Parental Involvement

Welcome to Education, Leisure and Housing webpages on Parental Involvement. All pages can be accessed from the 'More pages in this section' menu.

Parents as Partners in their Children’s Learning, is a strategy being taken forward by Learning and Teaching Scotland. For further information please see their website.

It stems from the Scottish Schools Parental Involvement Act 2006, which provides a framework for parental involvement in Scotland. The Parents as Partners philosophy is that parents are a vital part of modern education and the aim is to get parents involved.

Parents as Partners states that there are three main ways in which parents, carers and guardians can have involvement in supporting their children’s learning. These are: Learning at Home, Home/School Partnership and Parental Representation.

Parental Representation includes Parent Councils, which replaced the old School Boards. Every school in Orkney has its own Parent Council and receives support from Education, Leisure and Housing with administration, finance, insurance and training requirements.

Parents as Partners in their Children’s Learning

Learning at Home

Parents are the first educators of their children and have an ongoing impact on their education. It is therefore important that parents receive the necessary information and support to enable them to develop their child’s learning at home, in the community and at school.

Home/School Partnership

Parents should be encouraged to be involved in the work and life of the school. Schools should provide information in a manner that will facilitate parents’ engaging with their children's education.

Parental Representation

Parents should have an input into their child’s education by being given the opportunity to express their views and have these recognised. The Scottish Schools Parental Involvement Act 2006 is a law that was brought in to support parents, ensuring that parents have a say in their child’s education.

The Parent Forum is the term given to every parent, carer or guardian with a child in school. The Parent Council is made up of a smaller number of members of the Parent Forum for each school, and aims to gather and express views, thus representing all parents. In some of the smaller schools in Orkney the Parent Council is made up of the entire Parent Forum.

Contacts

For further information on Parental Involvement and Parent Councils please contact:

Peter Diamond - Head of Schools.

Graeme Horne - Education Resources Officer.