PTA Podcast Playlist

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Hi, welcome to the PTA Podcast. My name is Yvonne, and I've been a PTA volunteer for a few years now. With hundreds one of thousands of volunteers up and down the country who all want to make a difference to their schools. PTAs are becoming even more crucial in UK schools to boost budget, and I find it fascinating to talk to other volunteers about the different approaches they take. So please join me in this podcast to share information, generate ideas, debate issues, and celebrate success. And I hope that you can take something away for your PTA today. So how was your summer holiday? It does already feel like a really long time ago that we had summer holidays, doesn't it? I think this is now term no, term one, but week three, I think, of the uh new term. Um I hope you manage to enjoy the sunny weather because we had glorious weather here in the UK for most of the summer, and I hope you manage to spend some time with your family and your kids and see friends and do all the fun things that you're supposed to do during your summer holidays. Um it always takes at least a couple of weeks for my kids to wind down from a school routine. This is something I've noticed over the years, and as my two older boys are now at secondary school, it does seem to take them a little while to really decompress and kind of settle back into just a routine of not having a timetable to do all the time. Uh, and so we have learnt now as a family not to book a holiday or um or many activities in the first week or two of the summer holidays, which um works out better for us as a family because we don't have we sometimes get quite grumpy teenagers otherwise who are still kind of in school mode, um, but they need to just step out of that mode and then everybody can have a nicer time when we're on holiday or doing activities or something. We did manage to get away for a family trip this summer, and we visited France and Switzerland in August. We have never been to Switzerland before, and we decided to drive there from the UK. So we drove through northern France to get to Switzerland. We haven't really done like a road trip with um the three boys before, so we thought we'd try it out and see how we all get on squashed into a car together. I have to admit, my me and my husband were slightly trepidatious before the trip started, but I think we managed to do it okay. Um we absolutely loved Switzerland. Uh, the landscapes and the views were so beautiful, just like the photos in the guidebooks, uh, which I wasn't really expecting. I kind of expect in guidebooks that they've doctored the photos or they've taken only the best, absolute best pictures. But Switzerland was just like all the best photos from the guidebook, but in real life, so it was an absolute joy to look around you and and see this landscape with the beautiful traditional Swiss um chalet style buildings, and the height of the mountains was incredible, and they had snow on the top still. So it was just there was just always something new to look at, which I really enjoyed. And um we also had incredible weather, um, which was very lucky, I think, because the people who actually lived in the town we stayed in were saying it wasn't normally like that. Um, we did have temperatures of like 35 degrees, which was very hot indeed. And because Switzerland is not used to having really high temperatures like that, there wasn't an awful lot of air conditioning. So um sometimes when we're in the trains or the cable cars, it was a bit uh steamy in there, but it was fine because you could open the windows and there was a bit of a breeze, so it was good, and we um spent a lot of time in uh swimming in the lakes, which was lovely. Uh, and our family holidays actually have had to change somewhat now because my boys are 16, 14, and 10, and the things we used to do on holiday doesn't really work anymore for everybody. It still works for me. I still like those holidays that we like like to do. Um, but I have to accept that my children are growing up a little bit, and so we need to change the holidays slightly so we can accommodate everybody's needs so everybody has a good time. And my 16-year-old uh likes being very active and trying new activities and sports, and sometimes it's quite hard to balance what he needs from a holiday with my 14-year-old, who basically just wanted to live in the mountain lakes swimming and floating around, and my 10-year-old, who is very capable at keeping up with his older brothers, but sometimes he's just a bit too small to take part in some of the activities on offer, like he's not quite tall enough or heavy enough, or whatever it is, his his um uh physiology is just not um it just doesn't match the rest of the family, so we have to um make sure obviously that he's not excluded. And I have to also add that I am not the most adventurous person in our family, so family of five with one female, which is me, um, and that can be hard at times with four pretty adventurous boys um in tow. Uh, but on a positive side, they certainly help me have a go at things that I probably would never have chosen to do, and what I have noticed about that is that um having a shared experience in that way, you know, is very bonding and can generate a lot of conversation and then memories to look back on and all that sort of thing. So