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Technology-sowy PTAs ore finding Twitter, Focebook ond other sociol medio ogreot woy to keep more porents in the loop.

generally eschew professional courses.As a freelance scribbler it is hard tojusti$z an unpaid day away from my

desk and I am also of the view that mostwork skills are best learnt on the iob.

However, the other week I -.d.

,.,exception and attended a workshop onsocial media for journalists. For somemonths, I have been reluctantly creepingtowards the grim realisation that my lo-tech journaLism is nearing its sell-by dare.I d9n't blog, I don't nveet and I am yer toupload my mug shot on the Facebookaccount which my friend's daughter setup for me rvvo years ago.

Not so long ago, I was almost proud of

22 ffi Spring

my Luddism, taking the view that peoplewho spent hours posting on virtual wallswere people with a lot of time on theirhands. But countless queries about mynon-existent blog from fellow journosand countless more Linkedln invitationsfrom people I have worked with over theyears, have taken their toll. Howevermuch I may wish it were otherwise,online communication is clearlv not iustfor my friend's daughter and her t..rirg.mates. Itts for everyone who wants tostay in touch - and in work.

PTAs across the country have come tothis realisation far more quicklv than meand are communicaring with parents in

reports

ways that would have been unimaqinableeven five years ago.

Thke Bollin Primary School in Cheshire.Google the school's name and its pTAwebsite pops up complete withinformation on how to also connectwith the PTA via Facebook, Linkedlnand Twitter.

"'W'e started looking at how we couldbetter communicare irith parents aboutrvvo years ago," saysJulie Saunders,responsible for communication at thePTA. "People didn't always noticeplayground posters advertising events. So

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we sent out a questionnaire asking parentshow they wanted to receive infor"mationabout the PTA's activities."

Email got a near universal thumbs_uofrom the school's parenrs and so the bTAset up its own email account and startedsending regular e-updates. parentmail, rheschool-to-home email service used byBolin and 4000 other primaries andsecondaries, also receives the updates, butJulie says rhe PTA felt it important tohave its own distinct emai_l iccount. "lt'scertainly easier to have an emailconversation with the class rep than tograb five minutes with her in-theplayground."

There was less initial enthusiasm at theprimary for Facebook andTwitter. butone parricularly technological member ofthe PTA ream pressed ahead and the pTAnow has 25 Facebookers and 14Twitterfollowers. "I have a Twitter relationshipwith some parents whom I haven'tactually met in the flesh," notes Tulie.

Linkedln has proved successfui too.especially with fathers and parents whowork full-time. "We now. for example. setdads saying they'll supply rhe barbecue "

tables and gazebo for the sununer fair andoffering to put them up too.We finallvhave a direct line to thim. Before thevwould get messages second-hand fromtheir wives."

And if they were separated from thosewives, Bollin's dads were even less likelvto, know whar was going on ar theschool, commentsJulie: "If you don't livewith your

^child, you aren'r checking their

book bag for slips on a daily basis."That said. when it was planning its

technological revolution, it. pfA Dut rhechildren s book bags to good use. "'Everystep. of the r1'ay we popped in slipsexplaining the new developments. It *asvery important thar people didn't feelexcluded or think ttrat s^ocial media wasy'ddenly going to replace traditionaltorms ot communication like all hardcopies of the newsletter.We pacedourselves really carefully. Using onlineplatforms is about reaching thi school'swider demographic, not making the lesscomputer-literate feel left out.'i

_ Lucy Athey, PTA secretary of SladePrimary in Tonbridge. agrees. "Socialmedra rs very useful for duplicatinginformation - ir's an additional wa! ofcontactlng parents that should be used inconjunction with other methods.'r

Of which there are many at Slade

www. pa renta n dtea ch er,com

Julie Sounders, Boll in primory School pTA Cheshire

Primary. "'We have a Facebook group, usea Twitter feed, send emails, ,rr. tlh.

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school's text messaging service andregularly update our page of the school'swebsite. But we also contact parents viathe traditional newslerter, a n^odce board,

9ur fTA postbox and notes popped intothe children's bags."

Interestingly, social media is slowlywinning out. "A quarrer of the 250families at the schbol are now membersof the Facebook group we ser upelghteen,months ago and many of themare people who, in the past, have not beenespecially involved in tlie pTA." savsLucy. "People who ignore a note in abookbag will often rispond to thefrunedlacy ot a text or emai]."

And the missives aren't just one_way:"Parents often drop me a line after anevent to say how much they've enjoyedrt, or text with ideas for future projects,"she says.

At Highgate Primary School in northLondon, two-way communication hasreached dizzy new heiqhts. Instead ofFacebook orTwitter

",id .rr.n email, the

PTA uses aWiki, a free and entirelycollaborative site, updated by all memberson an equal basis. "'We didn't want anopen social site," says pSA chair LizzieBloom. "It felt almost too exposed andyou can't use a social site for planning.

"And withWiki the whole-pro..rii,completely democratic. I uploid all of thePTA's Excel and Word documents so tharanyone who wants to knows what'scoming up can do so.And everyone canpost comments. Equally, when an event isover, it goes into the archive section forpossible future reference. It means thatwhen I step down I won't have to forwardhundreds of emails to the new chair."

Working without emails, notes Lizzie.also means that there are no bruised esoswhen people aren't sent one..When

Highgate primary's pSA firstturned its mind to social media a yearago, one of the team suggested Twitter. Itwent down about as well as my Seventiesschool dinners. "We aren't an especiallvafiluent or hi-tech communiry and. to'befrank. a lot of people weren't sure whatTwitter was," recalls Lizzie.

Not especially afluent or hi-tech _ ves.I know how rhat feels.

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