The place of schools in parents' community belonging

Schools are central community facilities in the daily lives of families with young children. The paper draws on survey and in-depth interview data to describe the role schools play in parents' sense of belonging to community. M (a) over bar ori and P (a) over bar keh (a) over bar parents indicated that schools and preschools were the most significant sites to their community belonging. They are a common meeting place, a source for community knowledge, and a point of departure for the development of parental friendship networks, and reciprocity in child care and support. Parents' perceptions of local schools in all socio-economic neighbourhoods influenced school choice and commitment to a neighbourhood. For Pacific and Asian parents schools were less significant as sites of community belonging.