Why join the PTA at your kids’ school
Many parents avoid their children’s school PTA (Parent Teacher Association). But I’m here to tell you that maybe you should give it another chance. Especially when so many mums say they lose their identity once they have children, or find it hard to make friends. You’re potentially missing out on lots of opportunities. There’s plenty of reasons why you should get involved. So why join the PTA at your children’s school?
My PTA experience
Primary school wasn’t convenient for me to join the committee. The meetings seemed to be after school drop off so useless for working parents. So I didn’t join the committee, I just helped out when I was available.
For a small village school it was a successful PTA, with 2 different chairs during 7 years through school. Those who got involved tended to be from the village(s). Parents from town didn’t seem to get involved with the PTA, or even turn up to events. I think that’s a bit rubbish over 7 years, if you’re sending your children to a nice community focused school and they’re benefitting and you’re never making an effort to support efforts.
It was a lot of fun helping out. We did nearly new sales, refreshments at events, quiz nights, race nights and various other things. I also got to know other parents from the the village across the school years, and felt part of the school community. We raised a good amount of money for a small school too.
We didn’t have the over-bearing, always hassling, PTA committee members. You could do as much or as little as you wanted to help.
Secondary school is very different. Many secondary schools don’t have a PTA. Ours started a PTSA (including students in theory), the year N started secondary. I put my name down straight away, because I wanted to get to know other parents, meet some of the teachers and get to know his new school better.
It’s been good fun to meet other parents, compare notes about school especially ask advice from parents with kids further up the school, and there’s a couple of teachers and staff who’re on the committee who are happy to give tips if we don’t know what we’re doing about something.
The PTA itself if much more low key than primary school, and it’s a lot harder to get people involved. Our aim isn’t to raise lots of money, it’s to run a few key events that all at the school have access to at as low a cost as possible. Make a little profit to be able to award some grants to the different departments. And not create lots of pressure for ourselves.
It’s turned out well, but after 3 years we need more members as some have dropped out as kids move up and out of exam years. That’s the impossible task. Despite the fact that it’s usually simple activities that run like clockwork – refreshments at a disco, open evening or show, quiz night, Easter egg prize giveaway, non uniform day. It’s basic stuff with very little commitment.
Thankfully N doesn’t seem to be too concerned about my involvement with the PTA, and neither do the other kids whose parents are on the committee, as they’ll come up and say hi, or help out at events if they’re in school doing activities too. His friends sometimes talk to me too. But if you have ‘embarrassed’ teens, then maybe pretend you don’t know them!
Why to join school PTA
Benefits for parents in being on the PTA
You can find out more about the school. Especially moving from primary where you know more people, speak to the teachers, and generally know other parents due to playdates and birthday parties. In secondary, you’ll rarely meet or speak to other parents, and only teachers at parents’ evening.
Increased Understanding of the school environment and educational processes. What works and what doesn’t. It can also help you understand your child more, learning from other parents and teachers. You also get to see how different ages of children interact at the different events. It can hold a mirror up to some problems your own child might be having and how teachers deal with them.
Meet teachers in a less formal setting. Sometimes you can get some extra feedback just by being in the same location. Recently I turned up a bit early when we were doing the tuck shop for a Year 8 disco. There were a couple of teachers grabbing some food before the disco, and another leaving who was having a chat. We did introductions, it turned out one taught N the previous year and said some nice things. Then the teacher who was leaving was his geography teacher from the current year, and gave me some feedback from the lesson they’d had that day.
Children are learning about giving back and volunteering from you. At primary school events, N would join in and help too. He got to learn new skills, and got to learn that sometimes you have to give back some time and help. And saw the benefits from the fundraising too.
Build friendships (especially useful if you’re not there for standard school run). If you’re on the committee you’ll obviously meet people more frequently. But even if you don’t have the time to have a committee role, you can only help out occasionally, it’s good to meet new people.
Give something back. There’s a lot to be said for volunteering time and effort. Schools don’t have loads of money, so it’s great to see the school and children to benefit from the fundraising we do.
Spread the load instead of it always being the same people. You might only be able to help an hour once a term. The more people who volunteer, the less pressure there is for everyone else who ends up doing every event and the behind the scenes work..
