Parent Forum

Below are our proposed roles and responsibilities, these are also open for discussion however a number of the guidelines have been included to give parents on the council protection and guidance should a tricky situation arise.

Parents Council Roles and Responsibilities

1. The membership of the Parent Council will be a minimum of 6 parents of children attending the school. The maximum membership will be 12 parents.

2. Any parent of a child at the school can volunteer to be a member of the Parent Council. In the event that the number of volunteers exceeds the number of agreed places, members will be selected by vote of the Parent body.

3. Parents can serve up to a maximum of 3 years in succession. They can become members again of the Council after a lapse of one year. Parent members may not serve beyond the end of the academic year in which they cease to have a child on the school roll. Each October there will be the opportunity for new members to join.

4. All minutes from meetings will be shared with parents, staff and governors; however, at times, an issue may be raised by a parent that they request is kept confidential / may need to be kept confidential. All council members will have signed the school’s code of confidentiality. Any council member failing to maintain agreed confidentiality expectations will be asked to step down from the council.

5. Parent Council representatives are valued for the opinions, expertise and time they give to the school. No representative is expected to deal with parental concerns, complaints or criticisms against a staff member or the school. In the event of such issues being presented to a council member, it is their role to support the complainant in approaching the school. Should a complainant be dissatisfied with the response they have received, the role of the council member is to guide the parent in following the appropriate steps in the school’s complaints procedures. At no point is a parent council representative expected to mediate or liaise between school and parents.

6. Membership of the Parent Council is fully voluntary; there are no minimum attendance requirements during a school year. Should a parent need to step down from their role within the council, it will be

at the discretion of the council as to whether that member is replaced or their position is held in abeyance until the start of the next academic year.

7. To ensure that a meeting is as representative as possible it must have a minimum of three parent members present. In the event of fewer members attending the meeting will be cancelled and rescheduled.

8. Parent Council representatives will share their opinions and viewpoints in a constructive manner and present any comments or points of view other parents have expressed to them. They are not in a position to provide a representative opinion of the entire parent body; where a wider opinion is felt to be valuable the council will support the school in creating questionnaires / surveys to canvass parental opinion.