Essential Knowledge-A Personal Touch-Personal Development-Passionate Professionalism

At LePort, we want to prepare our students in their whole being for the adventure of life, and our students’ families are our partners in that process. We enroll a family, not just a child. We actively encourage parents and other significant people to be involved in the LePort experience.

Parent involvement ranges from becoming informed about what is going on at LePort, to participating in our many school events, to providing us feedback on what you like and on what we can do better: just as we expect our students to learn and grow, so we work to constantly improve, and your candid, kind feedback helps us do that. (We do not, however, expect parents to work at the school—there are no mandatory work expectations—nor do we solicit you for fundraising, donations, or other forms of mandatory support.)

Montessori family involvement opportunities include:

• Participation in our parent education program. We start each year with a Parent Orientation Evening, to introduce parents to the school and answer any questions they may have. We then hold a series of five Parent Education Evenings every year. During these events, we provide you with an overview of the Montessori education your child will experience. We start with a general session on the Montessori Method, and then guide you through Practical Life, Sensorial, Language and Mathematics. The crowning event of this process is “Parent Night”: your child’s opportunity to invite you into class with him to show you the amazing work he is doing every day! Both parent and child love this experience!
• Active communications. Throughout the year, we communicate regularly with you—informally via e-mail and at drop off, and formally, via written reports and two parent-teacher conferences each year. We also encourage you to participate in our “Watch Me Work” days: every year in the spring, we invite parents to schedule a formal observation in class, so you can experience how far your child has come. Of course, we also invite you to observe informally at any other time; just call us to schedule your visit.
• Joining your child for Special Events. Throughout the year, we celebrate diverse cultural holidays: our students and families come from all over the world, and we invite families to bring their culture into the classroom, whether for Chinese New Year or St. Patrick’s Day. We also celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Your child’s class might, for example, prepare a meal for you and host a luncheon in our beautiful outside spaces.

We also encourage participation for our Elementary and Junior High/Middle School program:

• Parent education opportunities. It is important to us that you understand what we teach, so we can partner in your child’s education. That’s why we hold a Curriculum Night at the beginning of each school year. During this evening presentation, you will meet the department heads for all subjects to learn more from them and about LePort’s unique curriculum. We also provide you with handouts that show in detail what we teach in each subject in each grade, and how we evaluate your child’s academic progress.
• Active communication. We are very active communicators. We make sure that the way we communicate with you is effective, so that you can be a partner—rather than be overloaded with paperwork and perfunctory responsibilities. You will hear from us in different forms, regularly: for our younger students, we recommend that parents sign their planners every night to ensure that homework and other assignments get completed. We communicate proactively if there are any academic issues—for example, if homework is missing more than once. We also send you a weekly “Tuesday folder”, which contains school announcements, as well as information about your child’s academic work that week. Our semi-annual report cards are very detailed, with academic and developmental feedback. And we discuss your child’s development with you in our semi-annual parent-teacher conferences. In general, we believe in open communication and open doors: our parents are always welcome to contact any teacher or staff member, and to observe in class.
• Active participation in field trips & special events. We start each school year with our “Meet & Greet” event, often a picnic in the park. This is a great opportunity to meet teachers, fellow parents and students. Our enrichment program offers many opportunities for families to participate. We invite parents to help with field trips, which many families enjoy tremendously. We invite Grandparents and Special Friends to their own LePort Day, and the whole family is invited to our major events, such as Fall and Spring Recitals and our annual awards ceremony.

Of course, if there are other ways you’d like to participate in our school, we are always open to suggestions. If you have ideas, just contact us: we’d love to hear from you.