Anybody else chair of a Pre School Committee?

[handlemecarefully]

Want to start a support group for letting of steam and general moaning??

..and sharing advice?

oh oh !me! me!

although not officially until the agm on november 3rd.I was sort of pushed cajoled into it but thought I'd do my bit for a year.
Go on then tell me how much I'm going to regret it.

Blimey - I was completely pushed and cajoled into it too...I certainly wasn't waving my hand and yelling "over 'ere - choose me, ME!"

I've only just taken over (in the last couple of months), and I am astonished at the hassle factor a small pre school can generate... Think I am probably stuck with it until Sept 2008 when ds goes to school.

Perhaps we can keep this thread reasonably 'live' so that we can pick each others brains (and others if there are any other Mnetters who are in the same role) when the need arises

god 2 yrs,I'm sure you could pass it on next year couldn't you.
Apparently I'm going to be given a load of boxes full of records that have to be kept for some official reason.And fund raising as last years chair did bugger all,so the pressure's on.
I've already had the idea of chsnging the photographer to a friend of mine as he's fab and he gives a better percentage.He also mentioned he could do calendars aswell ,so that might be god for xmas.

We don't have a Pre-School committee as I would certainly be putting myself forward if we did. The closest I have got is being parent rep in my DD's class

Pass it on to whom though ggirl? - they are not exactly queueing up!

We've got all sorts of hassle. We occupy a 'school room' annexed to a Methodist chapel and are their tenants. We recently asked if we could increase our sessions to meet extra demand and they said no - so we are currently turning away children who actively want to come to our Pre School

You'll just have to groom someone for the job like some dirty paedophile

Does yours operate every weekday morning and want to increase to afternoons?

i was pre-school committee chair until i had dd, when the annual agm came up, im afraid i made a speech about how i was standing down and that we HAD to have another chair, without it the pre-school wouldnt exist, whilst making prolonged eye contact with everyone, eventually one poor woman "volounteered".

Yep - that's about it. We need at least 2 afternoon sessions

My AGM is next week spacecadet - is it too soon to make a similar resignation speech after only a couple of months?

probably a bit too soon, i was chair for a year, i only stood down because i then had 4 kids of which one was a new born, but i did stay on the committee.

So if I want to resign with a clear conscience next year...basically my best bet is to get pregnant.

Seems a bit drastic, but... well I have been toying with the notion of a number 3 for a while...

i was convinced that there was a fertility chair in that pre-school, because i fell pregnany unexpectdley within 3 months of joining the committee, then 2 me,mbers of staff fell pregnant, then another 2 committee members all within a few months, thenwhen the new chair took over, she fell preg at the same tme as i did!, then the treasurer and another committee member fell preg, again all within a few months.

HMC - chickens, dogs, Chair of Pre-school - is there anything we don't share?

I've also just taken over as Chair. Am currently wishing I hadn't as I have been given heaps of paperwork and a couple of big problems.

General opinion is that I should do the role for 2 years but I might duck out of it next year as I'm thinking about having a 4th DC. I'd stay on committee though but only in a minor role.

Corpsebride - but you are a better shinier version who still takes walks in the woods without getting heart failure when you hear another footfall in the distance...

Spacey - I don't suppose I could borrow that fertility chair could I?

as soon as i took over as chair, we had staffing issues, then an ofsted inspection, the first night after the meeting, i brought home 3 massive boxes of stuff.

We are looking at trying to find £20 - £30K capital to convert the upper storey of the local village hall into a new bespoke Pre School; because the relationship with our Methodist chapel host has gone so sour!

Wow that's serious fundraising HMC,you'd have to sell a fair few fairy cakes!

God where do you start,do you have experiance of fundraising?

experience

I don't think we'll be able to do it with fundraising alone. Most of our fundraising events raise around £100 - £200 per event. Think we need to look at grants / lottery funding etc..but don't know where to start really

Awards For All - it's a National Lottery spin-off and they hand out biggish chunks of hard cash to various groups. Our pre-school met all the criteria to qualify for an award and lots of other local pre-schools have had money from them for making playgrounds, buying computers etc.

Ever getting pregnant didn't get me out of it - I had been 'groomed' then discovered ds3 was due the October I was expected to take over. He's now 2 and I've said this year is my last. So the whole time I will have been chair I will have had a child in for only one term.

I'll be back to this, I too am chair and had no idea what I was in for. DD is sick today but I will expand on this latter!

HMC - our big fund raiser is a summer ball - now in its 10th year but we make about £10,000 a time on that - but it did start smaller. Focuses the fund raising effort on one big night which we find it easier to get help with than lots of little things in the year. It was started to fund our building - now we use it for maintaince and things like the playground fund.

I was - thankfully not any more .

My advise - don't try and do it if you already have a very busy life (eg working etc).

Make sure you know and understand what the other committee roles are - I did not do this - and it is part of the reason I resigned as chair. I didn't do it because I didn't have time and I didn't want to tread on people's toes - but I wished I had done.

I read somewhere - you need :
a thick skin
a supportive partner
and to delegate