The Family School & Community Partnership Statement has been collaboratively developed with parents, teachers, school leaders, parish priests and the Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University to provide a shared vision of how to effectively develop these partnerships between schools and families.

Download the statement.

To truly build strong connections between home and school, we need to first understand the foundations of good family school partnerships. International expert, Dr George Otero outlines 3 foundational beliefs based on over 5 decades of research. These foundations are:

• We must all recognise that we - families, schools and communities - are co-responsible for a child’s success, wellbeing and life chances.
• The family plays a very particular role in a child’s education through their engagement in learning, modelling life long learning and through their way of being as a family.
• The school is the place where we can bring children, parents, teachers and the community together to work for the good of the child.

Dr George Otero explains the foundations of effective family school partnerships.

Parents are the most powerful influences on children’s development, learning and wellbeing and our Catholic schools have incredible resources for teaching and learning, sharing the faith and supporting children’s positive sense of self and relationships with others. When families and schools work together, children have the best possible chance to develop into responsible, respectful and compassionate citizens of our future society.

Children whose parents are engaged in, and supportive of, their educational journey experience a number of benefits including:

• Improved academic outcomes
• Holding a positive view of education with increased likelihood of moving into higher education
• Fewer behavioural issues at school
• Improved mental health and wellbeing.

Dr George Otero further explains why family school and community partnerships are so critical to a thriving school community.