The Parents Association – Who We Are
Williamstown NS Parents Association (PA) are a voluntary group of highly motivated and inspiring parents/guardians who enjoy the opportunity to collaborate with school management, teachers, staff and parents to support the education of all children attending the school.
We have been in existence since 2004 and evolved through the years to meet the requirements of the time. We are affiliated with the National Parent’s Council since 2019, who provide valuable resources and information to support us in our role. In 2025, we won a National Parents Council Innovation Award under the theme “Celebrating Meaningful Partnership between Parents and Schools’. This award recognised the time, energy, creativity and dedication of the PA members.
We are proud to have supported the work of the school and the children attending it for the past 22 years and hope to continue to do so into the future.
Our Role
Our role initially was simple, to raise funds to help support the school to provide for children’s education. In the past number of years, we have broadened the remit to include a focus on parent and child education and wellbeing matters.
Fundraising: The role of the PA is to support the activities of the school. We help by raising funds to enable the school to deliver opportunities which give students a broad education such as STEM, wellbeing and social events and sporting activities. Key fundraising events such as the Halloween Disco, Colour Run and Church Gate collection have become staple annual events.
Education: The PA, through its link with the NPC, can access a variety of educational courses that maybe of interest and benefit to parents, teachers and students. Trending course topics include internet safety / cyber bullying, preparing for primary and post primary school. We also access speakers outside of this on topics of relevance such as Planet Youth and the use of mobile phones and social media.
The PA is regularly invited by school management to advise on or participate in the development of policies for the school in various areas such as the Mobile Phone Agreement and Child Safeguarding Policy.
The PA plays a role in relaying general concerns of parents/guardians around their child’s education and raising them with the principal and staff representatives.
Wellbeing: Wellbeing of children and parents is vital to support their education.
The PA is regularly asked to suggest guest speakers or specialists for information events based on the needs of the children attending the school. It also organises these information nights as appropriate. We look forward to delving into this area more in the coming year with wellbeing activities and talks.
We also support a wide variety of social activities and key milestones within the school for parents and children by providing a welcome space and refreshments such as for First Communion and Graduation Parties.
The importance of the Parents Association lies in its ability to liaise and engage the wider parent/guardian body within the school – this is both informally and formally. We provide opportunities for parents/guardians to feel very welcome in the school setting.
We link with the broader local community in Williamstown in our work which engages them also in the education of the children. This is always very evident during the annual Colour Run and Church Gate Collection.
A child learns best when supported by the home, school and community in which they live and that is at the heart of all we do.
