Parents unwilling to help out at school

school_worries

Hi,

Just wondered whether anyone out there has any ideas, heres my dilemma. My child has just started infant school and i have offered to go on the pta. apparently though there has been a history of not alot of interest from the parents. for example, there is an event coming up, set up by the pta and they have only had requests for tickets from 2 people and it may now have to be cancelled.

lots of the mums and dads go to the popular stuff like xmas fair/summer fair but when it comes to offering their time to help out no one wants to know. i am so surprised, at the end of the day this is your childs education that you are supporting!!

maybe the pta is in need of some fresh ideas. can anyone help!?!?
thanks

grannybroon

I have been on these since kids born. Toddlers, playgroup, school done it! Well in the 80s I did a huge parent's thing. I ended up as Chairperson to the PTA. I was on commitees in Scotland until we went to school boards early 90's. Was then co-opted to the Absence Panel. Awful. I had to take decisions about kids not school attending, but parents sending kids to school in the best possible way and referring to Children's Panel. And other awful issues. Could have been there etc etc with my two!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully turned out to be two very switched on adults.

GB

poppyscorner

school_worries wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondered whether anyone out there has any ideas, heres my dilemma. My child has just started infant school and i have offered to go on the pta. apparently though there has been a history of not alot of interest from the parents. for example, there is an event coming up, set up by the pta and they have only had requests for tickets from 2 people and it may now have to be cancelled.

lots of the mums and dads go to the popular stuff like xmas fair/summer fair but when it comes to offering their time to help out no one wants to know. i am so surprised, at the end of the day this is your childs education that you are supporting!!

maybe the pta is in need of some fresh ideas. can anyone help!?!?
thanks

Does the PTA run any kind of newsletter and does anyone know of its existence. I only ask because when DS1 was in nursery they had a pta however I knew not of its existence until he was nearly ready to leave and I heard the clicky mums talking about it I was never asked but if I had of been I would have gladly given my time up.

Kimitatsu

Hi

I am chair of our PTA and we also have the same problem! What I have found as a new parent to the school (I was chair in the last school as well) is that people often have a perception of any PTA being very cliquey. For me standing at the school gates every night and talking to people whatever year their kids are in has paid off. Now they are all prepared to donate at least some of their time to help.

If you want to get people to come to an event though it has to be an event they want to come to. As a PTA we put on 4 disco's a year for the kids, an Easter raffle, a Christmas and Summer Fair, run a second hand uniform stall, do box tops 4 books, and run an easyfundraising site. I did cancel the summer fair due to lack of response and wrote a letter home to the parents explaining exactly why - the xmas fair has been far better supported!

Any PTA that is badly supported usually has some history behind it, it takes some time to get around that but keep at it and you will.

Good luck!

mintymoneysaver

I don't know about ideas, i think there is a general sense of apathy around. I am secretary of our Pta and we have a very small turnout. I organised an auction, fabulous prizes, 24 people turned up! We always have a lot of success with a Christmas and Easter bingo and i think people will come more when it involves their children too. I think people are so busy with work etc ( as so many of our mums did not work) that they do not want to spend their free time doing other things with adults that do not know very well...

Mado

Our PA complains as well of lack of parental support to help at various events.
I left the PA when I became a school governor as it was getting too much but keep telling them that I will give a hand if they ask: they never do and still complain. Go figure

Last year we had a great parents only event which was a quizz night with the head as compere. The outside catering was excellent and not even that pricey and the bar made quite a bit of money...Very good fun.
They won't bother with a Xmas fair anymore but just do a raffle at the kids Xmas play: makes money with minimum amount of work involved.

MoaningMyrtle

We have a PTA, plus one parent from each class is a class rep, they communicate to the other mums. For example, they give out paper plates to everyone a few days before an event and ask them to donate cakes.

We have a non-uniform day the week before the two fairs, the children forfeit uniform and bring in a bottle for the bottle stall.

We have PTA newsletters, separate from the school ones. The whole committee have recently stood down, they had been on it for a couple of years and were very good.

We have:

Summer Fair
Xmas Fair
Quiz night
Race night
80's night
Kid's christmas disco
Kid's outside skating rink at Christmas

We have a cake sale once every half term, on Fridays outside the classrooms. Each class takes turns, this is good for making money.

grannybroon

When I did do the PTA stuff, we ha a good turn out for the Autumn fundraising. I did a grand plus money. Got an e-mail at work last week to say they got post 2 grand and final figure to come in. Justy hope I helped when I did it.

GB xxxx

Savvy_Sue

The BEST way to get parents involved is to ask your friends ... and get them to ask their friends ... and they ask their friends ... and then you have to make sure everyone talks to everyone else or you're accused of being a clique!

for this event, a couple of you need to get a batch of tickets, and march up to EVERYONE you see in the playground and say "Have you got your tickets for X? It's going to be so much fun, do come." No use waiting for parents to head to the office to buy them.

I was mightily involved in junior school, but ran out of steam when the youngest started at secondary. I do regret it in some ways, but there is only so much a body can do!

HariboJunkie

In answer to your question, I think youhave to try to join in OP....And encourage anyone you know. There is a history in most schools of all the same faces doing all the work and that can only change with people like you. Do you have any friends you can rope in? Our Auction last year was our biggest sucess to date.

Madmel

I struggled with the PTA as although I received minutes from them via DD, I never had a clue who the people were! Lots of the parents had different surnames from their kids, so there was no point asking DD (even if she knew surnames).

After a while, someone in DD's class became Chair, only because she didn't run away fast enough. It was the best 18 months ever for the PTA. She was forever in the playground talking to parents, and the events organised were ones where the children could take part, so inevitably they dragged their parents along. She talked the local farmer into allowing us to use his field for a fun run (raised £1200 from only 70 kids in the school!) we had Christmas fairs, summer fetes etc.

She resigned due to increasing work commitments, but the ball was then rolling. I asked for photos of PTA to be put on the noticeboard so new/shy parents could work out who they needed to speak with. Now at the Reception induction, the PTA rep and Parent Governor (me) come to speak to the new parents so at least they can put a face to the name. We try to say hello to new people in the playground, and it seems to be working. Go for it!