If you are a low income household what kind of help do you want from the PTA?

[WineIsMyMainVice]

I live in a village where the average house sells for above the national average. People also move here because there is a really good school. So there are a lot of ‘well to do’ households. But - I know of families that also struggle….
The school have been without a PTA for a couple of years for various reasons and I’ve joined the newly formed committee. We’ve decided to put together an assistance fund for the funded kids, so that when we put on events they can (anonymously) get a free place etc.
We’re also looking at things like Xmas jumpers etc that could be passed on so that these children aren’t left out.
So my question is, how do we communicate this to those parents/carers that the PTA is here to do that? If you’re in that situation how would you like it to work?
If you were to get a letter from the PTA which is sent out by the school saying that we don’t know who you are but we’re here for you and you can always request a free place at our events etc (I.e only the school office would know), would that work? So the idea is that the parent would contact the office and ask for the Assistance Program to fund their child’s place, and then the PTA would pay it (whatever it is - but not know who it’s for) and that’s that.
Would that work? Or if not does anyone have any better suggestions?
Thanks a lot. This is a cause close to my heart so I just want to make sure it’s done in the best way possible and without causing anyone any embarrassment etc.

Try to work with the school on events and ensure not to many are close together . The year I had 4 in primary school they requested money £12 or child for a theatre thing. I sat down and worked out that in the 6 week prior to this we had spent £350 for varied school things
Money for a residential trip monthly payment
Money for a fund raiser
Money for Christmas fete
Money for own clothes day x 3
Moneynfor each class individual event somewhere

We are not on the breadline we can afford the 4 we have but £400 out of our budget just before Christmas was getting too much. I wrote a letter to the school outlining this complete with spending for all. Told them to please inform me if my children woild not go to the theatre as I would keep them home that day.

I had a teacher approach me that afternoon thanking me for the letter they had simply not realised how many events spread between the school and the pta and how much it would add up to. At the time of my 4 being there a further 5 families had or were about to have 4 children in the school.

It was dealt with and they put in a cap that families with 3 + children could pay for 2 only if needed. Mine did go to the theatre that year.

My DC’s school is in a very mixed catchment so they try to reduce the cost of the school day wherever possible. In our case many children couldn’t take part in things because their parents literally had no money, while others from more affluent families would go overboard.

For example instead of asking kids to dress up for World Book day they suggest kids can come in pyjamas and they have “bedtime” stories. For Children in Need day they ask kids to wear something spotty or with yellow in it and the PTA makes a donation on behalf of the school. They invite children to wear Christmas jumpers throughout December so kids get good wear out of them - they held a Christmas jumper swap/collection in November so parents could pass on outgrown ones or collect new ones.

They’ve also banned gifts for teachers entirely and the PTA organise a thank you instead - last summer it was afternoon tea served to staff by a local hotel - parents were invited to contribute but there was no obligation and no one knew who gave what.

Instead of going to the theatre the school have a local theatre group come in and perform the panto. All trips were paid for through PTA funds.

There’s no need to have lots of events which all add up cost and which makes children feel awkward when they can’t take part. The PTA hold fundraisers throughout the year and inevitably the more affluent families contribute more, and the PTA then budget for activities across the year.

There are ways to help that don’t involve families identifying themselves as struggling.

I know at one school the Christmas jumpers and costume swaps were pitched as saving the environment rather than helping anyone who couldn’t afford it. Recycling rarely used clothes rather than letting them go to landfill.
That seemed popular.

Some of the things that would especially benefit the low income children would be nice things to do for everyone. E.g there's usually a movie at the end of term, with popcorn and drink paid by pta. I'd definitely encourage a Xmas jumper rack the week or so before Xmas jumper day. Same for PJs maybe.

Ours charge for the movie nights and similar as fund raisers. I agree putting on fun things for all would be lovely. Seeing the PTA give back in our case rather than just going into the schools fun pretty muchn

When I was on the PTA we concentrated on running fun events that cost little or nothing to attend.
Recycling and pre-loved uniform available for everyone.
We didn't look to make a lot of money but tried to add some fun for the kids.
I think that the idea of helping the school fund the 'voluntary' aspect of trips for families struggling is a good one too.

We have second hand uniform sales and parents donate and some everything for £1. Christmas jumpers also donated and sold all went to the PTA

Some = sell

Something to remember is that pride is a thing. The people that need the most help with be the most reluctant to ask for it.

Until lockdown i chaired a playscheme that was £10 a week in the holidays. The one year I sourced enough funding to make it free quite a few of our most in need families didn’t send their child as they didn’t want to be seen needing charity.

School uniform bank - ours works on both a swap shop and referral basis.
Swap shop does as it says on the tin. We do tokens so that if we don’t have an item to swap on the day then you can do it later. Or save it for that inevitable time where someone puts a hole in something right before pay day the month after the boiler needed replaced.
We take referrals from the usual places - school, HV’s, social workers and the likes, but we also take them from anyone the committee seems as “works or volunteers close enough with families to know the families in need”. I honestly believe we’ve helped more in need families from referrals from local
Childminders and a local brown owl (her husband is involved in the scouts too) because they catch the people that won’t talk to the school (sadly the DHT at DD’s school is very unapproachable) or who are struggling on a short term basis.
Referrals are either that the parent can come in or a pack of what’s needed can be made up and given to the referrer do it can stay totally anonymous. We’ve also recently started allowing a couple of groups to refer for each other to cover parents who are still worried about being identified - so for example the childminders group locally can refer without being specific about which childminder is referring.

Cashless entry for things like school discos or cake day. Each child gets a small envelope (we will one day find a more eco way of doing it) to pay their entry. It’s now been going long enough that people know leaving the envelope empty is absolutely fine. All the envelopes are posted into a box on entry so nobody knows. In fact even the child doesn’t need to know that there’s nothing in.
We get a few gripes about that from people who complain it may be taken advantage of, but on the whole we’d rather one or two took advantage of it means a few others don’t miss it. We also always get a few people who put extra in to make donations anonymously as well.

Think about how many events are really needed and what are they actually for?