Draft constitution for Parent Council

This is the constitution for
Peebles High School Parent Council
(Please note that throughout reference to ¡¥parents¡¦ is to be taken as shorthand for ¡¥parents/carers¡¦)
 
The objectives of the Parent Council are:
* To work in partnership with the school to create a welcoming school which is inclusive for all parents
* To promote partnership between the school, its pupils and all its parents
* To develop and engage in activities which support the school in relation to 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 the pupils
* To raise funds
The Council will aim to be open and inclusive.

The membership of the Council will be:
* a minimum of three parents of children attending the school
* the target will be to have sufficient regular attending full members of the Council to have a Chair,
  Vice Chair, the Chair or other representatives of the PTA and at least one, but ideally two, representative
  parents from each School year, giving a total of between 9 and 15 full members of the Council and so involving a good representative cross section of parents
* in addition, to ensure as inclusive a Council as possible, any member of the Parent Forum will be
  welcome to attend a Council meeting and to participate in the meeting as though they were a full regularly attending member of the Council in all respects other than that they will not be able to vote - without necessarily committing to attend all future meetings
* for a meeting of the Parent Council to be valid a quorum of no less than 3 full regularly attending parent
  members will be required

Appointment of Council members:
The formality of previous School Board elections will be avoided by seeking volunteers at the Parent Council¡¦s inaugural meeting and subsequent Annual General Meetings.

The Parent Council members will be appointed at an inaugural meeting and then appointed/re-appointed each year at the Annual General Meeting, standing for re-election if they wish, with the hope that they will stand for a typical 3 year term, subject to their period on the Council coming to an end when their youngest child at the school leaves the school. All the parents of children at the school can take part in the selection by attending the AGM. Any parents of a child at the school can volunteer to be a member of the Parent Council.

Any shortfalls in the make-up of the Parent Council will be made up by subsequently calling for volunteers ¡V say, from an un-represented year group ¡V and then selecting/approving their membership by the then existing Council members.
In addition, for any particular meeting of the Parent Council any members of the Parent Forum interested in any or all of the pre-notified agenda items will be welcome to attend the Council meeting and participate fully in the meeting.

If there should be too many volunteers for Council membership at an AGM then either this can be resolved informally amongst those involved or a simple method of voting can be agreed at the meeting amongst those present to resolve the representatives for the given year group. There can in any case be 3 extra members beyond two per year group to accommodate subsequent selection of a Chair, Vice Chair and the PTA rep. Experience to date suggests having too many volunteers is unlikely to be a problem and will in all likelihood be resolved informally at the given meeting by those directly involved.

Parent Council sub-groups/committees:
Any member of the Parent Forum may also be a member of any sub-groups formed by the Parent Council.

Recognising the important role that the PTA has fulfilled in the life of the School, it is envisaged that the PTA will be formed as a permanent sub-committee of the Parent Council. Members of the PTA will not necessarily have to attend all Parent Council meetings, although it is intended that the Chair of the PTA or another representative will.

A Communication group, will also be formed as a permanent sub-committee, recognizing the importance of doing