Parent Council Welcome Pack

Finding out more

Your Parent Council is supported by law under the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. The Scottish Executive has produced two key documents with information and advice about the Act.

• The Guidance explains the Act and includes a copy of it. It describes what local authorities and schools need to do to meet the requirements of the Act. It also describes the functions of a Parent Council.
• The Toolkit has lots of practical ideas of how you can make the Act work. It has examples of what is already happening in schools, checklists and activities for schools and parents to work on together.

Both documents can be found on the Parentzone website at www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk . This website provides information for parents on all aspects of Scottish education. It can be a good starting point for any questions you may get from parents.

How this pack can help you

Your headteacher has a copy of the Guidance and a copy of the Toolkit has been sent to your Parent Council. All of the checklists and activities in the Toolkit can be downloaded from Parentzone in 'Word' format which means that you can alter and adapt them or add your own school logo to suit your own needs.

Working with parents

Your Parent Council may wish to look at the Scottish Executive series of leaflets called 'Making the Difference'. There are twelve leaflets in all covering a range of issues of interest to parents such as Homework, Parents Evenings, Sharing Information, Out of School Learning, Getting involved in your child's school, etc. Your Parent Council may wish to discuss with the school how these can be used with parents. The leaflets can also be adapted to support some of the activities that you may be planning.

The leaflets can be ordered via the Parentzone website and you can get them in various community languages. Some schools send out both the English and community language version.

Parents as partners

Your Parent Council has been sent an 'Involving Parents' CD Rom (with the Toolkit). This includes videos of parents and school staff describing what works in their schools and many examples of letters, newsletters, leaflets and other resources from a range of nursery, primary, secondary and special schools. You may wish to discuss with your headteacher whether any of the ideas could be adapted for your school.

The Learning and Teaching Scotland website gives lots of ideas and suggestions for teachers and schools on how they can work in partnership with parents to help children achieve. See
www.ltscotland.org.uk/parentsaspartnersinlearning/index.asp

Many local authorities also use their own websites to provide local information for parents and Parent Councils. Ask your local authority link person about this.

There is a wide variety of websites and organisations which can provide information and advice useful to your Parent Council.

For ways of how to support children's learning:

• Parentscentre www.parentscentre.gov.uk
  (How to help with children's learning, including advice on choosing a school and finding childcare)
• BBC Parents www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents
  (Help with school work, home/school life and games and worksheets)

Parents as partners

For general advice and information and other services to Parent Councils:­­

• Scottish Parent Council Association - formerly Scottish School Board Association ( SSBA) www.scottishparents.com
• Scottish Parent Teacher Council ( SPTC) Tel: 0131 226 4378 www.sptc.info

Parent Councils are not expected to discuss individual cases, but may like to be aware of organisations that offer support to parents. Parentzone contains links to a wide range of such organisations including:

• Parent Network Scotland www.parentnetworkscotland.org.uk
  (Delivers courses and informal, practical and participative workshops in parenting skills to parents and professionals)
• Enquire Helpline: 0845 123 2303 Textphone: 0131 222 2439
  Email: info@enquire.org.uk or access www.enquire.org.uk
  (Enquire is the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning)

The Parentzone website contains information, advice and resources to help parents become more involved in their child's education and support their learning. Visit www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk