Primary Class Representative Guide - The British School Manila

EASY GUIDE TO A YEAR AS CLASS REP – Primary SCHOOLThank you for volunteering to be a class rep – we greatly appreciate your support. The main role of theclass rep is to support the class teacher – it is not as a point of contact for parents’ concerns abouteducational issues. Parents’ first point of contact for these should be the class teacher. If a parentcontacts you about an educational issue, please refer them to the relevant person.We ask all our class reps to be a point of contact should the school close for an emergency – such as atyphoon. If we do close, you will receive a message from your class teacher, and should then pass it onto each of the families in your class. We have a separate SMS system in place, so the class rep contact isas a backup system.Making a startAs soon as possible, get a list of students and contact details of parents from Donna in our admissionsdepartment. Please regard these as confidential to your own parents as in the past they have been usedfor marketing purposes.Distribute the list to all parents in your class with a short note introducing yourself. The school canassist with photocopying if required, although a list of all families and contact details is included in theFamily Handbook.You will be informed of any new families by our admissions department, and these are also printed inthe Lion’s Roar. Please be sure to up-date and redistribute your list if anyone joins or leaves your class -you are the start of the communication trail.Saying helloA good start would be to set up a ‘parent’s group in an e-mail address book and introduce yourself toyour class parents and ask if they have any questions or need any help. Let them know that you will bein touch throughout the year to give them information about class, school or PTA events.If they are new, really ask them if they need any help. Let them know about any newcomer meetingscoming up and remind them of the importance of reading the Lion’s Roar and other year groupcommunications! It may be helpful to try to put yourself in the position of a new parent – or anyparent. What would you like a Class rep to do for you?If there is a language or cultural barrier to overcome ask your PTA Class rep Coordinator to see if theycan find someone to help.When chatting to parents make notes on any talents or offers of assistance. They will come in useful asthe year progresses!! They may even one day regret telling you they had such expertise!12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 1

You and the class teacherThe teachers here at BSM are a friendly and committed group of professionals. However they are verybusy with their teaching commitments. As soon as possible, book a short meeting with your classteacher to discuss how you will approach the year’s schedule for the year group. Ask the teacher whatis expected of you; he/she will appreciate your interest in their needs. This is probably best done as ayear group with the reps from the other classes in the same year group.The PTA Committee will send out a calendar of PTA events through the Lion’s Roar. Together you maylike to discuss adding any events that are particular to your class, like assemblies, special days orproductions before sending them out. This is a great reminder list to have on your refrigerator.Coffee MorningsParents usually like to meet other parents, but many are also very busy people. Many parents work,others have smaller children at home and of course there is actually life outside our school. The easiestway to get parents together is by having a coffee morning, which are usually held straight after the7:40am drop off or after a year group event such as an assembly. The PTA provides complimentaryTEA AND COFFEE for these events, and has budgeted peso 3,000 per class to cover this.If you are planning a coffee morning, please inform your year group teachers – and it helps to invitethem along, although their teaching commitments may prevent them from attending.Once that date is agreed, let your parents know the date and that you will meet in the refectory.However, you will need to vacate the refectory by 9am as break starts for primary children.If you want to entice more parents, you may like to ask a few people to bring in biscuits or a cake. Youonly need 1-2 plates of food. (Although if your meeting goes on until 9.00am you will find the childrenappear to finish off any leftovers).Please make sure the refectory is tidy afterwards, we should always try to lead by example!EventsThere are many events throughout the school year and they are all published in the school calendar andLion’s Roar. We are a very busy school and the calendar is the result of many hours of discussion.Most school events are organised entirely by the teachers. However you can be sure that they will needyour assistance on occasions to motivate other parents to become involved.End of term partiesOn the last morning at the end of each term, an hour or so is set aside for class parties. Parents areencouraged to send in food for these, but these should be in line with the School’s healthy eatingguidelines and should not include fast food or other commercial deliveries. Simple finger foods tend to12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 2

Class rep coordinatorOne member of the PTA committee acts as the class rep coordinator, with the followingresponsibilities:Encouraging parents to take on the class rep role, for classes where there is noimmediate volunteerLiaising with class reps to support the main PTA events in the year – (e.g. year groupstands at the fete)Gifts for teachersChristmas – Gifts at Christmas are a personal choice and there is not usually a collection for a Christmasgift. Please advise parents that they can send in a small gift for the form tutor or any of the teachers ifthey want to. However, teachers often appreciate just a card – the right message of appreciation canoften mean more than a gift.End of year – It is usual that the Class rep organises a collection and goes shopping for a suitable end ofyear gift for the class teacher; gifts for other teachers are at individual parents’ discretion. Buying gifts issometimes difficult. You could always ask another teacher that your teacher seems close to for an ideaof likes, interests, etc. if a teacher is leaving the school at the end of the year, spare a thought for theirpacking allowance in the size of your gift.Contacting parentsAlways try to be friendly and light-hearted in your approaches to parents even though you may not befeeling that way when you are trying to get something done and parents are always out when you call!When you need to organise rosters, send it out for completion. It will come back with a few entries. Fillin the gaps with the names of parents who have not replied. Send this out again with a light-hearted,friendly note asking parents to get in touch with you if there is a problem with their time. You may haveto still confirm closer to whatever date the event is you are to roster, but this might get you further thanwaiting for replies.Finally…BSM has a great school community - for most of us it forms a strong foundation to our lives in Manila;however our community spirit does not end when the school bell rings.Being involved with the school, in its activities and in the promotion of this spirit will bring you manyrewards. These will be in the form of great friends, great memories and surprisingly for some, inpersonal growth.We are by nature a very diverse bunch, the school consists of over 40 nationalities and as many, if notmore cultures. You will experience the differences in many of them and this will bring new situations foryou to deal with. Volunteering for this role means that you are up to this challenge and at the end of12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 4

