Who's Who

Committee Members & Duties

 

Chair - Sarah Cuthill

Vice Chair - Vacant

Treasurer - Ali Poynter

Secretary - Gail Reid
 
Class representatives:
Mel Jady (RD)
Anna King (RM)
Claire Burston (1E)
Hannah Hugh-Jones (1H)
Sara Stocks (2H)
Jane Jackson (2K)
Sarah Bray (3R)
Elke Dittrich (3I)
Ronnie Wright (4D)
Sally Pheasant (4W)
Emma Gledhill (5W)
Charlotte Berger (5T)
Celia Witchard (6A)
Sarah Cuthill (6J)

General Committee Members:
Roz Keir
Kirstey Yates
Ronelle Miller
James Brazier
Ann Fevyer
Susan Eaves

Teaching Representatives:
Operating in rotation, refer to Head Teacher

Governor Rep:
Lorna Barraclough

 

Roles & Responsibilities

Chair

The Chair should

  • Chair meetings
  • Co-ordinate decision-making of the committee as to how fundraising events will be organised and how donations and expenditure will be organised. Expenditure is decided with close reference to the spending priorities as identified by the Governors.
  • Maintain regular communication with school office, head teacher, care taker and Governors.
  • Ensure a designated individual is in charge and present at every PTAF event for issues of safety and on-the-spot decision making.
  • Ensure risk assessments are drawn up and kept up-to-date for every PTAF event, and liaise with the school to ensure that the required number of trained First-Aiders attend each event.
  • Ensure that the PTAF complies with all its legal obligations.
  • Promote and publicise the work of the PTAF and PTAF events to the school community via the newsletter or in communication direct to parents.

 

Vice-Chair

The Chair should work with the Vice Chair to decide which of the Chair’s responsibilities can be delegated to the Vice Chair.

 

Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for all financial matters in respect of the PTAF, including in particular the following duties:

  • For each event, provide a cash float and be responsible for collecting and counting the takings following an event (however, if possible an initial count by the event organiser should be carried out).
  • Event takings should be banked and reimbursement to individuals against expense claims made within a reasonable time period.  The Treasurer should also liaise with the School’s Business Manager to arrange payment of donations to the school as agreed by the committee.
  • The bank mandates for the 3 PTAF bank accounts should be kept up to date with any changes to the executive committee.
  • Ideally the bank accounts should be reconciled monthly but as a minimum this should be done once per term for a 6 term school year.
  • The cash book for the PTAF current account should be kept up to date with all receipts and payments.  A short report on the financial position, to include the bank/cash balance and the net takings for events, should be provided to each committee meeting.  An income and expenditure statement for the year ended 31st August should be provided to the AGM. (The cash book, bank reconciliation and I&E statement are all currently set up on a basic excel spreadsheet).
  • The PTAF Annual Return should be filed with the Charity Commission within 9 months of the year end (this is not onerous as the PTAF gross takings are currently well below the Charity Commission’s threshold for requiring a full audited Annual Report & Accounts).
  • Gift Aid claims should be submitted to HMRC annually (again, this is very straight forward).
  • Bank statements and copies of the accounts should be retained for a minimum of 7 years.

 

Secretary

The Secretary should

  • Give notice of meetings, publish agenda, take minutes and make them available on the school website, by email and in hard copy.
  • Follow up meetings with emails to relevant people regarding key decisions, agreed or expected actions and dates/timescales for activities.
  • Make, or keep a record of, all venue bookings. Temporary Event Licences must be sought for the sale of alcohol or provision of entertainment more than 10 working days before each event. This applies even to daytime events on school premises.

 

Class Representatives

The Class reps (one for each class in the school) co-ordinate ideas and events between year group parents and the PTAF, including:

  • The construction, distribution and maintenance of a class contact list. This contains the contact details for parents/carers of children in a particular class, especially useful in the early years. Most parents will happily supply their address, phone number and email if asked. Reps should ensure that the information on the lists is used for school purposes only and should remind parents of this.
  • The organisation of Tea and Cakes fundraising events.
  • The organisation of their year group stalls and volunteers for Christmas & Spring/Summer Fairs.

 

Class reps often have an assistant rep to share the load, but this is not an elected committee post.

 

As there are two class reps per year in each year group, they should work together as much as possible, and aim for at least one rep per year group to attend every meeting.

 

General Committee Members

General members will contribute according to their expertise/experience, but are expected to attend the majority of the committee meetings to participate in decision making about fundraising and expenditure.

 

Teaching Staff Representatives

These reps should maintain a link between the teaching staff and the PTAF in order to clarify and co-ordinate objectives, activities and possible funding issues.

 

Governor Representative

The Governor rep maintains a link between the PTAF and Governors and can update PTAF meetings and report back where appropriate. This role is also useful in maintaining the clarity of distinction between the role of Governors and the PTAF.