What are the Principles Guiding the Forum?
You can count on the Parent Forum to be:
- Collaborative: participating together for the benefit of the school community
- Constructive: helping to identify effective solutions
- Transparent: keeping everyone informed of meetings and their outcomes
- Encouraging: welcoming ideas and initiatives to foster a positive ethos
Who Can Be Part of the Forum?
All parents and care givers of children attending our School. In addition, a representative from the school board and the leadership team has the right to attend each meeting.
What Will the Parents Forum Not Do?
- The Parent Forum is not a decision-making body.
- It is a body which can feed in views and represent the parents and care givers of issues surrounding the school.
- The Parent Forum is also not the place to discuss concerns or complaints involving individual children, families or members of staff.
- Parents Forum will not discuss issues like school fees wavers, levies and school financial/ budgetary system.
Why Should Parents & Care Givers Take Part?
As a parent or care giver, being part of the Forum can help you in a number of ways:
- Serves as a good link between you and the school which in the long run can improve your child’s/children’s aptitude and chances of doing well at school
- It gives you an opportunity to get together on a regular basis with other parents to have your say on what the school is doing well, and ideas of how you feel things could be improved.
- It can help you get the advice and support to help and encourage your children with their learning.
- It can break down barriers between the school and parents and improve working relationships.
How Can Parents & Care Givers Participate?
Parents and care givers can participate in a number of ways:
- By taking a role to help promote the Forum and make it work;
- By participating in activities and letting either your Parent Forum Year/Class representative or a member of the Parent Forum Committee aware of your thoughts relating to the School.
- By suggesting items to be discussed with the school prior to a Parent Forum Meeting
All are warmly welcome to attend and participate at any Parent Forum meeting;
How Parents & Care Givers Can Make the Parents Forum Productive for All
In our school, we want to ensure a positive and respectful environment and we want those who attend the meetings to abide by the following code of conduct:
- Listen to others’ views and welcome diversity of opinions
- Treat speakers with respect
- Act courteously
- Contribute & participate
- Avoid naming individual members of the school community and pupil who you may wish to talk about.
When Do Parents Forum Meet?
Parents forum meet once in a month in some cases meet once in a term.
What Specific Roles Can Parents Play?
- 4 representatives of Parents would be given letters per class, two patrons (males) and two matrons (females) who will represent parents of that class for that term, they may come in to have a chat with pupils of that class on a particular subject matter given to them by the school or come in with ideas that may benefit the pupils.
- After a term, two others may be chosen; this rotational process allows parents to build a positive relationship with the learners and the school.
- Parents forum members may volunteer to take a subject they are good at for an hour in a school day just to have a feel of what learners perceive of the subject.
- Parents forum members may also volunteer to go on a field trip with a class or the school. They may serve as quiet observers or guest speakers during such field trips.
- A general meeting of parents forum would hold once or twice in a term where parents and the school community can discuss ideas for progress.