Back To School Tips From Westford Principals

This week marks the beginning of school for the 2011-2012 year in Westford, and here are a few tips for parents we’ve received from local principals.

 

• Parents should begin their school routine as early as possible: early bedtimes and wake up times, and nightly reading times.
• Create a plan for when homework should be completed (After school? After dinner? Etc.)
• Parents should create a system to collect forms, notes, or permission slips and ensure they’re returned, and make sure they look over important documents like the E.A.S.E (Expectations to Assist Student Excellence) document given at the .
• Create a family calendar where important dates and assignments can be listed to ensure that due dates are met.
• Talk with children about goals they want to achieve over there year and periodically look back at those goals and check where you are in comparison.
• Parents should visit the schools of younger children if possible, especially with pre-school and kindergarten situations to help ease the child into their new environment.
• Select a spot for homework and a place to put backpacks and other back to school gear.
• Make school lunches the night before, not in the morning. This will help reduce stress and avoid missed school buses.
• Don’t overreact in the first few days to poor grades, children may just be reacting in part to anxiety or learning new classroom rules.
• Go for quality rather than quantity in extracurricular activities.
• Check with school officials about electronic newsletters, and make sure to keep in contact with teachers and school officials over improving student performance, both in informal check-ins and in more formal situations like Parent-Teacher conferences and the Student-Led conferences coming in January at .

Here’s the timeline for back to school events, starting today.

August 29: Teachers return, freshman orientation at

August 30: First day at Nashoba Valley for Grade 9 and teachers, first day for classes for Grades 1-5 at , , , , , and Grade 6&9 orientation at and .

August 30-31: Kindergarten orientation at Robinson, Nabnasset and Miller.

August 31: Grades 6-12 begin at Blanchard, Stony Brook and and Nashoba Valley.

September 1: AM Kindergarten begins at Robinson, Nabnasset and Miller.

More information on the Westford School District can be found at http://www.westfordk12.us/ and more information on the Nashoba Valley Technical High School District can be found at http://www.nashobatech.mec.edu

Update: School has been cancelled for August 30.