is doing.

• Ask for help:

o   If your child is having difficulty, ask for them to meet with their advisor, teacher, or a learning specialist.

o   Reach out! We are here for you and want your child to be and feel successful.

Information taken from: www.kidshealth.org

Shared Resources

GSB Security:

• We currently have 123 cameras all over campus, License plate reader cameras at the entrance and exits.
• All buildings are access controlled, lower school students follow their teachers, middle school students have a code to access only buildings with push button access readers, and upper school students have IDs that are programmed with access to only the buildings they are allowed access to.
• The speed limit on campus is 10 mph, speed sign is out and moved periodically to remind everyone of the speed limit on campus and to show them how fast they are really going.
• GSB security staff is made up of all retired police officers, Mike Bailey Director, George Flynn daytime security, Kevin Martin Afternoon/night, and our newest member of the team Special Officer Pat Kirchner from the Chester Police Department.
• Some of our buildings have been updated with Ballistic Shield Glass.
• Staff is trained on the Gill St. Bernard Emergency Action Plan, that is reviewed and updated each year. The plan has 126 pages and Faculty/Staff have access to it in Knightsite so they can refer to it whenever needed.
• Drills are performed two each month, one fire drill and one emergency drill (lockdown, active shooter, bomb threat, evacuation) All covered extensively in the Emergency Action Plan.

Items we are working on this school year are:

1. New entry gates to be set up with our access control, and like the cameras and access control can be viewed and accessed from anywhere with internet service and access granted by the Director of Security.
2. Continuation of the Ballistic Shield glass.
3. More cameras
4. Upgrades on some of the access-controlled doors

GSB Counselors:

• Clare Hoeckele - Upper School Counselor and Jess Galati - Lower/Middle School Counselor
• In the Upper School- students meet either dropping in, emailing me to set up a time to meet, a referral from a teacher or a safety concern (which then, student would be reached out to directly).
• There is a list of referrals for outside therapy if parents need help finding a therapist
• Parents will be notified if there is a safety concern. We try to include the student in those conversations as well, so we are all on the same page.
• Both counselors are happy to connect with a student's outside therapist to provide a full circle of support or help facilitate a treatment plan.
• Both counselors work closely with GSB’s Learning Specialist as needed.