Disinterested Committee

[Guest]

Hi,

 

We are in a portacabin on school grounds but we have been told that when the planning permission runs out in 2013 it will not be renewed , and hence the portacabin has to go.

 

Although the committee know that we need to have a new building, they just do not seem to see the urgency of fund raising for this new building.

 

I have tried telling them that 4 years will soon pass , and then what will happen, but no joy so far. Although i am classed as Playleader/manager my job description does not include doing committee work for them.

 

has anybody any ideas on how to get this message across and get them moving without me having to do it for them.

 

All suggestions gratefully received

[AnonyMouse_19920]

trouble is the parents think its not their problem as their children will be long gone by then but they need to realise the importance of the group

can you get your development worker involved-? find out costs for replacement building and give it to them - work out with them how much you will need to raise each year to get to this figure.

have a barometer with the total needing to be raised that year at the top and as money comes in colour in to show where you all are with regards to monies raised/ still needing to be raised- good visual idea for parents etc.,

are there any grants/ funding available that you could log into? development worker could help there.

perhaps look for other ways of raising monies - sponsored events, local companies becoming involved?

hope this helps - is very hard as committees dont see past when their children leave

good luck and keep us informed

[AnonyMouse_3735]

Unfortunately, unless you have parents with younger children who my be attending in the future, current committee will not see it as a priority, but you should try the development worker to see if they can help.

 

As it is planning permission being removed , will this not mean a relocation as even if you manage to raise the funds for the building you would still need planning permission to site it?

 

Inge

[Guest]

Unfortunately, unless you have parents with younger children who my be attending in the future, current committee will not see it as a priority, but you should try the development worker to see if they can help.

 

As it is planning permission being removed , will this not mean a relocation as even if you manage to raise the funds for the building you would still need planning permission to site it?

 

Inge

Possible relocation. at present the planning dept do not like temporary buildings but county council have agreed that we can rebuild on the present site, and the school wants us on site which is a huge positive

 

Agree with you about parents saying my child won`t be here, which is the attitude we have at the moment I have said well thats ok, but if we weren`t here , where would you send your child, and then they say don`t know because there is only private nurseries in the area.

 

Makes me feel like looking for another position but the other half of me says you can`t give up!!!

[Guest]

trouble is the parents think its not their problem as their children will be long gone by then but they need to realise the importance of the group

can you get your development worker involved-? find out costs for replacement building and give it to them - work out with them how much you will need to raise each year to get to this figure.

have a barometer with the total needing to be raised that year at the top and as money comes in colour in to show where you all are with regards to monies raised/ still needing to be raised- good visual idea for parents etc.,

are there any grants/ funding available that you could log into? development worker could help there.

perhaps look for other ways of raising monies - sponsored events, local companies becoming involved?

hope this helps - is very hard as committees dont see past when their children leave

good luck and keep us informed

 

Thanks for the ideas , will certainly talk to development officer and ertianly the barometer. i will get the children to make one when we go back on Monday.There are grants but in the majority they ae match funded so funds are necessary.

 

Will keep you informed

[AnonyMouse_13453]

At least you have 4 years - I potentially have 4 weeks! it's the not knowing what the decision is going to be which is the worst thing

[AnonyMouse_7120]

i have a couple very keen parents who want to see us in our own premises at the moment, but we've been here before, we know theres capital available but it is'nt just about getting the funding its where we put it !! in a village hall at the moment so am trying to make them realise that a single protacabin wont do it...........we'd decrease sessions we could offer rather than increasing, but meeting finance person from sure start on monday so we'll see what they have to say

[AnonyMouse_3139]

If you were to put a letter out to all parents, past and present, you might be surprised at the response. I've been involved with the playgroup my children went to for the last 15 years partly as aparent, partly as staff and now as committee. I am passionate about playgroups and would always support ours, some of your parents, grandparents might feel the same way.

You could also suggest to the committee that they start saving for your redundancy packages, that might wake them up a bit.

You say your job description doesnt include doing committee work, well in my experience it might not be on paper but the role of aplayleader can often mean doing just that. Your committee come and go, if you are the constant you need to take the reins on this and push it through.

[AnonyMouse_7120]

i've actually put on my SEf that one of my rpiorities for improvement is to get committees to understand what their roles and responsibilities actually are !

[AnonyMouse_3139]

i've actually put on my SEf that one of my rpiorities for improvement is to get committees to understand what their roles and responsibilities actually are !

 

Good luck with that debc, our last meeting consisted of 3 committee and 2 staff.

 

 

Chocoholic, I'm a bit confused though. If planning permission is going to run out and not be renewed on the portacabin, why will it be accepted on a new building?

And a word to the wise, for a few years the head of our local primary made all the right noises about wanting playgroup in his school, but also made it look like it would be a problem that would be difficult to overcome although not impossible. He then suddenly announced he was having a nursery so we were pushed out of the picture. Be sure he wants you there and dont take anything for granted.

