A small group of parents carried out a survey through our website to see what level of support exists for the reforming of the currently dissolved Parent Association and to clarify its role in the college. There were 84 responses in total which is somewhat disappointing given the number of parents involved in the school. This small group of parents thank those who responded to the survey and would like to give a flavour of the survey results to the larger community of parents/guardians.
73% of respondents felt that a Parent Association has an important role in the effectiveness of a school. 56% of parents/guardians who responded were willing to volunteer some time to assist the Parent Association in the work they do to support the school.
The group of parents working on restarting the PA would now like parents who are willing to share some of their time to assist the PA to email Lccpa@mail.com or phone 016282077 giving your name, a contact number and if possible stating in what way you can help the PA. One of the parents involved will then get in touch with you. We need YOU as a parent/guardian to support the PA (whether or not you completed the survey) even if you can only support its work occasionally. Please don’t assume that someone else will respond. The school needs YOU to help the PA in whatever way you can.
The PA will use the survey results to decide on its priorities going forward. The various suggested roles of the PA were prioritised as follows:
| Role | Percentage of respondents that felt this was a very or somewhat important role of the PA | |
| Consultation regarding school policies | 86% | |
| Campaigning for school building improvements and refurbishment | 84% | |
| Liaising with the parent nominees on the Board of Management | 84% | |
| Providing feedback on general school issues received from parents to the school | 83% | |
| Providing two parent nominees to sit on the Board of Management | 82% | |
| Campaigning for school extension | 81% | |
| Fundraising for the school | 81% | |
| Organising Debs function for the graduates | 68% | |
| Feeding into the school inspection process | 63% | |
| Organising social events for parents | 46% |
Some respondents made suggestions such as:
- Communicating the PA meeting time and venue more clearly
- Electing a parent representative from each class/year to improve communication
- Increasing the visibility of the PA through a regular newsletter update
- Run some events in partnership with students
- Importance of having school staff attending PA meetings
- PA should have a role in promoting school events with parent body eg sports events, concerts, musical, etc.
- PA should have an active role in developing policies such as anti-bullying policy.
Once again thank you to those who responded to the survey and to those taking the time to read the results. We look forward to hearing from you.
