PTA’s 2013 Take Your Family to School Week Focuses on Injury Prevention

Take Your Family to School Week will take place February 18-22, 2013.

When visiting schools, PTAs, and other places of learning, you’ll surely meet educators and parents who are passionate about engaging with students and committed to serving the needs of children. Research shows that students with engaged parents are more likely to earn higher grades and pass classes, regularly attend school, have better social skills, and go on to post-secondary education. National PTA created Take Your Family to School Week (TYFTSW) to expand and enhance family engagement in schools across the country, helping parents build positive relationships with school staff, connect with other families, and feel like welcome members in their school community.

TYFTSW has been around for years, and with the help of our partners, AXA Foundation and Safe Kids Worldwide, this school year’s TYFTSW is shaping up to be one of our best yet. For the first time, TYFTSW will center on a critical issue for our nation’s youth: Safety at Home and at Play, a theme focused on child injury prevention. PTAs will bring schools and families together to learn about leading childhood injury risks and what we can do to prevent them. With an eye on providing the most essential educational tools, PTAs are encouraged to collaborate with local Safe Kids Worldwide Coalitions to offer hands-on educational activities that encourage families to work together to achieve safer behaviors.

National PTA, in partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide, will offer special tools for local PTAs and PTSAs to support TYFTSW events.  These tools will include a detailed planning guide on how to plan, host and evaluate all activities; lesson plans and take-home tips sheets; as well as social media and media outreach templates with information on how to promote the Week.

To further support local PTAs, National PTA is now offering a $500 TYFTSW grant.  Funded by the AXA Foundation, the TYFTSW grant is a great way for PTAs to secure the resources needed to host a successful event.  You can find more information on this grant (and others) on the National PTA website.  The online application process is easy and up to 100 PTAs will be awarded funding. To be eligible for consideration, we must receive your application by November 30, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Parents and school leaders care deeply about the education and overall well-being of each student, but it’s not always clear how to put these feelings into action. TYFTSW is an indispensable opportunity for your PTA to make an impact on your school community.


Jeff Evans is a Programs and Partnerships Specialist at the National PTA in Alexandria, Virginia.
Contact Jeff at jevans@pta.org.  

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