[Guest]

If you were to put a letter out to all parents, past and present, you might be surprised at the response. I've been involved with the playgroup my children went to for the last 15 years partly as aparent, partly as staff and now as committee. I am passionate about playgroups and would always support ours, some of your parents, grandparents might feel the same way.

You could also suggest to the committee that they start saving for your redundancy packages, that might wake them up a bit.

You say your job description doesnt include doing committee work, well in my experience it might not be on paper but the role of aplayleader can often mean doing just that. Your committee come and go, if you are the constant you need to take the reins on this and push it through.

 

I agree with you , however i do much of their work for them at present, but theres not jsut not enough hours in the day to oversee this project.Although its me who liases with councils and schools at present.

 

Present parents are just not interested , however i will use your suggestion of writing to former parents etc. Would love to write to local businesses but we are in an area where 6 major workforces have closed , theres just no money around here at present with people losing jobs.

 

Somehow I believe wheres theres a will theres a way!!!!!!

[AnonyMouse_2268]

You say your job description doesnt include doing committee work, well in my experience it might not be on paper but the role of aplayleader can often mean doing just that. Your committee come and go, if you are the constant you need to take the reins on this and push it through

 

Aboslutely!

But do you get any appreciation for it or does anyone listen to you more because of it...not in my experience.

We are also a preschool in a portacabin on a school site. We are awaiting news of a new building (been waiting and fundraising for about ten years!) - grant money is the only way we will get it..our parents are not intersted in fundraising at all...you'll be lucky if they but a strip of raffle tickets!

We also have the bare minimum of committee members - three officers and two general members..with several of them likely to leave at the end of the summer with their children and staff left in limbo again as we wonder if anyone will take up their positions.

 

I have not been involved in any of the discussions about the new building..There have been meetings with chair, secretary and treasurer but staff just have to hear it after the event. No efforts are made to help any of us get to a meetings as we have no cover!

 

As for appreciation..after our recent snow days I did not deduct our hours for those days and the committee came back and asked "well did you work then?"

I explained that it was not our choice to close ( all the schools in the area were) and pointed out that they were not actually paying us for "doing nothing" since we all do many hours of work out of hours which we never claim for ( probably bankrupt the preschool anyway if we did!) only to be told "thats the job you chose and thats how it is".

Although they agreed to pay on that occasion we were told that no one gets paid for doing nothing and that they wouldnt be doing it again.

 

Really makes you feel like you cant be bothered..I dont do it for the money but the way I see it the pre-school IS getting paid for doing nothing...they are getting our time and effort out of sessions which is the only time the essentials can get caught up on! If we dont do that the place would look a tip and no one would have any learning journies when they left!

 

Oooh makes me so angry!

 

Good luck everyone who is looking to relocate...hopefully it'll be worth it in the end if we can all hold in there among all this hassle!

[AnonyMouse_3735]

As for appreciation..after our recent snow days I did not deduct our hours for those days and the committee came back and asked "well did you work then?"

I explained that it was not our choice to close ( all the schools in the area were) and pointed out that they were not actually paying us for "doing nothing" since we all do many hours of work out of hours which we never claim for ( probably bankrupt the preschool anyway if we did!) only to be told "thats the job you chose and thats how it is".

Although they agreed to pay on that occasion we were told that no one gets paid for doing nothing and that they wouldnt be doing it again.

 

Really makes you feel like you cant be bothered..I dont do it for the money but the way I see it the pre-school IS getting paid for doing nothing...they are getting our time and effort out of sessions which is the only time the essentials can get caught up on! If we dont do that the place would look a tip and no one would have any learning journies when they left!

 

Oooh makes me so angry!

 

We found that when the continued unpaid hours was getting a bit out of hand and not appreciated, it helped to give the committee a timesheet or list of all the additional hours and what was done unpaid by each member of staff , I told the committee that for a long time we had been doing the hours but that perhaps they were unaware as to the actual extent of the hours and work needed to keep the setting running efficiently. I said we were just trying to make them realise the actual time we had to put into the job. I did say that we had been doing this for a long time and fully aware of consequences of being paid for all the hours but would appreciate a comment on how they felt and should continue to do the hours for nothing. I continued to send in this timesheet from then onwards.

 

In our case they were very aware of the hours and it was really just to officially record what we were doing... they did then pay 1 hour admin for all staff to do the journeys and manager pay to do paperwork , and we negotiated that if there was money available at the end of each financial year, staff would receive a bonus payment in recognition of these hours... this has always worked and staff know if no money in account, no bonus.

 

This was done a while ago and as one committee agreed it just continued though the next... giving timesheets to each committee helped and only took a few miniutes each week .

 

Inge

 

Inge