Talk to me about PTA!

[OhYeahyeahyeah]

What exactly is it and do I want to be part of it?!

Mainly deals with trying to fund raise for the school. Nobody ever wants to join in my experience.

Parent Council deals more with what's happening in the school and you get more info on what's going on behind the scenes

Fundraising, going around local businesses asking for donations, sending out and endless stream of WhatsApp messages to shake parents down for money for various events that you have to organise (disco, xmas fair, fun run etc etc). Depends on how social and chipper you are. Getting other parent volunteers will be painful
(I'm bitter because I got kicked off the PTA for the crime of coming down with a chronic illness)
It is a very very necessary thing for the school though, I still give them money

We haven't had any PTA meetings due to covid and parents not being allowed in school (I'm in Scotland so the school still has a mask policy and 1 way system and no parents allowed over the threshold)

I’ve just joined mine. They are a lovely bunch. There’s about 10 of us. It is a small village school, it’s a close knit community anyway. We have our meetings via zoom & we bump into each other in the playground & have a natter. It’s been a nice way to meet people. We are allowed into school, I go on once a week to help reception read but zoom meetings are actually more convenient for us all with kids!

Its mostly planning fundraising & events in school. We are a bit limited with covid. Usually we apparently do discos & film nights but they are a no this year. We had halloween events, dress up, colour competitions, quizzes.. and for Christmas, we are doing a secret shop, fun day, more quizzes & competitions etc, Christmas jumper day class photos parents can buy! Oh & a raffle, we’ve been contacting local businesses etc. we’ve got some great stuff & we are making hampers from donated chocolates & wines!

We got lovely feedback from parents & the school teachers about halloween. It seems really positive in our school at least.

Does anyone know if you can make a complaint against the PTA or it’s committee members, and if so, would it be the governors?

If you can't sort it out face to face I'd contact the head. Or there might be a 'teacher' rep who attends the meetings you could go to but in my experience this role rotated round teachers.

Our PTA had two roles : fundraising for the school and helping build the school community. We ran fundraisers like a summer fete and Christmas tree sales, as well as smaller things that didn't necessarily make a lot of money but that the kids loved, like discos and ice cream sales. PTAs vary quite a bit between schools, though, mostly depending on which parents are running them at the time.

First I'd remember that they are all volunteers and (generally) trying to do their best in the most fair way they can. So I would throw away any complaints about relatively trivial matters. (We once had someone complaining 3 days later that the pencil their child had won had a broken lead. We replaced it, but still...)

Then I would think whether the thing I was concerned about could be sorted by a conversation. Especially where the issue was one of oversight or a different point of view, or a committee member being a bit short tempered just before a summer fair started, rather than egregious wrong doing.

If it was a serious matter such as stealing expensive raffle prizes, or not following core safeguarding then I would contact the HT or teacher liaison if one exists.

(PTA senior role holder for 11 years.)

Mostly fundraising stuff. Lots of work getting stuff ready in advance. I volunteered at all but one of my sons PTA events. It's a nice way to meet people.

There's a few who take it all too seriously though.