PTAs

[Davros]

I would like any and all information/advice on PTAs. DS's school doesn't have one and I think it might be a good idea but, with no experience at all and no other children at school, I don't know what I might be letting myself in for, how they are run/constructed and how much use they are. Please help!

Davros, a friend and I started one at our kids' school. It was a new school and tiny, so easier (?) harder (?) .. different, at any rate, than at a normal size school.

I'm just glancing at mn for the moment and will hopefully be back online later tonight, but feel free to any questions. I'll answer them based on my experience which will be frustratingly different than everyone else's (whose experiences will all be different, too!).

Just a disclaimer: I've had a hell of a week and am a bit muddled in the head atm, so excuse any incoherency.

Ok, is it going to be a PTA (which I think of dealing with issues between the school and parents and also doing social stuff) or a PA (which is, to our school at least, a social organization, although we invite the teachers to our social events as they're really fun)? I only know about a PA.

Both organizations, to me, raise funds for the school, although not their first year in existence.

And you can say, look -- I said PTA, I know wtf I'm talking about. But sometimes people mistake our PA for a PTA and it's not.

But you should say the above if it's really a PTA. I'll pretend to get all offended and people will never read these messages at the beginning once it gets going.

My friend started one up last year (it was a new school). They had to register as a charity (which was a nightare- but feel free to email dh for more info about that as he supposedly does charity law!)They raised quite a bit of money anyway.

Thanks for the info so far. We have a Parents' Group which is informal and is supposed to represent the parents as a group (of course) in issues to be raised with the school and organise social events for parents. BUT, of course, its always the same parents raising the issues who can be seen as moaners and spending their time doing all the organising. What I really want is an organisation that has a wider remit and includes some staff, possibly to fund raise, organise events and deal with issues. I think with some staff involved it would be more effective and a way for us to build relationships direct with more staff. I wondered about having to be a charity, I attended a meeting a couple of weeks ago of the charity committee of a local ladies' group I belong to. I felt a bit "unofficial" in our current form but made lots of suggestions for how they could help us fundraise for items/services helping the school and families direct rather than the whole organisation which is also a trust for disseminating good practice nationally and money that gets raised now is often swallowed up for the greater good. I thought it would be nice to have a close relationship between the ladies' club (or other similar local orgs) and the school/families to get things like equipment for parents' room, subsidise uniform for some families, buy property lockers for children etc etc. Any more thoughts please?

Thanks for the info so far. We have a Parents' Group which is informal and is supposed to represent the parents as a group (of course) in issues to be raised with the school and organise social events for parents. BUT, of course, its always the same parents raising the issues who can be seen as moaners and spending their time doing all the organising. What I really want is an organisation that has a wider remit and includes some staff, possibly to fund raise, organise events and deal with issues. I think with some staff involved it would be more effective and a way for us to build relationships direct with more staff. I wondered about having to be a charity, I attended a meeting a couple of weeks ago of the charity committee of a local ladies' group I belong to. I felt a bit "unofficial" in our current form but made lots of suggestions for how they could help us fundraise for items/services helping the school and families direct rather than the whole organisation which is also a trust for disseminating good practice nationally and money that gets raised now is often swallowed up for the greater good. I thought it would be nice to have a close relationship between the ladies' club (or other similar local orgs) and the school/families to get things like equipment for parents' room, subsidise uniform for some families, buy property lockers for children etc etc. More thoughts please!

Ooops!