Parent Councils came into force on 1 August 2007.

The membership of Holytown Parent Council will be a minimum of four parents of children attending the school.  The maximum size is nine.  The Parent Council will be elected for a period of 2 years for the chairperson and 1 year for all other members.  The head teacher is the professional adviser to the Parent Council.
The Parent Council’s rights and duties include:

• supporting the work of the school:
• representing the views of parents:
• consulting with parents and reporting back to the Parent Forum on matters of interest:
• promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery education and the wider community:
• fundraising:
• taking part in the selection of senior promoted staff:
• receiving reports from the head teacher and education authority: and
• receiving an annual budget for administration, training and other expenses.

Members of Parent Councils, on a voluntary basis, may also have an advisory role in decisions on placing requests by parents in respect of those situations where the number of placing requests for a particular school or for a particular – stage in a particular school exceeds the number of places available.

Parent Members:-

Chairperson
Linda Girvan
Vice Chairperson
Norman Campbell (Co-opted Member/Business Partner) Holytown Primary School 
Treasurer
Joan Flanigan
Parent
Clerk to the Board

 

PROCEDURES FOR ELECTING PARENT REPRESENTATIVES

Establishment of Electoral Roll
This is compiled annually, to show eligible electors.  Pupils are issued with a pupil information computer print-out indicating the parents or guardians who are on the electoral roll.  This information is required to be checked.  
If there are any other adults who qualify to be included in the electoral roll then the names and addresses of such adults must be included in the return at this stage. 

It should be noted that a parent may approach the Head Teacher in confidence on questions as to his or her right for inclusion on the school roll.  

The electoral roll is thus established, locked away securely and updated continually and annually. 

After the establishment of the roll, any parent may visit the school and request confirmation that his or her name is on the roll.

Parent Representatives
The number of parent representatives is determined by the student roll of the school.
In a school of this size there must be five parent representatives.  

Invitations for nomination papers are made in the local press and are obtainable from the school.

The school also publicises through the usual channels the availability of nomination papers.  

The council’s scheme is that nominations for parents’ elections be supported by two proposers who are eligible to vote at the particular election.  The nominations close promptly at a specific time.  

If the number of candidates equal the number of vacancies the candidates are declared elected and advised accordingly.  If there are more than five nominations an election has to be held.  Parent candidates are invited to submit a 250 word statement in support of their candidature.  A pro-forma for such a statement can be obtained from the school and must be returned with the completed nomination form.  This statement is duplicated and issued to each parent elector together with a ballot paper.
Voting
The legislation provides that voters should place an X against a number of candidates up to, but not more than, the prescribed number of vacancies.  
The ballot papers and statements are issued by post.  Parents have the choice of returning the ballot paper by post or having it delivered to school.  
The procedures are such that voting secrecy is maintained.  
No ballot papers are accepted after the closing date and time for delivery to the school

Count
The count for parent representatives takes place in the school during an evening.  
Supervisors and enumerators are employed to make the count, following a rigid procedure, as in any local or government election.

Result of Election
If there are no ties, the supervisor may announce the result of the election immediately after the count and thereafter to parents by means of a circular.  
A copy of the results may also be sent to the local newspapers.  All papers relating to the election are retained in a secure place for six months after the election.