It’s fun. It’s great to see the kids enjoying themselves at a disco, you get to groove when they’re not looking. And get to see how much kids have changed since when you were at similar discos or events as a child. And it’s great to feel part of a team. Especially if you work alone, are a stay at home mum who feels like you don’t get out much, or want to do something that doesn’t feel as much like work.
It can be an addition to a CV. Add new skills, especially if you’ve taken time out from work to have kids.
Step outside your comfort zone. Sometimes as parents or in work, we just do the same old thing. Maybe the thought of ‘going back to school’ horrifies you. But you might just find roles or responsibilities that you enjoy doing. Or you might get over your own school stresses by seeing how things have changed.
Better communication between school and parents. PTAs can help improve communication by ensuring parents have more information about school policies, events, and activities, through either working within school frameworks on PTA events, or just through informal discussion. It’s a great way for schools to get feedback from kids directly as well, from an alternative point of view than the children.
PTAs can choose to support different areas of the school that need more money or support. We had enough profit to help each department with a small grant one year. It helped them plug gaps in funding when moving buildings.
Networking Opportunities. Each parent and teacher on a PTA will have different jobs and life experiences. Each brings something different to the committee and work. So it’s a chance to meeting different parents outside of your child’s friendship group.
Benefits for teachers
Teachers obviously don’t want to hang around after school as they have other work to do. Especially at secondary schools, it is hard to get them involved and turning up at out of hours events. But there are benefits for teachers as well
Potential to get free extra resources via the fundraising.
A more engaged parent community, who understand the school needs more, which can help with classroom activities, events, and extracurricular programs.
Improved links between school and home. If parents see more benefits from school, not just the academic side, they will potentially value the school and teachers more.
Professional Development, being on a PTA can add extra skills and networking opportunities. Parents may have networks to help with students’ work experience, or advice or learnings from other schools
It can be fun. Meet some parents who aren’t there to moan about something in school. Our first year of the PTA quiz, there were no teachers (apart from the quizmaster and PTA committee members) turning up to take part. The second year they came along and won the quiz, word’s got round that more want to attend and now we’re a bit worried there won’t be room for everyone.
For Students
Some PTAs also include students for secondary school. Our school does get the 6th form quite involved. They have their own charity events, but some do the music for the discos, or help out. For students there are also advantages:
Increased experience and enrichment to their education, meaning they’re learning more than just academics.
Positive role models. Not all children have positive role models in their life, and getting involved with PTA events can provide that, seeing parents and teachers working together for the benefit of their school can set a positive example for students about community involvement and teamwork.
Benefit from better school facilities and more events. The reason for PTAs even existing is to help and support the school, all decisions on using any money raised, has to benefit the wider school attendance, not individuals. So it could be year groups benefitting, the whole school, or specific departments.
Increased opportunities from attending events. If students are on the committee, there might be an event they wouldn’t usually get to go to for their year group, or because of the cost. But if you’re volunteering, you’d always get to attend.
Extra trips or gifts. PTA money sometimes can be put towards subsidising trips – to include all children, including those whose parents can’t afford to pay for the trip. They might provide leaver’s hoodies for those going up to secondary school. Or even new playground furniture, shelters or MUGA pitches. Lots of the things your school provides that you don’t contribute to, the PTA may have been involved in fundraising for.
For the School Community
Positive impressions of a school. Active PTAs can contribute to a positive school environment. They provide events that the school themselves don’t have time or resource for. These extra events can also increase the school’s attractiveness to new families, and grow the community feel for those already attending.
Additional support for schools. Yes, PTAs run their own events, But they can also provide extra manpower for school events. Ours usually provide refreshments for school events through the year. It means teachers and staff can concentrate on what they need to plan and offer, rather than faffing around making tea and coffee, and cakes. Plus it means the staff working can also get a coffee or snack as well.
So hopefully you’ve been converted and maybe you think you’d like to should be involved in your children’s school’s PTA. Maybe you could encourage some other parent friends to also get involved.
Don’t forget, a PTA can’t usually run without certain roles on the committee. Chair, secretary, treasurer. These can often be shared roles, and may only last 1-2 years.
More hands make light work, and it’s not forever. Enjoy your child’s school days and get involved. After all, if no-one’s willing to step up, there’s a lot that the school and students will miss out on.
How’s your experience been with school PTAs?
Now check out this fundraising ideas post.