The Alice Smith School

Parent Teacher Association

Class Representatives

This booklet has been produced jointly by the School and The Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

to assist you in your role as a Class Representative

Class Representatives (Class Reps) Class Representatives at The Alice Smith School fall under the Parent Teacher Association. One of the strengths of The Alice Smith School is the parent body, which contributes so much to enhance both the children's experiences and the life of the school community.

Class Representatives are an important point of contact between the school, PTA and the parents at class level, and they do a great job helping to disseminate information on behalf of either the school or PTA. The Class Representatives also play an active role in helping parents get to know each other through organising informal class social events, and also supporting the teachers with rotas and special occasions. The Class Representative role is done on a voluntary basis and is successful through goodwill from both parents and the Class Representative. Contact and Support for New Families You will be notified, as Class Rep, of any new additions to your class by the PTA Class Rep Coordinator. The School Admissions department follows a set of clear guidelines before releasing any personal information. Should you hear of a new student before this information is released, you should contact the class teacher for permission to send a note home, via the school book bag system, introducing yourself and asking them to make contact. Please see Appendix A for a sample letter to parents. Each term the PTA organises a formal Newcomers Coffee Morning as well as regular informal Coffee sessions for new parents to introduce them to the Alice Smith Community. Class Representatives are invited to come along to these to meet new parents in their class. Class Contact Details The school and PTA find that e-mail and/or SMS is a quick and efficient way to communicate with parents and these are generally the preferred channels of communication. However, it is important to be aware that contact details and other data, such as addresses and dates of birth can be sensitive information that must be used and handled correctly. Please understand that for a variety of administrative reasons, class details may not be available to Class Reps until at least the second week of term. This information should only be distributed to Class Rep and it should not be used for commercial purposes. Please remember that when you email parents, their addresses should be as “blind copies” e.g. emailed out in Bcc. Under no circumstances should you disclose e-mail addresses to anyone without the parent’s permission. The School also requests that all communications to parents in your role as a Class Rep are sent with the approval of either your class teacher or the PTA.

Social List It may also be useful for Class Reps to set up a separate ‘Social List’ that can be used for communicating information regarding parties, lost shoes, weekend events, costume ideas etc… However, you will need to invite your class parents to join any group like this that you set up, allowing parents to opt out if they wish. Emergency Cascade Lists The Primary Campus organises, with the help of the Class Reps, an emergency cascade list for each class. In the unlikely event of an emergency – the School will communicate with parents by: • Email • Bulk text messaging • By uploading messages to the School’s website • Or as an alternative point of contact, by telephone to the class representative, who will activate the Emergency Cascade List Communication It is not the Class Reps responsibility to become involved in problems concerning an individual child of group of children in the Class. Parents should be encouraged to speak to the teacher directly. If the parent is still not satisfied they should be referred to the Assistant Key Stage Leader of that year group then the Key Stage Leader, followed by a member of the Primary Leadership Team, as appropriate. The School has its own website and Parent Portal; Class Reps are encouraged to direct parents to these sites for information on school routines and procedures. The PTA also manages an official Facebook page where parents can find information on PTA activities and events. Individual class websites / blogs should not be set up. Classroom and Field Trip Support Although it is the class teacher’s responsibility to organise classroom help, your teacher may ask for assistance in contacting parents to arrange either help in the classroom or for assistance on school field trips. At the Induction Evenings held at the beginning of the school year, the teacher will usually indicate how much parental help is needed and what tasks are involved. The teacher will make ‘time slot’s’ available for parents who wish to volunteer. The Class Rep may be asked to assist the teacher if necessary. Parental assistance is sometimes required on school field trips and numbers required vary from outing to outing and the age of the students. Parents should be made aware that if too many volunteers sign up; only the required number can be included. The teacher will finalise the list of helpers and parents will be informed by the teacher or Class Rep if they are to accompany the class. Please note, no younger siblings should be brought along.

Social Gatherings for Class Parents Organising Coffee Mornings and /or a relaxed evening out are useful ways to allow parents to mingle and meet one another. A Pot Luck Dinner or a Games Night are good ideas and easy to arrange. The Class teacher may also be invited to attend, however, while some teachers enjoy such occasions others may prefer not to attend. Please be understanding and sensitive to this. Christmas Bazaar / Summer Fair The PTA organises several whole school events each year, e.g. Christmas Bazaar, Summer Fair etc... Class Reps may be requested to assist by organising a roster of parents from their class to man a stall for these events. They may also be requested to find volunteer parents from their class to supply things such as home-made cakes, mince pies or other similar items. Class Kitty Many classes like to collect a class kitty at the beginning of the year which they use to buy items for class parties, PTA events and end of year gifts for the teacher and assistant teachers. Please keep in mind that this should be voluntary, not too costly and without pressure. As many parents have more than one child at the school, and in order to avoid the problems

which have arisen in the past with regard to teacher and teacher assistant (TA) gifts, the

PTA Committee and School Management suggest collecting a maximum amount of RM100

for FS and KS1 classes and RM 70 for KS2 class.

Any additional funds left over at the end of an academic year should be handed over to the

PTA and will be donated to charity.

Leavers’ Books

Class Reps are kindly asked not to buy presents for students who leave the class, either in

the middle or end of the year.

Instead, it is tradition at Alice Smith for students to receive a leavers’ ‘scrapbook’ containing

pictures and personal messages from their class friends as a reminder of their time at the

school. Class Reps may purchase a blank leavers book from the office and assist the class

teacher in compiling the book. This long standing rule ensures that children from the same

family all receive similar leaving gifts.

The school also presents each leaving child with their own Malaysian gift.

Year Representatives

At the Secondary Campus, the Class Rep is replaced by the Year Rep. This is due to the change in needs of the families at the Secondary campus and to spread the parent volunteers across the school. It also helps coordinate the year as a whole group as many more school events are organised in year groups rather than as classes, and this is how much of the curriculum is organised; as a year not a class. In any year there could be several Year Reps, and the particular tutor group of their children is irrelevant. Their roles are similar to the primary Class Reps for the following headings

Contact and Support for New Families Class Contact Details Social List Communication Social Gatherings for Class Parents Christmas Bazaar and Summer Fair

However the secondary campus Year Reps do not operate a Class Kitty, and any presents given to leavers are done on an individual basis by friends, rather than as a class. If you have any questions regarding your role as a Class Representative or require any support please do not hesitate to contact any member of the PTA committee at pta@alice-smith.edu.my

Appendix A

Sample Letter / Email to New Parent from Class Rep Dear Welcome to <<class name>>! I am not sure if you are new to Malaysia or just new to Alice Smith, but I hope you and your children settle in very quickly and feel part of our community very soon. In each class at the primary campus, there are one or two parents who volunteer or are nominated to be Class Reps. In <<class name>> I am one of two Class Reps/ I am the Class Rep and I have listed my / our contact details below. Please feel very welcome to call me/us with any questions that you have; we would love to be able to help you. We will be arranging a Class coffee morning for all the parents to meet and this would be a wonderful opportunity for us all to meet you. This term our coffee morning is scheduled for <<date and time>> at <<venue>>. Please do contact us to confirm if you are able to attend. We also maintain a Class Social List which includes the contact details of all the families in our class. This is an invaluable document for arranging play dates and parties. If you are happy to be included in this, please would you give me your address, telephone numbers and email address as soon as these are available. I look forward to hearing from you and meeting very soon, Your Name(s) Your contact details