3 top tips if you ’ re struggling to reach parents

We get quite a lot of good feedback from parents because we always make sure they ’ re comfortable approaching us . They often ask us questions . We make a big effort to thank our parents after events as well , making it known that without them , we couldn ’ t have done any of it .

Ask the school

They may have advice on the best way to approach parents , or you could tag on to the school ’ s newsletters , emails , blogs etc .

I think face-to-face is more personal and helps to get new members in , but parents have commitments , childcare , work and things like that . They ’ re not always able to attend , so we ’ ve moved over to Zoom calls , which I think is really benefiting everyone .

A lot of information goes out through the headteacher ’ s blog . We used to send out emails to the members of the PTA and other parents , but now we ’ re moving with the times . We use social media quite a lot and have WhatsApp groups , which is much better for parents .

Our headteacher has always been supportive of the PTA . When the headteacher became part of the PTA , things really picked up . She brought a lot of experience to our group and had the idea of hosting a coffee morning , which we ’ ve done previously , but this time it was really successful . I think we actually got 55 new members from that alone !

Go online

You can still meet and chat in-person , but make sure you ’ re present online , or start a WhatsApp group so parents can get in touch easily .

Don ’ t be afraid to reintroduce yourselves

It ’ s easy to forget that not everyone knows what a PTA does – don ’ t be shy , tell everyone about the wonderful work your committee does !

Image by Freepik , Idea icons created by Pixel perfect - Flaticon

26

PARENTKIND . ORG SPRING 2025