North Perth Primary School

     Parents and Citizens’ Association Incorporated

 

CONSTITUTION AND RULES

 

 

 

1.0     NAME:

1.1     The Association shall be called the North Perth Primary School Parents and Citizens’ Association Incorporated hereinafter called "The Association”.

 

 

2.0     OBJECTS:

          The objects of the Association are to promote the interests of the school or group of schools through:

 

2.1     cooperation between parents, teachers, students and members of the general community;

 

2.2     assisting in the provision of resources, facilities and amenities for the school or group of schools; and

 

2.3     the fostering of community interest in educational matters.

         

 

3.0     POWERS:

          Subject to the Association’s obligation at law not to intervene in the control or management of a school, intervene in the educational instruction of students and exercise authority over teaching staff or other persons employed at the school, the powers of the Association to enable the achievement of its objects and in addition to the powers otherwise conferred on it by these rules shall be:

 

3.1     Subject to the approval of the chief executive officer of the Department of Education, the power to raise funds and acquire by purchase, lease or by exchange and the hiring or acquiring of any real or personal property that may be deemed necessary or convenient for the objects of the Association.

 

3.2     Power to affiliate with the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc.

 

3.3     Power to appoint and remove employees and to determine the remuneration and the terms and conditions of such appointments.

 

3.4     Power to appoint committees for such purposes as are necessary to prosecute the affairs of the Association

 

3.5     Power to make representations to the school administration, the Department of Education and to government either directly or through the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc.

 

3.6     Power to generally do all such acts and things as may be involved by or incidental to the carrying out of the objects of the Association without in any way being limited to the foregoing powers.

 

 

4.0     INCOME AND PROPERTY:

4.1     The funds of the Association and the property acquired by the Association shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the objects of the Association and no part of those funds or that property may be paid or otherwise distributed, directly or indirectly, to members of the Association, provided that nothing herein shall prevent the expenditure in good faith of funds on the administrative costs incurred by the Association.

 

 

5.0     MEMBERSHIP:

5.1     Membership is open to parents and guardians of children attending the school and to citizens being over the age of eighteen years who are interested in the work of the Association.

5.2     The Principal of the school for which the Association is formed and where the Association is formed for a group of schools, the Principal of each school for which the Association is formed shall be an ex officio member of the governing body of the Associationand may be elected to any of its offices.

 

5.3     A person desiring to become a member may do so at any General Meeting by payment of the membership subscription.

 

 

6.0     MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION:

6.1     The annual membership subscriptionof the Association shall be fixed by the Association at the Annual General Meeting, but shall not exceed one dollar ($1.00) per member for the period up to the next Annual General Meeting.

 

6.2     The subscription of a member is due and payable on the date of the Annual General Meeting or at the General Meeting at which they join the Association.

 

6.3     Any member whose subscription is more than three (3) months in arrears shall cease to be a member of the Association and his or hername shall be deleted from the register of members.

 

 

7.0     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - COMPOSITION:

7.1     For the purposes of this clause a small school is one with an average daily attendance of one hundred (100) or less studentsat the start of the school year.

 

7.2     The Association shall be managed by an Executive Committee.

 

7.3     Where the Association represents a small school the Executive Committee shall comprise:

          A President

          A Vice-President

          An Honorary Secretary/Treasurer

          And not less than two (2) other members

 

7.4     Where the Association represents a school that is not a small school, or where the Association represents a group of schools the Executive Committee shall comprise:

          A President

          A Vice-President

          An Honorary Secretary

          An Honorary Treasurer

          And not less than three (3) other members

          But with the approval of a General Meeting the positions of Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer may be held by one person elected for that purpose at a General Meeting.

 

7.5     Theofficers of the Executive Committee shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Association by and from the financial members and ex-officio members of the Association.

 

7.6     Where there is an equality of voting for any position the result shall be declared by lot.

 

7.7     The Principal of the school for which the Association is formed and where the Association is formed for a group of schools, the Principal of each school for which the Association is formed shall be an ex officio member of the Executive Committee.

 

7.8     An election shall be held at a General Meeting of the Association to fill any vacancy on the Executive Committee.

 

8.0     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - TERM OF OFFICE:

8.1     The elected members of the Executive Committee shall take office at the rising of the Annual General Meeting or the General Meeting at which they were elected and shall hold office until the rising of the next following Annual General Meeting.

