Do you volunteer, contribute or get involved at your dc school? Why or why not?

[Earlybird]

Just curious about who does and who doesn't, and their reasons...

I am a governor, and run the school website.

DH does one off practical or science based projects - maybe 2-3 times a year.

We do it because we enjoy it

Ours is a primary school if that makes any difference.

Wrt what PTA money provides and the view that it is just 'extras'.

Our Head recently informed the new reception parents that the money raised by the PTA actually picks up the shortfall created by their overspending on the staffing budget.

They overspend so that the school isn't staffed by NQTs and they have a good number of TAs. PTA money goes towards subsidising trips, sunblinds outside classrooms, subsidising visiting theatre trips etc.

Now that is the school's choice and in an ideal world the school's budget should cover these costs but we don't live in an ideal world and, in spite of what the government would have you believe, schools are not awash with extra cash.

This is just an example of one achool where PTA money doesn't contribute towards friperies but actually towards the day-to-day running of the school.

The PTA provides the extras that can make all the difference to the pupils. Sure, it's not needed, but when the LA has limited resources it's great to see all (well, most) of the parents pulling together and raising funds for the extra equipment that can add to the learning experience.

No idea where your 'uber mum with too much time on their hands' comes from. Sorry you have that experience at your school.

I am way way too bloody involved. I am Committee Woman. I may get myself a cape soon.

The reasons - when my oldest 3 DCs were younger, I worked FT and barely stepped foot in their schools. So when I became a SAHM when I had DC4, I thought I'd dip my toe into the world of PTA/school governorship. And once you're in you can never get out. They suck your lifeblood.

I don't really. I am a SAHM, and DS1&2 are at the school, but DH works away at the moment (left in Aug, hopefully home by xmas!) so I can't attend meetings in the evenings, or help out at weekends as I have no-one to have the boys. I'd love to help out in school time (e.g. with reading), but they don't let parents volunteer in this way We do sometimes help out with fetes and things if DH is at home. I also send stuff in when they request it (chocs, wine etc for tombola) and spend lots at the events they run!

Should have added the extras like school trips etc as smugmum said

ds goes to an International school which runs a contacts group for parents new to the school, so we organise trips, a BBQ, classes in different languages, bookgroups etc. We have a 'Friends of' association which oversees things like charities week and allocations from fundraising. None of this would happen without the volunteers.

ds's school has a YC once a month for years 7-9 with which I am involved. I do most of the admin, attend meetings the 'Friends of' for YC and do much of the back room work. I also attend each club night. We have 170 kids on average who turn up. That would be lost if we didn't have parent volunteers.

I also teach a class for the contacts group and am a class rep. I also help run the lost property and sports kit sales office once a week which is on site in school.

As we are abroad, then getting involved with school is a way into meeting people and making contacts other than joining the various expat women's groups around. I'm a teacher as well in the UK, so running the YC keeps my hand in with that age group. Having worked and taught for most of ds's life and therefore not having been able to contribute to the life of his previous schools, it has been fun to get involved in a school as a parent rather than a member of staff.

Abgirl thanks for the explanation, I'd never heard of paid time off work for volunteer activities. What a great place you work in!

NorthernLurker, you seem to be in need of a few extra lessons yourself if you wonder why people doing voluntary work of a completely altruistic nature react sensitively to you puerile and derogatory comments.

Nobody on this thread, certainly not the OP
has claimed it makes them 'better parents' neither has anyone called those who don't 'selfish monsters' - these are your descriptions....maybe you're a tad sensitive yourself.

Have a feeling we'd probably not see eye to eye in RL...

I am involved in several voluntary projects (not school ones) and I am employed in the voluntary sector. When it comes to fundraising, governance, child protection etc, I do actually know what I am talking about (although I accept entirely that this does not mean that I am always right).

But volunteer in the school? No. Never. No way.

I have tried (3 times for major projects, and several time for small class activities) but I have been patronised by teaching staff, and patronised by the hierarchy of the mothers in the PTA. I have suffered terrible, terrible dis-organisation of events, and I eventually refused to try any more when i was professionally worried about the risks of one event.

I am calm, willing, knowledgeable, and skilled, and I prefer to use these skills elsewhere in society. Perhaps I have been unlucky in the experiences I have had with the school my dds went to, I certainly hope so.

dolly - that sounds very unpleasant. Are you happy with the education your dc are receiving at the school? If the teachers are patronising and the parents disorganised and unpleasant, it doesn't sound a generally good atmosphere.

On the issue that was raised about my earlier post by Inghouls2 as follows:

"And yes ABetaDad if you are paying 10K a year for schooling, what's £25?! But funnily enough there are parents at your local state school who haven't got a spare £25, they haven't even got enough to feed themselves or pay the bills."

Quite frankly if it is a state school I do not think PTA fund raising and parental involvement outside of listening to your child read, helping wth homework and turning up to school plays, sports days and open days has any place. Either education is free and provided to a good level by the state or it paid for. There is no inbetween where parents make up the difference by volunteering.

Agree with NorthernLurker again on this:

"The PTA is not all that stands between some children and a miserable life, it really isn't.

Likewise, anyone who has not got enough to feed themselves absolutley depends on the state to provide good education for their kids as they probably desperately need to go to work and earn some extra money. Not spend time messing about with PTA. I live in a quite a deprived city and the fact is that it is not parents on the sink estates that do this stuff.