um, whilst I'm not a very adventurous person, I do try my best to join in because I just don't want to be sat on the side watching everybody else do it, and um often I find that I'm really pleased that I have joined in, and um and then you know I can be part of that lovely conversation that you have afterwards where you talk about it and what was it like for you, and did you find it like this, and blah blah blah blah. Um, so for example, one of the activities we did was we travelled up a mountain in a cable car, and then we hired these scooters, um, which are not like scooters you'd scoot on to school. They are kind of the size of bikes, they've got the wheels are like bike wheels, and you stand in the middle, and you've got two brakes to hold on to, which are very important because you're going down the mountain. So they have this lovely tar freshly tarmaced path just for the scooters, and you scoot down the mountain, and you basically have your brakes on the whole time because it's incredibly steep and the scooters go quite fast. Um, well, we we did get a helmet, so that's good. And um, it was a four and a half kilometre route back down to the town, and it was beautiful and stunning and slightly terrifying in places. Um, but once you got used to it, it was great, and I absolutely loved it, and um and wouldn't hesitate to do that again. And we all did it, and so when we got to the bottom in the town, we had our classic Swiss fondue, and we were able to chat about our experiences on the mountain. So that was a really special day for me. But we're all back to school now, and my eldest has started in sixth form, so no more school uniform for him, less washing of school uniform for me. Um, my middle son is starting in year 10, so he's doing some new subjects for his GCSEs, and my youngest is now in year six, which is his last year at primary school. Um, he was so excited on his first day back now because he gets to sit on the bench in assembly with the other year sixes. I just love that they get excited over those little things, and I think it can be actually a really good thing to note for when you're planning a PTA event and stressing whether it's good enough or not, that the children love those little things, and those things are really important to them. So, by the way, let me tell you, your PTA event is always good enough, so you don't need to worry about that. So, this is my first time in many years going back to school where I am not chair of my PTA and I am not having to organise the AGM or start thinking about fundraising for the year ahead. I have to say, I'm quite relieved not to be organising the AGM and write another chair's report. I didn't mind writing the reports, but I did find the meetings uh a bit stressful. Um I have talked about how I've organised my AGM in previous episodes. If you wanted to listen back to that, and I talk about how uh a good good tips for chairing meetings as well. I've got that on an episode um which uh which I wrote that episode after one of my AGMs because I felt like I hadn't chaired it very well. Um so if you want any helpful tips on uh my experience from my experiences, then um listen back to those episodes if you've got your AGM coming up. So because I'm not doing those things which I have done for the last seven or eight years, it's quite a change for me. Um it does feel strange not to have to think about any fundraising plans coming up, and I feel occasionally that I should be doing something, but I can't remember what the thing is supposed to be. Um, so I do still feel like I'm shaking off that chair um mentality a little bit. Uh so I'll just update you on my PTA quickly. So I stepped down from my PTA last November and somebody took over from me as the chair, but then they decided to relocate. So a new chair came in at Easter time, and he is now running um the PTA this year. So we have had already a um a planning meeting to try and it was kind of like a brainstorming meeting, I suppose. Um we did it online, and he um found this really clever website called Miro or Myro M-A-M-I-R-O, it's called, um, where we could um if we all shared this screen. We did the meeting online, and we could all edit this screen where you can kind of jot down our ideas on post-it notes, on virtual post-it notes on the screen. It was very clever, and then drag them into different areas of the board as whether you thought it was a big event or a small event or something, and then we looked at what people had suggested and then tried to order those between the six terms of the year. So I did feel that was quite a clever way of everybody putting thoughts down and everybody kind of contributing. Um, that's something that I hadn't seen before. So uh so that's uh that was our planning meeting or our brainstorming meeting, and I believe we have uh a committee meeting maybe next week, and then um we don't yet have a date for the AGM. So my PTA is kind of gathering thoughts and ideas at the moment, and I think the chair is going to speak to school about um what we kind of came up with to see what fits in with um with their plans. So um we don't have any PTA plans right now, but they're kind of in process of getting approved and agreed and that sort of thing. So that's what's happening with my PTA. So if I was the chair, um I'd probably be spending this term uh trying to make some plans at least up till Christmas