Many ODs have expressed concern over how the Bishops Council is currently selected. This article aims to clarify the current state of affairs and explain how the ODC is addressing this matter on your behalf.

The Bishops Council is the governing body for the Bishops Pre-Prep School, the Prep School, and the College.

The Council comprises twelve people and is constituted by an Act of Parliament, although currently only eight seats are occupied. Under this Act, the school is also incorporated as an Anglican Church school. As we understand it, the Act allows for six elected members of the Council and six appointed members by the Archbishop. At present, all bar one of the members of the Council, have been elected by the Council itself, following recommendations from the Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee is made up of a subset of certain Council members, an independent party, and the OD Chairman (or nominees). Candidates for council have been invited to submit their names to the Nominations Committee, which will assess their applications and will determine who is best suited to join the Council.

The ODU has decided to elect OD members who will then be submitted to the Nominations Committee in adherence with the Bishops Council’s current process, but we are following our own transparent and democratic principles within the ODU to best represent our stakeholders by enabling ODs to vote for the candidates.

This year, fifteen ODs have been put forward for ODs to vote on (click here). The top eight candidates, as elected by ODs, will have their names submitted to the Bishops Council Nominations Committee for consideration to assume the 4 vacant positions.

We encourage as many ODs as possible to vote for their preferred candidates: CLICK HERE.

The role of the Council is to act as a board of directors for the school on behalf of the learners, parents, staff, ODs, and the Anglican Church. The Council is responsible for the overall well-being of the school, including its strategy, structure, direction, finances, policies, and development pace.

The Council’s biggest responsibility is to find, recruit, and retain a new Principal for Bishops every few years. This process was last undertaken with the selection of Tony Reeler, effective from July 2020. The Principal of the school reports to the Council.

Traditionally, ODs and OD parents have served on the Council, but no specific seats are officially reserved for ODs.

Recently, a group of more than fifty ODs requested an SGM, which led the ODC to become involved. The request required the ODU to elect four OD candidates who were required to fill vacant seats on the Bishops Council and compelled the elected ODs to push for the adoption of a constitution enabling an electoral system, whereby the Bishops Community and stakeholder group could elect their own Council members. However, the SGM request was rejected on the grounds that the ODC holds no such authority.