Background

Fathers@Schools is a programme that benefits the relationship between fathers and their children. By encouraging fathers to enter in and be involved with their children’s lives at school, the programme opens opportunities to dads to connect with their kids throughout the ever-advancing stages of their formal education.

The children are the greatest beneficiaries, getting to enjoy the love and support of their dads in what is usually an area they have to face alone. This gifts them with the confidence that their fathers are there for them, even in school, and more importantly, helps them realize their father’s commitment and investment in their wellbeing.

Introduction

Adrian Lim (Dads for Life Secretariat) gave a brief introduction to open the second edition of the Fathers@Schools Learning and Networking Forum. He outlined the main objectives of the forum, namely:

• To learn from the experiences of schools in various stages of exploring and implementing the Fathers@Schools programme.
• To network with key personnel involved with Fathers@Schools, Parent Support Groups (PSG), or participants in the School Family Education (SFE) programme in schools (participants were clustered with schools in the same zone), to facilitate collaboration and the formation of partnerships.
• To help schools in the same cluster link with one another, and form platforms for activities and programmes.

Presentations

Vice-Principal Soon Woo Sin of the host school, Ngee Ann Primary School (NAPS), introduced the presenters with some personal sharing, engaging the audience with a powerful quote, from an educator’s perpective:

“It doesn’t matter if our kids can read and write, if they’re going to end up in prison.”

He made the point about the importance of a child’s character development and the development of a strong value system. These were critical, as without these, VP Soon asked the audience, “How are we going to prepare our kids for Life?”

In addition, changes in the education landscape were creating opportunities for dads to interact closely and intimately with their kids, as the presenters following were about to demonstrate.

Tools and Tips (Ngee Ann Primary)

First among the invitees to present was Ngee Ann Primary’s Fathers@NAPS Chairman, Alvin Lee.

Fresh from a hiking activity for Fathers@NAPS at MacRitchie Reservoir two weeks’ prior, he shared about how Fathers@NAPS was established by leveraging on existing programmes in the school – specifically, the PSG and SFE.

The enthusiastic father outlined some of his strategies to engage and enroll volunteers to participate in, and administer the programme’s activities, namely through reaching out directly to fathers, alumni, and PSG members. To convince the first group, the fathers themselves, it was key to reach them through their children, and wives (where they were active PSG members).

Bridging the Gap (Pasir Ris Primary)

The next presenters were another enthusiastic and passionate group from Pasir Ris Primary. Operations Manager Wai Seng Chooi told the audience that milestone events in schools such as Open House events and Primary One Orientation events were a great time to invite dads into the world of their children’s school life.

He further encouraged schools administrators to open up their facilities, in order to show fathers the environment in which their children spend much of their daily lives, and to use these opportunities to welcome fathers into being more closely involved with their children’s school lives.

The chairman of Pasir Ris Primary’s Fathers@Schools programme, Chew Yeow Yong, wrapped up with sharing the success of their “Come See My School” event, where 82 father-child pairs were among the participants, underscoring the potential of Open House-type events to jump start their Fathers@Schools programme.

He also excitedly pointed out that they were looking forward to their next event, a sold-out Athletics@SAFRA event for fathers and children to be held at the Yishun Club in mid-March. 61 families (231 participants) had already signed up to attend.

Surveying the Potential Volunteer - Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary

Taking to the stage for Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary was Woon Ta-Li. He provided ideas and alternative tools for how to establish a Fathers@Schools programme when faced with the challenge of not having an established PSG or FSE in the school. He advised the participants to use volunteer parents and also make use of surveys to identify and find willing dads. (One key question in surveys used for identifying recruits to a Fathers@Schools Programme, “Would you like to see more collaboration in events held by the school?”).

The Men from MacPherson Primary

Chong Chin Hong shared that before there was Fathers@Schools at MacPherson Primary, the PSG had a total of 1 person, who was a lady. Today, fathers form 50% of the PSG. The school partnered with the Boys’ Brigade and Centre for Fathering to get things going. Events held included a Fine Dining session, and a rapidly growing Softball programme.

Another dad, Jamal B Ashik, pitched the programme as one that provided fathers with a way to relate to their children. He told the participants that through tent building, sushi-making, archery and fine dining programmes initiated by Fathers@Schools in MacPherson, he himself got closer to his son.

As if to reinforce the personal message, Jamal was followed by another dad, Joseph Seah, who kept the audience spell-bound, as he passionately described how the programme had transformed his own fathering style, and repaired his relationships with his own son and daughter. Fathers@Schools clearly is not only to benefit children academically, but can have a dramatic, positive impact on the quality of family relationships.

Conclusions:

The event concluded with a 20-minute networking opportunity, where dads and administrators shared their experiences, exchanged contacts, and discussed challenges and strategies to keep the Fathers@Schools programme moving ahead in their children’s schools.

Key lessons:

• Get buy-in from stakeholders - Principals, School Administrators and the like.
• Get family members involved - children and mothers can act as effective pull/ push factors.
• Identify fathers in the school staff who have passion for the cause to step up and drive the programme.
• Plan at least one activity per term, to keep the momentum going.

Further Reading and Resources:

The Fathers@Schools resource (a comprehensive reference).

The Inaugural Fathers@Schools Networking and Learning Forum (article).

Photos of an exciting Fathers@Schools Event in our Facebook page.

About the Author: The DadsforLife Resource Team comprises local content writers and experts, including psychologists, counsellors, educators and social service professionals, dedicated to developing useful resources for dads.