Help! PTA in crisis and I am going to volunteer but really need ideas about how to increase level of involvement.

[alana39]

Our PTA has had a fantastic chair for the last few years, but she is now working full time and just doesn't have the time to do it anymore. As alot of the people that were very involved have kids towards the end of juniors, we desperately need some new blood.

I have volunteered to get involved - but although my older kids are at school I have an 8 month old and go back to work part time in October.

Please can anyone share ideas as to how they encourage / maintain involvement from parents? I am pretty sure there are people with the time and enthusiasm to help, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to start and I don't have the time to take on too much myself.

I really need practical ideas - how many people are on your PTA, how much time do they spend, how do you encourage parents when they join the school and anything else you can think of.

Thanks

We are an infant school so children leave when they finish year 2.

We have about 4 parents and 4 staff. One meeting per term which lasts about an hour plus time to help at the events which can vary.

We have just had our school fair where we managed to recruit a few more members but two exisitng members are leaving in July.

We try to emphasis that it doesn't matter if you can't come to a meeting but help is always needed for events - sign up for 30 minutes which is not that daunting.

We try to find a meeting time that suits most people which in our case is 6.00 pm. We have had requests for a morning meeting which we did but not many turned up.

Our headteacher will remind parents of forthcoming events we need help for at parent assemblies - someone can wait by the exit to take names.

We try to publish a newsletter every other term to promote forthcoming events, meetings and to let people know what the money is being spent on and how much is raised. One side of A4 with a few pictures so not too long to produce or to read.

We also use the school text system to promote meetings and events.

We always have a display board at parent info evenings and at progress evenings. Just a page about what we do and posters advertising next meeting/event.

We do have most of the same events each year so it is not too time consuming as you know what help you need. All the advertising is saved on the computer so will just need date changes generally.

Go around the playground asking parents if they are interested is worth a try but you will get a lot of knockbacks.

Hope some of these ideas help anyway. Or just say that if you get no volunteers there will be no fun events - can sometimes get people to step forward.

What Lenin said - don't be over-ambitious. It doesn't matter that every year there has been a Christmas Fair or whatever - if you don't have the help, drop it. Be ruthless. I think PTAs are going to die a death pretty soon - people just don't have the inclination or the time.

The best way of encouraging involvement is to spell out, regularly, what the money raised actually goes towards. Lots of parents just don't seem to realise what it's for - itemise the number of books/the sports strips/whatever that the PTA bought over the last year, and publicise it widely. And come up with a popular fundraising goal for next year - be specific - you need X amount for this thing, which the school/pupils need for this reason.

The perception is often that it's a way for parents with too much time on their hands to be bossy, and whatever you can do to point out that actually, the fundraising is necessary rather than a hobby, will help.

I'll be watching this thread closely as I am secretary of our PTA, and it is an uphill struggle.

Half the parents seem to think that it is only the cliquey parents who get involved, so it is not for them.

The other half seem to begrudge the fact that it is always them doing everything and other parents don't bother.

At the end of the day everyone's children benefit from the fundraising so it would be nice if they all stopped moaning and got on with it!

Grr...

God I'm glad its not just our school! I'm chair of our PTA and its a nightmare, no one wants to help or give an opinion until after the event when the critising floodgates open. If we didn't have a specific project that we are fundraising for I would have told them all to take a flying leap and organise their own discos, fairs etc.

I agree with others make sure all the parents realise the benefits that come out of the fundraising and also let parents have some say on what money is spent on
We have v active pta with some seriously driven mothers but everyone is encouraged to join in!
Grab the keen new parents asap,new parents are asked to sign up at a "reception parents tea and biscuits meeting" in the first term
Events are advertised in the weekly school newsletter
Each class has a parent class rep who find volunteers for events

ooh thats a good idea about the parent class rep, I'm nabbing that!

1. Be welcoming and friendly to people who come to the meeting.

2. Have a positive attitude. Do NOT bitch about people who aren't helping. Not even as an aside before or after.

3. Don't faff about going off on tangents during the meeting; just discuss briefly, keep to the point, make a decision and move on without talking about it for ages.

