Resources
GUIDELINES FOR P & F ASSOCIATIONS
The Parents and Friends’ Association is an integral part of the Catholic school structure and is a valuable instrument in this important Church Apostolate of education.
To ensure its effectiveness, the Association should:
- Adhere to the aims and objectives of the State Federation as laid down by the Constitution and approved by the Catholic Bishops of Western Australia;
- Strive to develop at the school a real community of parents, teachers and students, which reflects a truly Christian ethos;
- Work closely with the School Authorities, in particular the school Principal, who is the leader of the school community, to achieve common goals;
- Ensure that a high level of social and educational interaction exists between home and school, parents and teachers;
- Endeavour to have all parents enjoy the exciting experience of their children’s formal school years by active participation and personal involvement in the school programs;
- Provide a healthy forum for ideas and discussion on any relevant issue that will benefit the education of the children;
- In particular, concern itself with further education for the parents of the school in their faith development and ensure that a clear understanding of the school’s religious education program exists;
- Assist in planning and organising functions associated with the social, sporting, cultural and educational life of the school community;
- Work to provide additional resources which are considered necessary for the children or to assist the teachers in their professional work. Whilst this role has been and will continue to be very important in Catholic schools, it should not be the only function of the Parents and Friends’ Association, which should ensure that its activities extend into the above areas as well.
- To ensure the proper running of the Association, the Parents and Friend’s Association Executive should:
- Be responsible for the planning, management and organisation of the Association’s affairs;
- Hold regular (preferably monthly) general meetings, to which should be invited all parents, the principal, teachers, parish clergy and/or religious associated with the school, and other interested persons;
- Conduct meetings in a fitting and proper manner with respect for accepted meeting procedures;
- Use known and successful organisational tools, such as sub-committees, task forces, seminars and discussion groups, to encourage wider participation, develop increased responsibility and achieve more effective results;
- Appoint a person or form a sub-committee to be responsible for various activities and dissemination of information pertaining to the Association’s areas of responsibility to the school community, eg., education policy issues, adult education, religious education, the State Federation, the Australian Parents’ Council, social, cultural and sporting activities, the parent-teacher partnership, etc;
- Nominate an Association representative on the School Board;
- Nominate delegates for election to the Parents and Friends’ Federation Council;
- Be responsible for all financial and administrative matters pertaining to the Association’s activities, including the payment of affiliation fees and the supply of Office-Bearers’ details to the Parents and Friends’ Federation of W.A. Inc.
- Note: a suggested draft Constitution for Parents and Friends’ Associations is available as a separate document which can be downloaded by clicking here.
HELP SHEETS
To help your Parents and Friends’ Association run smoothly Help Sheets on a number of useful subjects can be downloaded by clicking below on the subject of interest.
Most of this information is also available in the Parents and Friends’ Association Handbook, which is supplied free to affiliated Parents and Friends’ Associations.
Sample P & F Association Meeting Agenda
Sample P & F Association AGM Agenda
Sample Standing Orders for P & F Meetings
Questions and Answers re P & F Meetings
Roles of P & F President & Vice President
Role of P & F Representative on the School Board
Hints about finding new Office Bearers
Association Levies as a Means of Fundraising
Raising & Spending the Money – P & F Guidelines
Association Incorporation: Legal & Financial Liability
Association Constitution – Necessary or Not?
Draft Parents & Friends’ Association Constitution
Resilience and the Home/School Partnership Project Brochure
The link below will display the contents in Acrobat(pdf) format.
Resilience Home/School Brochure
Newspaper articles & Items of Interest
19 March 08 : Method is the Message – a report into school productivity since the 1960’s is disputed by David Zyngier, a lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy in the Faculty of Education at Monash University’s Peninsula campus.
19 March 08 : Voucher System the way forward – make University’s compete and find their niche suggests Steven Swartz, the Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University.
18 April 08 : Rudd’s baby farms not great for kids – the PM’s child care centres smell of command economies, warn Peter Saunders and Jessica Brown, social researchers at the Centre for Independent Studies.
15 May 08 : The Hidden Costs of Co-Education – by Andrew Mullins, the Headmaster of Redfield College, Sydney, a boys school from Year 2 to 12. He is also the author of “Parenting for Character”, Finch Publishing, 2005.