PTA Podcast

In this episode, I chat to Elliot from the National Festival Circus who explains everything you ever needed to know about having a circus as a fundraiser at your school. With over 40 years experience of helping schools and PTAs, this circus team has really thought carefully about how to make things easy - no large vehicles, on and off your school field the same day, and they don't even need P...

In this episode, I talk about the dreaded subject of the weather and how weather-anxiety is a real thing if you are part of a PTA volunteer team! I acknowledge that we have no control over the weather so focus on things PTAs can control. I talk you through formulating a weather plan in advance and how helpful this can be. Then we look at 4 weather types (rain, sun, snow and wind) and how they can...

In this episode, I share some ideas about stalls you could use as part of an event which generate 100% profit for your PTA. I have grouped them into 3 loose categories - donation stalls, existing equipment stalls and home-made stalls. I have a few recommendations based on stalls I have organised before, and some tips for you. Some of these are also easy to set up at short notice, so if you have so...

In this episode, I talk about why secondhand books sales are a great addition to your PTA funding, whether you have them as a standalone event or as a stall at a larger event. I have a few creative ideas for you about how to lay out your display and how to arrange the books to try and maximise the profits and freshen up your sale. A secondhand book sale is such an easy stall to run and as most boo...

In this episode, I share my experience of attending two quizzes each run by a different PTA. I talk through how the evenings were organised and highlight the similarities and difference between the two events. Then, I chat through some top tips taken from the quiz nights I attended with some extra ideas.  Do drop me an email to tell me what your PTA is up to - hello@ptapodcast.com Please rate and...

I'm talking to you from my car this episode as a shout out to other parents who have to wait for their child to finish a club! This episode is a catch-up about my World Book Day plus the announcement that our PTA Podcast virtual Book Club has now started! Our first book is The Hive by Gill Hornby. Sign up to my mailing list on my website to keep up to date with the Book Club, as I will let yo...

In this episode, I share my experience (and love!) for Treasure Hunts! I have created a number of different treasure hunts or scavenger hunts over the years, and I think they are a versatile and exciting activity to add into your fundraising calendar. Give one a try this year if you haven't done one before - you can fit them to a theme, they don't need many volunteers and they are so muc...

In this short episode, I share a marketing idea with you - a different way that you can send out messages to parents. Instead of sending out more blocks of text, try and entice your parents to make small changes to support your PTA by focussing on the numbers! Listen to this episode to find out more. Please rate and review my podcast so other lovely PTA volunteers can find it too!  Check out my we...

Welcome to 2026! This episode is quick catch-up from me - I give you a brief update on my PTA activities from December and my plans going forward. I also pull out my highlights from the recent issue of the School Fundraising Magazine which has just been published (Spring 2026 issue). There are some great ideas in here for Easter fundraising and STEM activities. You can find a link to a digital cop...

Welcome to the PTA Podcast Book Club! This is just a little episode to introduce you to some PTA books that I will be talking about on my podcast. I have found some books which mention PTAs as part of their plot and I thought it would be fun to discuss and review them. I would love you to join me in reading and then reviewing the books - just sign up to my mailing list to take part and receive all...

Would you like to explore making grant applications a bit more? Or try reaching out to local businesses? Then this is the episode for you! In this episode, I chat to Richard Manville, the managing director of Community Inspired. His social enterprise runs the PTA+ website https://www.pta.co.uk/ , School Fundraising magazine https://www.pta.co.uk/magazine/current-issue/ and the FundEd website https...

This episode is split into two sections - some self-care tips for those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed with your Christmas fundraising, and then a little pep talk to remind yourself how great you are and how much your volunteering means to the children at your school. It is always such a busy time of year when you are part of a PTA, let alone all the things happening in your family life as well,...

I think a cake sale is one of the foundations of fundraising - a very simple, straightforward event which keeps the money ticking in to your PTA. In this episode, I share my experiences of cake sales over the years I have been organising them. So whether you haven't run one before or are a seasoned pro, hopefully there is something here for you.  Look out for my Cake sales Part 2 episode comi...

