Class Parents

Class Parents play a pivotal role in supporting the class and teacher by getting families to know each other through social events and communicating specific information to parents.

This is an important role at every year level and particularly helpful in ensuring that children and parents stay connected with the Teacher, School and P&C throughout the year.

You can do as much as you want or the minimal, any commitment of your time is valuable.  Your Class Parent Coordinators will be on hand to help you through the journey.

At the beginning of each year,  we look for 1 to 2 parents per class to take on this important and fulfilling role. To register your interest, please email [email protected]@org.au with your name, relevant class and contact details and they will be in touch.

There are 54 classes in all and a parent representative is required for each class. Some classes have 2 class parents and this has worked well providing great support and ideas for each other.

Class parent roles and responsibilities:

1. Provide the main point of contact for teacher & parents and distribute P&C and school information. The Class Parent is responsible for the sharing of information – use of an app such as “whats app” is often the easiest and most commonly used form of communication. This might involve sending reminders about special days at school, inviting parents to assist / help with School and P&C Events, and seeking Class helpers for classroom assistance or excursions.
2. Welcome new parents and farewell leaving parents. We encourage Class Parents to welcome new families to the school and offer any help they can.  The Class Parents therefore need to ask the teacher to notify them of any new students, so the families can be contacted.  They should also be told of any students leaving the school and arrange a farewell if possible. Class Parents are to advise the Class Parent Coordinator so the class contact list can be updated.
3. Organise class social events. Organising social events is a nice way of getting to know the parents in our class a little better.  Class Parents tend to be the organisers of such get-together – morning teas, picnics, play dates in the park etc. What you do and how often you do it is totally up to the Class Parent and their class.
4. Organise end of year gift/birthday surprise for their teachers. This involves requesting donations from the class for a gift, making arrangements to collect the donations (it is a good idea to propose an amount as a guide and a deadline for receiving donations), purchasing and presenting the gift and reporting back to the class via email how much was raised collectively and what was purchased (include some photos of the gift).  Hampers or vouchers are a great idea, but it depends on your teacher.  The children in the class might be a good source of ideas or other teachers. Some Class Parents like to acknowledge a teacher’s birthday with a gift or flowers. In terms of collecting donations for gifts, many classes use online group gifting sites such as “Group Together”. It makes collection very simple and easy.
5. Collate the class list. At the beginning of each year, we ask parents to complete the Class parents information sheets. We ask that the nominated Class Parents then collate this information into a provided spreadsheet and forward on to the P&C Class Parent Coordinators. (how? via emai?)
6. Be a First point of contact for family queries. Offer to assist with queries before contacting the school or teacher directly as you may have the answers and can respond in a more timely manner. Respect their request for privacy if they wish to contact the school or teacher directly
7. Provide support to the P&C social & fundraising committee. The P&C hold a number of social and fundraising events throughout the school year. Class Parents are essential in ensuring that the relevant Year Group are organised with volunteers to deliver the event and provide support to the P&C Events Committee.  The Class Parent Coordinator will advise the Class Parents accordingly.

Being a Class Parent can be a very rewarding position. It does not have to be a lot of work and can make life just a little bit easier for other parents in the school. It is a great role for someone who works full time and may not otherwise be able to volunteer at the school as most of the work can be done online, and it is a great way to get to know other parents at the school and be involved.

What is the role of the P&C Class Parent Coordinator?

As a class parent, how do I get in touch with other class parents?

As a class parent, how do I get in touch with the P&C Class Parent Coordinator?