4. Distribute regular & attractive newsletters (one side of A5 may be enough, but say something) describing what you've been doing and what you will do and how the money has been/will be spent.

You'd be dismayed to learn how many volunteer committees cannot manage to do any of those things!!

Have meetings in the pub - works for us.

Emphasise in newsletters (we have a specific PTA newsletter that goes out a couple of times a term) what the money is used for and why you are currently fundraising.

Have events that are fundraisers and some that are just fun - for example we have a christmas disco that the kids love but isn't about money at all, it's free.

Echo the class reps idea -each class here has one, some come to meetings some don't, but they all pass on emails, chivvy people up to go on rotas for say Summer Fairs, and can tell fellow parents that the rest of the PTA doesn't have 2 heads, honest....

Be friendly with the school staff, from the office admins to the head - it's amazing how much help teachers and admins can give if they want, from photocopying to collecting things like sweetie jars (for the tombola) in class.

Definitely be friendly and welcoming all of the time not just when volunteers are needed urgently for the summer fair.

Be transparent, do memos re amounts raised and what it is being spent on / saved for.

Hold meetings at times to allow for working parents or do email minutes for those who cannot attend but would like too.

And whatever you do, when you DO get 4 new members on one night ignore them all and talk over them because 'we always do that/ no that doesnt work/ we have tried that before
Because when you do at least 3 of them will never come back again

Thanks everyone, that's brilliant. Found 2 other people this morning who are also interested in getting properly involved and who said they've tried to find out before what the money gets spent on without much success, so we will definitely be starting there.

Any more ideas very welcome.

Useful website www.ncpta.org.uk/

Good luck!

Make yourself as public as possible.

Don't just send out newsletters/info about forthcoming events; also send out minutes of meetings (as long as well written!). The more people know about what goes on, the easier it is to join in.

Does your school have a website? If so, add a PTA page and put lots of photos on, especially of exsisting committee (they may hate this, but getting themselves known really helps).

First and foremost though I would say is to actually ask people if they would like to come along to a meeting. Go up to a mum standing alone in the playground and invite her along.
The reason most people give for not joining committees/groups is simply that they were never asked.

I'd ask the parents & school what they want the PTA to do. Lots of parents on here are just talking about fund-raising.....am not sure that should be what the main thrust is about. Parents can support the school and teachers in other ways, other than just cash.

I don't have a child at school yet (but will in September). I know what would encourage me to participate is being given a list of 'things to help with' and being asked if I could do any of those. So for example - make tea at fete (date, time), produce newsletter, make webpage, supervise disco (date, time) etc. Much less intimidating than just being asked to help generally - I can easily do things on the PC, but would find it hard to commit to anything of fixed date/time due to work and no babysitter.

Make yourselves easy to contact - mobile numbers so that people who don't like making phonecalls can text, and a PTA email address - again, less intimidating.

Make sure those who don't pick up their children personally know what is going on - a notice on the door at school isn't going to get you involved with parents who use a CM or afterschool club. A bit in the school newsletter should be seen though

Lots of notice about events - if your large events are the same each year, get them in peoples diaries in September. I already know the autumn term PA events dates, so have them blocked out so both of us can attend and therefore help. Short notice (like a couple of weeks) would mean one of us would be away for work, so would be occupied with DS

Placemarking with interest

Me, too

I've been vice-chair of our small PTA since beginning of this year, and generally agree with all points so far:

Lower expectations/number of events

Be friendly and inclusive: I asked some of the parents higher up in the school, that no one else seemd to dare approach, and they were hugely helpful, and had experience to share to boot.

People are usually happy to help with specfic requests: half an hour on the xxx stall at the fair, a cake for the cake sale, is much easier to say 'yes' to than 'come to a meeting' or 'join the PTA' both of which feel daunting and scary, and often impractical, to many.

Finally, try not to take on too much yourself - you need to be good at shrugging your shoulders and letting things go

I find the easiest way to help is when I am given a list of things the PTA need for an event e.g. - we had a letter from the PTA detailing what we needed to provide for the stalls for the fair. It gives parents time to plan and shop rather than a last minute dash.