PTA Disco advice

[misslippy]

Hi there, this is my first time on here :-) and first time organising an event for the schools PTA. We are having a disco on friday 13th June, I'm just looking for a bit of advice and support.
The disco is in 2 lots, P1-P3 6pm till 7.15pm
P4-P7 from 7.30pm till 8.45pm. There are 150 roughly per disco. I have hired a DJ, and organised tuck shop.
How many helpers do you think we will need? I can get up to 20, any tips or advice much appreciated, feeling nervous now :-( eeek!
thanks

I'd go for the full 20. That's a ratio of one adult to 7.5 children, which is about right (we use 1:8 at Brownies)

Sounds just like ours! Our school is about 25o pupiles, 4 classes in each of KS1 (6-7.15) and KS2 (7.30-8.45).

We have helpers as follows - 3 or 4 parents to set up the hall beforehand. We put chairs all the way round the edge and put up some decorations (optional). We charge £2 entry, for this the DCs get a carton of drink, some chocolate (a Freddo) and some Haribos, plus a token gift, usually a temporary tattoo, or party bag filler type thing. We use a classroom off the hall for this, so the stuff needs to be bought from the cash and carry and set up in a room. We also provide jugs of water and plastic cups. 3 or 4 parents are more than enough to man this room. The DCs get given a raffle ticket on entry which they take to the classroom room to exchange for their goodies. We need change floats for the entry fees.

We also have 4 people manning the doors - normally teachers. We set up the foyer with 2 people behind tables on each side, each one has a class list (4 classes per disco for us). As the DCs come in their names are ticked off and the name of the person picking them up is noted. The lists are used by the teachers at the end to hand over the DCs to their parents, we use two classroom exits off the hall, clearly signposted so two classes per exit. The teachers man the dance floor during the actual disco. We have a set of teachers from each KS, so one lot are letting DCs out the two back doors while the second lot are manning the front doors for the second lot. We don't let the KS2s in until the hall is cleared of KS1.

We usually have two different sets of parents BTW, one for setup and KS1, one for KS2 and clear-up. Altogether probably 16-20 helpers, so you are about right.

250 pupils I mean.

wow....you lot are fantastic, i have heard about mumsnet, never thought of using it before, but you really have put my mind at rest and given me safety ideas for sign in/out. I will go with the full 20, just to be on the safe side, and love the idea of a wee free tattoo or something each, make it a bit of fun. Thanks very much, our entire PTA quit last june, nothing has been set up until a few weeks ago when i said i would try, so i want to do a good job for the sake of the kids, as they have really missed out this term.

Oh, well done for taking it on, that is a massive thing for you to do! I've been on ours for about 5 years now and the school discos are twice a year. They don't make a lot of money but the children love them. I would say you definitely want to try and have some staff members amongst your volunteers for safety and security reasons. I don't recall anything ever going wrong at ours, but it gives peace of mind.

i think once i get into it and know a bit more about it I will really enjoy doing it :-) The head teacher made me send out a note to all parents asking them if they wanted to help and fill in a form with their names. But surprisingly I got too many replies. How would you in your experience reply to these volunteers saying thanks but we have too many, i don't want to upset people incase they won't offer next time :-\ thanks

Glad to know you've found MN useful, misslippy and very welcome.

Please, though, if someone tells you not to google something - DON'T! Okay? [seriousface]

And why did the whole PTA quit?

ours sold glo-sticks and had an ice cream van set up outside for the end of the night.

lol, :-) i don't actually know why they all quit, reading between the lines i think they all fell out with each other, but it must of been a big fall out as they are all still standing at the gates at pick up time, but no eye contact is ever made eeeek! x

I've been on here a few years and I have seen many, many posts moaning about lack of volunteers for the PTA, this is the first time I have heard of an over-supply! If you are going to get the whole PTA going again and not just the disco, then I would say yes to everyone and hold a meeting for them to make some plans. I would say yes to everyone for the disco too, saying that you needed a minimum of X but are happy to have more especially as you are new to running it. A few may well drop out and if you've turned some away you could find yourself short. Provided you aren't going to have adults outnumbering children, many hands make light work and it will encourage people to volunteer again. We get quite a lot of parents staying for the infants one because their children are a bit nervous and they just dance with the kids, keep an eye out for others etc. Or just chat.

We stopped doing glowsticks as there is a risk of chemical burns if they are bitten or snapped too hard.

You need to work on your inteliigence gathering skills...

Have you got a couple of first aiders on site??????

Make sure you have at least one first aider and know the fire escape route. We also took emergency contact numbers from parents if they were not staying on site and made sure we ticked children in and out, making sure they went home with an adult.
I don't know where WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes got her glowsticks from (Chernobyl?!) But if they are from a reputable seller they are completely non toxic and safe with absolutely no danger of chemical burns! Yes they can split if the children chew or bend them so make sure they are for the older children only. They really are a great money maker.

Im one of the Beaver leaders in the village too, so I managed to get a lot of the other leaders to help. Plus we all have our first aid training and child safety etc, so that helps a bit. Good idea about letting more of the helpers just come, as they are parents of P1 kids, so they might be needed anyway as some of the kids are very nervous, :-) I shall work at my intelligence gathering skills too ;-)

A child local to us did suffer burns/irritation from biting a glowstick, it was in the local media, so we discussed it and decided that as the children are as young as 4 and not under direct supervision it was something we would no longer do.

we sell bottled water ( with the pull out tops). As we sell each one we put a sticky label on with the child's name. Then when they put their drink down to "dance" they can find it again. Saves on spillages and empty cups everywhere.

Don't sell lollies in your tuck shop.....children hurtling about with lollies sticking out of their mouths is a recipe for disaster..

In terms of 'tuck shop' beware that you have to clean up any mess made. We did ours and limited to hotdogs and crisps as it means only sweeping needed.

Sounds a good number for that many children.

You need helpers

• in hall for behaviour
• selling items
• out hall checking entries
• manning outside exit.

We insist parents of infants stay to minimise risk. Softer music and more lighting for them.

We also ask for a teacher to be present - helps keeps behaviour of juniors in check.

If it seems a bit mad get the DJ to do some specific party dances.

Good luck.

If you want to raise a bit more cash, get a "photo booth" - parent with a camera and a screen to see photos on afterwards. Either let them order prints or offer to e-mail a photo for a donation of £1.