and making sure our AGM was all ticked off. And I know that sometimes it can be really hard to get going again after the summer break, and I totally understand that. And if you need some ideas or inspiration maybe to get jump started, then I would highly recommend having a sit down and read of the latest version of the school fundraising magazine, which has just come out, came out last week. And I spoke to the editor of this magazine, Carol Rogerson, in a previous episode, it was episode 27, and it's called a chat with PTA Plus because that is the name of their website, and it's a really great thing to have in your PTA Toolkit. And this particular magazine comes out three times a year, but there's an awful lot of information on the PTA Plus website if um you're sort of waiting for the magazine to come out. So their website is uh PTA.co.uk, and you can um find the latest version of the magazine there if you don't already receive a hard copy. I um I think hard copies are I think you think it's um £15 for the year to get the three hard copies. Personally, I really like a hard copy of anything. I find reading things on the screen tricky. I feel like I can't really take the information in very well, but if I have a magazine in front of me, I can doodle on it, highlight things, circle things. I just find it a lot easier um to flick through it. And this magazine, just like their website actually, is jam-packed with ideas, tips, and advice. So whether you're new to the PTA world or you've been volunteering for a few years already, you are bound to find something useful and interesting. So I'm just um going to pull out some things that really caught my eye in the issue just to highlight to you. I don't it would take me a really long time to actually go through the entire magazine and kind of briefly tell you what's in it because there is so much in it. And I know everybody's gonna have um different areas that they're interested in, so I'm just going to pull out a few things to highlight to you that I thought were quite interesting. So, one of the first things I wanted to highlight to you about the magazine is the amount of information about grant opportunities and applying for grants for different things for your school. And they do have a couple of specific sections in the magazine that talk about grants and have a list of opportunities with websites linked to those, but they also scatter the grant information throughout different articles in the magazine. So I would um strongly suggest that you really sit down with a cup of tea or something and really read the magazine cover to cover because um they do cram an awful lot of information in, um, website addresses, um, links to all sorts of things in the articles as well. So um if you just dipped in and out, you might miss some really good nuggets of information. So do take the time to read it through, and it is a very fascinating read. There's some fantastic stories that they have captured from um other PTAs. Uh, one that caught my eye was um uh a PTA alumni running a car boot sale. Um, so this school has a car boot sale that they started um a few years ago. Uh in fact, 1984, I think this car boot sale started, and it's still being run now. And parents who did have children at the school but their um children have left the school are running it um in conjunction with the current PTA, so they have a lot of extra helpers and um they raise an awful lot of money from the car boots. I'm just looking at so it says um £70,000. I mean that is just an insane amount of money, isn't it? They do have um a big school, so this is Chiswick School, and they have £1,600 pupils, so it is a large primary school, but goodness me, that's um an amazing event and an amazing amount of money to raise. And what I liked about this article was that there were former parents of the school who were still giving back to the school, and I thought that was a really lovely um thing, and um shows a real community spirit and um certainly takes the pressure off finding volunteers from current parents as well. So, from a PTA point of view, to have like a ready-made group of volunteers is is like gold dust, isn't it? Basically, uh there's a big article in here all about cake sales. Um, I'm actually going to be doing an episode about cake sales uh sometime soon. But yes, lots of tips and tricks on cake sales. But the one thing I picked out from this article is that they suggested um perhaps you could have a dedicated WhatsApp group um dedicated to people who bake for the cake sales, and I thought what a fantastic idea that was. Because obviously, contributing cakes um for a cake sale, whether it's a standalone cake sale or a cake stall at another event, having a dedicated team of people that you know will always contribute to that, I thought was really great. Um, and you know, if if people can't um if people only have time to volunteer to bake a cake, then that's still really worthwhile um time to give back to the school. So I hadn't thought of that before. Um, and I think I might see if that's gonna work for my school because some our cake sale donations have to say have dropped off slightly um in the past few years, so it might just be a way of guaranteeing that um you've always got someone there to provide cakes. So I did like that tip. Okay, in the events section, there is an article um about a quite small primary