Has anyone got a successful secondary PTA?

[Unhealthyinterestinme]

Hi, I've joined the school pta as DS1 is in yr 7.
There are fewer people involved and there seems to be accepted that parents aren't interested in secondary ptas.
I don't really get this because secondary school is surely just as important as primary.
Anyone got inspirational advice. There are plenty of wealthy parents and our town is a strong community.

I've not experienced secondary PTAs, however our local high school makes the kids responsible to fundraise for their particular programme.

E.g. Choir and band have a plant sale
Athletics team do a secure shredding one
Rowing team have a tuition fee raffle
There is a special committee of parents that just deal with the grad party

The emphasis at this age is that the kids should fundraise for their particular activity and see the benefits of it.

Plus most parents are burnt out after volunteering through their child's primary years

At secondary, parents aren't doing drop off and pick up, so don't know each other or the teachers, and are much less involved. Pupils also travel in from a much wider area. Agree also that parents are 'burnt out' after primary!

Our secondary PTA does 2 things:

• refreshments at major school events such as the school musical, raising a bit of money spent on subsiding leavers book or bits and bobs
• organises parent-teacher communication sessions, e.g. at one point the school changed homework radically causing a lot of disquiet so there was an evening discussion where the school could put forward its reasoning, and parents could raise issues. I think they're quite useful, but over the years this type of thing has become less and less well attended and I'm not convinced its going to survive.

Go with the flow rather than trying to get other people to change their habits. Tell them that if they join the 100 club / 500 club then they will never be asked to bake cakes or buy their child's Easter crafts again.

What's a 100 club?

We raised about £10,000 a year.
Parents don't engage ..you have to get the students on board in yr 7 & 8. After that they are too cool

100 club. Pay £20 (or £50 or whatever), get given a number from 1-100.

Regular draws, eg one per month or per term. Whoever's number gets picked gets eg £100. Rest of the money is profit.

We can't even get people to join that any more at our secondary.

I'm a veteran of secondary Pta. It's difficult. Parents aren't interested in the slightest. Impossible to try and organise events as you don't see parents at drop off. We had a race night and in spite of advertising everywhere, not one parent that wasn't involved with the pta turned up.

Things we do,

Teas at school events. (Approx £20 per night but keep us in profile)
Big raffle at the Christmas concert (approx £2k)
Bag packs (£500 per shift, again most of the volunteers are our dcs)
Spring Fayre (£2k, lot of work but worth it)
200 club (£2.5k, £10 per year subs with monthly prizes)

We have tried to organise other events but there really is no interest.

I agree that it's hard to get parents involved. I was on the PTA at DD's previous school for five years and one of the most successful things we did - in terms of being useful rather than raising money - was the sale of second-hand uniform. We had a stand a the new Y7's parents' welcome meeting and we were mobbed!

Forgot to add, it was a great way of making ourselves known to new Y7 parents and asking them to get involved.

My sons are at two different schools. In one, there is an active pta, with second hand uniform sales, quiz nights, walks, coffee mornings, etc, plus refreshment at music events. The other school has a new pta and is struggling a little. It has held some successful events, but others are less well supported.

our pta is like the secret service. They used to post minutes on the school website but don't anymore. They have no contact details, no Facebook page. If you want to contact them you have to go through the school office, which I tried and got no reply. I've given up. You can't find out when the meetings are anymore but they used to meet on a night I couldn't go, but I was still interested. I think that it is a snobby group and must be by invitation only. I've got involved in helping with the DofE group instead.

By the time dc are in secondary, a far higher % of parents are back at work than in Primary.
People who have volunteered throughout Primary are looking for a break.
People don't see other parents at drop off / collection so don't form those friendships or even read notices, let alone be around to 'be persuaded'.

Doesn't mean it can't be successful in fundraising, just that you have to think differently.
At ds's school, for example, they now meet at the local bar

yy to doing something like the 100 club. Ours is called the '50:50 club as it doesn't limit numbers...theoretically there could be 500+ in it, but it could still run if there were 24 people. All you do is get keen, new intake parents on induction evening to sign a standing order mandate for £1/month (or more if you think they will). Half the money you take in is drawn in Prize money each month and half goes to the Fundraising. People aren't bothered about £1 a month and don't get round to cancelling (my ds has been left for a year and we are still in it ! ). You work out how the prize money is allocated - X% for 1st drawn number, Y% for second drawn number and Z% for 3rd drawn number each month. You have a regular income with little effort after the initial 'signing up'.

We also have quizzes and they book a craft fair in the Autumn to catch the Christmas present seekers (stall holders are charged for their 'pitch' and PTA do a cake stall and also teas and coffees and cakes on the evening.