Election of Parent Local Governance Committee
Election for Parent Local Governance Committee Member
Dear Parents and Carers,
We have two vacancies for Parent Local Governance Committee Members on the St Simon of England RC Primary Local Governance Committee. We are seeking applications from parents who would like to play an active role in supporting the strategic development of the school and I am therefore writing to you to consider standing for election.
This role involves attending termly meetings, attending relevant training as well as supporting the monitoring of different aspects of the children’s education.
Local Governance Committee Members are elected for a period of 4 years, however, may resign at any time.
No special qualifications are needed, the most important thing is to have a keen interest in the school and be prepared to play an active part in the Local Governance Committee work.
As part of their application each person standing for election is invited to provide a short personal statement (a maximum and strictly no more than 250 words). The statement could include biographical information, your reasons for wanting to be a Parent Committee Member, your skills and the contribution you believe you could make to the Governance Committee.
If the number of nominations received is equal or less than the number of vacancies, the nominee(s) will automatically be successful as Parent Committee nominee/s subject to appointment by the Trust.
If there are more nominations than vacancies, a ballot (vote) will be held, and copies of the applicants’ personal statements will be sent to all parents; 10 school days will be allowed for the return of ballot papers.
If you would like to stand for election, please complete the Parent Committee Member Application Form online and return it to me within 10 school days i.e. 24th January.
The application will only take around 10 minutes to complete and can be found below:
Information about the role of a Parent Committee Member is attached If you have any further questions, please contact a member of our Local Governance Committee, the Company Secretary at the Trust (crobinson@kcsp.org.uk) or myself.
Kind regards
Mr Peter McCabe
PARENT COMMITTEE MEMBER ROLE DESCRIPTION
Overview
Parent Committee Members have an important role to play in the management of our schools. This is to assist the Headteacher to provide the best possible education for all pupils and to ensure that the Trust increases the number of young children and people participating in Catholic education. Keeping them safe and offering all pupils the opportunity to grow in confidence and maximise their potential, aiming to make schools not only places of outstanding learning but also places where Catholic faith is both taught and nurtured.
The role of a Parent Committee Member is one of challenge and support with your strategic responsibilities fulfilled via monitoring and reporting. It is a strategic role not operational.
Role Purpose
In order to perform this role well, a Parent Committee Member is expected to:
- Have a child at the school and know the school
- Bring a parent viewpoint and perspective to discussion and debate (but not represent parent’s individual views)
- Gain a good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses
- Attend induction training and regular relevant training and development events
- Attend meetings and read all meeting materials ahead of the meeting
- Act in the best interests of all pupils at the school,
- Behave in a professional manner, as set down in the Committee Member Code of Conduct, including acting in strict confidence
- Act as a critical friend to Headteacher
Skills and Attributes
A Parent Committee Member should be able to demonstrate a good selection of the skills/attributes set out below:
Core skills and competencies of a Committee Member:
- To uphold the 7 Principles of Public life: Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty, and Leadership
- Commitment to catholicity and the faith-based education
- Commitment to the Trust and its schools
- A willingness and ability to familiarise themselves with the environment in which the Trust and school is operating and wider education policy
- Act fairly and impartially and in the interest of pupils using independent judgment and maintaining confidentiality
- Strong communication skills
- Good organisational skills
- Ability to recognise the distinction between governance and management responsibilities and act accordingly
- Capacity to process information quickly and understand relevant data
- To work as a team
- To attend meetings and be prepared to contribute to discussions
- To be respectful of the views of others and be open to new ideas and thoughts
- To treat all information confidentially
- To support the Trust and its schools in public and act as an ambassador for the Trust
- To commit to training and skills development
- To be ready to ask questions
- To be focussed on problem solving and be ready to learn from past experiences
Parent Committee Members must act independently and in the best interest of the Trust/school.
Specific skills may be needed if a Committee Member is to take on a Lead role. Please see the Lead Monitoring Role Descriptors for further information.
Training Requirements
A Committee Member is expected to undertake all mandatory training identified by the Trust.
Additional training may be sought from external third parties to assist Parent Committee Members in the fulfilment of their duties and such training will be arranged by the Executive Director of Governance & Company Secretary.
Time commitment
The expectation is that Parent Committee Members should commit between 10 – 15 days per year, with the Chair of the Committee being at the upper end of the time commitment.
Parent Committee Members should aim to keep their time commitment below the 15-day limit however if the time commitment is proving to be significantly more than 15 days, it may be productive to delegate certain tasks to other Committee Members.