Louisa and Clare’ s top tips
Running your PTA
Dynamic duos
Louisa Alcock and Clare Railton work together as Co-Chairs at Walton Primary Academy PTA. We spoke with them to learn how they share this key role
“ Having someone to share the decisionmaking with and run ideas past makes it less daunting, and having someone to laugh with when things don ' t go to plan makes it manageable alongside busy family life.”
Clare: When the previous Chair said she’ d be retiring as her daughter was going to high school in September, Louisa asked if I’ d like to Co-Chair with her. I didn’ t know Louisa at all before we joined the PTA, but we got on so well together in the early stages, we knew it would work.
Louisa and Clare’ s top tips
Make sure you ' re on the same page and have a clear vision and plan, otherwise the split role won ' t work. It ' s about sharing the load and supporting each other. Louisa: Clare joined the same time as I did. We were both keen to get the PTA back up and running and just clicked straight away! We ' ve been Co-Chairs since 2024. We have different strengths, so we naturally gravitate towards certain responsibilities. Clare is always on it with things like licence applications, grants and spotting a good bargain, while I put together the newsletters, social media posts and do the admin for booking our events.
Clare: It’ s nice to be able to share the load. I could not do what we do on my own, especially doing my normal job too. If one of us has a lot going on in our personal lives for example, the other will do more during those times. We’ re also very honest with each other if we don’ t like or agree with something, which helps.
You must have volunteered with that person before or know them personally. It helped me seeing how Louisa took on the role of Secretary and how hands-on she was.
It ' s no small task juggling running the PTA alongside busy family life, so it ' s important to give yourselves a pat on the back every so often and feel proud of what you ' ve achieved.
Louisa: I ' d say the only challenge we have with splitting the role is that we ' re both very pro-active and like to get on with things and occasionally we might forget to let each other know – but nothing major has been duplicated so far!
Images: Walton Primary Academy PTA, Freepik 14 PARENTKIND. ORG SUMMER 2026