PTAs

[Emilysals]

Hello everyone

I wanted to raise a topic that has been on my mind lately: the purpose of PTAs.

Am I the only one who struggles to see their true value? Perhaps I've misunderstood their purpose, but I always believed that PTAs were meant to be a bridge between parents and the school, fostering a sense of community.

However, at my daughter's school, it seems that we only hear from the PTA when they are seeking to raise funds. And these fundraising efforts seem to be happening more and more frequently.

I do recognise that schools often need to find additional sources of funding, especially in the face of government budget cuts. But sometimes, I can't help but wish that the PTA could do more to support families within the school community. There are many of us who could benefit from a helping hand.

It would be wonderful if the PTA could explore ways to offer support beyond fundraising initiatives. Perhaps they could help organise peer to peer help in doing the school run or offer advice around the best after school clubs, etc, etc.

I also want to look into becoming a member of the PTA at my children's school, has anyone got any advice on how to do this?

The main purpose of the PTA is fundraising to enrich the education of the children. We pay for playground upgrades, technology, new library books plus contribute to the cost of coaches for trips, year 6 leavers parties and extra events like a party we just had for the coronation.

We apply for a lot of funding from grant schemes as our school is in a not very affluent area and we limit what we ask parents for. Most of our fundraising is done through events like bingo nights where attendance is voluntary and you’re getting something for your money.

In the last couple of years we’ve set up a fund for families who are really struggling. The head teacher discreetly asks for help and passes on supermarket vouchers to families in need.

During Covid we ran Zoom coffee clubs which had some attendees and we run a coffee morning for SEND parents once a month.

We are just volunteers though, our PTA is very small and for those of us who are involved it’s a big commitment. If you want to help with your school PTA then find out who’s involved and get in touch. I’m sure they’d be thrilled.

You do realise that members of the pta are volunteers don't you? Usually in between working, caring responsibilities etc. Their main objective is fundraising for the school.
There are never enough volunteers but always plenty of parents to tell them what they're doing wrong.

I'm not sure whether this post is a bit goady? It certainly reads that way!!

If you want to join your kids school PTA surely you can just email them? Via the school if you don't know the email address for the chair.

As for struggling to see their true purpose - I can only give one point of view here as chair of my DC school Parent Partnership group. We do some fundraising (not all from the school community) which goes towards funding trips/after school clubs/playground equipment/library books.
We've also set up a volunteer rota to run the library (no permanent librarian due to budget cuts)

We have also helped the family support officer set up a food and clothing bank in school, organised the welcome picnic at the start of term as well as the Halloween/Christmas/Easter parties. I find people can be so dismissive of an organisation that people (often women) put a lot of unpaid time into. If you don't feel like your schools PTA is serving it's purpose and you want to make comment on it - join it and change from within!

Very much agree with this! Plenty of criticism from parents who have never shown the slightest bit of interest in helping.

If you want to join ... then join ... I can't imagine being turned down! But yes, the main purpose of PTAs is fundraising.
Totally agree with Flopsy so many parents love to tell the PTA what they should or shouldn't do but wouldn't dream of helping themselves.
I have made some really good friends through PTAs (been on three different ones) but also experienced a lot of grief and unpleasant behaviour from parents would who were so critical ... glad it's a stage of life that is now behind me now my DS is 22 .

My DC’s school’s PTA is fab. Yes they do lots of fundraising, but this pays for things like a Forest School, canopy being built over the Early Years area so the children can play outside even in the rain, school trips and clubs, all of which benefits the children.

We also have a a team of volunteers who undergo a DBS check and man the school gates early in the morning, so parents who need to get to work can drop and run. That makes such a difference to me when I have a 9am meeting.

If you want to join the PTA, just ask at the school. The previous school’s PTA was incredibly cliquey but this one were so welcoming I joined and I don’t usually do that sort of thing.

I’m pretty active on a PTA. I can only really do when I’m working part time as it is time consuming. We organise events to raise money for the school to benefit all the children. And for what it’s worth, my children are not favoured because of this!

The suggestions you have given are lovely in principle, but who would organise them? I have three children, one with additional needs, a part time job, a very busy partner and an unwell parent. And I’d say I representative of most people. I can help organise a disco etc, but I don’t have the time to organise school runs. If you want to know about after school care, ask around. Not trying to sound flippant, but that’s how people do it.

My daughter's primary PTA was mainly for fundraising for enrichment/extras at the school.
We raised money for :
Books and furniture to turn a spare room into a library
Equipment for the playground like hula hoops, balls, skipping ropes etc
Painted designs on the playground like hopscotch etc
Pantomime/theatre trips or performances in school
End of year trip to theme park for Year 6
Organising the summer and Christmas fairs (which in turned raised more money)
Planters for growing flowers/veggies plus the seeds and equipment
Outdoor equipment for nursery/reception to be able to have 'forest school'
Money raised used by the school for a family that might need financial help towards a school trip, uniforms/equipment (the PTA did not know who this money went to - that was confidential)
Food parcels for families in need (again confidential)
Plus more that I can't think of right now.

The PTA also runs the secondhand uniform sales and has coffee mornings (good for the parents to just get together).
The PTA is (well when I was involved - my daughter's at secondary now) busy busy busy and without them the school would be a grey basic environment.

I think there are two types of PTAS.

One is the sort which genuienly does contain people who want to help, and get involved in supporting the school and families.

The other is the sort full of interferring busibodies who like having a teeny tiny bit of responsibility and are in it entirely to make themselves look good.

Unfortunately in my experience the second kind is far more common.

Why don't you join your school PTA and then you can help steer it in the direction you think it should go? Our PTA does incredible work and has helped make genuine improvements to the school and the experiences of the pupils.

