All councils will have at least one committee they need to work with.

Committees are central to how most councils work. How many committees will depend on what services and facilities your site has and that’s different for each site (school/preschool). However, there are some ‘must-haves’.

Required committees – what every council must have

Every council must have a finance advisory committee.

If your site has any of these services, there must also be a committee for each one:

• canteen
• out of school hours care service, even if a third party provider
• School Watch
• residential facilities.

Who comes and how often

The governing council finance committee page explains the minimum requirements.

For other required committees, who comes and how often they meet is decided by your council. This is all set out with a terms of reference.

Other types of committees

You might need to work closely with committees or just need to be aware of the different committees that your site runs. You won’t need to be involved in all of them, and the site leader or the chairperson will let you know who can do what.

The need for these different committees is driven by what’s happening locally. Committees can help when you want to focus on a specific event and might be for a set amount of time. They can help you with:

• closing or amalgamating a school
• school uniforms
• fundraising
• special events, like sports days.

As well, you might be working with a site’s affiliated committee. These are not committees of the council. They are independent and have their own constitution, but still work with your council.

Terms of reference for committees

Your governing council needs to make sure the work of each committee is set out in a terms of reference. It could include information on:

• tenure
• membership
• functions
• operational powers
• consultation
• reporting.

Some suggested templates are available:

• finance advisory committee (DOCX 39 KB)
• fundraising committee (DOCX 37 KB)
• canteen committee (DOCX 34 KB)
• parent club (DOCX 37 KB)
• grounds maintenance committee (DOCX 36 KB)
• sports day committee (DOCX 37 KB) .
• year 7 to high school committee (DOCX 385 KB)

A generic terms of reference template (DOCX 33 KB) is also available for councils to use.