Clackmannanshire Council Online

Parent Councils

Parent Councils

All parents and carers of pupils enrolled in a school are, automatically, members of that school's Parent Forum. The Parent Forum has the authority to set up a Parent Council and most schools in Clackmannanshire now have a Parent Council.

What does being a member of the Parent Forum mean?

As a member, you can expect to:

• get information about what your child is learning
• get information about events and activities at the school
• get advice/help on how you can support your child's learning
• be told about opportunities to be involved in the school
• have a say in selecting a Parent Council to work on behalf of all parents at your school

What is a Parent Council?

The Parent Forum decides the priorities for the Parent Council and how it will work within the 4 broad areas of responsibility laid down by the Parental Involvement Act. These require each Parent Council to:

• support the school in its work with pupils
• represent the views of all parents
• encourage links between the school, parents, pupils, pre-school groups and the wider community
• report back to the Parent Forum

Parent Councils can also have a role in the appointment of headteachers and depute headteachers.

Every school's Parent Council is different because the parents in each school decide such things as:

• how their council will be set up
• what it should be called
• what size it should be, for example in a very small primary school, all parents could be involved
• who should be a member of the Parent Council
• how they should be appointed
• what's the most convenient time to hold meetings
• what will be discussed at meetings - these might be topics such as school uniform, parking near the school, the school's anti-bullying policy, etc.

The chairperson must have a child in the school and the majority of members must be parents. However, the Parent Council can decide to co-opt other members such as school staff and community representatives who will have knowledge and skills to help them.

Information pack

This packis designed to answer some of the questions you may have about Parent Councils and help you to make your Parent Council work well.

Parent Councils in Clackmannanshire Schools

For information on which schools in Clackmannanshire have Parent Councils in place, you can visit our page entitled Parent Councils in Clackmannanshire Schools.

Several school websites include details of the work that their Parent Councils have been doing.

Where can I get more information?

You can find out more about Parent Councils through your local school.

You can also find more information about parents as partners in children's learning, or any aspect of Scottish education through the Parentzone website and through the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS).