Is your PTA truly a pTa?

[emkana]

Ie do the teachers get involved? And if they don't, do you feel they should do more, or do you think they're busy enough as it is?

Ours is a "Friends of..."
The head teacher (or her delegate) comes to every meeting & the timing of any events are agreed with her.
In the 4 years I have been involved only 1 teacher has come (meeting are 7.30pm) and majority of teachers are very local.

To the other extreme my mum taught reception for years and the PTA at her school was purely teachers. They did everything and the was no parental involvement - and this wasn't for lack of trying.

She was commenting on ours the other month and the difference between the two.

Associations vary. 1 school I know they meet at lunchtime in a local restaurant. Lunch and soft drink £20 ish. That's pretty cliquey to me.

Meeting in restaurants - that has to be the minority

The Head or a deputy turns up to all our meetings with the school diary so, in theory, there should be no clashes with teachers' other commitments.

Other staff rarely attend anything. A couple who are also parents always pitch in. That's fine though as I'm a (ft) secondary school teacher and I don't go to things at my school at the weekend in general.

At ours staff do put in requests for funding for various items so do have a say - of sorts - in how the money is spent.

We have always had the AGM in the school mobile and the remainder of meetings (half-termly) at someone's house.
Attendance has really dropped off in the last year or so and for the next meeting we are going to try holding it in the pub to see if we get any more people coming. Still 7.30pm though - hope no one sees that as cliquey , I am hoping it will be less so that someone's house for potential newbies.

Pubs are quite common here. 7.30 is a good time. Lots are duri ng school time or 6pm- that excludes working parents

We have a friends association at both my school and children?s school. I tend not to get too involved at my children?s school. I turn up to events with my DC just like a usual parent, but I?m not on the committee or help run anything.

At my school it?s different and it is a bone of contention! I would really appreciate it if our committee followed one of the posters advise of canvassing teachers about events and meeting times before setting them up, then I stood a better chance of fitting it with my family life.

We work long hours to start with and fitting work and home life is constant juggling, just like any working mum. The problem for me is the expectation to be heavily involved in friends events. Fortnightly meetings at 7pm when staff from every year group are expected so that?s once a month for me ? but that?s on ballet night so I really struggle. Meetings are a social event for most of the parents so run on and on, finishing at about 9.30 or 10pm. Every term we have about 4 to 6 events ? discos, film nights, craft days, bingo, fayres. And we are all expected there, but they are either 5.30pm on a Friday or Saturday mornings / all day. Again the problem is family life!
It?s not school that insists we attend. Teachers have a set number of hours they can be directed to work and friends events can?t fit into this, It?s taken up with teaching time, staff meetings, training sessions, three parents evenings a term, curriculum information evenings every term. It?s the committee of parents that put pressure staff. If you don?t show I get ?spoken to? in the playground ? ?Oh you weren?t at the disco, it?s a real shame the children missed you and we really could have done with the help? called across the playground in front of all the parents. Last year I got it in the neck for only attending half the Christmas Fayre. It clashed with my DCs school fayre, football tournament final and dancing open day, so we rushed form one to the other all day.
Don?t get me wrong I really appreciate all that they do for the school by providing extra funds and the children fun events, but I just can?t cope with it all! Not many jobs expect that level of unpaid overtime at times that clash so badly with family life. Do doctors and nurses give up that amount of their own time to raise funds for hospitals?
So please, please, please? if you organise an event, bear the fact that teachers have a life outside school and no matter how much we value your role we can?t always be involved and some consultation about timings of events could result in more support from teachers.
PS ? we?ve just calculated most of us at school work double the hours we are contracted for already!

I think you raise an interesting point abigails.

The point of a PTA or friends event needs to be clear. Is it to raise funds or is it a social event. Both are valid. However spending 5 hours at a disco (which children enjoy) that only raises £50 (or makes no money) raises questions for me.

Quite happy to help raise money- don't really see the need to help run social events (think they are valuable but also think parents should run these).

Many teachers also raise money for the school in other ways through events, competitions etc.

Teachers also buy a lot of resources from their own pocket.

Ours is called the PA, and the only time the school ever get involved is when they want to come and tell ask us what to spend the money raised on.

Yes, to a point.

We have (at the Deputy Head's request) a morning meeting once every half term, as well as at least one evening meeting once every half term. This is so that the School Manager and the Deputy (who is also responsible for community links, sustainability, our allotment project etc) can come - we have it first thing on a Monday morning which suits their timetables.

When we have Fairs that the staff are historically involved in (each class having a table, or a game, etc) there is usually a visit to a Staff Meeting for a few minutes by a couple of PTA members to liase, find out what people want/need from the PTA, etc.

The communication is good - at least, it has been over the past year or two. Smallish school, very small PTA, maybe that makes a difference.