school in Derbyshire which has uh 69 pupils, which is only slightly smaller than my school, but they have um a very unique um history in their village. Um so during the 1665 outbreak of the bubonic plague, the villagers of that village quarantined themselves so that so they didn't spread the plague to neighbouring villages, um, which obviously meant that a lot of them died, but they very bravely took one for the team, as it were. Um, and they have a very special event in their village which links to bonfire night in November. The children make um a rat, a giant rat that's gonna go on top of the bonfire, and it's made from willow and paper, it's like a giant paper lantern, so it's all lit up from the inside, and they parade it through the village and they put it on the top of the bonfire. And the children leading the parade are shouting, burn the rat, and it goes on the top of the bonfire instead of a guy um going on the bonfire. And um they've made it's a whole village event, so lots of people come along, and I think it said that they raised £21,000 um profit from running the bonfire at night um and the fireworks and everything. So that was incredible, but I just loved the um idea behind the rat and how it links to the history of their village. I thought it was really unique and much nicer than putting an effigy of a person on top of a bonfire uh to burn the rat that people thought brought the plague. So yeah, I did really like that twist on bonfire night. Um, and then further on in the magazine, they have this really cool feature um which is a little flow chart to help you choose your autumn term event. So it's got yes and no questions, so you can look at um which events you think might work for your school depending on how many volunteers you've got. Do you want to hold a big event? Do you want it to be a night out? Do you want to raise lots of money, or is it just for the children, or do you have lots of community support? So it's um a really cool flow chart just for a bit of fun to go through, but it also is scattered with ideas of fundraising activities that you might not have tried before. So um I just thought it was a really fun way of showcasing different. Activities and then not too far away from there is a whole article about fundraising and applying for grant fundraising, but using videos to actually enhance or support your application. There's lots of tips about how to film a fundraising video on specifically on just your phone. So there's lots of tips on how to set it up and possibly how to structure the video and how to use the children in the video or who to have in the video. It's an idea that I hadn't thought of before to use a video to sort of showcase what you're fundraising for and to actually show I guess the problem that you're trying to fix, and then you could do a little video afterwards to send back to the funder if you were successful and say, look, thanks to your money, we've now managed to do this. So I thought that was really interesting thing that you could consider doing if you are putting in a grant application. And then the other thing that has some great tips on it is the article about running your AGM online. So a lot of us now are, if not running our AGMs online, certainly doing a hybrid version where you get everybody together for the meeting, a face-to-face meeting, but then having a laptop at the side of your meeting where people can actually dial into the meeting. Um so this article is just specifically for AGMs and how you run an online AGM, how you handle the voting, how you promote it, what do you do if you have technical difficulties, that kind of thing. So because a lot of you will be having your ADMs soon, it might be really um good if you perhaps looked at that article before you have set it up. Um but as I say, those were just some things in the issue that really jumped out at me this time that I really enjoyed reading about, and I'm sure if you can have a look, then um you'll find all sorts of useful tips in there. So just head over to the pta.co.uk website. Um, there is a link to the magazine on the front page, but I'll also put a link in the show notes to this episode so that you can find it really easily. Um, one song in particular seemed to follow me around all summer, and that song is Ordinary by Alex Warren, that I'm sure you'll have heard and be familiar with, and I just love this song. So it wasn't really a problem that it was following me around because I loved it anyway, and I just love the song and the way it builds and the lyrics are are incredible. And honestly, it was just everywhere I went, and even shopping in Switzerland, as I was going in and out of shops, it seemed to follow me into all the shops. I'm sure three shops in a row were playing this song, um, which is very funny. We did find it very funny. Um, but it's interesting, isn't it? How sometimes there's a song and it just follows you around and it kind of becomes the soundtrack to your summer or the soundtrack to a particular thing that you're doing, and actually it's really nice. Um, and and then over the summer, like many of you, if you have children and Netflix, um, we have fully embraced the phenomenon that is K-pop demon hunters. Do you know what I'm talking about? If you haven't heard of it, it's a new animated film on Netflix made by Sony, and I have to say, I think it is an excellent