Have you heard about a Progressive Supper before? This is a brilliant evening event which is perfect for the winter or spring months, and combines fundraising with a way of strengthening your parent community at school. In this episode, I chat to my friends Susan and Lyn who have organised many of these evenings and have very generously shared all their top tips so you can hit the ground running i...

Welcome back to a new school year! In this episode, we have a little catch up about summer holidays and what my PTA is working on at the moment. A new edition of the School Fundraising magazine has just come out, packed full of ideas and advice so I talk through some of the articles I found interesting. Read the latest version here: https://www.pta.co.uk/ And I have started a PTA Podcast Playlist...

Please note, I can't reply to texts, but I can to emails - hello@ptapodcast.com In this episode, I give you a little catch-up on recent events with me, and announce that my son Patrick and I have published the first PTA Podcast computer game! We have made a text-based game where you can organise a summer fête for a primary school in just 10 minutes from the comfort of your own sofa! Put your...

Please note, I can't reply to texts, but I can to emails - hello@ptapodcast.com In this episode, I share my tips on how to get through the organisation of a big event like a summer or winter fête. I talk about things you could try during the planing stages to make things easier, what you can do on the day of the event and crucially, how to cope when it's all feeling too much. I hope my e...

Please note, I can't reply to texts, but I can to emails - hello@ptapodcast.com In this episode, I chat to Carol Rogerson about the PTA+ website which is a unique resource for all things related to PTAs in the UK - do go and have a browse of the website if you haven't already found it - www.pta.co.uk Carol is also the editor of School Fundraising magazine and we talk about how she finds...

Thank you for your message! Please note, if you text me I cannot reply directly to you, but I can if you use my email address below. In this episode, we have a look at the concept of marginal gains - a way of making tiny changes to various aspects of your events organisation and planning which can add up to big improvements overall. I give some suggestions from my own time as a PTA Chair on some o...

Thank you for your message! Please note, if you text me I cannot reply directly to you, but I can if you use my email address below. In this episode, I give you all the details about my proudest and biggest achievement when I was Chair of my PTA - fundraising for a new library at my school. It was a full-on year of fundraising and fun, and it changed the way my PTA approached projects and how we w...

Thank you for your message! Please note, if you text me I cannot reply directly to you, but I can if you use my email address below. In this episode, I reply to Evie who texted me and asked about Instagram. That made me think about the different ways my PTA communicates with parents and I thought I would share the different methods and my experience of them with you. Do you use similar methods - w...

In this episode, I chat to Keren Mitchell about his website called Superkind ( https://superkind.org/ ) which PTAs can use to gather sponsorship money and really put the children at the heart of fundraising. I also suggest that you add "Gift Aid reference number" to your PTA to-do list if you are a charity in the UK but haven't registered for Gift Aid yet. Do you use an online platf...

In this episode, I share my experience of doing a handover to the next PTA Chair. It was all very straightforward in the end, as most of it is electronic now! Are you doing a handover, or will you have one coming up in the future? Have you had a similar experience to me? I'd love to hear from you - contact me using hello@ptapodcast.com . I would love to hear from you. Please rate and review m...

In this episode, I update you on what happened as I tried to step down as Chair of my PTA. As you know from Episode 19, I was dreading my AGM with no one wanting to step up to the role. So this is my story about what happened and how it went. I also list a few places you can go for help if you are dealing with a tricky situation in your PTA at the moment. Have you had a similar experience to me? D...

In this episode, I chat to my friend Eve about her gift-wrapping business and an idea about a festive fundraiser with a difference. Why not give a gift-wrapping evening a try to get parents together for a social occasion? We talk through how this could work and explore how you can make any gift-wrapping you do as a PTA more eco-friendly. If you don't have anyone in your area who could help wi...