The Secretary is responsible for ensuring that there are effective communication links between committee members and between the association and the school. The Secretary deals with all the correspondence that the association receives and helps the Chair ensure that committee meetings run smoothly. Building up a good relationship with the school Secretary will help ensure that any correspondence that is sent to the school is passed onto your association promptly. With the agreement of the Headteacher, the Secretary can usually arrange to leave PTA notices with the school Secretary for distribution with school mailings to parents or for distribution via ‘pupil mail’.

As well as dealing with correspondence following a committee meeting, the Secretary will need to make bookings and other arrangements for forthcoming events, confirming arrangements made by telephone in writing (by letter or e-mail). The Secretary will make arrangements for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and help the Chair prepare the annual report. The Secretary may also co-sign cheques on behalf of the association, along with the Treasurer, Chair or other elected committee member.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• deal with correspondence
• prepare agendas
• call meetings – giving plenty of notice
• keep a record of attendance at meetings
• take notes during meetings
• ensure that enough committee members are present to make the meeting quorate (this number is defined in the constitution)
• write up the minutes of meetings
• distribute minutes to all the committee
• make meeting & event arrangements
• co-sign cheques as required
• write the annual report with the Chair