Family School Partnerships

5 Ways Families, Teachers, Schools and Communities Can Work Together to Support Children’s Learning and School Success

Research suggests that there are five especially powerful areas for engagement.

1.Last week we started with school attendance.

2. Share Information About Student Progress use multiple ways to communicate how children are doing—conferences, report cards, standardized tests, and more. Some schools are trying to improve how they communicate with families so that families don’t get mixed messages and more easily know whether their child is on grade-level. Talk to teachers and school leaders about whether there are ways to clearly communicate how students are doing.

Consider: What questions do you have about how your child is doing, what different tests and measures mean, which results are most important, and what you can do to support your child’s progress?

Families and schools are very busy places. Communication is paramount in forming an authentic relationship with each of our families. Here are some of the ways we communicate and we have several platforms available to you as parents.

Our newsletter is published every Monday and is available online. It is also published to our Facebook page.

We use SeeSaw as a main connector between your home and your child's classroom. The teacher is able to share specific learning achievements with you for your child and their class. It also allows for messages between the parent and the teacher.

Caremonkey is a key package we use to have a direct link to our parents about activities happening in the school. Caremonkey informs you of specific events and seeks your permission for your child to attend and undertake certain activities. It also  allows us to keep up to date records on your child, their contact and specific health issues.

We have parent teacher conferences for all students and parents can come along with their child and meet with the child's teacher and review learning goals and discuss how the child is progressing. School reports are also prepared for each child When??please insert

The student diary is an easy way for parents to send brief information to the teacher and receive messages in return.  Dropping in to your child's classroom before or after school and making contact with the teacher is a great way to start a conversation. Often the teacher will be busy with their class and asking for a meeting or a phone call would be appropriate. All our staff have email addresses or can be contacted by phone through the front office. If parents have a question or an issue then we encourage you to use these ways to link to the teacher.

St Joseph's is committed to supporting parents in sharing information on education particularly with well being and offering parent opportunities to form relationships with each other. Our Coffee Chat which has started this term is to assist parents with broader information and knowledge on current child issues and  

We all are working toward what is best for each child and communication and feedback is integral to that success. As a parent know what is available, stay informed and don’t be frightened to ask.

Anne-Marie Houlihan

Family School Leader