Looking to better connect students, parents and teachers, a new pilot program has been announced in Saskatchewan that will see teachers visit students’ home environments, two times this school year.

Up to 400 families from five school divisions will have the opportunity to take part in the pilot, including Regina Public.

Spokesperson Terry Lazarou, said the schools taking part are Rosemont and Dr. George Ferguson.

“Those two schools were chosen because they’re at opposite ends of the city, and both of them have identified a need for this type of communication,” Lazarou said.

Lazarou also said they’ve had a strong response from families who want to take part.

The first visit will take place in the fall, the second will be in the spring of 2022.

The province has allocated $200,000 to the Saskatchewan School Boards Association to deliver the program between August 1 of this year and August 31 of 2022.

While it’s the first of it’s kind in Canada, President of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, Dr. Shawn Davidson, said projects like this have seen success in the United States, as far back as 1996.

“Building better relationships with families, giving an ability to educators to get to better know their students, to know where they’re coming from, getting to know who they are and how they learn, it has really been a great benefit to student achievement, because there’s a stronger relationship,” Davidson said.

Davidson added teachers also benefit from the program, because they get to experience first hand where their students are coming from.

Other than Regina Public, Ile-a-la-Crosse, Northern Lights, Holy Trinity and Sun West divisions will also have schools taking part.

The visits can be inside homes, in backyards, or even in a park or community facility.

More information is expected to be gathered in the spring and summer of 2022 before further steps are taken.