Does your school have Class Reps?

[mckenzie]

Have you always have them or has it evolved since you have been at the school?
What roles do they perform?

We are thinking of trying to introduce them at our school although apparently this has been tried unsuccessfully in the past (must be way in the past, before my time and I've been there 5 years).

I've been asked to try and put together a letter to go out to parents asking for volunteers and I'm looking for any feedback please, positive or negative, to help me word the letter.

Does anyone have a role description that their school uses perhaps?

TIA

Do you mean parent reps (eg for the PTA) or child ones (for school council)
We have both

Yes, every class has one. Ours are arranged and run by the PTA and they are billed as the link between parents and the PTA.

• put together a contact list of everyone's names/addresses/phone numbers and circulate it
• create the emergency pyramid - the list of who rings who in the class in case of school being closed - one person rings 2 people, who each ring another 2, etc....
• arrange a few nights out, usually just to the local pub, usually for both classes in a year together

- arrange christmas/end of year presents for teachers

• make sure reminders are sent to parents via email for events etc, such as Mufti day

They are a good way of organising those things that the whole class get involved in, and overlay a social element to help parents get to know each other. We also let parents share the role which can work well too.

All my dcs schools have them, I'm class rep for dd's yr6.

Works in lots of ways - organising socials (coffee mornings etc), maintaining a class list - schools aren't allowed to hand out telephone numbers and addresses, passing on general comments/complaints from the other parents to the head, welcoming new parents, sorting out collections/cards.

I've done it several times, it works best if there are two of you per class otherwise there's too much to do.

thanks PH and Weblette.

DDW - sorry, I mean PTA Class reps.

we have two class reps for each class.

they send out details of events, organise meet ups and coffee mornings, fete rotas, teachers gifts etc etc

bump for the late crowd

bump for the morning crowd then

yes, we have them - same sort of thing as the other posters. IMO they are a good thing, and can fulfil a useful role PROVIDED they do not become bossy and overbearing. I have been once twice, and still get teased because I was a bit too 'business-like' about it all and had spreadsheets and reminder systems for things!

However I remember a similar thread on MN a few years ago where quite a few folk got really het up about the idea and were vehemently against sharing names addresses/ socialising with other parents etc, so it may not be for everyone, and you need to be respectful if someone says 'no thanks' to being asked to give phone numbers for lists/ come for coffee/help at the school fair etc.

I think it depends very much what type of school/ community.

We have class reps, one for each class. They are the link to the PTA and organise nights out for class parents. They update and distribute the class contact list - parents can opt out if they wish. They also organise and collect for Christmas/end of year presents for teaching staff.

Our class rep is a SAHM so is at school every day. I find it very useful to have her as a contact to find out what is going on at school.

Here's one of the old threads that kicked off!

There was a one about class list too which was hilarious IIRC...

Being class rep is not for the faint-hearted!

One of the parents in our class lists their work phone number as their only contact number and doesn't list their address (they are the only one to do this).

Another parent arranged a playdate where this parent would collect from school and she would collect later from the house. Unfortunately she had forgotten that this parent's contact details weren't sufficient and when she went to collect her child she didn't know where the parent lived and couldn't contact her by phone. Fortunately she was able to contact another parent who did have these details. Utterly mad imo.

It seems weird to me that you are happy for your children to be in the same class but not happy for any other parent to be able to contact you.

hanks guys - I'll check out that link later too. We're particularly interested in having the class reps so that we can try and get each class to run one stall at the christmas bazaar and one at the summer fete. The rep would be responsible for organising the rota. This would take some of the pressure of whoever is organising the event hopefully as stall cover can be a real pain.

Do you think this would be a reasonable task for the class rep or will that put people off when we are trying to recruit??

TIA

I have always given all my e-mail/ contact details for the class list, but you DO have to make sure the data is used/held responsibly, and perhaps make others aware of this at the beginning of the school year.

I don't appreciate getting forwarded all the latest scam e-mails from other people, or get involved in chain e-mails. There's also always some idiot you uses the 'Reply to All' button to make a comment or say "I can't make it, because Jemima has ballet etc.. "

Mckenzie - that's exactly what we do, in fact I've just been handed the list for what we've got to sort out for our Christmas Fair.

Yes.

They pull together contact details for other parents in the class, organise social events, organise class stall(including rota) at school fete, are point of contact for emergency telephone cascade messages (e.g. if school has to close because of snow the school would call the class reps who would then call the other parents via emergency pyramid), go in to meetings at school where they are consulted on stuff and attempt to drum up support for school events.

