This article is presented in two parts. In Part 1, we (authors) examine the early parent-school- community engagement journey of a north-west Queensland principal, Gloria (pseudonym), to illustrate how she cultivated the conditions and strategies to support effective literacy teaching and student learning. Part 1 responds to PLEPY's October 2024 theme, Active engagement in literacy. In Part 2 of the article (see PLEPY's February 2025 issue), we particularly focus on the positive impact of Gloria's parent and community engagement journey on an early-career Year 5 (students 10 years of age) Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) teacher, Summer (pseudonym), and her students and their parents. Part 2 of the article continues PLEPY's October 2024 theme while simultaneously responding to PLEPY's February 2025 theme, Approaches to teaching literacy. Throughout both parts of the article, we draw on Willis' (2021) 10 evidence-based provocations (see Table 1) for school leaders and teachers to interrogate Gloria's, and subsequently Summer's, parent- school-community engagement approach. The provocations are framed as personal questions to stimulate thinking and active responses from educators.