We constantly keep our eyes out for reports and articles about good ideas and best practice when it comes to schools engaging parents successfully in their children’s learning. Given the Awards for Excellence mentioned earlier, I realised that I had not reported on the Queensland school that won last year’s Award for Excellence in Family School Partnerships. So here’s that story …

Kuranda District State College: Families as first teachers

Kuranda District State College’s Families as First Teachers program has had a profound impact on engaging Indigenous families in their children’s early learning and preparation for school. Student enrolments in preschool and primary school have increased, record literacy and numeracy results have been achieved by Year 2 students and there is greater parent participation in school activities. There are also fewer behaviour problems and better relations between the school and community.

The school takes learning opportunities into the community where people feel at ease and comfortable engaging with education processes. Interactions between the school and geographically dispersed families have increased and many families have gained confidence and the skills to support their children’s learning.

You can read the full Kuranda story here: http://kurandadistrictsc.eq.edu.au/wcmss/