WHAT IS A YouthCARE COUNCIL?

What is a YouthCARE Council?

A YouthCARE Council is a committee, made up of volunteers, which supports the activities of The Commission in a local community.

Purpose

The main purpose of the YouthCARE Council is to be sensitive to the needs of the schools within its geographical area, those of the staff and students, and to seek to help in meeting those needs.

The Council will aim to establish a Christian presence in each school in its area.

The challenge for the Council is to find ways to provide this Christian presence which is appropriate to the needs of the schools (and acceptable to them) and within the resource capabilities of local churches and the community.

At all times the Council must strive for a Christ-like unity within itself, so that whatever it does will be a living witness of Christ’s message to everyone.

Structure

Normally a Council will serve the geographical area described by a Senior High School and the Primary Schools that feed into it.  Membership of the Council will therefore be open to all churches and government schools in that area.  Sometimes, however, there are valid reasons to vary this formula.  This will be decided in preliminary discussions with YouthCARE officers and approved by the Executive Director before a change to the operation of Councils is adopted.

Member churches and schools of a Council will formally nominate representatives to the Council.  These will normally be drawn from:

• Clergy/Pastor/Minister of a local Christian Congregation or Church
• Lay representatives of the local churches
• Local School Representatives

The Chairperson of the Board of YouthCARE and the Executive Director are ex-officio members of all District Councils.

Where it is not possible for a member church or school to be represented at Council meetings, the Council may decide to appoint a Link Person to liaise regularly with that church or school to ensure effective communication.

Councils should meet at least once per term.

Councils have the power to set up sub-committees.  These sub-committees must report regularly to the Council and should include at least one Council representative as a sub-committee member.

Accountability

A Council is legally accountable to YouthCARE. Chaplains and SRE teachers are accountable to YouthCARE; however they are expected to provide reports to the Council. Morally, we are also accountable to the children and youth we serve, as well as their families and the school community.

Aims and Objectives for Councils

In framing their own sets of aims and objectives Councils are reminded to keep within the spirit of this agreement.

1. To bring the churches together so that they can speak with one voice in matters involving the schools in the area.
2. To enable the interchange of ideas, resources and personnel, and to create a forum where fellowship and discussion can take place between churches and schools.
3. Undertake fundraising activities to meet the obligations of chaplaincy and SRE and other Commission approved Christian activities.
4. With regard to religious studies programs, to relate to the school in matters of curriculum, material, resource people, etc and where possible to meet requests made by the schools.
5. With regard to inter-denominational Special Religious Education programs, to co-ordinate programs in schools, organise teaching material, take responsibility for the training, and their on-going support.
6. To work for the creation of a spirit of community encompassing schools and churches for their mutual enrichment.
7. To co-operate with other groups supporting the school, e.g. P&C Association.
8. To maintain, as an overall objective, a Christian presence in all the public schools of the area.