Parent Councils
The Parental Involvement Act made changes to the arrangements for parental representation in all schools. In August 2007 Parent Councils became the representative body for parents.
What is a Parent Council?
A Parent Council is a group of parents in one school (in some smaller schools, a combined Parent Council may be formed) representing parent views that work in partnership with pupils, the head teacher and the local authority to achieve the best for their child’s school. In 2007, Parent Councils were set up all over Scotland to replace school boards and over 90% of schools now have their own Parent Council.
Your school’s Parent Council is designed to be parent-friendly – it’s a great opportunity to become more involved!
What do Parent Councils do?
The role of the Parent Council is to:
- support the school in its work with pupils
- represent the views of all parents
- encourage links between the school, parents, pupils, pre-school groups and the wider community
- report back to all the parents in the school (Parent Forum)
- how their Council will be set up
- what it should be called
- what size it should be – eg in a very small primary school, all parents could be involved
- who should be a member of the Parent Council
- how they should be appointed
- what’s the most convenient time to hold meetings
- what will be discussed at meetings – these might be topics such as school uniform, parking near the school, the school’s anti-bullying policy
How can I get involved?
When your child starts school, you automatically become a member of the parent forum, and you can stand for election to the Parent Council. Every year, the parent forum elects a Parent Council to represent the views of parents at their school. Generally, members of the Parent Council must be parents of children who attend the school and the chairperson must have a child in the school. However, the Parent Council can decide to co-opt other members from teachers and the community who will have knowledge and skills to help them.
In denominational schools, the Parent Council must invite the relevant church or denominational body to nominate a representative to be a co-opted member.
In very small schools all the parents may be part of the Parent Council. The Parent Forum will decide how members are to be selected.
Further information on the role of Parent Councils can be found in the guidance on the Act.