 

8.2     All retiring members of the Executive Committee shall be eligible for re-election.

 

 

9.0     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - POWERS:

9.1     The Association shall be managed when a General Meeting is not in session by the Executive Committee which shall have power to control and manage the affairs and finances of the Association but shall be responsible to the General Meeting.

 

9.2     The Executive Committee shall have the power to declare vacant the seat of any of its members who, without leave or reasonable excuse, is absent from three (3) consecutive meetings of the Committee. The Executive Committee in its absolute discretion shall determine what constitutes a reasonable excuse.

 

9.3     The Executive Committee may form sub-committees to deal with particular aspects of its work. Such sub-committees shall be responsible to the Executive Committee. Sub-committees so formed shall each include at least one (1) member of the Executive Committee who will represent it on the Executive Committee.

 

9.4     Meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held at such times and places as shall be determined by an Executive Meeting or when convened by the President.

 

 

10.0   PRESIDING AT MEETINGS:

10.1   The President shall, when present, preside at all General and Executive Committee Meetings of the Association.

 

10.2   In the event of the President being absent the Vice-President shall preside and where both the President and Vice-President are absent then the meeting shall elect a person to preside for the occasion.

 

 

11.0   THE HONORARY SECRETARY:

          The duties of an Honorary Secretary shall include:

 

11.1   The conduct of all correspondence of the Association.

 

11.2   Keeping the minutes of the Association.

 

11.3   Maintaining a register of financial and ex-officio members.

 

11.4   Retaining custody of all documents relevant to the administrative activities of the Association.

 

11.5   Forwarding in writing the names of the office bearers and committee members to the Principal of the school, or the Principal of each of the schools where an Association is formed for a group of schools,before 30 April each year and where the Association is an affiliate of the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc then to that Council as soon as possible after each election.

 

 

12.0   THE HONORARY TREASURER:

          The duties of an Honorary Treasurer shall include:

 

12.1   Being responsible for the receipt of all monies paid to or received by the Association.

 

12.2   Issuing receipts for all monies received on the receipt forms of the Association.

 

12.3   Paying all monies received into such bank account or accounts as the Association may from time to time decide upon.

 

12.4   Making payments as authorised by a General or Executive Committee meeting by means of cheques.

 

12.5   Ensuring all cheques on all accounts of the Association (including any committee of the Association) must be signed by any two (2) of the following – President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer of the Association and one member of the Executive Committee who is appointedfor such purpose at the Annual General Meeting of the Association.

 

12.6   Maintaining proper books of account.

 

12.7   Preparing annual financial statements for audit and such other information as the Association may require at each Annual General Meeting.

 

12.8   Presenting a written financial statement showing the current financial position of the Association to each General Meeting and/or Executive Committee Meeting of the Association.

 

12.9   Forwarding a copy of the audited annualfinancial statements to the Principal of the school, or the Principal of each of the schools where an Association is formed for a group of schools, as soon as is practicable after those statements have been approvedby the Annual General Meeting and where the Association is an affiliate of the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc then also to that Council.

 

12.10  Retaining custody of all books, documents, securities and the like relating to the financial affairs of the Association.

 

 

13.0   INSPECTION OF BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS:

13.1   The books and documents of the Association may be inspected by any financial or ex-officio member of the Association on such terms and conditions as may be established from time to time by the Executive Committee.

 

 

14.0   THE HONORARY AUDITOR:

14.1   At each Annual General Meeting there shall be appointed an Honorary Auditor or Auditors (preferably persons holding appropriate qualifications), who shall audit the annual statement of accounts and balance sheet of the Association and shall certify the same.

 

14.2   The Honorary Auditor/Auditors shall have the powers, at any time, to call for the production of all books of account, vouchers and documents of the Association.

 

14.3   The Honorary Auditor/Auditors shall not be an officer or member of the Executive Committee.

 

 

15.0   MEETINGS:

15.1   The Annual General Meeting and General Meetings of the Association shall be held at such times and places as shall be determined by a General Meeting providing that at least one General Meeting shall be held in each term of the school year.

 

15.2   Special General Meetings may be convened by the President or Honorary Secretary or by requisition signed by five (5) financial members of the Association.

          15.2.1     A requisition for a Special General Meeting shall state the objects of the meeting and shall be signed by the requisitionists and deposited with the Honorary Secretary.

