Comittee Pre-school Chair Resigned

[Guest]

I am leader of a committee run preschool, I just started in september and now the chair has resigned because the workload is too much. There is nobody willing to take on the role as , and I agree, the amount of work for an unpaid parent is too much. What help and advice can myself and the committee get. We are due OFSTED any day, and the paper work is in a poor state. I am only just finding my feet and now don't know what to do.

If anyone can offer advice I would be very grateful as I feel like resigning myself. I am only paid for the time the children attend and I am not supernumary, so most of my spare time is already taken up with prep, planning, and other paperwork. I also have two young children myself and am moving house next week!!!

 

The timing couldn't be much worse, however I don't blame the chair as I know how much time has been put into it.

 

Hope someone can help

[HappyMaz]

Are you a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance? They should be able to offer help and advice.

 

Also, I would contact your early years team as a matter of urgency: they will also be able to help and support you.

 

Apart from that I really don't know what to say: I don't know much about committee run groups!

 

Good luck.

 

Maz

[korkycat]

Definitely get in touch with Early years and the PLA (if a member).

I can understand how you all feel. Over the years we, as a staff team, have taken on many of the committee roles as it takes so much time helping a new committee settle into the job. We organise NEG stuff, keep policies up to date, sort out help rota, do admissions, newsletters etc. This is all done with full consultation with the committee and this has helped us keep getting new members. Still we have AGM tomorrow and at the moment I don't know if we will have enough members turn up. This is a perennial problem with committee run groups and I cannot see it ever changing.

Hope you can get some local support. Could other members of your staff give you a hand?

Best wishes. korkycat

[hali]

good advice contact EY and PLA. Are you affliated to a church or anything? think as an emergency if you can just get a couple of people (they could cover chair person) for you - good luck xxxx

[diesel10]

Hi

 

I lead a playgroup that is registered for 18 children. We run 9 morning and afternoon sessions a week. I am paid for 6 hours of 'paperwork' time a week. This in no way covers the amount of extra work needed, but you really should be paid for some time away from the children.

 

We don't normally have a problem getting committee members, I find targeting someone directly helps. They can only say no, but they normally don't.

 

Perhaps you should get your house move sorted first. They can't carry everything on your shoulders.

 

Good luck.

[rachelllps]

I agree with Maz, get in touch with the PSLA, they should be sympathetic and may even be able to help you arrange a meeting where they can talk to the committee about their roles and support that THEY can get.

 

We are also committee run and last year had NO committee at all for the first two weeks of term. However sometimes it helps to get people to split roles such as have a chair and vice chair etc which allows the chair to have someone to support him/her and maybe just take on a few jobs.

 

Hope things sort themselves out for you

 

Rachel

[Guest]

Hi Cassiem,

 

I really sympathise with your situation and wish u all the luck in world with the future.

 

Best advice I can offer is to talk to your EY advisor, they should help, we have Trio Childcare which check us for all the bits of paperwork we need to have and I would contact them, don't know what your equivelant is? Both have helped us with committee problems in the past.

 

We have just had a turbulent year with our committee, our AGM was last week and we had a poor show. 6 old retiring committee members, 5 staff members and 3 'new' parents none of which could/wanted to take on a 'role'.

 

The next day we made crispie cakes with the children and invited parents in for coffee and crispie cakes in a relaxed informal atmosphere. We had a chat with them all, explained the roles in a honest, friendly way. We managed to recruit/entice/persuade new parents onto our committee (actually they were quite willing in the end.) We now have a new treasurer, line manager, and possibly a parent and grandparent duo to take on the role of chair.

 

There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Please try not to take it all on yourself especially as you have so much going on at home.

 

Take care, good luck

 

em x

[Guest]

Thanks for all your replies, I will contact the Early Years team and PSLA this morning and see if they can meet with me.

 

I agree I need to get my house move sorted, however I am the sort of person that likes everything done yesterday, and I feel very uncomfortable that policies etc are not up to stratch with an ofsted inspection due, but I will have to delegate as I can't do everything.

 

I will let you know how today goes

 

Thanks again.

[Guest]

Best of luck cassiem!

I thought if the chair resigned then it went down to the vice or other committee members to take on the role in an emergency?

 

Not sure if this would help you anyway as you certainly have a lot going on in your own life, but I thought it mentioned somewhere that staff could now be on the committee but not allowed to vote?

 

I like Emma's idea......might have to use that next year as notices to encourage parents arent working. In fact now that we have got the committee (new - 3 months old) to actually open the meetings out to parents and advertise we are worried no other parents will actually turn up

 

Also do you know anyone who is suitable for the role although not got any children at pre-school. Think you can have an affiliated member? Its all so confusing this committee lark. I do feel for them as you say its voluntary with no training.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[Helen]

Hi Cassie,

I'm a great one for lists! To calm yourself down and have a clearer picture of what you want/need to do, I'd spend some time getting a brief development plan together, so that if Ofsted turn up, you can show them how organised you are and that you've only been there a month! Showing them that you know where things need improving is crucial. It will also give you the beginnings of an ongoing plan, ie what paperwork to tackle first, and what your other priorities are.

[Guest]

Cassie

 

I would second what Helen has said. Get a plan together of all that you want to do. You can only do so much and if you are not paid for time outside of the setting (I'd have a word with the committee about this as you cannot be expected to get all your planning and administration done when you have children in your care) your enthusiasm will soon burn out. You really need a good relationship with your committee so if you are open with them then it should work both ways. A few pre-schools are now taking on administrators as there is a lot of paperwork which needs to be kept in order.

 

The pre-school I used to work in ran without a Chair for about 5 months but it was a far from ideal situation. You definitely need as much help as you can get from your early years team and the PLA.