Parents and Friends achieved some wonderful activities in the past week focusing on Friday’s World Teachers’ Day, and our end of year ‘Halloween Disco’. World Teachers’ Day was promoted by the Hon Grace Grace, Minister for Education, acknowledging that Teachers influence young lives for the better in Queensland. Parents and Friends provided a much enjoyed Staff Morning Tea in the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Library. The significance of that for our Teachers is that our Parents’ and our Teachers’ communications and mutual support for the children lie at the foundation of our highly valued education that is unique to our school. The most effective learning is shown to come from a home culture that values reading, learning and education in schools like ours; with Teachers who provide specific support for each individual child by closely knowing them and their home situation well to be able to give direction and very specific advice on learning activities; and all of this takes place in a peer group that values learning and schoolwork as well. The influence of home culture, Teacher relationship and individual feedback, combined with receptive and supportive peers, are the elements that influence a child to achieve strongly, in many different ways. Emotional Intelligence (EI) of an adolescent, for example, in research has been shown to be most influenced by the EI characteristics of the peergroup of friends, although it is initially learned from the parent. Similarly enthusiasm for learning and diligence in study are influenced by a child’s friends at school. So our Parents and Friends work for the school is extraordinarily valuable for the school but ultimately for the children and influencing their learning culture and expectations.