For NNPS Staff Only:
School-Based Services
( Please Note: There may be changes due to Covid-19)
Family & Community Engagement Goals
Goal #1 Create a culture that engages every family
Goal #2 Build purposeful partnerships with our community
Family and Community Engagement fosters a school community that is educated, engaged, and empowered to share the responsibility in creating thriving schools where every student succeeds.
Preschool
NNPS preschool is a voluntary program which provides innovative early childhood instruction for 4 and 5 year olds. The program is designed to help four-year-old learners gain an understanding of their world through joyful, developmentally-appropriate experiences.
National Lights-On Initiative
Every student deserves to have a positive adult present in their life. National Lights-On is a national initiative that celebrates after-school programs, families, and teachers. Each stakeholder is an in influence in a student's life and when they work together our children will succeed. This is a festival offered in October connecting adults who are working in our student's lives. 
- Goals: To improve connections and cognition
- Outcomes: Creates a welcoming culture and identifies community assets
- Photo Gallery
- For more information, visit Lights On Afterschool.
- Pictures
One School, One Book
The family is every child's first teacher. One School, One Book is a family literacy program that uses a common reading schedule to encourage families, schools, and communities to read together. Research shows that reading together fosters a greater joy for reading, improves academic success, increases self-efficacy, encourages mental health, and builds stronger school culture. Family and Community Engagement Specialists will work with a school liaison to kick-off the program and lead a culminating family literacy event.
- Goals: To improve capabilities, connections, cognition, and confidence
- Outcomes: Honors and recognizes families, creates a welcoming environment, builds partnerships with the community, improves reading scores.
- Photo Gallery
- For more information, visit ReadToThem.org.
- Pictures
Chew and Chat
The chew and chat is an informal meeting between families and the building administrators (or other staff members) which allows families and school staff to engage in open discussions in non-traditional settings. Families sit down and eat with school staff in a welcoming, stress free environment, while also exchanging dialogue about a range of topics related to the school community, student success, and child development. The informal setting allows for families to feel welcome and comfortable engaging in discussions with school staff.
Goals:
- Improve the capacity for partnerships between schools and staff by providing two-way communication
- Develop greater confidence by establishing a place for families to advocate for their children
- Establish positive and trusting relationships with families
Outcomes:
- Creates a welcoming environment for families and allows them to ask questions directly related to to their students needs
Family Breakfast
Every family has dreams and goals for their student. As students progress through their lives, memorable moments are created with their families. The Family Breakfast is an opportunity for families and school staff to come together in a morning breakfast that supports socialization and positive relationships. One of the highlights of this experience allows families to take a moment and address the entire group to express why there are proud of their child. And of course, who doesn't like breakfast food!
Goals:
- Building Connections (relationships and partnerships) among the school community (staff and families) by engaging in an informal social experience
- Shaping and developing family Cognitions (beliefs) about student achievement, school culture/climate, and relationships with staff
- Improving Self-efficacy
Outcomes:
- The school community will improve positive relationships and develop/improve partnerships.
Standards of Learning Events
Newport News Public Schools' curriculum has a large focus around real world experiences that provide a connection between the classroom and the outside world. Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is a large component of the NNPS curriculum. STEM Nights are family experiences that allow for the exploration of those subjects on a larger scale. STEM design challenges and activities provide families the opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding of how STEM is used in their student's classroom.
Goals:
- Expands the family's capabilities (skills and knowledge) of STEM by allowing them to engage in challenging, thought-provoking experiences
- Provides an opportunity to build and improve Connections (networks) between families and school staff by creating an interactive environment that requires cooperation and collaboration
- Improves self-efficacy of families by challenging them to engage in activities that relate directly to academic subjects
Outcomes:
- STEM Night helps build a positive school culture and welcoming environment for families and school staff to engage one another while addressing curriculum information through challenges and activities.
Community-Based Events
Using school data, communities are targeted to provide outreach events and offer a variety of activities to encourage stronger partnerships and improve student achievement.
Goals:
- Building Connections (relationships and partnerships) among the school community (staff and families) by engaging in an informal social experience
- Shaping and developing family cognitions (beliefs) about student achievement, school culture/climate, and relationships with staff
- Improving Self-efficacy
Outcomes:
- The school community will improve positive relationships and develop/improve partnerships.