TRINITY ACADEMY T: 0131 478 5050
Constitution (13.11.2011)
This is the constitution for Craigmount High School Parent Council.
1. The objectives of the Parent Council are:
• to work in partnership with the school to create a welcoming school, which is inclusive for all parents.
• to promote partnership between the school, its students, its parents and the wider community.
• to develop and engage in activities which support the education and welfare of the students.
• to identify and represent the views of parents on the education provided by the school and other matters affecting the education and welfare of the students.
• to ensure that all parents are informed appropriately.
2. The parent membership of the Council will be a minimum of 7 parents of children attending the school. The maximum will be 15 parents. It is desirable but not necessary that parents should represent students from all 6 years of the school, and also from all 6 associated primaries.
3. Every parent member of the Council will be appointed for a period of two years, with the option of leaving after one year. After serving for two years they may put themselves forward for re-selection.
4. Any parent of a child at the school can volunteer to be a member of the Parent Council. If spaces are available, priority will be given to ensuring year and associated primary representation (see 2.). If the membership has reached the maximum number allowed, volunteers can become members of any sub-group set up by the Council, and may join the Council at the first opportunity thereafter.
5. The number of parent members on the Parent Council must be greater than the number of all other members, excluding co-opted members.
6. Any sub-groups formed by the Council will report regularly to the Council, will deliver any monies raised to the Council, and may be dissolved and re-formed as and when the Council requires. Forum members may be asked to join the sub-groups at any time.
7. Up to 3 members of staff and up to 3 students will be invited to become members of the Council. These members will be chosen so as to ensure as wide a representation of Craigmount School as possible.
8. The Parent Council may co-opt up to 3 members from the community. These members will be chosen so as to ensure as relevant a representation as possible.
9. Co-opted members will be invited to serve for a period of one year, after which time the Parent Council will review and consider. Staff and student members will be appointed for a period of 2 years, with the option of leaving after 1 year.
10. The Headteacher of Craigmount High School or his/her representative will attend every meeting.
11. All local elected representatives will be invited to attend Council meetings.
12. The Council will appoint the following office bearers from the Parent members – Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. These will be agreed by the Parent Council members immediately following its formation. A Clerk will be appointed if monies are made available. Office bearers will be re-selected by the Parent Council on an annual basis.
13. The Parent Council is accountable to the Parent Forum for Craigmount High School and will communicate regularly with the Forum on its activities.
14. An Annual Meeting will be held in May of each year. A notice of the meeting including date, time, and place will be sent to all members of the Parent Forum at least 2 weeks in advance. The meeting will include:
• a report on the work of the Parent Council and its sub-groups
• selection of the new Parent Council
• discussion of issues that members of the Parent Forum may wish to raise
• approval of the accounts and appointment of the auditor.
15. The Parent Council will aim to meet every 6 to 8 weeks.
16. Should a vote be necessary to make a decision, each parent, staff and student member at the meeting will have one vote, with the Chair having a casting vote in the event of a tie.
17. Any two members of the Parent Council can request that an additional meeting be held, and all members of the Parent Council will be given at least one week’s notice of date, time and place of the meeting.
18. If a Parent Council member acts in a way that is considered by other members to undermine the objectives of the Parent Council, their membership of the Parent Council shall be terminated if the majority of parent members agree. Termination of membership would be confirmed in writing to the member.
19. Copies of the minutes of all meetings will be available to the Parent Forum at Craigmount High School and to all staff at the school. Copies will be available from the Clerk to the Parent Council, from the school office and from the school website.
20. Meetings of the Parent Council shall be open to the public, unless the Parent Council is discussing an issue which it considers should be dealt with on a confidential basis. In such circumstances, only members of the Parent Council and the Headteacher, or his/her representative, can attend. There may also be certain circumstances when it will be deemed inadvisable for the student members to attend.
