Parent councils
Parent councils help parents and carers to become involved in their children’s learning and provide a voice for them.
The role of a parent council is to
- help the school in its work with pupils
- take account of the views of parents and discuss these with the head teacher and the council
- take part in appointing promoted staff
- encourage links between the school, parents and carers, pupils, pre-school groups and the community
- support the school in developing home and school partnerships
- make use of the skills, knowledge and experience that parents can offer.
Membership
Most parent council members should be parents of children at the school. Other people such as teachers, pupils or members of the community, can also be members or invited to join.
The head teacher provides advice and support for the parent council and can go to meetings and talk about issues at the school. Local councillors should be invited to meetings.
Each parent council has a chairperson. parent councils are chaired by a parent of a child attending the school. If the child leaves the school a new chair is agreed upon at the next meeting. The chair is responsible for organising meetings and making sure they are run properly.
Resources
The Scottish Government's gives useful information to new parent councils.