Why do you hate the PTA?

I think having a PTA can be a blessing it just depends on whether the right people are running it.

Ultimately it’s about raising money for the school. My friends kids are at a school with a PTA that does nothing. They have no money. At my kids school the PTA were amazing and raised tons of cash for tablets and play equipment, books and so on.

Yeah our summer fair a couple of weeks ago was purely to raise money for ipads.

DC's school barely has a PTA. For a while, they ran a weekly draw. But that was it. DC has been at the school for 4 years and it was only in the first year that they did a Christmas fayre. Up to last year they did small things like a sweetie or bake sale at the end of the day. But even that has stopped now.

Thing is, I would have happily volunteered to help out. But the mums that did it were such a stereotype of PTA that I wouldn't fit. And I suspect most other parents felt the same.

The thing that bugs me is there doesn't seem to be any consultation about what they actually do with the money raised. They are always buying bloody ipads while the school has ancient and crap sports kit.

We have this as well as PTA fundraising. The school asks for a voluntary activity fund annual donation. It means the children get lots of extra activities, theme days and resources for lessons they wouldn’t have had otherwise. The PTA do fundraising events too and raise money for school equipment or anything else needed. I recon I give around £300 a year to the school in total. I’m happy to give this, our school is great, doesn’t have an equipment shortage and has so many activities and events for the children.

i think they are a good thing and I am glad people volunteer but some of them are a bit annoying & power hungry.

It's a 9 pack too 😂😂
Bargain.

I don’t hate the PTA. I joined ours when we moved to a village and my children went to the Primary school. I did lots of volunteering and attended most events and made a lot of good friends. The PTA raised a decent amount of money for extras at school.
I do know of other PTAs that are very cliquey and unwelcoming though, and not everyone has spare time to attend.
Edited for an omission

I should have gone to Waitrose 🤣 Luckily they were for me, I was celebrating a very high grade on my post grad essay I thought I’d failed. There has to be some cake related joy.

I am amused we are debating the price of cake 🍰 🤣🤣😄

I was on the PTA at my previous school. We ran discos after school the kids loved, film afternoons and the dreaded annual fete.

I HATE the PTA at my new school with a passion. They are rude and cliquey. There are near daily requests and it’s always complicated and difficult for working parents - and disadvantages our kids. Because no ones 5 year old is really entering a flag themed baking competition on a Friday themselves - but it’s too late to do the previous weekend. The fetes are super try hard and dreadful and it’s overwhelming and stressful.

I’m already volunteering elsewhere as is my husband (he’s been out for four hours tonight doing it, three hours last night, more later in the week), we work full time and I’m chronically ill. Within the organisation we volunteer within (yes, we run scouts) we have a fundraising team and the focus is for grants, business sponsorship and events that cost as little as possible (volunteer car parking, jumble sales, car boot sales, table top sales, tuck shop at the free disco) and the funds are used to provide uniform / subs / camp costs for those that can’t afford it.

We all need to do our bit. It’s quite simple really. I did four years then nothing, no guilt at all for not helping now!

@FurForksSake actually yes....a quick Google shows they have gone up a bit and seem to vary from £1.75 to £2 ish.
Depends what ones you buy.
Although according to Google Waitrose have Angel Slices at 94p 😱

Yes really. I didn’t make any of that stuff up. Parents have absolutely felt pressure to donate and have gone out to buy new things for it.

And there is the problem - ‘get up off their arse’ as if mums not in the PTA are lazy or something.

One woman (kid in same class as mine) decided to set one up in my kid's school. She isn't my type of person. I find her loud and bullish. While I support the fundraising initiatives, she wants certain the school to start up certain things which are things I don't agree are necessary or wanted by other parents, mainly for the school to introduce every free scheme available. I steer clear of it all now and delete the numerous messages.

I bought two boxes today and on Clubcard price they were nearly £2 each. Without club card it was silly. Yes, you could donate one of the big trays of cheaply iced fairy cakes but I think a lot would feel that actually they aren’t a contribution people want.

I work in schools (for the nhs). I cannot tell you how poor so many of the families are. Money for extras just isn’t there and it’s awful. And that’s just for a contribution without attending the cake sale / fayre or whatever and paying out more. It’s a real source of worry for a number of parents that their child will feel or look different as they just can’t attend.

I dont know about other PTAs but we are generally well aware of that but the HT view is that the events are an important aspect of creating a school "community".
We have raised the idea of inviting people to set up standing orders instead but he seems reluctant. And actually I am not sure how that would be received.

So instead of sneering at us like we are idiots how about recognising that many PtAs are well aware of that fact and that the wish for "events" is as much driven by the school.

Our primary school doesn’t even have one….

I don’t have the PTA. In my child’s old school they were a certain type of person that I don’t love - very loud, cliquey, nosey, sucked up to the head and yes they were constantly trying to extract money from me through stealth. It was tiring however i know it’s probably important. Much less visible in my child’s new (tiny) school.

Most of the children love it.

Yes, this resonates.

I have two kids in primary. I don’t hate the PTA, in fact I used to have the utmost respect for them and for a few years I volunteered for everything I could, work / children permitting. However in the last year or so I’ve become disillusioned. All the events that they claim to organise, but take the cake sales for example, all the PTA do is print off a poster, parents bake the cakes and most of the time none of the PTA show up. No effort is made to organise the volunteers so a few people show up and don’t know what they are supposed to be doing. People need to feel useful, given a job to do but every time I’ve helped out it’s just always so chaotic. It would not be that difficult to have one PTA member available for one small event, for them to show up a few minutes early and introduce themselves, chat with the volunteers etc and give them clear instruction on what they need to do.

I’ve volunteered for so many things and I doubt any of the PTA members know my name. They are also not transparent about where the money goes, even though it is a successful venture and raises thousands a year. And they complain about not having enough volunteers.

The final straw was earlier this year I was organising something school related for a whole year group. I emailed the PTA asking if they would consider contributing if there was a family who couldn’t afford it. I wouldn’t have minded if they had said no but my email got totally ignored.

I know the school have a wish list of books, but the PTA don’t appear to be contributing anything to this.

I won’t be volunteering for anything else in a hurry and if there aren’t enough volunteers then, oh well, where’s the money going anyway?

PTAs should be registered as a charity and have a dedicated bank account so you could just donate if you want too.

I give my PTA £1 a day via bank transfer btw. So
much more efficient.

Forgot quote.

We 'd love someone to join our PTA to focus on grant applications from business. You would be welcomed with open arms if you volunteered to do that here.