St. Mary’s Parent Forum and Parent Council
Role of the Parent Forum
The membership of a Parent Forum is made up of parents who have a child at an education authority school. Parents are automatically members of the Parent Forum for their school. It is important that all parents know about their membership of the Parent Forum.
Membership of Parent Forum
As a member of the Parent Forum, each parent can expect to:
· receive information about the school and its activities
· hear more in future about what partnership with parents means in their school
· be invited to be involved in ways and times that suit them
· participate in deciding how the parent representative body, the Parent Council, is organised and how it operates
· identify issues they want the Parent Council to work on in the school
· be asked their opinion by the Parent Council on issues relating to the school and the education it provides
· work in partnership with staff
· enjoy taking part in the life of the school in whatever way they can.
One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
Role of the Parent Council
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at a school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. Parents might decide they want a representative from each year group in the school. They might want to include pupils, other teachers at the school or parents from a feeder or secondary school. This flexibility allows parents to choose a Parent Council which reflects their school and will encourage parents to get involved.
The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in includes:
· Supporting the work of the school
· Gathering and representing parents' views to the headteacher, education authority and HMIE
· Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery
· Fundraising
· Organising events
· Being involved in the appointment of senior staff.
Main features of Parent Councils
The main features of Parent Councils are:
· The Parent Forum decides on the type of Parent Council and constitution that is right for the school.
· The Parent Council should establish a written constitution, detailing such information as aims, purposes, membership and meetings.
· Only parents of children at that school can be members of the Parent Council.
· The Parent Forum can agree that the Parent Council constitution allows other people to be co-opted onto the Parent Council of a denominational school.
· The Parent Council chair must be a parent of a child at that school.
· The headteacher or their representative has a right and a duty to attend Parent Council meetings, unless the parents and headteacher decide otherwise.
· Schools can choose to set up a Combined Parent Council which would cover more than one school.
Get more information from www.ltscotland.org.uk
St. Mary’s Parent Forum and Parent Council
Role of the Parent Forum
The membership of a Parent Forum is made up of parents who have a child at an education authority school. Parents are automatically members of the Parent Forum for their school. It is important that all parents know about their membership of the Parent Forum.
Membership of Parent Forum
As a member of the Parent Forum, each parent can expect to:
· receive information about the school and its activities
· hear more in future about what partnership with parents means in their school
· be invited to be involved in ways and times that suit them
· participate in deciding how the parent representative body, the Parent Council, is organised and how it operates
· identify issues they want the Parent Council to work on in the school
· be asked their opinion by the Parent Council on issues relating to the school and the education it provides
· work in partnership with staff
· enjoy taking part in the life of the school in whatever way they can.
One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
Role of the Parent Council
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at a school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. Parents might decide they want a representative from each year group in the school. They might want to include pupils, other teachers at the school or parents from a feeder or secondary school. This flexibility allows parents to choose a Parent Council which reflects their school and will encourage parents to get involved.
The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in includes:
· Supporting the work of the school
· Gathering and representing parents' views to the headteacher, education authority and HMIE
· Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery
· Fundraising
· Organising events
· Being involved in the appointment of senior staff.
Main features of Parent Councils
The main features of Parent Councils are:
· The Parent Forum decides on the type of Parent Council and constitution that is right for the school.
· The Parent Council should establish a written constitution, detailing such information as aims, purposes, membership and meetings.
· Only parents of children at that school can be members of the Parent Council.
· The Parent Forum can agree that the Parent Council constitution allows other people to be co-opted onto the Parent Council of a denominational school.
· The Parent Council chair must be a parent of a child at that school.
· The headteacher or their representative has a right and a duty to attend Parent Council meetings, unless the parents and headteacher decide otherwise.
· Schools can choose to set up a Combined Parent Council which would cover more than one school.
Get more information from www.ltscotland.org.uk
St. Mary’s Parent Forum and Parent Council
Role of the Parent Forum
The membership of a Parent Forum is made up of parents who have a child at an education authority school. Parents are automatically members of the Parent Forum for their school. It is important that all parents know about their membership of the Parent Forum.
Membership of Parent Forum
As a member of the Parent Forum, each parent can expect to:
· receive information about the school and its activities
· hear more in future about what partnership with parents means in their school
· be invited to be involved in ways and times that suit them
· participate in deciding how the parent representative body, the Parent Council, is organised and how it operates
· identify issues they want the Parent Council to work on in the school
· be asked their opinion by the Parent Council on issues relating to the school and the education it provides
· work in partnership with staff
· enjoy taking part in the life of the school in whatever way they can.