21. The Treasurer will open a bank or building society account in the name of the Parent Council for all Parent Council funds. Withdrawals will require the signature of the Treasurer and one other Parent Council member.
22. The Treasurer will keep an accurate record of all income and expenditure, and will provide a summary of this for each Parent Council meeting and a full account for the Annual Meeting. The Parent Council accounts will be checked by two persons from the Forum who are not members of the Council, and who were appointed at the previous Annual Meeting.
23. The Parent Council shall be responsible for ensuring that all monies are used in accordance with the objectives of the Parent Council.
24. The Parent Council may change its constitution after obtaining consent from members of the Parent Forum. Members of the Parent Forum will be sent a copy of any proposed amendment and given reasonable time to respond to the proposal.
25. Should the Parent Council cease to exist, any remaining funds will be passed to the education authority to be used for the benefit of Craigmount High School.
Craigmount Parent Council Fundraising
In addition to the regular meetings attended by the Parent Council members we also undertake to raise funds by various means; all of which benefit the students throughout the school.
There is a sub-group of the Parent Council that meets from time to time to focus on fundraising activities. Must of the fundraising is carried out by this small group of Parent Council members, but all members come together, where possible, to assist in the larger ventures, especially the Corstorphine Fair.
Over the last few years we have raised many thousands of pounds – all of which has gone back to provide assistance to the school or after school clubs. We do not provide the necessities for the Departments but the extras- the icing on the cake – which can allow trips, visits from external bodies or just make learning more interesting or exciting.
Recent (2020/21) funding includes:
£520 from Foundation Scotland for Participant Journals for the school’s Seasons For Growth programme.
£200 from the Corstorphine Benevolent Trust and £268 from First Class Learning for purchasing calculators.
£1300 from Sunrise Dental Care in Corstorphine for Senior Football and Netball strips, plus £200 towards the school’s mental health and equality initiatives.
During 2019/20, we raised funding for the following projects:
Every Department/Club is able to apply each term for a pay-out. The Parent Council considers all applications and makes it decision based on availability of cash in addition to the suitability of the request and how beneficial the project/goods will be to students.
Throughout the year we are present at every Parents Consultation Evening where we meet parents/carers as they arrive and sell quiz sheets at £1 each. This has become more popular over the time it has been running with many coming ready with coin in hand to see what puzzle we have on offer. Each quiz usually covers 2-3 evenings and prizes are available for the 2 best returned entries.
We also sell a quiz and run a small raffle at the information evening in June for the parents/carers of P7 students about to join Craigmount, in addition to offering them a welcoming drink.
Our largest fundraising event is the ever popular Corstorphine Fair which is held in St Margaret’s Park on the first Saturday in June every 2 years (even years e.g. 2020). We take a stall at the fair and hold a tombola offering wide and varied prizes kindly donated by local businesses and attractions. Any help for this large event is very welcome – either a donation for our tombola, some baking or the offer of an hour or two of help on the stall. The 2020 fair was rescheduled for June 2021, but this has now been cancelled; we look forward to taking part in June 2022.
The autumn of 2014 saw us launch our latest initiative – The 200 Club. This allows funds to be raised for the school but also for 40% of the income to be returned to the members as prize money. You have to be in it to win it! Please send up an email if you’d like to join craigmount.parentcouncil@gmail.com. In 2019/20 the 200 club paid out £650 to support wellbeing activities in the school.
We are always looking for new ideas for our fundraising but further suggestions and enthusiastic offers of help are gratefully received.
Money raised during the past few years has gone to several departments and clubs including:
Grants are typically between £100 and £500.
This page is to thank the generosity of our different partners and their contribution to our community at Craigmount High School.
Each partner represented here has provided resources for different aspects of the school ranging from sports equipment to staff training to promoting positive mental health. Each contribution has had a positive impact on our young people.
If you have an opportunity to support Craigmount High School and its young people then please contact Gilly Herbert on the parent council: craigmount.parentcouncil@gmail.com
