PFI school PTA restrictions GDPR mentioned

[SaoLoony]

Yes.. yet another PTA chat starting (honest apologies, i did read previous threads).
Our school is a PFI school and our PTA has been told that we are only allowed to hold the meetings within the school premises because discussing school matters outside the school building is not allowed in case people overhear. They don't even allow meetings in someone's house.

I know the PTA have held meetings outside the school previously so I was wondering if someone can clarify what the problem is here.

Is it the new GDPR? We won't be holding or distributing any members' personal data; we'll be discussing future events!
Is it because PFI do not allow PTA to meet outside the school?
Or is it the school's/headteacher's choice?
Is the PTA independent of the school or is it bound by the same rules?

Thank you for your help and wisdom

My first questions are whether the PTA is a registered charity and who is on the executive of the association, making decisions.
If you are a registered charity you should be operating as a separate organisation from the school and you as an association can decide to meet wherever is most appropriate. In terms of being a PFI school, that means that the school pay a separate company for providing services such as caretakers etc. So they will not be insisting the meetings are at the school. In fact there is more likelihood of them not wanting the meetings at school as it will cost the school.
I am not sure what school matters the PTA would be discussing or probably more important should not be discussing which would impact on GDPR. That is about personal data and there is no way that any PTA should be discussing personal information about pupils, staff or other parents. The PTA should be discussing raising funds for the school and what funds raised should be spent on, which is not personal data, as far as I am aware.
Is it possible this edict is coming from the Principal of the school who may be misreading what the scope of GDPR is or misunderstanding what should or should not be being discussed at PTA meetings

Thank you for your prompt response.
Yes the Headteacher's objection is that we might be overheard by other people, even if it is somewhere with no public access, and that as it is a meeting to do with school matters, it should only be held at the school.
And this is ok by the PTA to do so sometimes. It just cannot happen all the time because there are things the officers need to arrange by themselves, or simple things like availability to help out which can be done without needing to book a room and a caretaker to let us in and out.
I will do some further investigation on the other matters you've raised on your response. Thank you very much

School matters? The PTA is for fundraising surely. What confidential matters could you possibly be discussing?

Ours meets in the local pub.

Is the Head worried because PTA meetings are a forum for tittle tattle? If so, then the PTA needs to be strict about agendas and what is discussed. No complaining about teachers for example.

Therefore check your terms of reference, tighten up the agendas and stick to them, and also register as a charity. You then have control over the PTA and it’s not up to the Head to dictate anything. However you (preferably the Chair) must be very clear that discussions are not to include children or staff and must stick to raising money and social events. Perhaps the Chair could reassure the Head? Every PTA committee I have been with meets at the school, isn’t charged and a member of staff is on the committee so there is good liaison. Meeting in a pub can be too informal in my view.

I suppose the formality of the location would depend on the formality of the agenda. eg holding the AGM at the pub might not be the best choice (it might however attract more members :) ) but deciding on Santa's presents is something easily sorted in a pub or even through WhatsApp I'd assume?!
We have a confidentiality agreement in place whereby teachers and children's behaviour are not discussed. This has never been an issue and we only do discuss fundraising ideas and organising details of events. As this will be our first meeting after the AGM it would be great not to have the 90' time restriction of the room at the school premises and rely on the caretaker to open and close the school. This is why a very suitable alternative was found but rejected by the headteacher for the reasons mentioned above. I do wonder if he would raise the same concerns should an event be held outside the school premises

PTA Office holder for 10+ years here.
Sound ridiculous.

Formal, minuted meetings need to be held at a time and place to encourage attendance, though obviously if you want a teacher to attend then school premises is a good place. You of course also need HT support for your activities ...

Detailed working discussions need to be able to be ad hoc as and when. I would blindly assume HT isn't referring to these and continue to hold them however convenient.

You can get away with 1 formal meeting per term if you are organised.

Sounds like bollocks to me

You need the committee to turn up and a lib is fine for informal meetings. If you have a teacher on the committee, the school is best and 90 mins is fine. Adjourn to the pub for AOB!!!

A committee meeting is not an efficient way to arrange details such as who will buy the squash for the disco or exactly what prizes you want to buy for the summer fair.

Committee meetings are good for:

• what events (on what dates), who will organise, who is offering to help
• major concepts for events
• agreeing spending

Pretty much everything else I would do offline with 5 or fewer people present.

I helped found our PTA and it sounds like total bollocks to me. You are there to raise funds and that’s all.
Having said that without the support of your Head it’s going to be very very difficult to get anything done unfortunately

Part if my job us to be a DPO. The remit of the PTA will not usually cause them to have to follow GDPR processes. Fundraising events rarely do.

I imagine you use email using personal email addresses - what does the head teacher say about that? If they place restriction on where you should meet then they must be doing their nut about emails....

Thank you all for your comments. I especially liked the "sounds like bollocks to me" it does to me too tbh.
It IS a registered charity and the purpose is to raise money for the school AND bring parents together so we all communicate more effectively. The HT's location restriction has ruffled some feathers up already. I do wonder whether all this is because the staff members do not want to/are not allowed to meet outside the school
Charmatt, re the emails, we are currently sending two separate emails and have two WhatsApp groups: one for the parent members and one for the school staff members. I'm seeing the headteacher on Monday so I will check how the nuts are doing about that
Again, thank you all so much for your comments. We now have a much clearer idea of those essential details (and have become experts on acronyms too!!)

Speaking as a former PTA Treasurer:
If you are a registered charity then those on the committee are the Trustees and make the decisions. You are a separate body to the school and will have your own constitution.
We did hold the AGMs at school with the Head present, and also a formal meeting about once a term at school (open to everyone) to inform parents of events, encourage volunteers etc, Alternating between evening and daytime meetings to make it fair.
We didn’t do pub meetings as not everyone is comfortable with this.
Aside from this, the committee would have smaller meetings to discuss the nitty gritty of events, which were usually at someone’s house, it was really not necessary to have these at school and don’t think the caretaker would have thanked us! It also helped the committee members who find it hard to get out in the evenings (eg single parents or those whose partners worked evenings) as they could host it. Also the school had to pay overtime to have the caretaker open the school so financially we’d try not to do this more than necessary.

So I think the Head saying every PTA meeting has to be hosted at school is nonsense..... on the other hand you do have to get along with the Head so you’ll have to be careful how you discuss it.