5th December, 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
Today is Volunteers’ Day.
Who is probably the largest group of volunteers in the country?
The people who do so much for our children, our teachers and the school community and surroundings in general.
The PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS in our schools!!!!!!! That’s WHO.
Nowadays there are many names for these amazing bands of dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers in our schools – PTA, Home
and School, Parent Support Group, Friends of the School, Whanau Group, Parent Network Committee etc etc etc. The list
could go on – but the one thing that they have in common is the welfare of the pupils in their schools.
This runs from to encouraging parents to be involved in their children’s education – running maths evenings, home/school
partnerships, story reading evenings – again the list is endless – to fundraising for the ‘icing on the cake’ of school
amenities
We hope that school staff and principals are going to acknowledge these people today – with special notices
home/assemblies/morning teas – or whatever – to show that they are really appreciated. Especially at this time of the
year, they are greatly in evidence giving of their time and effort as well as dealing with their own family needs and
plans.
Next year the New Zealand Parent Teacher Association is going to launch a programme which will help the PTA/Parent Group
members to gain more volunteers for your schools and grow the home/school partnership idea. Look for information in the
newsletter which will arrive in the mail box of every school in New Zealand in February, and in the ‘Parent and School
Today’ magazine which will also arrive in that month.
LONG LIVE THE PTA MEMBERS IN YOUR SCHOOLS.
ENDS