          15.2.2     If the Executive Committee does not cause a Special General Meeting to be held within twenty-one (21) days from the date on which a requisition therefore is deposited with the Honorary Secretary, the requisitionists, or any of them, may convene the meeting; but any meeting so convened shall not be held after three (3) months from the date of lodging of the requisi­tion with the Honorary Secretary.

          15.2.3     A Special General Meeting convened by requisitionists in pursuance of these rules shall be convened in the same manner as nearly as possible as that in which those meetings are convened by the Executive Committee.

 

 

16.0   NOTICE OF MEETINGS:

16.1   Notice of all General Meetings of the Association shall be given in writing to all members not less than seven (7) days prior to the date of the proposed meeting.

 

16.2   Notice of Committee meetings shall be given to all members of the relevant committee not less than forty-eight (48) hours prior to the time of the proposed meeting.

 

 

17.0   QUORUM:

17.1   For the purposes of this clause a small school is one with an average daily attendance of one hundred (100) or less students at the start of the school year.

 

17.2   For the Executive Committee of the Association, the quorum of a small school shall be three (3) members and for a school which is not a small school or where the Association represents a group of schools the quorum shall be five (5) members.

 

17.3   For a General Meeting of the Association the quorum of a small school shall be five (5) financial members and for a school which is not a small school or where the Association represents a group of schools the quorum shall be (10) financial members.

 

 

18.0   VOTING:

18.1   Financial members (including the person presiding at the meeting) and ex-officio members present at a meeting and entitled to remain thereat shall be entitled to exercise a deliberative vote on any proposition before or election held at the meeting. No other person shall be entitled to vote at any meeting of the Association.

 

18.2   Voting shall be by simple majority except where otherwise expressly provided herein.

 

18.3   In the event of a tied vote on any proposition/motion before a meeting then the proposition is lost.

 

 

19.0   COMMON SEAL:

19.1   The Honorary Secretary shall have custody of the Common Seal of the Association.

 

19.2   The Common Seal shall only be affixed to any document pursuant to a resolution of a General or Executive Committee meeting.

 

19.3   Any two (2) of: the President, the Vice-President, the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer shall countersign the affixation of the Seal and the Honorary Secretary shall keep a record of all documents to which the Seal shall be affixed.

 

 

20.0   INTERPRETATION OF RULES:

20.1   Questions on the interpretation of these rules shall be directed to the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc and in the event of any dispute over the interpretation then to the Minister for Education whose decision shall be binding on all members.

 

 

21.0   ALTERATION TO RULES:

21.1   The constitution and rules may be amended, altered, enlarged or repealed from time to time by a special resolution passed by a three-quarters majority of members present at a General Meeting.

 

21.2   Resolutions designed to effect amendments, alterations, enlargements or deletions shall be submitted in writing to the Honorary Secretary not less than ten (10) days prior to the General Meeting.

 

21.3   Any amendment, alteration, enlargement or deletion shall be submitted to the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc for approval.

 

21.4   Any amendment to or revocation of the rules of the Association shall not take effect unless and until approved by the Minister for Education.

 

 

22.0   STANDING ORDERS/RULES OF DEBATE:

22.1   The standing orders and rules of debate of the Association shall be as established from time to time by the Annual Conference of the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc and shall be observed at all meetings of the Association and any of its committees.

 

 

23.0   PROCEDURE FOR WINDING UP:

23.1   The Association may be wound up voluntarily where it is solvent by special resolution of a General Meeting and passed by three-quarters majority (calculated in number of votes) of members present at the meeting.

 

23.2   Notice of the proposal for aspecial resolution shall be given to all members not less than twenty-eight days prior to the date of the General Meeting.

 

23.4   TheAssociation that is in breach of the School Education Act 1999 may be wound up by the Supreme Court on the application of the Minister for Education.

 

 

24.0   LIABILITY OF MEMBERS:

24.1   The liability of members on the winding up of the Association is limited to any unpaid subscriptions and any other amounts due to the Association at the date of the commencement of the winding-up.

 

 

25.0   DISPOSAL OF ASSETS ON WINDING UP:

25.1   The Association is prohibited from making any distribution to its members whether in money, property or in any other way, of any assets belonging to the Association. This does not prevent the payment in good faith of remuneration of any officers or servants of the Association for services actually rendered.

 

25.2   The surplus property shall be distributed to an incorporated Parents and Citizens’ Association or Associations approved by a General Meeting.

 

25.3   The special resolution shall nominate the incorporated Parents and Citizens’ Association or Associations to which any surplus property of the Association shall be transferred.