Parents join nationwide celebration of PTAs and their successes

National charity Parentkind has hailed the successes of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) during National PTA Week 2022, a week full of training and networking opportunities culminating in the National PTA Week Awards on Friday 24^th June

National PTA Week brings together a range of events to mark the huge efforts of parents in schools across the nation, who work to improve their child’s education, often by fundraising for much-needed extras.

Parentkind has kicked off this week by highlighting how crucial it is that every school has a PTA. As things stand, research shows that primary schools are significantly more likely to have an operational PTA than secondary schools, meaning that the nation’s secondary schools could be missing out on crucial funding and parental input.

Parentkind’s CEO, John Jolly said: 

“We believe passionately that parents being involved in education brings about a whole host of benefits, from improved behaviour and attainment to the kind of fundraising taking place through the brilliant PTAs we’re proud to call our members. The ingenuity shown by parents never fails to surprise me. From parents working to save schools from closure, to those vastly improving the school experience through fundraising; parent power is growing and it’s right that we’re marking their amazing successes again this year. 

“When it comes to figures, we’re proud to announce that PTAs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have raised a colossal £369m across the last four years. That’s money going directly into schools to improve education for our young people. My message to schools this year is clearer than ever: engage parents, involve them in the life of the school, and everyone will see the benefits.”

National PTA Week 2022 includes workshops and events covering:

• how to fundraise in the light of COVID-19 and the cost of living squeeze
• why and how PTAs can use digital technology to boost their work and
• the benefits of grant-funding for larger school projects.

The week will culminate on Friday 24^th June with the annual National PTA Week Awards, which will recognise the hard work of parent volunteers across the country and crown the much-coveted PTA of the Year 2022. Awards will be divided into a range of categories including those who have most positively impacted the life of a school, those who have achieved great fundraising success and those who have truly engaged their local community. 

John Jolly said: 

“It’s so important that we celebrate the brilliant work of our PTAs, and the National PTA Week Awards are an annual highlight for Parentkind. Parents truly go above and beyond, day in, day out, to improve things for their local school community. I’m proud to truly recognise their important and innovative work this week.”