I’m curled up in Costa catching up on some writing hugging the biggest latte; I may sound hungover but in fact I’m two days post summer fair at Boo’s school and I’ll admit I’m a broken woman. Recently lots of people have been asking me why I’m chair of the PTA. Being chair is not something I set out to be when Boo began school, however I did know that I wanted to be heavily involved in fundraising – having attended a Catholic convent school with great parent engagement, it was something I was use to, also we were taught from a young age to live our school motto, Serviam – to serve. So I went along to the meetings, signed myself up to help out and it went from there. We had a fantastic outgoing chair last year and when the opportunity came up to put myself forward, I felt it was a great way to give back to Boo’s school and use my transferable skills, plus as a blogger I hoped I would be flexible enough to juggle the varying commitments.
Nothing really prepared me for just how much work was entailed, I’m so lucky to have a fantastic committee who I simply couldn’t do it without them. But the PTA isn’t just about a committee, it’s about the parents – every single parent of a child at the school is an automatic member and I try my hardest to try and get to know all the parents – I knew my childhood chatterbox status would come in handy!
Lots of people think that being on the PTA means organising cake sales and walking round with a clipboard: yes we have cake sales, but there’s so much more to a modern day PTA than cakes. As a registered charity there are strict rules and legislation that we must abide by. I also feel a great sense of responsibility to make the best decisions not just for the PTA but the children, who ultimately are what it’s all about.
The months and weeks leading up to the summer fair, involved lots of late nights, negotiating with companies and taking the lead on coordinating so many fantastic volunteers. There were times when I felt like it would never end and if you’d have asked me half way through the fair on Saturday how it was going, I probably would have been semi delirious with tiredness to give you a straight answer.
It’s this photo that sums up my drive to be chair, here’s a not so perfect snap of me and Boo, she’s beaming after her year group performance of Roar (she’s available to hire for all jungle related events!!), I’m exhausted but bursting with mother pride and here’s a snapshot of memory made: one that will bring a smile to both of our faces in years to come. There’s no glory in being a PTA chair (and rightly so) there’s only new friends – a committee that pubs together, stays together!
Perhaps I’m not your typical PTA chair, I wear sliders and drop it like it’s hot to old school garage, but one thing I’m sure I share with other chairs is the immense privilege I feel being able to enrich our children’s school experience.
That is awesome, I was Vice chair on my daughters PTA for a year and ran screaming into the mist at the end of that year! It is hard work. I hope you all had fin at the Summer fair and made lots of great cash for the school.
Great post, and what a wonderful thing you do. I am sure it is a challenge to fit it in around your other commitments but you do a brilliant job and I am sure you are appreciated.
Nat.x
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I’m in awe of anyone who volunteers for the PTA, it’s an awful lot of work and often goes unthanked. My son isn’t at school yet, but I’d like to think that I’ll get involved in some way to support the school – so much of what’s involved are things that have always appealed to me (I love a bit of event organising!)
Obviously being the chair of a charitable organisation is hard work. I know – I’ve been there! I’ve been involved with the PTA for 5 years now and in that time have developed the PTA Events platform which massively reduces the burden on you – the chair, your committee, the school office and makes it much easier for parents to buy tickets / bookings / products to your organisations’ events, volunteer, auction items, run class lists and much more. Browse to http://www.pta-events.co.uk and have a look. Now, we’re been used by more than 700 organisations. Try us out – we’re free and we might just make more time for you to spend with Boo! 🙂
I’d second David’s suggestion to have a look at the PTA-events website option. I’ve been on the PTA committee of my children’s school for 6 years now. We signed up for the PTA-events website just over a year ago and it has made a massive difference to our events and communications. And no, I’m not on commission from David, though I rave about the website so often that I probably should be!!!
Full respect, I can’t even being to imagine the work that goes on behind the scenes to organise these events. That’s a beautiful picture of the two of you as well x
Hi. Great admiration for anyone heavily involved in the PTA. As chair though I would have thought you could have heavily recruited your committee and parents to run the fair. You have year long commitments so running the fair as well as those seems a bit much.
Also, I don’t mean to be antagonist, but you mention the pub. How can your PTA be fully inclusive if you meet or socialise in the pub? We have this issue but holding meetings at the school during evenings isn’t always possible.
I considered joining but I just don’t think I would be able to dedicate the time sadly. Well done you for putting yourself forward and good luck!
I wish I’d been a part of the PTA when my daughter was at primary school, but at the time I had a full time job miles away from home and had to do a LOT of travelling to get there, so it just wasn’t an option. It sounds like you’re a fantastic chair, despite the tiredness, and I love the photo of you and Boo. It’s gorgeous
Louise x
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