What is a Parent Teacher Association (PTA)?
Many
schools have a Parent Teacher Association (PTA),
which is an organisation of parents and staff. Its role is to encourage closer
links between home and school. PTAs are best known for their fundraising work, but they have a useful social
function too. Fundraising events provide an opportunity for parents, staff and
pupils to get together.
How is the PTA organised?
As with
most schools, at Corstorphine, all parents/carers and teachers are automatically members of the PTA.
We hold
our annual general meeting in May,
towards the end of the school year. At this meeting a committee is elected to run the PTA – usually consisting of a
chair, a treasurer, a secretary and ordinary committee members. Ideally there
would be as many committee members as there are classes in the school (as
traditionally these parents would act as 'class
reps')* but over time the roles of
committee members have evolved to better meet the needs of fundraising.
The PTA
committee usually meets twice a term and
sets up smaller working groups to organise individual events. We have templates
for all our regular events which helps make planning and running the events
much easier.
How is money raised?
Like
most PTAs, we raise money through events.
We hold one main event each school term – a social evening in the autumn, a
Christmas fair in the winter, a Ceilidh in the spring, and another social event
in the summer. We hold Car Boot Sales in September and May and organise
bi-annual parties for the children. We have smaller fundraising incomes through
uniform sales, Bags2School recycling and "easyfundraising"
initiatives, but we’re always looking for new fundraising
ideas.
How is money spent?
Funds
raised by the PTA are intended to provide ‘extras’
not already provided by the school's main income – sometimes 'fun things' that
make learning more interesting and exciting, but increasingly, important things
that improve learning potential like audio-visual aids and IT equipment. The
PTA committee and the headteacher decide how to spend PTA funds.
Common
items include playground and sports equipment, school trips and library
resources and smaller purchases such as art & craft materials.
How can I be involved in my PTA?
There
are many different ways you can help with
the PTA, whether you have lots of time to offer or not.
Some of
the roles are time-consuming, although also rewarding. None of the jobs require
special qualifications and all can be learned "on-the-job". If you can’t commit to a big role, look out
for things you are already skilled at (we have a few niche roles like
treasurer, advertising, H&S assessor, newsletter editor and website
manager), or consider more adhoc support
(eg running a stall at the summer fair, baking for a cake sale). And you can
always support PTA events by simply turning up
* with the advent of
the internet, social media and Parentmail the role of class rep has all but
disappeared as a means of communication.