Oh, and when the PTA pays for school 'wishes' (which we ask for once every term, and others come dribbling in ad hoc) we sometimes get thank you letters from children, which the teachers have organized. They are always much appreciated and enjoyed (and no doubt a useful part of some sort of literacy excercise!)

I am a teacher and a member of the PTA. Although we have 2 teachers going to PTA meetings all our staff will get involved with events such as The Summer fete and Christmas craft market as the cateering is always the teacher's responsibility and this seems to work well. We know what we have to cover and most staff sign up to the rota. It is only twice a year and I do feel that our staff do value the work our PTA put in to raising thousands of pounds each year. Having said that we do only have about 15 parents that will regularly help at PTA events and with 500pupils in our school this is a little sad. Our meeting start at 8pm and I do sometimes feel when they are going on till past 10pm, I have been at school over 14 hours and I will be back in school in just over 9 hours please can I go home now! On the whole though PTA's do a fantastic jobs and if teachers are able to be involved then there are for less likely to be clashes with school events- seems very odd that PTA events should be happening during school hours.

oh no just spotted my incorrect use of the apostrophe before anyone comments about my teaching ability!!

"I am often catching up with planning all of Sunday afternoon, so Saturday might be the only time I have to clean the house, do the shopping, see my own family etc.

In my experience a lot of the PTA members are mums who don't work outside the house and they simply have more time (and inclination) than I do to get involved...."

Exactly. My school is my place of work. Should I really be expected to give up part of my precious weekend with my own family to help fund raise for extras for your children? Teachers have their own lives too!

What about something simple like staying a bit longer to help clean up after an event? Too much tom expect of teachers?

My involvement in the PTA equivalent is mostly electronic; I send my apologies to the committee when I can't make the meetings and try to get to them every now and then. I respond to the minutes, get teachers' opinions/bring things up in staff meetings and support events by helping set up/attending. I also have no desire to spend 3 hours on a school night listening to domineering PTA committee members being negative and moany when I could spend that time at home with my family/doing my planning.

DH is a teacher at a different school and we have two DCs. We both love our jobs and support our schools but they are our jobs, not our lives.

Also, the PTA is often not the only 'extra' demand on teachers' time.... school plays/concerts/sports matches/residentials/educational visit 'pre-visits' all depend upon teachers being there or running them. If a termly cake sale or PTA meeting was the only pressure I'm sure more teachers would feel inclined to participate!

Personally, I think electronic involvement is the way forward.

When you say "staying a bit longer" what do you mean emkana? I'm confued how that would work for out of school hours events as all our friends events are.
Maybe your school runs things differently but asking us to stay late implies we've been at the event as well. Or does it mean coming back to school at 8pm to help clear up after a Friday disco? Staying after the end of the Saturday craft morning when it finishes at 1pm to put all our classrooms back in order so we can teach in them on Monday?

I should mention our meetings are only once a half term so not as often as lots of schools (once a week what can you possibly have to talk about that often?). Also there are lots of little PTA events ran by only parents and we have no complaints from them they are grateful for the time we can give up at the big events. Some other experiences of PTA sound horrendous and I know that would certainly be far less willing to help ungrateful parents that don't apprieciate the hours that teachers already put into a school day and that they have their own lives and families.

An evening event which some staff members attended and which ended at 22.15.

I'm even more confused now... you are asking staff that have already stayed until 22.15 to stay even longer at work?

It was a quiz and curry night. The staff members just attended socially, quizzing and eating - not sure if it was really fully a work thing for them. I do think they could at least stack a few chairs, after I have spent the last six hours setting up, serving food and drink and doing the disgphes.

I attended a school quiz last night it finished at 11.30pm, I had paid for my ticket the same as everyone else that took part, I did not stay to help tidy up, it was a friday night at the end of a long week that had included an inspection, does that make me unsupporting emkana? You have no idea what hours those teachers had already put in to their working day you need to be grateful that they were there at all.

If I attend PTA quiz nights/similar I buy my ticket same as everyone else there. I will probably have been in school since 7.30 am, not seen one of my children at all that day (and only seen the other because she goes to my school), will have worked til the start of the 'event' (because attending the event will massively reduce my planning time) and will be keen to leave at the end to pay the babysitter and get some sleep.

Chances are, I wouldn't have hung around to stack chairs - it doesn't mean I'm ungrateful but that I will have felt like I'd done 'my bit' as it were. The alternative would be for me to help set up after school and then not attend but no doubt the PTA would feel hard done by then too because teachers weren't publically supporting the event.

Rock. Hard place.

I promise you it's WORK more than social. I've been to adults only dances, race nights, etc. and it was always work. Your teachers were on duty and can't "let our hair down". If they wanted a social curry they would have gone out to the nearest curry house. Their attendance was probably duty and I certainly try and make the best of it when I have to attend events like that, but I'm clock watching waiting until I can get home to my DH & DC.
I'm sure you worked very hard and its sounds a super event. But it goes back to every other PTA / Friends event; staff are at work and giving up their precious free time.