Had an invite to attend this evening and was wondering what to expect.

Round here the PTA seems to be what women who had ‘high flying’ jobs do to keep their managerial/political maneuvering hands in whilst they wait for their children to go to secondary school and start work again.

On the upside you get very well organised Christmas Fairs.

Go along and see what you think 🙂

They vary hugely. Expect a few die-hard committee types and a selection of others wondering what to expect. they’ll want ideas for fund raising. Our best event is a 10km road run, which has become a league event and therefore well attended.

I could suggest a 2 hour mountainbike/cyclocross race on a 4 mile course in February. That raised over £20k in the 6 years that it ran for 😉

Varies greatly from school to school and ends to be highly dependant on the chairperson. Go along see how it is and either:

a) volunteer and get stuck in

b) walk away

My wife and I did a) and had fun helping get our school much needed extra funds. YMMV

Whatever you do, never, ever volunteer to produce the school calendar. I was ‘volunteered’ by my lovely wife and it was a proper PITA. 🙂
Mind you it did look good once I’d finished (even though I do say so myself).

Our PTA does a great job raising money for the school/equipment.

I like the idea for a cyclocross event. The school playing field would be suitable as it has the ability to turn into the somme at the first sign of rain.

My missus is getting involved. Shes trying to drag me in. I think its a good idea but I’ll ride around the woods and drinking beer on the sofa whilst one of us does something meaningful 🙂

If the pita is well run and organised then it should be quite productive. If its like the our one which is basically a mothers meeting with people with delusions of grandeur and plenty of mud slinging.

Wait until you get to voting for chair people.. and you thought the scottish referendum was tasty ( claws at the ready!).

If you do get involved, do NOT slag off the school or other PTA members in the playground. Everyone will think you are an arrogant tosser.

Just joined mine. Positive group vibe trying to raise some cash to buy fun stuff to make school better

perilously close to organising a huge fireworks event *gulp*
TM

Have been for the past 3 years and have one tomorrow night. Its an experience i can tell you, your best bet is never agree to do anything and only put your name down for the BBQ… In all seriousness they are quite a laugh when we are doing events but the meetings can be a bit slow. ALL the stereotypical mums will be there and i just let them get on with it. It’s worth doing if you want to be more involved with your kids school and over a period you’ll find the teachers are a bit more “open” with you rather than towing school policy. Again dont put your name down to organize anything and you’ll be OK, oh and dont expect yummy mummies, they will be far too busy at Zumba class think more trunchbowl… 😀