Cooperation With Parents: Volleyball Tournament

Successful cooperation with parents is very important and at the same time very demanding task for each primary school. Our school is very active in this field and I can say that it is also successful. Examples of annual cooperation with parents are the event at the UNESCO camp, school bazaar, awards for the most successful pupils at the end of the school year, valeta, education within the Parents' School, joint working saturdays, concerts of choirs and so on. All these forms are present in many other schools one way or another. However, I would like to point out perhaps a more specific and unique type of cooperation. For many years now our school hosts a volleyball tournament between teachers (and other school staff), parents and pupils. In our town we have a well organized volleyball club, where many of our students play, and at the same time parents there also meet each other and get acquainted. They are connected enough other to easily create a team of six to eight players, both fathers and moms. For pupils and students, however, this tournament represents one of the most hardly awaited parts of the school year. As a part of the compulsory optional course ''Selected Sport - Volleyball'', each week they train hard, especially in the last classes before the competition. At the tournament itself, three female and three male teams are playing each other. The main purpose of the competition is definitely mutual companionship, and of course is the competition level adapted due to that fact. Every year, the participants are very satisfied with the outcome, and it is nice to have one such meeting at school, where sociability and relaxation are our primary goals. And this is what may be lacking in all the rush of our modern lifes.