Next in our series, several Clapham moms share about the Parent Council; its beginnings, how it has changed and grown, and some of the many ways this vital group serves Clapham School and its community.
Love, Encouragement, and Joy: Hallmarks of the Parent Council
How did the Parent Council start at Clapham? And for what purpose?
While no formal parent organization existed at inception, there has always been a collective group of parents involved with helping to bridge school and community at Clapham. As the school grew, a desire for a more structured layout of procedure was developed by Stacy Creswell, a former Clapham parent.
Under Stacy’s guidance and creative spark, Parent Council was born. As years went on, and naturally leadership changed hands, the weight of carrying so many tasks was better suited for a fuller team and so a restructuring of sorts happened three years ago.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…
Galatians 5:22-23a
Currently we have four arms under the Parent Council umbrella: (1) Service: coordinating volunteer opportunities in our local communities; (2) Social: facilitating a culture of community and friendship among Clapham families; (3) Support: serving our faculty and administration; (4) Strategy: partnering to bridge our lower, middle, and upper schools to fit seamlessly together. The aim of PC is to be a large community of parents helping our school thrive so that Clapham may be seen and felt as an encouragement and living example of Christ’s matchless love—and we certainly want to experience joy while doing so! (Kyra Fitzgerald)
A Community of Families and Christ-Followers
What else would you like the Clapham community to know about the Parent Council? Can you provide examples of what the Parent Council does?
Clapham School Parent Council exists to coordinate projects that serve the school and the community in which we live, to support the staff in a way that helps them complete their mission, and to be an encouragement and living example of Christ’s unconditional love to our families, our school, and our communities.
We believe that God has created us to be people who need community. We are not to be lone rangers living out our faith in solitude. We believe that the primary place of community ought to be the church and we do not aim to replace that.
The Parent Council recognizes that, by being a covenant school, the families who attend Clapham already have a shared faith in Jesus and are choosing this education and community with intention. With our shared faith, many of the practical outflows of our faith are in line with one another. This like-mindedness gives the Parent Council an advantage over many other schools or institutions that are trying to do what we are doing, namely, to build a thriving community anchored in the love of God and neighbor.
We desire for families to feel welcomed when they are new, but it should not end there. We also desire for families to increasingly feel that they are known and are contributors to this great mission that Clapham has.
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can.”
John Wesley
We serve the Clapham community by attempting to create opportunities to be known through things like the Mother’s Tea, Explorers Ice Cream Social, Walk to School, Family Nights and more. We serve by providing opportunities for each of you to become part of the mission of the school with things like book club, the fall benefit, and the spring benefit. We serve by providing opportunities for both you and your child to participate in serving others with things like the Midwest Shelter drive, the Caring Network drive, the World Relief drive, Faculty Appreciation week, and parent-teacher conference meals. We do not view these things as mere events to place on a calendar but as opportunities for growth in service and community. (Kylie Hinkle)
Stay tuned for part 2 from the Parent Council!
Jessica Sanders, Liz Farber, Kyra Fitzgerald and Kylie Hinkle. Parent Council members, extraordinaire!