film, and I have already seen it twice, and I'll probably be watching it again because it's just so entertaining. Even my 16 and 14-year-old boys loved it, and the soundtrack has been playing on repeat in our house. Do give it a watch if you haven't seen it already. It's a slightly different style to a Disney animated film, but the plot is very strong and easy to understand. There are some really funny parts in it, um, but the music is just fantastic, and there are a couple of songs that I feel relate to being part of the PTA that I have been listening to. And those two songs gave me the idea of starting a PTA podcast Spotify playlist full of music that relate to being part of a PTA. So if you go on Spotify and search for PTA podcast playlist, then you can find it. It should come up with my podcast logo so you know it's the right one. So I've added a few songs, just get the playlist started, and I will run through the ones I've put on in a moment. And I was thinking that you could put the playlist on when you're doing your PTA admin, or when you're as a team, perhaps you're setting up for an event, or even if you were having some PTA volunteers over to your house for some drinks and celebrating a particular event that went well, or something like that. So that's the idea of how you could maybe use the playlist. Most of the songs I have picked are upbeat and give positive vibes, even for those times on your PTA when things don't go to plan. So it hopefully leads you, leaves you with a feeling of positivity, and if you have any setbacks, that you're just going to overcome those setbacks and do some fantastic fundraising with your friends. So I'm going to take you through my choices now and I'll try and play you a little snippet of them as well so you can hear them. Okay, the first song on the playlist is from K-pop Demon Hunters, and it's called How It's Done. And some of the chorus lyrics really made me think of those times when you have put on an event at school and you feel on top of the world like you have completely nailed it. We all have events like that where we know it's just amazing and going so smoothly, and you've ticked all those boxes and everyone's having a good time, and you know you're going to um make lots of money if that's what you're um aiming for, or you've brought the community together if that's what you're aiming for, and you just get such a lovely feeling. So some of the lyrics go, I'm gonna show you how it's done dun done. And then another part of the song says, Took blood, sweat, and tears to look natural, that's how it's done done done. And I think it's all about how a non-volunteer, how to a non-volunteer, well-run fundraising events look so easy on the outside, don't they? But you can't see all the hard work behind the scenes. So they're saying that it's taken all this hard work, but it looks totally natural and so easy. Um, and I think that um you can, you know, hold your head up and be proud of the events that you organise as a PTA. And um, you're kind of saying, in a way, I guess, to people who aren't volunteering on PTA, look what I can do, look what my team can do, look what this group of people that's come together because we want to do things for the children at the school. Look what we can do. So that's the first song. The next song is uh another K-pop Demon Hunter song called Take Down, where they are battling demons in the film. And to me, I feel like this song reflects why we volunteer on the PTA. As parents, we're doing our best to support our schools and the teachers who do so much for the children, and we can see the value in raising the money, and we have to get that extra money ourselves because there is no more funding from the government. We know in the UK that our schools are chronically underfunded. Um, that's not a particular government, that's just all the governments have done that. Um, and to combat this underfunding in the UK, parents have to come together to take positive action, be part of the PTA, and raise that extra money for the school, for your school. So I feel like this song is saying that we are not going to just stand for this lack of funding and we are fighting back using our time and energy to really make a difference for the children. I'm certainly this is not a political message. I am certainly not saying we are taking down whichever government it is, but it but I am saying we are not giving up supporting our schools, and that's why I love this song. I have also added one of my most favourite Taylor Swift songs to this playlist, and it's called Shake It Off. And this song to me, I listen to the song a lot. Um, I just love the way that she wrote this song to basically say to everybody who comments on what she does, comments in a negative way, and she's just gonna not listen to any of those comments, and she's just gonna shake it off and just carry on with her life. And so I just thought of PTA volunteers who have perhaps been given criticism from other school parents about events, and particularly when those school parents do not volunteer to help or have not volunteered to help. And I just wanted to add this onto the playlist to encourage you to just shake off that criticism, don't let it touch you, just concentrate on what you're doing, which is a really positive thing, and ignore the naysayers. Um, so that's what this song is about from a PTA perspective.

