top of page
Co-Chair job description / handover

The Co-Chair role involves providing oversight, leadership and a direction of travel for the various PTA activities, events and decision-making.

 

The Co-Chairs are also an important link between the school and the PTA, ensuring that the PTA is working hard to support the school and that the school leadership are doing what they can to support and celebrate the work of the PTA.

 

All of this is done with the support of Trustees (currently 5 in total, including 2 Co-Chairs)

 

There is also a PTA Committee comprising around 20 members, most of whom are either Event Leads or have responsibility for another strategic area of the PTA such as Comms.

 

On a day-to-day level, these are some of the tasks involved:

  • Arranging regular meetings with the school leadership team (ideally, once per term as a minimum). At these, you will discuss the school’s priorities and how the PTA can support them. For example, current topics under discussion include whether to buy new laptops for the school, playground repairs, Culture Day arrangements and planning the calendar of PTA events for next year

​

  • In the past, we have tried to have teacher ‘members’ of the PTA and a few came forward (Miss Green, Mr Manson, Ms Heale) and shared their priorities – this is how Culture Day came about – but we have struggled to maintain this dialogue. If someone had more time to pick this up, it would be a good way to know what the staff’s priorities and ideas are in terms of the PTA supporting school initiatives.

​

  • Arranging regular meetings with PTA Trustees and/or the Committee as appropriate to discuss matters above and decisions that are voted on. Most decisions about how to spend PTA funds are made via majority votes on WhatsApp or at the AGM

​

  • Each year in September, the Chair will present a Chair’s report at the PTA AGM. This summarises the activities of the PTA from the previous year and, in conjunction with the Treasurer and other Trustees, details the fundraising and spending for the previous year. At the AGM, you will also confirm that Committee members are happy to stay in their roles or vote in new members.

​

  • Around the middle of the Summer Term, the Co-Chair, along with the rest of the Committee will put together a calendar of PTA events for the upcoming year. This involves reviewing the events of the past year, checking that the spacing of events and dates were suitable (not too congested), that Event Leads are happy and can do the date their event is projected for etc. This will need to be approved by school before sharing with the school community. Once agreed, the Comms schedule can be mapped onto this to ensure Comms are smooth for each event.

​

  • Ensuring that the PTA has competent Event Leads and Trustees in place and ensuring everyone is happy and has what they need. Sometimes this involves checking in with individuals, other times it’s preferable to be on the WhatsApp chat for that event. For example, the Summer Fair which is a big one! You need to think ahead on this and anticipate when people are going to be leaving the school. The big roles (eg. Trustees/Chair/Treasurer) can be hard to fill so you need a long lead-in to recruit for these roles

​

  • Liaising with the Comms team to ensure events are advertised on WhatsApp and via the noticeboard and school newsletter, where appropriate. Again, I have found it beneficial to be on the Comms WhatsApp chat in order to maintain some oversight of this

​

  • Checking the email inboxes to action anything urgent (Leyla, our excellent PTA Secretary, will help with this!)

​

  • You also need to check the physical PTA mailbox which sits just inside the main entrance door to the school, next to the reception desk. There is a key to open this which is currently held by Victoria (as well as the special Allen key to open the noticeboard)

​

  • A lot of the role (and I mean A LOT) involves chasing and following up on matters. For example, often Committee members will suggest ideas or start an initiative and this can involve a process of liaising with school, or involving other stakeholders and then a series of steps involving MUCH chasing to get things over the line. Recent examples of this include: applying for a Southwark Community Grant to fund a shade sail for the playground, buying a new shed for the PTA, the Co-op funding, starting the WhatsApp Community, matched funding applications etc.

 

  • The stronger the Event Leads are (and the better you support them by checking in regularly and ensuring all useful information has been shared), the easier your job will be! This is a great time to lead the PTA as there is a really strong group of Trustees, Committee members and Event Leads in place 😊 

 

Key skills/requirements:

  • Being organised and willing to step up

  • Very clear communication skills

  • Being passionate about helping the school and supporting our community

  • Resilience! It can be tough at times when lots of big events are going on or lots of people leave the school at once and there are lots of important roles to fill

  • Daytime availability is not a must, but it’s a serious advantage, even if only one day a week. Many of us do these roles whilst working full-time, but in terms of liaising with school, it’s so much easier if you can meet in the day

  • A sense of humour!

  • It’s definitely better sharing the role as Co-Chairs than trying to do it on your own

 

Time commitment:

It really varies. I’m usually doing something PTA-related every week during term time, but sometimes it’s just a quick check-in. Other weeks it can be quite busy, particularly in the weeks leading up to big events, the AGM and when we are putting the calendar together.

 

Other things to talk through:

  • The Google Drives – resources available

  • Events and Event Leads

  • Handover notes

  • Events Calendar

  • Key people

  • Trustees/Charity Commission/Parentkind

bottom of page