Hi,What a year! We just wanted to wish you a well deserved Christmas break and hope that, however the crisis has impacted you, your family or your school, this message finds you in good health and ready to make the most of 2021.
Back at the beginning of the pandemic, we were inspired by the ways we saw PTAs and parents helping their school community. We saw you using Classlist to arrange support for families self-isolating, and going the extra mile at helping everyone stay in touch. The more recent lockdown has shown us we all need community now more than ever.
Our favourite definition of what is a community is from the community guru Charles H. Vogl: ‘A community is a group of individuals who share a mutual concern for one another’s welfare’. We see the school communities on Classlist as prime examples of this. Well done for everything you have put into making Classlist a welcoming place for your whole community to come together online.
Going virtual has positives
We’ve all found a few things are better virtual:
- • PTA meetings & AGMs with more attendees than usual over Zoom
- • Some parents who rarely made it to the school gate before Covid say they feel more connected with others by being part of their online school community.
- • Personalised Christmas videos from Santa – we can see children wanting these next year too!
- • Will Zoom drinks continue? We smiled when we spotted an ‘Online Panda & Giraffe Parents get-together’. We hadn’t realised we had any animal members on Classlist before seeing that 🙂
Innovative fundraising
Undeterred by Covid you have done a super job of organising innovative alternatives to your usual events, often using our app as a really easy way of collecting payments from parents. (Did you know that Classlist is the only ticketing platform that doesn’t charge any fees?).We spotted the following Covid-friendly fundraisers on Classlist during the last few months: Lockdown cookbooks, Virtual pet shows, Doorstep family photoshoots, Child entrepreneur challenges, Online astronomy sessions, ‘Dress your parent’ day, and an interesting ‘Send you teacher to jail’ fundraiser too!
Once your parent body can collect cash online, it opens up huge opportunities. We expect that pop up shops will become a permanent fixture. We are glad to be able to save busy PTAs from spending time collecting and processing money by hand.
“Classlist has definitely already impacted our fundraising capability in just the 2 weeks we have been on it. It’s a fantastic app. We really love it.” – Sophie, Vice Chair, Hazelwood Schools PTSA
A few Christmas highlights
Lots of you have been extra busy selling things on Classlist this Christmas, with parents paying for Nativity videos and photos, home delivered Christmas trees, tickets for Chocolate raffles, and tokens for ‘Top Secret’ pop up children’s gift shops.
We loved seeing all your ideas for the Christmas trails you sold tickets for too – from Christmas Bauble trails, an elf scavenger hunt, to a ‘Christmas Window Wonderland’.
We all know that PTAs aren’t just about raising money. Many of you have made a special effort to create memorable experiences for children within school. Whilst it is a shame that parents couldn’t be included this year, there is no doubt they will have enjoyed their children’s stories of ‘tea with Santa’ or a visit to the Grinch Grotto. The lucky children at some schools were even able to attend Elf School!
You’re playing a vital role
Many of you have played a vital role in supporting your school community in other ways too this year, such as using SignUps to get parents to volunteer as marshals outside school, passing on school communications via announcements to all parents, and ensuring that staff feel properly thanked by the parent body. Don’t forget to remember your own achievements! We know you don’t always get thanked by others.
As ever, we really do value your feedback and input as we continue to improve Classlist, so please do drop us a line any time.
If you’re ready to get going on Classlist but haven’t quite got there yet, do get in touch in the New Year so we can help you make the most of the app. We have regular demos and webinars and we’d love to meet you at one soon.
Finally, here’s wishing you a great Christmas break from all of us here at Classlist!