the year whilst indeed tired, you will feel you are very much a part of the success the school hasenjoyed. (Although granted, you may not feel this until after a good rest in the summer holiday!)Just try to remember:Keep things simple and stay calmRespect others: People with different opinions to ours are not necessarily wrongKnow your stuff: Read the Parent Handbook and the Lion’s Roar, many answers lie inside!You will not please all the people all the time, but if you do your best and please some of the peoplesome of the time, you will have been a great class rep. Thank you for taking on this demanding role.12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 5

Appendix – Examples of standard communicationsA) Initiation email from primary headSample email to be sent by primary head, before class reps start collecting fundsSubject: Collecting class rep fundsSubject: Collecting class rep fundsDear Primary parents,Each of your classes now has a volunteer class rep (and for some classes, more thanone). Many thanks to those parents who have volunteered time to take on this role. BSMbelieves that involving parents in school life enriches the education of the children, and thechildren certainly always appreciate it.By tradition, the class reps help (in conjunction with the teachers) to organize many schoolrelated activities for the children (and parents) during the year, for which they requestfunds from all parents in the class at the start of the year. These funds cover class relatedcosts, including:Costumes for school productionsCosts of year group assembliesParties for the children during the year (e.g. Christmas lunch, end of year)Social gatherings for the parents in the year group for example at Christmas(thefunds may be used to pay for teacher consumption at these parties)Christmas or year end presents for the teachers and assistants (this is completelyoptional, and should not be high value – a card signed by all the children, or ascrap book with contributions from each child, is highly appreciated)Other expenses related to the whole classThe contribution is normally in the range PHP1,500 to PHP2,500 per child, and the classreps are asked to report back to you at the end of the year how the money was spent. Ifany funds remain at the end of the school year, in conjunction with the class teacher,Class reps should propose to other parents how to dispose of such surpluses, which mayinclude donating the funds to a school supported charity or returning the surplus pro-ratato the parents who contributed them.This email is to request your support of the class reps in their work with yourchildren. The class reps will be in contact shortly to ask for this contribution.Thank you and regards,Glenn HardyPrimary HeadThank you and regards,12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 6Glenn HardyPrimary Head

B) Request for funds from class repsSample email to be sent by class rep requesting funds (generally more effective, if the amount hasalready been discussed and agreed with several parents in the class, before sending out the email)Subject: Y4JG – class rep fundsParents,During the school year, the class reps incur expenses for items such as costumes for the schoolproduction, Christmas/ birthday presents for the teachers/ assistants, and the meal provided to thechildren on their theme day (Tudor day this year).The consensus at the coffee morning earlier today was to raise a general fund of peso 1,000 per child,rather than collecting for each item separately. I have now received payments for 9 out of the 20children.This email is addressed to those who I think have not yet paid, and to request you to give peso 1,000to your class rep within the next week (if you think you have paid, please let me know).I will give a breakdown of how the money was spent at the end of the year.Many thanks in advance,12-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 7

C) End of year accountsSample email to be sent by class rep explaining how the money was spentSubject: Y4JG – class funds – where the money wentParents,In September last year, we collected Peso 1,000 from the parents of each of the 20 children in’s class, to cover class reps expenditure during the year. This gave a total fund of Peso20,000 (we didn’t charge children arriving during the year, and the early departures did not get arefund). At the time I committed to give you, at the end of the school year, a breakdown of how themoney was spent. This email gives the breakdown.Regards,__________________________________________________________________Date Item Amount(pesos)OctPassport to the world, cooking supplies (4,500 across all three1,500classes in the year)December Costumes for Christmas play (total of 25,500 across 3 classes) 8,500December Teachers consumption at Christmas party (attending parents paid1,000for their own consumption)December Christmas presents for Teacher and Assistant 1,730Feb Contribution to year 4 fete stand (buying prizes 460Mar Teaching assistant birthday present 1,000June Teachers birthday present 1,000June Year end lunch – pizza 1,575June End of year scrap books for teacher and assistant 700June Contribution to end of year gifts for Teacher and Assistant (note this 2,535was supplemented by voluntary contributions from a number ofparents)Total 20,00012-Sept-2012 Easy guide to a year as a primary school class rep Page 8