This is gonna be the best day of my life.

Another one of my favourite songs, and I'm sure you all know this one, it's called Best Day of My Life by American Authors. This is a song for PTA volunteers, but also um anybody involved in the PTA event as an adult, and it's also for the children that come to the PTA event or PTA organised activity. I know that when a group of people come together, and I'm talking about PTA volunteers here, when a group of people come together who are united for a particular cause and they all work really hard as a team to achieve um whatever it is you're going to achieve, the feeling it can generate um within that team for the individuals that take part is a really special feeling and quite a unique feeling as well because it's not something you're being paid to do, it's something you've all come together to because you share the same values and you share the same goals, and um whatever PTA event it is that you're putting on, um, you can say this is you can say this is one of the highlights of my life. I've worked with these people to put this on for to make a difference for other families, and I think that's a really special thing. And then for the children who come to your event, I have heard children at my school at a PTA event saying it's the best day of their life. Um because children say that all the time, don't they? My my son often says this this is the best day of my life. Um, and it might not be an amazing thing that we're doing, it might just be a tiny little thing, or it might be a friend coming for sleepover, or you know, whatever it is, they feel it's the best day of their life because right in that moment they are having an absolute blast and a fantastic time. And you know, for some children out of school, they might not go to other summer fates, it might be the only time they get to go to a summer fate, or it might be the only time where they get to uh go to a disco, or it might be the only time that they possibly meet Santa at your Christmas fair or something. Um so to the children, those PTA events are really special, and this is a song just to celebrate uh the children who come to the events and how much they enjoy what you have organised. Okay, the next one's a bit wildcard. Um, I have put on We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Bikool and D Cup. Not because the lyrics mean anything to a PTA, but I just really loved the fast-paced nature of this song, and whenever I listen to it, it makes me think of somebody walking really fast or doing lots of activities, you know, like when you can speed up a video and somebody's working really fast and really hard, and it just made me think of um PTA volunteers when you're when you get to school and you have to set up an event and you've only got an hour or two hours to set it up, and you're like working like mad people trying to get everything done. Um, and it just made me imagine uh a playing field full of volunteers trying to get all the stores set out for a fate and how fast and frenzied it is before you open the gates to all your customers. So um that's just a bit of a fun one, just to illustrate the another, you know, another side of being a PTA volunteer is that you have to work quickly sometimes to get everything done. The next song is RAW by Katie Perry. Now I've added this song because I feel that you gain an awful lot of skills when you join the PTA and you might end up doing things you never thought you were capable of doing. And being again surrounded by people who are supporting you and they're all trying to work together and support each other allows you to do things that you might have not thought you were capable of doing. You can gain all sorts of skills uh being on a PTA. And this song is um, I just felt this song reflected the fact that uh you might want to join a PTA to improve some of those skills, um, and whether you like it or not, those skills are gonna get improved by taking part in things and by volunteering for things that are outside of your comfort zone. And the shared experience of doing that with other uh parents and the um motivation of doing that, of doing something that's out of your comfort comfort zone because you're doing it for raising money for your school that you care about and for the children and other families at the school that you care about can really help you to conquer that fear and lift you higher and help you acquire those skills. So that's why I've added this Katy Perry song.

Come together now!

