There are three groups represented on a governing body:

• Elected members who can be parents of learners at the school, educators at the school, staff members who are not educators, such as secretaries and gardeners and/or learners at the school who are in grade 8 or above (they must be elected by the representative council of learners, which is made up of class representatives)

• School principal

• Optional co-opted members who don’t have the right to vote, for example: members of the community, or former learners with specific expertise like accounting.

The number of parents on a governing body must be one more than half of all of the members who may vote. Parents who are employed at a school can only be elected as a representative of staff members not as a representative of parents.