on the committee

So I was very brave (or stupid) and joined the parents committee for Laila's school. My hope being that it would be the best way to meet some other parents and make friends.

The committee is responsible for raising funds to pay for school outings to the cinema, the theatre and the farm, magazine subscriptions and class supplies. They do this by organising the class photos, selling Christmas trees and chocolates, Easter chocolates, Mother and Fathers Day gifts and the school fete. A new event last year was called "Vide ta chambre", empty your bedroom. Which was a sale of some sorts, I haven't yet found out how it worked, if each child brought one thing to sell or if it was more of a car boot sale thing.

I've been to 2 meetings so far, the first was with the school head, some teachers, last years committee and any potential new members. It was a bit daunting as they all knew each other and I only vaguely knew one of them, so I sat very quietly for most of it. The scariest part was when they asked who was representing themselves for the committee and then the office, I was really really worried that I was putting myself up for some sort of important post that I might have misunderstood, but luckily I got it right! I am on the committee but managed to avoid becoming treasurer or vice-president!! I would probably be willing to do either of these if I had half a clue of how any committee works, nevermind this one! I am the only new person thus the only clueless one.

Sadly for the school, out of 120+ pupils across infants and primary there are 7 parents on the committee, that's it. It's not a brilliant representation is it? Although it does make voting easier!
I am going to try and find out why this is, I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a serious lack of communication to parents in this school and this could be something to do with it.

We have so far decided on which photographer we are booking for the school photos which will be in November, we've gone for the cheaper one that gives us more photos, the quality of the prints isn't as good but you get a lot more for your money, and we can make more money on them ourselves which is the aim. We're currently discussing which Chocolatier to use for the Christmas chocolates, I got tasked with visiting Leonidas to ask their prices and was given one tiny chocolate to taste for my troubles, pff! My sales experience is dying to take over this task (OK I know its not The Apprentice!) I've been asking the others loads of questions about how they went about selling them last year as apparently it wasn't a major success. I have some ideas on how to do better, but I need to be careful not to offend anyone!

The good thing is that all the mums on the committee are very nice, I think out of 7 of us, 3 of us have babies and 1 on the way, as well as the older children in the school. One mum has 9 children, yes NINE! And she has taken on the task of treasurer! I must get some tips on time management skills from her as I have trouble with 2 children and trying to get anything else done is just impossible!