Guidance for Form Parent Representatives
The role of the form parent representative is to provide the vital link in communication between the school, the FOSHA Committee and the parents in each year group; and to support the form teachers and FOSHA as needed throughout the year. The role can be done by one parent or shared amongst two.
Life at the school can get quite hectic and the amount of information we receive can be overwhelming. Therefore most Form Parent Representatives circulate a weekly email to the parents in their respective year group which highlights the coming week’s activities (the school does display this information each week on the relevant notice boards as well) along with any associated information or reminders that will be useful. Receiving a personal weekly email has proved extremely helpful to many, but this is totally up to the Form Parent Representatives to decide how they want to do this.
The Form Parent Representatives also provide crucial support to new parents joining their year group by explaining the various activities that take place throughout the year. This would include the arrangements for the Friday Café, the second hand school uniform shop, mufti days and annual events for the children. Basically, anything that an existing parent takes for granted and a new parent may need help with.
Form Parent Representatives also tend to organise year group coffee mornings (in or out of school) and an end of term year group night out, to give both new and existing parents the opportunity to meet and catch up with each other.
Listed below are some tips to guide you in your role as Form Parent Representative:
- Communication is key. A weekly email is strongly encouraged, but is totally up to your discretion.
- Prompt parents to use the Skippers Calendar, Fixtures Lists and Key Dates each term. This little book is the “school bible” as it lists every event for the whole term. The website has all the information regarding the schools activities online as well.
- Support new parents as and when they join the school.
- Provide each parent in your year group with a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of each child in the class (this information can be obtained from the School Office).
- Organise the Friday Café (according to the year group rota) by asking your year group parents to donate home made cakes and assist in running the Café for your nominated week.
- In conjunction with the form teacher, organise for the children to make an art/craft item to be sold at the Christmas Fayre.
- Support and communicate the work of the FOSHA Committee wherever possible and be a conduit for any comments or feedback about FOSHA activities to the Committee.
This information is a guide only, but will hopefully be useful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact any members of the Committee if you need advice or assistance, we are here to help.