One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
Role of the Parent Council
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at a school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. Parents might decide they want a representative from each year group in the school. They might want to include pupils, other teachers at the school or parents from a feeder or secondary school. This flexibility allows parents to choose a Parent Council which reflects their school and will encourage parents to get involved.
The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in includes:
· Supporting the work of the school
· Gathering and representing parents' views to the headteacher, education authority and HMIE
· Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery
· Fundraising
· Organising events
· Being involved in the appointment of senior staff.
Main features of Parent Councils
The main features of Parent Councils are:
· The Parent Forum decides on the type of Parent Council and constitution that is right for the school.
· The Parent Council should establish a written constitution, detailing such information as aims, purposes, membership and meetings.
· Only parents of children at that school can be members of the Parent Council.
· The Parent Forum can agree that the Parent Council constitution allows other people to be co-opted onto the Parent Council of a denominational school.
· The Parent Council chair must be a parent of a child at that school.
· The headteacher or their representative has a right and a duty to attend Parent Council meetings, unless the parents and headteacher decide otherwise.
· Schools can choose to set up a Combined Parent Council which would cover more than one school.
Get more information from www.ltscotland.org.uk
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Milk, Murals and the Mighty Nit
The St. Mary’s Parent Council
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The first meeting of the Parent Council the other week covered these subjects, and much more... minutes will be available in the foyer - alternatively you can receive them by email.
Welcome to the new school year at St. Mary’s from the Parent Council. A special welcome to P.1. parents – we were so pleased that many of you were able to come to our first event of the year – the P.1. Barbeque.
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Dates
Parent Council meetings are held in the flexi-base on the ground floor of the school. The atmosphere is informal, and if you just want to come along and listen in to what goes on, you are very welcome – you don’t need to have a reason to be there, and you don’t have to speak. In the evening, the main gates of the school are closed, so you should walk through the staff car park to get access to the playground. The main front door will be open. This term’s meetings will be at 7pm on Tuesdays:
13 October; 10 November; 8 December.
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In the Box
If you want an issue raised at a Parent Council meeting please let us know and we can put it on the agenda. School lunches; sport; dress code; road safety; after-school clubs – if you feel strongly about anything happening (or not happening) at St. Mary’s, this is the place to bring it up. You can come and talk about it at the meeting or write something to be read out and discussed. There is a box in the school foyer where you can leave a note telling us about your concern or point of view. Please also leave your email details there if you want to receive minutes etc. by email. We also recognise the importance of looking beyond the immediate concerns at St Mary’s, at the bigger education picture – for example the new Curriculum for Excellence - and hope to address these subjects both at Parent Council meetings and at evening events for the larger school community to come to.
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Bottom Shop
Meetings are usually over by 8.15, when everyone is welcome to an even more informal part of the evening in the Bottom Shop (Links Tavern,
).If you can’t get to the meeting, join us there.
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Eventful Year
A couple of years ago, School Boards were replaced by Parent Forums* and Parent Councils, and we decided that at St. Mary’s we would bring the fundraising and social roles previously undertaken by the PTA into the Parent Council. The first event this year was the P.1. barbeque and here are some other ideas we have so far for this year, if the school hall is available:
Healthy Living Quiz – October
Beetle Drive – Spring
Stars in St Mary’s – May
These events are for all the family. There is often a small charge to attend and a home-baking stall or raffle too. Events like this help us to raise funds for things like:
Coaches to the Pantomime – December
School Disco – Spring
Refreshments at Sports Day – June
If you have other ideas for events through the year, please let us know.
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Pink Cadillac
Gayle and xx have been fundraising for a smart board for the school. They have held lots of money-raising events over the past year – look out for a leaflet about a car boot sale soon. The prize for their ongoing raffle is a beautiful pink pedal car, and the winner will be drawn at next week’s Healthy Living Quiz. If you want to do something which needs funds to be raised or help from the school, come and tell us about it at the Parent Council and we will try to work with you to raise awareness, and the money you need.
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Relax
All the Parent Council official roles have now been decided for the school year, so no-one will be suddenly asked at a meeting to take on any specific role on the Council. This year’s office bearers are:
Chair: Trisha Emblem (Rachel in P.6); Secretary: Roz Rendall (Aimee in P.2); Treasurer: Monica Flanagan (Caitlin in P.4, Connor in P.1; Murray in Purple Nursery in the mornings).
If you want to lend a hand at a home baking stand at a social event; design a flyer for a fundraising event; do some gardening, or just meet some other school parents, then come along to a meeting. You can get involved as much or as little as you like and we look forward to seeing you.
Trisha, Roz & Monica
6 October 2009
* All parents with a child at St. Mary’s Primary are members of the Parent Forum. You can find lots of information about the role of parents at primary school at:
www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentsaspartnersinlearning