For every family at Open Learning, from Primary to A Level, working alongside the teachers and the school leadership.
The PTA is the bridge between home and school. We listen to parents, we bring parents, teachers and leadership around the same table, and we work on making the school better for our children.
You do not need to join anything to be heard. If you have seen something that works well, or something that does not, telling us is enough.
We are parents ourselves. Nobody on the PTA is paid, nobody speaks for the school, and none of us pretend to run it. What we can do is make sure the people who do run it hear what families are actually experiencing, early enough to act on it.
Three things, in order of how much difference they make.
Parents get a single point of contact, and the school gets a single, considered voice instead of ten separate conversations.
We collect experiences, ideas and concerns, turn them into concrete points, and follow up with the school on whether something actually changes.
Activities, outings and the small moments that make a school year feel like something. We also make sure new families are welcomed rather than left to work it out alone.
We meet the leadership regularly. This year communication is at the top of the list, which is why the website and the welcome pack changed. Next year's list is written with you.
Roughly how a PTA year runs. Nothing here is fixed in stone, and most of it depends on how many hands we have.
The PTA is open to any parent who wants to contribute. Right now we would particularly like more Primary parents, so that half the school is not speaking for the other half.
You do not need experience, and you do not need a lot of time. Most of what we do happens in short bursts around a specific event or a specific question.
If yours is not here, ask us.
Less than people expect. A meeting now and then, and some busier weeks around an event. Plenty of members only help with one thing a year and that is genuinely useful.
No. The PTA works in English. Plenty of us speak Spanish too, and we will always help if something needs translating, but you never have to switch language to take part.
No, and that is exactly the problem we are trying to fix. Primary families are under-represented, so if your child is in Primary you are especially welcome.
Then raise it. Email us or use the form. You do not have to join anything, and we will not put your name on it unless you want us to.
No. We set our own agenda from what parents tell us. The school listens and works with us, but the list is ours.
It becomes part of a theme we take to the school. Names stay with us. If something needs your name attached to be solved, we ask you first.
Tell us what you would like to see, or that you would like to help. Both are equally welcome, and positive and critical both count.