Ontario is helping parents play a more active role in their children’s education. For the third consecutive school year, the province is supporting more than 130 projects totalling over $100,000 in Toronto to help make it easier for parents to get more involved in their children’s education.

Locally, 8 grants totalling $6,575 are supporting activities at local schools including:

• St Cyril Separate School received $875 for Healthy Bodies Create Healthy Minds.
• Cresthaven Public School received $1000 for Increasing Parent Participation.
• Lester B. Pearson Elementary School received $1000 for LBP Parents Engagement and Involvement Educational Workshop.
• Bayview Middle School received $500 for Parent to Parent Experience Sharing.
• Claude Watson School for the Arts received $1000 for Parent(ing) Enhancement Programs.
• Hillmount Public School received $1000 for Personality Dimensions Workshop for Parents.
• Cummer Valley Middle School received $1000 for the first parent library in Cummer Valley Middle school.
• Pineway Public School received $200 for Welcome to Kindergarten.

Parent Reaching Out (PRO) grants support projects that help students succeed, through:

• Workshops that show parents how they can be more involved in both their children’s education and school
• Outreach run by the local school to increase awareness of the importance of parent engagement
• Translation of materials into the languages of local community to make information more accessible to parents

QUOTES

“Parents are an essential partner in helping children succeed in school. These grants are one way parents in Willowdale will be able to get involved in their children’s education,” said David Zimmer, MPP for Willowdale.

“A more involved parent means a more successful student,” said Education Minister Kathleen Wynne. ”We’ve received an increased number of new applicants this year, which demonstrates how serious parents are about getting involved in their children’s education.”

QUICK FACTS

• The government is supporting more than 1,300 projects across the province with grants totalling nearly $2 million for 2008-2009.
• The ministry is also helping parents get involved via 123 Parenting and Family Literacy centres in high-needs neighbourhoods across the province and the parenting section of the ministry’s abc123 website, which gives parents helpful tips in 14 different languages.

LEARN MORE

Visit the ministry’s website and the section for parents.

Read the government’s vision for education.

Contact:
Office of David Zimmer, MPP
Willowdale
(416) 733-7878