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 – say, from an un-represented year group – 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 all that we can to improve all aspects of communication with parents.

Non-parent attendees:
The Parent Council may invite non-parents to attend Council meetings. The Rector will attend meetings as of right, but two or three other members of staff will be asked to attend regularly as staff representatives, ensuring SMT, PT level, and unpromoted teachers are represented, and the Head Boy and Head Girl will attend as pupil representatives. Other members of staff might be asked to a given meeting either to introduce them to the Parent Council or to discuss a relevant agenda item. Similarly Scottish Borders Council representatives, other community and business organization representatives might be asked to meetings where there are relevant items being considered.

Co-opted members:
No less than two-thirds of the regularly attending Parent Council will be made up of Parent Forum members, with the balance being  the optional appointment of non parent co-opted members to assist the Council with its functions. Any co-opted members will be invited to serve for a period of one year after which time the Parent Council will review and consider requirements for co-opted membership.

Office bearers:
The Parent Council will be chaired by a parent of a child attending Peebles High School.
When their youngest child at the school ceases to be a pupil, a new Chair will be agreed at the next meeting. The Chair, and Vice Chair of the Council will be agreed by the Parent Council members immediately following its formation.  The Treasurer will be the Treasurer appointed by the PTA sub-committee, unless funding and financial issues develop to beyond the usual remit of the PTA in which case a separate Council Treasurer may need to be appointed. The Clerk to the Council will not be a member of the Council but will be paid an annual honorariam as agreed with SBC.
Office bearers will be re-selected by the Parent Council on an annual basis at the
AGM.

Parent Council meetings and operation:
The Parent Council will meet once in every school term. Normally this will have been preceded by an open  Parent Forum discussion evening meeting, enabling matters raised there to be included in its agenda and progressed further by the Parent Council or one of its permanent sub-groups or occasional working groups

Should a vote be necessary to make a decision at a Parent Council meeting, each parent member at the meeting will have one vote, with the Chair having a casting vote in the event of a tie. Any two members of the Parent Council can request that an additional meeting be held, and all members of the Parent Council will be given at least one week’s notice of date, time and place of the meeting.

Accountability:
The Parent Council is accountable to the Parent Forum for Peebles High School and will
make a formal report to it at least once each year on its activities on behalf of all the
parents. Equally the Parent Council will aim to use all available means of maintaining a regular flow of communication with Parent Forum members, including newsletters, parent evenings, Parent Forum discussion meetings, pieces in the Peeblesshire and a special section on the School website.

The Parent Council will also endeavour to work in close partnership with the School, in terms of the Rector and his staff, and Scottish Borders Council as the main funder of the School as well as the Local Authority with responsibility for implementing Government education policy, and will therefore aim to keep both of these fully informed as to the Parent Council’s activities and priorities.

Special meetings:
If 20 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.

Annual General Meeting (AGM):
The Annual General Meeting will be held in April 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 committee(s)
 Rector’s annual report to Parent Forum
 selection of the new Parent Council
 Annual review of the Parent Council’s constitution
 discussion of issues that members of the Parent Forum may wish to raise
 approval of the accounts and appointment of the auditor.

Termination of Council membership:
If a Parent Council member acts in a way that is considered by other members to
undermine the objectives of the Parent Council, their membership of the Parent
Council shall be terminated if the majority of parent members agree. Termination of
membership would be confirmed in writing to the member.

Minutes:
Copies of the minutes of all meetings will be available to all parents of children at
Peebles High School and to all teachers at the school through publishing a full copy on the School’s website and by copies being available from the Clerk to the Parent Council and from the school office.

Open meetings:
Meetings of the Parent Council shall be open to the public to attend, and to all members of the Parent Forum who may participate as though regular active members of the Parent Council.
In the exceptional circumstance of a need arising to consider an issue which the Parent Council considers should be dealt with on a confidential basis, others might be asked to step out of the meeting, leaving the Rector, or his representative and the full Parent Council members.

Finance:
The PTA Treasurer will open a bank or building society account in the name of the
Parent Council/PTA for all Parent Council/PTA funds. Withdrawals will require the signature of the PTA Treasurer and one other Parent Council member.
The PTA 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/PTA accounts will be audited by the auditor
appointed at the previous Annual Meeting.
The Parent Council shall be responsible for ensuring that all monies are used in
accordance with the objectives of the Parent Council.
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.

Changes of Constitution:
The Parent 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 amendment and given reasonable time to respond to the proposal.