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.
