Parental Involvement at DSM

Parent Representative Committee

During the pandemic lockdowns, a working group called the Together Project - consisting of parents, teachers, and administrators from across the DSM community - met to look at ways to improve communication and engagement at our school. One of the ideas that came up is that we need a new Parent Representative Committee, one that helps parents stay connected with the school and allows for greater collaboration, transparency and feedback.

The purpose of our Parent Representative Committee (PRC) is to constructively support the school and to have a positively engaged group of people that regularly meets with the school and represents parents’ views, sentiments and feedback. The PRC is also responsible for soliciting feedback between parents and the class teacher/s and encouraging opportunities to connect and communicate outside of class. This new model aims to be a simple way for parents to connect with the school, to help improve and develop our school, receive timely updates, and to improve transparency and communication.

Key activities and responsibilities:

1. Selection/Nomination: 

• It is recommended that two Parent Representatives are nominated per class - and they will alternate in attending the Parent Representative Committee meetings to represent their class. 

2. Communications: 

• A communication channel should be created by the Parent Representatives (if not already existing from previous years) to appropriately communicate with the parent group. Parents can opt-in/out. 
• The PRC liaises with the school, not on behalf of the school with the parents - no official communication will be circulated by the PRC outside of the Parent Representatives filtering updates back through their defined communication channel.

3. Social Events: 

• One social event for the class should be organised by the Parent Representatives each term. This event is typically held on a weekend or after school and is a great opportunity for parents to connect, and share feedback that the Parent Representatives can bring to the teacher or PRC meeting, as relevant. 

4. Meetings: 

• One Parent Representative per class attends the PRC meeting each term and brings relevant feedback for the school, and best represents the class views/opinions. They subsequently feedback any news or updates to the parents in a timely fashion via the chosen communication channel. 
• The Parent Representative/s also meets with the relevant teacher/s each term and brings feedback, suggestions, and questions from the parent group that is specific to the classroom.