Parent-Teacher conferences are an important part of the Torit experience. One of our goals is to communicate regularly with families about your child, and these culminating meetings bring together teacher observations about academic and behavioral patterns from the year with your own sense of how your child has grown. The dialogue is important. Teachers see your children as independent individuals. You know your son or daughter in the context of your family dynamic. There’s a kind of Venn diagram that results. At school your child is one person. With you, they’re another. Of course, there is significant overlap between the two.

Besides that overlap, what can you learn from the parts of the diagram that don’t merge? That area is where teachers see your child as a separate entity from the family, the child who develops an interest in something new and particular to them, the child you recognize but who also is a bit mysterious. And that’s where Montessori pedagogy comes in. By following the child’s interests, giving them room and materials to explore, and supporting their curiosity, we hope to nurture unique individuals.

As you process the information from your conferences and read teachers’ end-of-year comments, we hope you will recognize how well we know each child at Torit. Whether an infant or an upper elementary student, our goal is to nurture each child’s potential.

This summer, please be on the lookout for a parent satisfaction survey. My goal is to continuously improve the Torit experience, and your feedback is vital in that and much appreciated.