Southport State School celebrates its diverse community and recognises the integral role parents and families play as partners in their children’s education. Our school play a critical role in supporting this diversity, engaging with the community, and modelling and fostering respectful relationships between learners and all members of the school.

Genuine parent engagement exists when there is a meaningful relationship between parents and teachers with the shared goal of maximising learning and wellbeing outcomes for students. Parents are generally a child’s first teacher in their early years. A large body of evidence, spanning several decades, identifies the benefits of continued parent engagement throughout schooling for student learning outcomes. Parent engagement has been shown to improve students’ self-esteem, school attendance, and behaviour at school. Parent engagement extends beyond parent involvement in volunteering at the school, to having a deliberate focus on influencing and improving learning and wellbeing outcomes. Parents are provided with ideas and strategies and are encouraged to collaborate with the school and community to strengthen partnerships and directly assist in supporting their child’s learning. Effective parent engagement creates authentic relationships valued by each party.

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