Deciding a name and aims
Name: What do we call ourselves?
The Parent Forum decides the name for the Parent Council. For example, you could call it Friends of the School. The name might show what the Council stands for and what it is trying to achieve.
What your constitution might say
This is the constitution for Anytown School Parent Council (or alternative name).
Aims and objectives
What a Parent Council does falls broadly into four areas:
- Supporting the school in its work with pupils
- Representing the views of parents
- Promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery education and the community
- Reporting to the Parent Forum.
In writing the aims and objectives for your Parent Council, you should keep them similarly broad, not focused on particular issues and ideas, so that they do not limit the Council’s ability to act in the future if a different issue comes up. The formal functions of the Parent Council are described in the Act and the guidance which accompanies this toolkit. You do not have to include these in your constitution but parents might decide to reflect them in the constitution, provided they are consistent with the Act itself.
When drawing up the aims and objectives, you should think about the range of issues that are currently important for your school, what you might want the Parent Council to do and whether such activities would be possible under this set of aims.
For example:
- Do your objectives allow the Parent Council to run fundraising activities?
- Do your objectives allow the Parent Counci to campaign against plans to close the school?
What your constitution might say
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 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.