West Barns Primary School Parent Council
Constitution
May 2007
1. The objectives of the Parent Council are:
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To promote partnership between the school, its pupils, its parents or carers of children and the West Barns community.
· To develop and engage in activities which support the education and welfare of the pupils.
· To identify and represent the views of parents on the education provided by the school and other matters affecting the education and welfare of pupils.
· To promote contact between other schools and providers of education within the community.
· To report to the Parent Forum.
· To act within the principles and practices of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006.
2. The membership will be a minimum of four parent/carers of children attending the school. The maximum membership is 18 parent/carers. Please see Appendix I, Membership Guidelines, which outlines how membership of the Parent Council will be established and maintained.
3. The Parent Council will be selected for a period of 2 years after which members may put themselves forward for reselection if they wish. Any parent/carer of a child at the school can volunteer to be a member of the Parent Council. Please see Appendix I for details.
Ideally membership will be representative of every year within the school from nursery to P7.
4. The Parent Council will co-opt the Head Teacher or agreed substitute for every council meeting. It may co-opt other members at other times to assist with its functions. Other than the Head Teacher co-opted members will serve for a time limited to the issue they are assisting on. No co-opted members will have a vote.
5. Members of the Parent Council will elect 4 office bearers to manage the day to day running of the council. These posts will be Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Office bearers will be reselected by the Parent Council on an annual basis (at the annual meeting of the Parent Forum) Office bearers may serve a maximum of 2 consecutive years, except in exceptional circumstances.
6. The Parent Council is accountable to the Parent Forum for West Barns School and will make a report to it at least once a year on its activities on behalf of all the parents. The report will be presented at the Annual Meeting to be held in September of each year. A notice of the meeting including date, time, and place will be sent to all members of the Parent forum at least 2 weeks in advance. The meeting will include:
· A report on the work of the Parent Council and its sub groups
· Discussion of issues that members of the Parent Forum may wish to raise
· Approval of the accounts
· Selection of the new Parent Council
7. The Parent Council will meet at least once in every school term.
Should a vote be necessary to make a decision, each council member at the meeting will have one vote, with the chair having both a deliberative and casting vote. The Chairperson’s casting vote shall be used only in the event of a tie. A minimum of 4 members is required to make a quorum.
Any two members of the Parent Council can approach the Chair and request that an additional meeting be held, and all members of the Parent Council will be given at least one weeks notice of date, time and place of any such meeting.
If a Parent Council member acts in a way that is considered by other members to be out with the objectives of the Parent Council, their membership of the Parent Council shall be terminated if the majority of council members agree. Termination of membership would be confirmed in writing to the member.
If 10% of members of the Parent Forum request a special general meeting to discuss issues falling within the Council’s remit, the Parent Council shall arrange this. The Parent Council shall give all members of the Forum at least 2 weeks notice of the meeting and, at the same time circulate notice of the matter, or matters to be discussed at the meeting.
8. The Parent Council may form sub groups from time to time, these will be managed by a council member but may be attended by any member of the Parent Forum unless its remit from the council, due to the nature of the subject, expressly prohibits this. See Appendix II, Sub Groups.
9. Copies of minutes of all meetings will be distributed to the Parent Forum and to all teachers at the school. Additional copies will be available on request from the Secretary of the Parent Council.
10. Meetings of the Parent Council shall be open to the public, unless the Parent Council is discussing an issue that it considers should be dealt with on a confidential basis. If members of the public are in attendance they may only address the meeting if invited to do so by the chairperson. In such circumstance that a confidential meeting is required, only members of the Parent Council and if appropriate the Head Teacher or representative can attend.
11. The Treasurer will open a bank or building society account in the name of the Parent Council for all the Parent Council funds. Withdrawals will require the signature of two Office Bearers.
The Treasurer will keep an accurate record of all income and expenditure, and will provide a summary of this for each Parent Council meeting and a full account for the Annual Meeting. The Parent Council accounts will be audited by an auditor.
The Parent Council shall be responsible for ensuring that all monies are used in accordance with the objectives of the Parent Councils.
12. The Parent Council will review the constitution every two years. The Council may change its constitution after obtaining consent from members of the Parent Forum. Members of the Parent forum will be sent a copy of any proposed amendments and given reasonable time to respond to the proposal.
13. The Parent Council will be responsible for ensuring the continuation of the work done by the PTA, prior to its dissolution in September 2007. Please see Appendix III, West Barns Primary School PTA Constitution.
14. Should the Parent Council cease to exist, any remaining funds will be passed to the education authority to be used for the benefit of the school, where this continues.
APPENDIX I
PARENT COUNCIL, MEMBERSHIP GUIDLINES
1. There will be a maximum 18 members of the Parent Council.
2. Inaugural Council
· All members of the Parent Forum interested in being a council member must submit their name at the PTA AGM in September.
· If less than 18 Parent Forum members submit their names they will automatically form the Parent Council and agree when the first meeting will be. The council members at the first council meeting will elect office bearers.
· If more than 18 members of the Parent Forum submit their names an election will be conducted. The current office bearers of the outgoing committee will manage this.
· In the event of an election applicants will be asked to write one paragraph about themselves for circulating to the Parent Forum. Forum members will be asked to vote for the applicants they want to see on the council.
· The 18 applicants with the most votes will form the inaugural council.
3. Ongoing Membership
· Parent Forum members can be co-opted on to the council at any time but will not have a vote unless they formally join the council.
· Voting members will not exceed 18
· If a Parent Forum member attends a council meeting and wishes to fill a vacancy they will be formally voted on by the attending members and will be able to vote at the next meeting.
· If a Parent Council member does not attend for 2 consecutive meetings without informing one of the office bearers the reason for their absence they will be deemed to have resigned and a vacancy will arise.
· If council membership is oversubscribed, members of the Parent Forum will be asked to submit their names and an election will be held to fill the vacancy.
· The secretary of the Parent Council will manage membership matters.
4. Reselection of Members
· Parent Council Members are selected for a period of 2 years.
· Reselection will be managed as part of the Annual meeting.
· The Parent Forum will be informed at least 2 weeks prior to the annual meeting that it is time to reselect the Parent Council.
· Council members can put themselves forward for reselection.
· Members who have joined in the middle of a school year will also be subject to reselection to keep the process as streamlined as possible.
· If more than 18 members of the Parent Forum put their names forward for selection the process outlined in 2. above will be followed.
APPENDIX II
PARENT COUNCIL, SUB GROUPS
1. Formation of Sub Groups
· The Parent Council will from time to time form sub groups to manage issues that may arise or particular areas of interest being followed by the school.
· A member of the Parent Council will lead each sub group, however any member of the Parent Forum may join unless the issue to be discussed is confidential and needs to be kept to a few individuals.
· Each sub group will report to the Parent Council.
· The Parent Council will report sub group activities to the Parent Forum.
· A list of Sub Groups will be noted in this appendix, they can be added or subtracted at any time without amending the constitution.
2. Sub Groups
APPENDIX III