Bucksburn School Parent Council

The parent council are in receipt of the following document, prepared by Mrs Joss, a parent at Bucksburn School.

Solutions To Barriers For Non Residential Parents Participating Equally In their Child’s Education

(I have used “City Council” to mean those in overall charge of educational policy in the city.)

In General

Parent Councils should actively seek representation from under-represented groups of parents/carers. And recognize that it can be hard for parents/carers in certain groups to participate, eg Residential Parents, Non Residential Parents(who may themselves be single parents and so struggle with childcare), those with disabled children, those for whom English is not the first language, those who did not have a good experience of education themselves as children.

Specific To Children Whose Parents Live Apart

1. When a new child registers at a school, it should be a required question on the School Registration form to ask whether there is a Resident Parent and a Non Resident Parent. If so, both parents’ contact details/full address should appear on the registration form. City Councils should enforce this with legal penalties if it is ignored.

2. If the children remains at the same school during a period of family breakdown/family re­build, it should be mandatory for both the RP and the NRP to inform the City Council as well as their child’s school in writing about their change of status in their relationships and any change of address at that time, as well as at any time in the future.

3. City councils should write to both parents setting out their parental responsibilities (not rights)towards continuing to support their child at school for his/her long-term well being. City Councils should also confirm that both parents will be kept informed, by the school, of their child’s progress and school activities until their child leaves school.

4. If there are any problems about this, the school would refer them to the City Council. The City Council would then pass on information about the child’s educational progress and school activities to both parents by letter, thus relieving the school of this burden as well as giving them the opportunity to distance the school from accusations of favouring one parent.

5. If the child changes schools after family breakdown/family rebuild, it should be mandatory for both parents to inform the City Council as well as their child’s school in writing about their change of status in their relationships and any change of addresses at that time, as well as any time in the future.

6. The City Council would then write to both parents, confirming these changes and setting out their parental responsibilities(«of rights) towards continuing to support their child at school for his long term well being, and for both parents to be kept informed, by the school, of their child’s progress and school activities until their child leaves school.

7. If either the Resident or Non Resident Parent moves to another address at any time during the period their child is at school, they should be required to inform their City Council. City Councils should enforce this with legal penalties if it is ignored.

I think this raises some interesting points, indeed it was well discussed at our last meeting. As with any discussion touching on family break-ups and ‘the other parent’ it brings up some extreme or heated feelings and views. I think this is important to the democratic processes involved with decision making and strategy planning and I enjoyed the discussion. I found myself, perhaps as I’m detached from the extremes, agreeing with the majority of what was expressed by Mrs Joss at the meeting and in the above document. Others on the council had very different viewpoints but I think all were heard and noted. Some points were carried and some were dropped.

Continue reading ‘Document from Mrs. A. Joss’