Norwood Family Hub opens at Norwood high school
NORWOOD — A classroom at Norwood District High School has been transformed into a place where pre-school children can play, learn and begin their development into well-balanced successful students.
The Norwood Family Hub provides a permanent home in eastern Peterborough County for programs and services offered by the Peterborough Family Resource Centre and other organizations.
The family resource centre, in partnership with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, set up its first family hub t wo years ago in Otonabee Valley Public School on River Rd. and recently set up hubs at Lakefield District Intermediate School and NDHS.
The centre envisioned the family hubs as school-based community spaces where a range of coordinated programs could be provided in rural areas, PFRC executive director Barb Lillico said this week during the official opening of the hub in Norwood. “Although we’ve been out in the rural communities for about 30 years, we wanted them to have access to consistent, more varied services, so being in schools seemed a natural fit,” she said.
The PFRC’s services include prenatal and postnatal supports, parenting resources and programs, playgroups and links to other community resources. At the Norwood Family Hub, the June schedule shows family playto-learn, getting ready for Kindergarten and families connect pro- grams. In addition, the hub is going to other organizations to provide services, said team leader Nicola Lyle, pointing to the YWCA JustFood Box pickup as an example.
Lyle said the high school has greeted the family hub with open arms. “The students have been very curious. They come to the door and ask what we’re doing. There’s definitely a lot of interest, because some of them want to become early childhood educators and social workers themselves.”
NDHS principal Mary Lou Steinman called Norwood “a really vital and thriving school community.” The high school is always looking for ways to increase and i mprove learning opportunities for its students, she said. So having the family hub in the school is an opportunity for students taking a range of courses, including parenting and hospitality and tourism, to be involved in “authentic, real life learning.”
The family hub also gives the high school a chance to forge initial links with future students and their parents, Steinman said. “From every angle this partnership is positive, and lays the groundwork for increasing success for our students, both in the present and in the future.“
School board chairwoman Diane Lloyd said the family hubs are one of the best examples of the partnerships forged between the board and community organizations. Having an extensive range of family services within schools means any problems the children might have can be iden- tified and assessed at an early age, before they start school.
“So we’re able to put things in place to look after those concerns and allow them to have an even start,” she said. “In our business, we want every child to have the best opportunity to be the best that they can be.”
Education director Rusty Hick said the family hub provides a place where children can feel they belong.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for Norwood,” he said.
Asphodel-Norwood Township Mayor Doug Pearcy said he is happy to see another room at the high school being used. The family hub “is important to Norwood and to this district,” he said. “I think it’s just a wonderful thing.”