Parents & Friends

As families of St Joseph’s School, we say “welcome”. Our Parents & Friends Association exists to promote a sense of connection between our families, our school, and our wider community. To achieve this, we work across three fronts over the course of each year: family engagement in learning, community building, and resourcing our school.

As families starting out at ‘big school’, we know it can be an extremely nervous time – sometimes more for our parents and carers than the students. We want to reassure you that your main role in your child’s life does not change when they reach primary school.

First and foremost, being an engaged parent is doing exactly those things you are already working hard at every day…. enough sleep, good food, building independence in daily activities and being organised and ready to learn each day. If you can do that and get to school on time you have nailed your key role.

Once you feel that is manageable, you can then step into being more engaged in their learning. This too does not need to be complicated. Read together often, come to open nights and parent/teacher events, read the class updates and newsletters to get a sense of what is happening at school. Use homework as a cue to show interest in what they are learning. Most importantly, talk about learning and school in a positive way, and keep open communication with your teacher and the school.

Finally, we are a community brought together by our shared focus on delivering the best outcomes for our children and students. Just as you are automatically a member of our community, you are automatically a part of our Parent & Friends Association. There are many opportunities to be involved at school – tuckshop, reading groups, working bees, committee meetings, liturgies, open days, social events. Kids love to see their family at school, and it helps us build social networks that help them as well.

We work off a levy system for fundraising so that our events can be focused on supporting our families in parenting and learning while building friendships. All funds raised are directed back into projects that support our school, our students, or our families to enhance the learning environment.

For helpful resources, visit our Resources page.