New Friendships Forged in Coraki

St Joseph's hosted a Family Friendship Night as part of the school's Catholic Schools Week celebration.

The celebration of Catholic Schools Week has offered many schools the opportunity to strengthen their connections with their community; one such school was St Joseph’s Primary, Coraki.

St Joseph’s Primary hosted a Family Friendship Night planned in response to the Community Conversations held with parents, staff and students. These conversations revealed the community's desire to work together to support children's social and emotional intelligence, particularly their friendship skills.

'It was wonderful to welcome parents and students into the school for a relaxed and informative evening,' said Principal Brendan Moloney.

Many parents benefited from the short presentation demonstrating how best to support their child in developing good friendship skills while the children experienced some fun friendship activities.

Parent Ashling Aherne described the event as 'a lovely night with friends'.

'Family Friendship Night was an enjoyable evening of great food, informative information and finished off with some games and laughter. Very enjoyable,' said parent Kirsty Newman.

Upon reflection of the event, organiser and Family School Partnership Consultant, Janita Thomson said, 'as one of the first schools to be a part of the Better Together initiative, St Joseph's Primary has, over the last 2 1/2 years, been dedicated to learning and implementing new dialogue methodologies with their parents.'

The night was a successful experience for the St Joseph’s Primary community providing a mix of information, practical strategies and fun.