As part of our efforts to make a difference for disadvantaged children and their families, the J R McKenzie Trust supports work that engages parents, families and whānau in their children’s learning, to achieve better educational outcomes for children. We call this work Connecting Education and Communities.
Resources
We know that lots of early child hood centres, kohanga reo, schools and community groups are already working hard in order to help better the circumstances of the disadvantaged children and families within their communities. There are great examples of effective practice around the country. We want to encourage you to share your learning and inspire others.
The Connecting Education and Communities website has been designed as an online resource hub which aims to bring together people to share and pass on their knowledge and experience with Connecting Education and Communities. If you’re working to engage families and whānau in their children’s learning, this is a chance to share your story, experiences using a specific tool or resource and what kind of impact it has had within your community group.
Sign up to upload your resource here
The Learning Fund
For many groups it can be difficult to access the learning opportunities where sharing happens. Maybe there’s a conference or a training session which is relevant to this work, but you can’t afford the registration fee. Maybe you’d like to visit another organisation doing this kind of work, but you can’t afford the petrol or the airfare. That’s why we’ve created the Learning Fund.
The Learning Fund makes small grants (up to $500) towards the costs of these kinds of learning opportunities. To find out more go to http://www.jrmckenzie.org.nz/learning-fund
If you’re working to engage parents, families and whānau in their children’s learning, then please take advantage of these opportunities. If you know of groups which are doing this work, please let them know about the Learning Fund and the Online Resources Hub and encourage them to get involved with Connecting Education and Communities.