Effective meetings School Councils

1. Effective meetingsSchool Councils

2. Planning for effective meetings • Planning • What do you want from the meeting? • What do you need to achieve? • Notifying people • Who is invited? • Set a date and time • Preparation • Make an agenda • Decide what needs to be decided, what needs to be discussed, what needs to be advised • Allow time for each agenda item

3. Effective meetings (cont.) • Meeting processes • Controlling the meeting • Understanding roles • Keeping a record • Keeping notes from the meeting • What to do with action items (decisions)

4. Roles • Chairperson / Convenor • Prepares and runs the meeting • Ensures the meeting stays on track and on time • Secretary / recorder • Keeps notes during the meeting and writes them up after the meeting • Meeting participants • Have a say, stay involved, listen to each other

5. Quorum • A quorum is the number of people required before decisions can be made • A quorum is ‘not less than one half of the total members of the school council’, where ‘total members’ means the maximum number of members that could be appointed under the school’s constituting order • Also, the majority of members present cannot be DEECD employees • A parent member who is also a DEECD employee is counted as a DEECD representative for quorum purposes • A quorum must be maintained throughout the meeting • In the event of a tied vote, the Chairperson has the casting vote.

6. Members’ responsibilities • Be on time or send an apology if you are unable to attend • Listen without interrupting • Listen to understand • Think before you speak • Don’t speak for the sake of it • Be fair in your criticism • Make sure you understand what’s been decided

7. More on the people side... • Set and agree on the rules of how the meeting is to work • What behaviour is allowed, what is not allowed • Open or closed meeting • Be clear on roles - especially the Chairperson’s role • Manage time

8. The meeting itself... • Open the meeting • Welcome everyone • Ensure people have received their papers • Conduct the discussion • See next slide • Summarise the meeting • Point out main discussions and any decisions made • Close the meeting • Thank people for coming

9. Structure of a discussion • State the issue or topic of discussion • Hear the facts • Listen to people’s arguments, experiences, opinions • Reach a conclusion on what’s wanted • Make a decision • Record the decision

10. Keeping notes • Time and date of meeting, where held, who came, who chaired • All agenda items discussed • Main ideas put forward and any actions agreed on • Time the meeting ended • Date, time, place of next meeting

11. Meeting checklist • People notified - time, date, venue • Agenda set and sent in advance • Discussion papers sent in advance with a recommendation on what is required from the meeting – e.g. • For information • For a decision- that is, a recommendation • Check any actions needed since last meeting

12. For more information • http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/governance/schoolcouncils/role.htm (What is a school council and what does it do?) • http://www.ourcommunity.com for Help Sheets on running a meeting