Agree with others that you may not be personally aware of the work a PTA can do behind the scenes to support vulnerable familes including providing food parcels and helping with uniforms and school trips.

I'd add to this a third kind - where the school isn't really interested in having a PTA, doesn't really want to engage with them so they're really just some people in a room having a chat

A school local to us has a PTA for the traditional fundraising aspect and a 'rebel mams' group that does a huge amount of community work in the name of the children from the school.

If you want to create a group that's linked to the school but a community minded group, do what the rebel mams did. Find like minded parents and make a start. Be the change you want to see to misquote a more famous person

(full disclosure, there are rebel dads too but they're content with the name because the mams started the whole thing and are the driving force behind activities and the children are actively involved in everything they do)

Perhaps you could set up that part of your school's PTA yourself, if you feel that all that happens is fundraising.

Our PTA (I am secretary) is definitely fundraising focused at the moment. We only have 3 members and we all have full time jobs so frankly do not have the time or the opportunity to do the more community facing efforts like coffee mornings etc. I wish we did but no one in the parent community wants to step up so it is what it is.

I thought it read as if it was written by chatGPT or similar AI

If you want to join the PTA and change its direction, speak to school and get put in touch with the team. If it’s anything like ours, they’ll be crying out for members!

Theres no reason you’d couldn’t run drop in sessions for school run help, out of hours care etc advice. Someone has to drive it though, so be the person.

For the most part, the sole reason for the PTA is fundraising. Schools
are underfunded and PTA funding often is the only way the kids get additional resources.

I am part of my childrens PTA. To be truthful, it’s a soul destroying volunteering role. Nobody wants to be part of it, it’s a job on top of a real paid job, people complain at what the PTA doesn’t do but won’t volunteer their own time, but if people don’t do it children miss out on pretty basic stuff the Gov/local
authority don’t fund.

You're automatically a member of the PTA. Email the school office and ask for your details to be forwarded to the committee as you're keen to volunteer. They will be delighted. You can make all your helpful suggestions at the next PTA meeting and hopefully spearhead some great new community actions from your PTA.

(In short, you want it, you do it).

I'm sure if you go along to one of their meetings you can share your ideas with them and volunteer to help out.

I was PTA chair at DC's primary school, and our aim was fundraising. This fundraising paid for coaches for swimming, theatre trip, and summer trip. Forest school upgrades, school discos, play equipment, end of half term afternoon tea treat, and so much more.

Each fundraising event took lots of planning and time and we never had enough volunteers to help. People would moan about us asking for volunteers, and then moan that there wasn't enough social events at school.

It's hard work and you won't be thanked for it, but if you have the time then join the PTA because with PTA's children would have so much less at school.

I do think you may have to scale back what you think a PTA should do though unless there are others who want the same as you, and the school are very supportive.

We joke that our school PTA is a front for the Mafia as the amount of stuff they put on for the kids is amazing. Events at Christmas, Easter and Summer (like a Circus or Ice Skating). Discos. Mothers and Fathers Day. They subsisdise school trips. They pay for the coach for swimming. New playground equipment. There's fundraising events as well, but it seems they always have money to spend (it truth it comes from hiring out one of the school halls... it doubles as a community centre). But there's a lot of hardworking volunteers making it possible.

A lot of the money they spend isn't immediately obvious... the new outdoor classroom was unmissable for example, but the library books weren't. Or toppling up the craft cupboard.

PTA do alot of fundraising for the school - special treats like Santa visiting and giving each child a book. Sorting out Mother’s Day stalls so children can buy small cheap gifts.

Lots of planning involved and need volunteers. Ours try to involve as many people as possible - but definitely short of volunteers. We made the calls zoom at different times still struggled.

Thanks for your feedback, I do understand that a key element of the PTA is to fundraise but I think personally, that PTAs could be doing more to bring the whole school community together ....😬

As a few a few of you have suggested, I will get involved with our schools PTA and look to improve that!

P.S - this post certainly wasn't meant to be 'goady' I generally want to get other peoples opinions.

Nor what is written by Chatgpt or any other AI (although I'm quite flattered you thought it might have been)....

Did you ever join the PTA?

Hi @Emilysals

I was a primary school PTA Chair 3 years. It was incredibly hard work but incredibly rewarding. The main focus was fundraising for the school, which we did through events such as discos and fairs. We were not there to primarily foster links of community but successful events would bring the school community together, if you see what I mean?

I think it's probably harder since Covid as there seems to be a lot of apathy around organised events with low attendance and low volunteer numbers.

Interested to know what sort of ideas you have for fostering community links though as this might be helpful to people reading who are current PTA volunteers?

We have a Parent Council which is more for how the school is run and deals with in-school /wider community issues. We also have a PTA and that's primarily involved in fund raising to provide funds for things/events that the school itself doesn't have funding for.

Our meetings are on the last Tuesday of the month and any parent is welcome to attend. Covid caused out PTA to come unglued and only the PC met online and we are trying our best to set the PTA up again but parents seem really unwilling to engage which is quite sad.

PTAs are mainly for fundraising.

I have arranged coffee mornings and even set up a PTA where there wasn't one before. It folded as I couldn't get on going interest but it was in a sen school.

More recently I'm not allowed to volunteer at my dds school in case I bump into her as she has got SEN. It's good being on the pta if you want to feel like part of a school.

As I'm banded from that it's also a good way to feel excluded 🤣. PTA isn't for parents like me, of kids like dd. I'm sure it's amazing if your socailably enviable and have gifted and talented kids.

@Emilysals I'm interested to hear if you joined too, after your original post last May.

I volunteer for our school Friends Association and have struggled for volunteers for years. It is hard to put on even basic events let alone any additional community work with parents.