We have as many class reps as want to volunteer in each class. This is good, because there is never a lack of things for them to do! Repping is a big job for one person.

Most parents help out here and there (volunteering on stalls, helping with trips), however, between them the reps circulate information, organise help for class specific activities and organise the stalls at Xmas and summer fairs etc.

They also have regular meetings with the head and provide feedback from parents.

Because more than 1 person can rep, tasks can be divided up and people who can't be in school during the day can still rep.

No, our school doesn't have them.

The PTA sends out all communications by letter or you can sign up for schoolcomms to have it sent by email along with any other school stuff.

I wouldn;t be happy about giving my phone number out to lots of people I don't know. Also a few parents I know have sensitive jobs and unusual surnames so have to be careful what information is out there.

If the school has to close due to snow we check on the website or listen to local radio. (Has never closed in 20 years though!!!)

Re: class lists - you don't have to put all information on the class list - most communications are by e-mail so you can always create an e-mail address just for the PSA/rest of the class.

If you get to the point of inviting somebody to your house, presumably you are happy to exchange phone numbers!

thanks for all this feedback guys. I'm still struggling to prepare the letter asking parents to volunteer though!

Should i make it fairly vague in terms of responsibilites at this stage? Or should I define now what we (as in the PTA) would like class reps to do? Or perhaps ask for volunteers and also suggestions for class rep roles from those applying or interested?

TIA

Works for our school for the annual fete. Each class has a stall and the rep invites volunteers to come and do a 30 min slot often with older children who get the chance to help run their class stall. With any kid of the age of 9 or so it seems that the kids just get on with it and the parent is just there to check any problems in giving change for notes and checking that the kids aren't giving free goes to all their mates! For the rep it is usually a matter of emailing ot ask for volunteers and then sending out a rota of those who offered. Takes a big burden of the organising committee!

Pixie yes I have all the home contact numbers of my colleagues (weird business!).

Only one family in the entire year has not provided an out of office contact number. I find it very odd tbh but of course could understand if the majority of families had done the same.

My school has class reps but I'm not sure I've seen anything particularly useful come out of the role; the PTA wanted reps to be people who are already involved with the PTA whereas I can't help thinking that class reps could be a brilliant role for someone who isn't into committee type stuff but is fantastic at involving others and getting to know people on a 1:1 basis.

As a parent in the school where I teach I wouldn't want my address or phone number on a generic class list. My DD's friends' parents have my number/address and that is fine but she is in a class with a number of children who have siblings further up the school and whose parents I would be worried would call me about things related to them rather than DD's class.

I think any letter you might send out could do with offering a number of options e.g.

'A number of parents have expressed an interest in a class rep. system. This could take almost any form such as a class-linked member of the PTA who leads each class's effort at fundraising events, a parent per class who will communicate commonly-raised queries to the teacher/SLT/Governors, an individual who organises termly socials for parents in each class or simply a person who will be the first contact for other parents in the event of an unexpected school closure. Please indicate below which of the systems you think would be most beneficial to X school. There is also space for you to suggest alternative models of class rep as all ideas are welcome. If you would be willing to offer yourself as a rep for any/all of the possible systems please indicate in the space provided.....blah blah blah'.

thank you so much for these extra replies (for SE13mummy for the ideas for my letter).
I might copy my first draft on here tomorrow for you guys to have a read if you dont mind - see if you think I've got the tone right.

Agree with various points on here:

• defn have more than one class rep - shares the load. We ask for minimum of two per class.
• I would be upfront about what you think you want BUT say you're open to any input. We are currently sending out a letter to Recpetion parents outlining what a class rep role involves - have C&P below in case anything is helpful:

Every class has two class representatives: the links between the PTA and the class. This is a low key role, and a great way of dipping your toe into the PTA. We?ll be looking to appoint class reps at the AGM but if you?d like to know more, do contact xxxx

What a class rep does:
-organises volunteers to run class stalls at the Easter & Summer fairs, cake bakes etc.
-wrap presents/organise someone to wrap presents to be distributed to all children by the Man In Red at Christmas.
What a class rep can do ? if they like:
-organise social events for the parents in your class - from an occasional meet in a pub to a family picnic.
-Let us know what your class would like the PTA to do differently.
What a class rep doesn?t do:
-everything themselves ? ideally, get the whole class involved
-turn up to all (or indeed any!) PTA meetings ? although we?d love it if you do.
The PTA committee are of course here to support the reps all the way? we can provide a list of ?top tips? for anyone interested.

As you'll see we don't include school closures/comms as part of the class rep role (although I can see it's a sensible idea)