Parmiter's School Parents' Association

Executive Roles

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The following describes the roles of the PA Executive Officers.

Chair

The Chair provides leadership for the committee, sets the agenda for meetings and manages the meetings in line with the agenda. The Chair should ensure that issues are properly debated and an agreement reached. He/she should maintain order whilst encouraging debate and letting everyone have their say. This is particularly important for new committee members who may at first feel awkward speaking up. From time to time personality clashes may arise. In these circumstances the Chair should remain impartial, calling the meeting to order without upsetting the parties involved and make sure that the committee’s decisions are not hindered in any way. The Chair will work closely with and support the other officers to ensure the PA runs smoothly and efficiently, fostering a good working relationship with the school. As a committee officer, the chair is one of the authorised cheque signatories.

Summary:

bulletProvide leadership.
bulletFoster good relationships with the School and attend School events whenever possible.
bulletSet the agenda for meetings and ask for apologies for absence.
bulletFollow the agenda and keep meetings under control.
bulletSign the approved minutes of the last meeting.
bulletClose the committee meetings.
bulletWrite the Chair's annual report.
bulletSign cheques for the PA with one other officer.
bulletWelcome and involve new members.

Vice Chair

The Vice Chair's role is, primarily, to support the Chair and the other officers to help ensure that the PA runs smoothly and efficiently, whilst fostering a good working relationship with the School. The Vice Chair stands in at any meetings that the Chair is unable to attend and conducts the meeting in accordance with the guidelines above.

The Vice Chair is also responsible for ensuring new committee members are signed up as trustees and for updating committee member details with the Charities Commission. He/she is also required to maintain and produce a list of contact details for all committee members on a regular basis. The Vice Chair is an authorised cheque signatory.

Summary:

bulletSupport the Chair and other officers of the committee.  
bulletStand in as Chair at any meeting at which the Chair is absent.
bulletSign approved minutes of last meeting in absence of the Chair.
bulletFoster good relationships with the School and attend School events whenever possible.
bulletSign cheques for the PA with one other officer.
bulletEnsure new committee members complete the Trustee form.
bulletKeep committee member details updated with the Charities Commission.
bulletProduce the list of committee member contact details.

Secretary

The Secretary works with and supports the other officers, to ensure the PA runs smoothly, providing a link between committee members and the PA, and between committee members and the School.

The Secretary deals with all the correspondence the PA receives and building a good relationship with the school secretary can help with this task. The Secretary can ask the school to distribute mailings to parents, either via "Parent Mail" or "pupil mail".

The Secretary’s other main task is to help the Chair to run committee meetings smoothly. For this the Secretary will:

bullet Arrange a venue for the meeting and liaise with the Chair over the agenda.
bullet Check that there are enough committee members present at a meeting to make a quorum, which is either 10 or one third of the committee, whichever is the less.
bulletRecord those present at the meeting and apologies for absence. 
bulletTake notes during the meeting and record any decisions made.
bulletWrite the minutes of a meeting and send these to all committee members.

The Secretary is responsible for setting the time and venue for the Annual General Meeting, advising all members of the PA of this, and taking the minutes at the AGM. The Secretary is an authorised cheque signatory and is the main holder of the PA cheque book.

Summary:

bulletDeal with correspondence.
bulletArrange meetings giving committee members plenty of notice.
bulletFoster good relationships with the School and attend School events whenever possible.
bulletPrepare the meeting agendas.
bulletKeep a record of attendance at meetings.
bulletTake notes during meeting and write up the minutes, distributing to all committee members.
bulletOrganise the Annual General Meeting.
bulletSign cheques for the PA with one other officer.

Treasurer

One of the key roles of the committee is to manage and control the PA funds. All committee members have an equal responsibility for the control and management of the PA’s funds, and the Treasurer plays an important part in helping the committee carry out these duties properly. The Treasurer also supports the other officers and helps foster a good relationship with the School.

The Treasurer records all income and expenditure, either on a computerised system, Excel spreadsheets or simple accounts book. The Treasurer should have available when required a record of amounts received and spent. At any point in time the Treasurer should be able to identify:

bulletThe balance of funds.
bullet Committed expenditure, including grants authorised.
bulletIncome, expenditure and profits from events.

The Treasurer also reports on the current financial position at each committee meeting. If the Treasurer is unable to attend a meeting then a written report should be sent to the Chair in advance of the meeting. All financial decisions taken should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. All claims for expenses incurred by a committee member of behalf of the PA should be advised to the Treasurer.

The Treasurer also liaises with the bank and:

bulletPays money into the bank account, or authorises another committee member to do so on behalf of the PA
bulletAdvises the bank of agreed changes to the bank mandate i.e. those authorised to sign cheques etc.
bulletRaises and signs cheques with one other officer. The person co-signing must see what is being paid and the Treasurer should keep all original invoices.
bulletWithdraws money to provide cash floats, or authorises another committee member to do so on behalf of the PA. 
bulletMonitors funds held on account.
bulletEnsures any regular payments are made in a timely manner.

At each PA event the Treasurer will advise who should take charge of monies received and to count the proceeds. Ideally this should be two people. Once the total has been agreed, the monies should be banked or kept securely until it can be banked. The school safe can be used for the purpose of storing monies securely.

Finally before the AGM the annual accounts should be prepared and either audited or independently examined, in accordance with latest Charity legislation.

Summary:

bulletMaintain the financial records for the PA.
bulletReport income and expenditure at meetings.
bulletLiaise with the bank(s).
bulletFoster good relationships with the School and attend School events whenever possible.
bulletPrepare and co-sign cheques as required.
bulletCount and bank monies or authorise another member to act on their behalf.
bulletDeal with charity registration and gift aid.
bulletDraw up the annual accounts.

 

 

Copyright © 2001-2009 Parmiter's School Parents' Association
Last modified: March 16, 2009