Okay, you might have noticed that quite a lot of my songs are from musicals. I'm a massive musicals fan. Um, and uh here's another one. So this is actually a song uh from the Lego Movie 2. I don't know if it's actually used in the movie, but it certainly was on the uh on the um album, and I really like it. It's called Come Together Now by Matt and Kim. And the song is actually talking about I think how when you get together with someone, um basically opposites attract, and um uh if somebody likes chalk and somebody likes cheese, they can still um um be in a relationship because uh they kind of complement each other. And so I feel that what this says about PTAs is that you it's the kind of the same thing, really, that you are in a PTA team, and everybody brings something different to that team, different skills, different knowledge, different experiences. Um, but it's everybody coming together that um gives the team its strength and then allows you to achieve your fundraising activities and events or um promoting um unity in the school community or whatever it might be that your PTA is working on. So for me, this is a song about different people coming together and working on um a united goal and everybody being different, but then that is the strength of a team that everybody is different and can do different things to help each other.

Just from love with the words, and it goes like this it is what it is, what it is, what it is, what it is.

And the final song that I have put on a playlist is It Is What It Is by Jenna Rain. And this song for me, the looks of this song are all about the fact that things can go wrong sometimes in your life or whatever you're doing, but it doesn't need to be a problem. Um, it is what it is, and you just need to move on past it, get over it, move on past it, adapt and overcome. And in the PTA world, as we all know, um there are always going to be problems and obstacles and stumbling blocks in anything you organize, even if you've organized it before, somehow different things crop up. Um, and uh I just wanted to say to you that just keep going. You are gonna have setbacks, and it's all about the attitude that you take to those setbacks and realise that actually things are fine, you don't need to worry, you just need to um overcome that particular problem and keep moving forwards. Uh, and I just think it is such a relevant song to certainly my experience of organising PTA events, as you will have heard throughout this podcast. Um, I can't think of a single PTA event that I have been involved with where something where a problem hasn't cropped up. Now you might say maybe that's because I was involved, and you could be right about that, but um I think it's just the nature of the beast, and uh when you have other people and children and all the rules you have to follow at school, um, there's always going to be hiccups and obstacles, and like I said, this song is all about how you can change your mindset and not worry about it, not let it get you down, and just carry on, really. So I think it's a perfect song for a PTA volunteer. Okay, so there we have it. There are eight songs on my PTA podcast playlist on Spotify at the moment. But what I would really love is if you uh my listeners could suggest any songs that we could add in. If you have a song to suggest, which is an uplifting and which is uplifting and has positive vibes for a PTA volunteer, then drop me an email. It's hello at PTA Podcast.com. Tell me uh the title and the artist of the song, and also uh let me know why you think it should be added to the PTA Podcast playlist on Spotify. It could be that there's particular lyrics in the song that you think um really relates to being uh part of the PTA, or it could be a song that um really meant a lot to you, perhaps at a particular event that you were part of or you organized. Um and I thought maybe we could build up the playlist with some PTA volunteer suggestions, and I would love to hear about yours, so do send them in. And um if you make some suggestions, I'll let you know in future episodes if they got on the playlist. So that's all I wanted to say for this first episode back. Um, I hope your start to the school year is going smoothly so far. I hope your children have settled in well and you as a parent have got back to all of those school routines and all of those emails that we get and uh organising all of your clubs and everything that happens in September. I feel like I already need another holiday having got over all of those hurdles. Um, it's lovely to know that you're listening. Uh, if you want to tell me about anything that your PTA is going to be organising, I would love to hear from you. So do drop me an email. It's hello at PTApodcast.com. If you want to sign up to my mailing list on my website, um then I do email out when a new episode is released. So um just go onto my website which is ptapodcast.com and you can sign up there. Just pop your email address in. I won't bombard you with emails because I the only thing I have to tell you is when a new episode is released, and I do keep my emails very short as well, um, because I know everybody gets so many emails, don't they? Um uh also on my website, of course, is my PTA podcast Summer Fate game that I talked about in my last episode that I developed with my son. So if you uh fancy having a go at that, then um yeah, do let me know if um if you've played it and what you think about it, I'd love to hear. So uh yeah, so this is the end of episode 30, and uh I'll speak to you next time. Bye for now.