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Parent Councils
Parental Involvement Act 2006
The Scottish Government passed the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 to encourage and support more parents to become involved.
The Parent Forum and the Parent Council
The membership of the Parent Forum is made up of all parents who have a child at an education authority school. Membership of the Parent Forum allows parents to have a say in the local arrangements to enable their collective view to be represented on matters such as the quality and standards of education at the school and other matters of interest to parents. One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
What is a Parent Forum?
The membership of the Parent Forum is made up of all parents who have a child at an education authority school. Membership of the Parent Forum allows parents to have a say in the local arrangements to enable their collective view to be represented on matters such as the quality and standards of education at the school and other matters of interest to parents. One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
What is The Parent Council?
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at the school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in include:
- Supporting the work of the school
- Gathering and representing parents' views to the Head Teacher, education authority and HMIE
- Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils and the local community
- Fundraising
- Involvement in the appointment of senior school staff
Who can be members of the Parent Council?
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 including school staff and community representatives who 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.
Combined Parent Councils
The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 allows for the establishment of a Combined Parent Council, covering two or more schools if this is what parents want.
Where parents choose to set up a Combined Parent Council, the education authority can provide support to write an appropriate constitution and get things started.
If a Combined Parent Council includes a denominational school, its constitution must provide for at least one person from the church or denominational body to be a co-opted member of the Parent Council. Where there is more than one church or denomination, each church or body must be able to nominate at least one co-optee.
Glasgow City Parents' Group
Glasgow City Parents Group (GCPG) are a group of parental volunteers who advocate on behalf of school parent councils. All members are parents to children who attend a Glasgow school and are a member of their school parent council. The committee aims to represent the collective views of schools across Glasgow. The Forum is enabled and supported by the Parent Partnership section of Education Services.
GCPG hold monthly online parent council discussion groups to share knowledge and problem solve collectively.
You can contact them by email GCParentsGroup@gmail.com
Or via their social media channels
