PTA Members, I need your expertise.

[AfroditeJones]

Hi.
My dd's school is calling for parents to join PTA, I have absolutely no experience on this but I'm really keen on getting involved and help making the school even better.
So, please tell me what entails being a PTA member, I wasn't educated in England and I'm a foreigner so this is very new to me.

PTAs tend to be about fund raising and providing fun events for the children. For example summer fairs, discos, film night etc. The money they raise goes on stuff that can't be justified within school budgets such as play equipment, subsidising trips, ipads for classrooms etc. They may also provide refreshments for concerts etc etc.

PTAs tend not to be a 'parent voice' back to the school (although some are). So generally if you have things you want the school to improve / change (eg, and example totally off the top of my head, if you wanted them to improve their communication to parents regarding dress up days) the PTA is likely not to be the route to do this.

Some schools have parent voice sessions / parent council to gain views from parents and provide a forum for them to raise issues. Some may also have suggestions boxes etc.

There are also the Parent Governors, who are part of the schools govering body. They provide an oversight in the running of the school, acting as a 'Critical friend'. They are involved in policies and major strategic issues. They are not involved in detailed day-to-day issues as these are within the remit of the HT and the senior leadership team.
You could talk to a parent governor about the absence of any 'Parent Voice' route, and they could float the idea for you.

All that aside the chair of the PTA may well have some knowledge of the best way to feedback issues to the school. But don't join the PTA committee wanting to change the school. It needs to be about helping raise funds and supporting school activities.

hope this helps.

Our pta's objective is something like "to enhance the experience that the pupils have at X School".

We raise funds and have bought or contributed to "extras" (sadly including things like new reading books at times due to really tight budget constraints).

We have a tiny committee (4), a few regular meeting attenders (about 4 more including HT) and get help from other parents for events.

If you didn't want to be on the committee we would still love to have you as a volunteer as and when you could help if you were at our school.

Thanks.
There will be a meeting for the parents who are interested in joining the PTA but I want to have a general idea before going there so I can understand better.