Governance – St Peter’s Schools - Ahead of the Game, Behind Every Child

The St Peter’s Council operates as a non-executive Board of Directors in support of the Rector (the CEO), the Heads and their executive teams, who are responsible and accountable for the day-to-day activities of the school. Meet our Council members.

The School Constitution requires that the council controls the finances and sets the general policy.

The council comprises the Visitor (the Bishop of Johannesburg), Rector, Heads and a maximum of 12 and minimum of nine elected members. Additional members may be co-opted to fulfil specific functions.

As this institution must represent the parent body, it is necessary that the council membership reflects an appropriate balance between parents and non-parents, gender and race.

Most council members are full-time, active players within the business community, hence the time given to this function must be limited, and of an advisory and directional nature. Nonetheless, the school’s executive team looks for valuable input from the council’s business expertise in disciplines such as finance, law, real estate, security, marketing, human resources and public relations. Council sub-committees have been formed to facilitate this transfer of expertise.

The council meets formally twice in each school term, but additional meetings may be organised to focus on any issues that require special attention.

Direct communication with the council is important so that members are kept aware of the views of the parent body. However, when parents are seeking action on a particular issue affecting their son, the correct channel of communication, depending on the nature of the issue, should be via the class teacher, the Housemaster, a member of the school’s executive, the Financial Manager or the Headmaster/Headmistress.

The process of being elected, either as a full member or as a co-opted member, is via invitation or in response to an advertisement in the Keyhole, sanction from the Bishop and through an interview. A commitment of at least two years is the expected minimum length of service.