our principal has asked your parents to come to school — bad news? Not if you're a CedarBridge Academy student. Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, parents, guardians and other significant adults of CedarBridge students were encouraged to come to school to shadow their students for a part of the day, a whole day or even all three days!

2007 was the third year CedarBridge held a Bring-Your-Parents-To-School week, and by all accounts it was as successful this year as it has been in the past. Final numbers had not been tallied at the time The Royal Gazette visited, but school officials could tell us scores of enthusiastic adults had spent at least some part of the day sitting in on classes, sharing lunch in the cafeteria and chatting with teachers.

The purpose of the event, according to deputy principal Joanne Anderson, is to encourage parental involvement, which tends to lessen as students get older, but which is terribly important at every stage of a student's academic career. The school encourages parents to visit the campus throughout the year, but by extending a formal invitation, it provides an opportunity for building bonds between students, parents and school community. Adults can then walk in the student's shoes and see for themselves what the school environment is like.

This is especially important for parents of Senior 1 students, whose children are new to the school.

And it's not just parents who come. Sometimes grandparents or godparents, aunts or uncles are invited; sometimes it's a mentor or Big Brother or Sister invited by his or her "Little". Many come for a period before lunch and stay for lunch, or come for lunch and stay for the afternoon, participating in class discussion, completing assigned tasks, and in the case of the Personal Care class, getting their hair done by their child.

So how did students feel about having adults following them about? The students we talked to — albeit a selective few — were very enthusiastic about the idea, especially the Senior 4 students entering their final year, who thought parental involvement would help them prepare for the next academic step.

While Victoria Camara had not encouraged her mum to attend in the past, this year was her final year, and she said: "I really wanted her to come so she can see what I've done. I thought it would be fun because it would be a new experience for her. And this year is important because it's my graduation year."

Hannah Eggen invited her mum, explaining: "I wanted her to be more involved in school because I'm graduating soon. I'm doing really well in class and I wanted her to see what I'm doing. I want us to work together to make sure everything is on track for graduation and college." Shunea Burrows invited her aunt "because she's a significant part of my life", while Andrew Fubler wanted his mum to meet his teachers and know what his courses were about so that she would know what he was talking about and be able to help with homework.

Shadowing her son Tyler-Ray, Opal Wilson found the teachers inviting, the activities very engaging and discussion about abusive behaviour in one class very interesting.

Brice Armstrong's mum explained that she enjoyed being a CedarBridge parent, has come to all the school events to which parents are invited and enjoyed seeing how the students worked in class and participating in discussion — and then rushed off with Brice to sing with the vocal ensemble.

Parents were encouraged to comment on classroom activities and the school environment on a survey form, which provided useful feedback for the school, and it seems the general feeling was "very pleasant indeed" and "it was interesting to watch the interaction between students and teachers".