Sorry but it is the pushy middle class parents that do this stuff and quite a lot of them do it for self serving ends. It is no different in fee paying schools either. It is nauseating and annoying - just pay the fees and move on or if in the state sector the Govt should pay for the necessary resources.

Fine if you want to do it - but don't expect me to be grateful or involved. It is not necessary and a lot of parents agree with me that I know.

AbetaDad you are totally and utterly missing the point.
Most of the time it isn't the parents in the sink estates that do this stuff... but it's their children who are listened to by volunteers when reading, it could be their children taking part in Fizzy classes, helped run by volunteers, it could be their children who really appreciate the gifts for hard work... All of this, supplied by the PTA.
And as for the free education, well it is... but what marks out a good school when parents view, is quite often the one with plenty of parental involvement, and nice resources. Funnily enough not paid for by the LEA budget!

"pushy middle class parents that do this stuff"????

oh fuck right off...I live in what would be described as 'inner city' with a huge demographic. Middle class my arse!

IME it's the pushy middle-class parents are those who put their kids through fee-paying schools!

No. I have a 1 yr old and have just returned to work. They ask for help with reading or IT, but say 'no siblings'. So I am unable to help.
Assume it is the same for lots of people.

So Betadad, are you saying it is OK for you to buy a better education for your DCs by going private, but think nobody else should try to improve the school that their children attend..?
Or even the school that their children used to attend, or the school that happens to be near their house?

At my dds school there are parents who help with reading etc because they have no younger children and can do this. Others have younger children and therefore help with the friends/PTA organising fairs etc (too numerous to mention) The Friends is very, very active and has lots of parent helpers. Whilst there is no pressure to be an active part of the committee, there is an expectation that all parents take part in the fairs and help with manning stalls etc - it's a very small commitment which means that our very small primary school (200) raises well over £15,000 per year. The head is incredibly grateful for the help of the parents because, as her budget shrinks, ours seems to stay the same or increase. This is all due to the generosity of time, money, energy or frankly anything you can give as a parent. It's not seen as snobby, uber or anything but positive....except perhaps by those small minority of parents who invariably have 'too many children' (oh yes, we had that excuse - she had 3...) can't attend every meeting and therefore can't do anything, ever..etc, etc. We try hard.

Does anyone thank their lucky stars that they use the state school system when they come across attitudes like ABD's?

Just come back to this thread and read it properly. I'm utterly shocked at the vitriol directed at people giving up their free time to help the school.

I may not be activly involved with our PTA but I don't feel the need to sneer at those who are.

This entire PTA, parental involvement thing is a totally modern phenomenon. Never happened when I was at school - dont see why it it has to happen now.

I read the history of a village school back in the Victorian era and early part of the 20th century. It happens to be in the village my parents are living in now. Back then there was a school teacher and his wife. Parents were not involved. They paid a fee to go to school 6 old pennies a week and that was that. The parents were all farmers or farm labourers and they were out working -not doing PTA. Indeed, at harvest time DCs were taken out of school just to bring in the harvest with ther parents.

Fact is that parental involvement in schools is something that has only happned in very recent times - and I mean the last 20 years! Good grief, my old teachers in my village primary school would have died of shame if a parent had suggested they come in and start organising stuff and helping out. Classes of 30 were common of very mixed ability back then as well and educational standards were a lot higher.

Parents can be involved in their DCs education at home. They should not expect to also work at the school too! Frankly, I suspect many teachers quietly wish parents would not bother and just get out of their hair and let them get on with the job.

Would be interesting to start a thread here asking teachers to share their thoughts on the real benefits/downside that come with having an active PTA/Parent's Association/class reps, etc......

ABetaDad - sorry, you're wrong. My mum was one of the many parents who helped at or with school when we were children - and my brother is 46. She, herself, was a teacher before having children, and parents found ways to help then, as well. One of the schools my mum taught at was in a very deprived area. The parents essentially provided everything for her class - from books to painting walls.

What appears new, to both her and us, is parents helping with reading in class. At the time parental involvment was always non-academic, but social, material, or financial.

I go in and listen to readers purposely not in my daughter's year group though because she would feel jealous.
I help out because I like children and love books and because the school needs parent helpers.
I also bake cakes for fairs and provide tombola and raffle prizes.

Yep, you're wrong ABetaDad - the PTA was alive and well at my village school 40 years ago. The school headmistress, a particularly fearsome spinster of the old school (literally) who remembered watching the Battle of Britain being fought overhead as a young teacher, who insisted that we learn calligraphy using pen and ink at the old wooden desks with inkwells, whilst copying out text from the Bible and who ruled with a rod of iron recognised the importance of the PTA and of involving the parents in raising funds for the school - albeit at arms length!

One withering glance from the old dragon would be enough to silence the doubters on this post. The merest mention of Miss Staines has me breaking out into a cold sweat, even now.

We were obviously village full of mean Yorkshire folk then.

My terror teacher was a woman too. She had a way of gripping a boy's shoulder right where the nerve crosses the collar bone to create a paralytic stillness. We used to call it the 'Vulcan Death Grip'. For really recalcitrant boys she favoured gently tugging the small hairs at the temple.