Lights dimmed, dry ice billowed, the low murmur built to an enthusiastic roar. Desperate for a better vantage point, I looked around for something to stand on. I found a chair. OK, it was small and low but I climbed on regardless.

Soon, jumping up and down with excitement, I realised that I was emitting a strange whooping noise. What could elicit such a reaction from an over-40 mother of three? Was it a freshly reassembled Duran Duran? No – it was a parent, a Year 3 teacher, the chairman of the PTA and his wife, dressed as Abba. And watching them at the PTA Stars in their Eyes evening was one of the best nights of my life.

Time was when the average school parent teacher association was a gentle fundraising body that consisted mostly of stay-at-home mums, rather like the WI. It organised the occasional barbecue or jumble sale and the Christmas fair, and made a small amount of money. Not any more. PTAs have modernised to become more businesslike and professional. Some are even “cool”.

Two of my children attend a state primary school in London. In the past year alone the PTA has organised, among other things: a barn dance complete with professional band and caller; a quiz night with video clips; an auction night; an international evening, and that Stars in Their Eyes contest. As a result the school has raised more than £17,000 (almost equivalent to a newly qualified teacher’s salary). And for me and my husband, it has meant the revival of our lacklustre postchildbirth social life. It has provided us with a ready-made diary of events to be enjoyed with like-minded mums and dads of a similar age. It’s sad, but true.

Sheena Powley, the head teacher of Lord Deramores, a primary school near York, tells me that their PTA raises only about £4,000 a year but all its events are family and community-orientated, and the money raised for school “extras” is considered a bonus.

Margaret Morrissey, spokes-woman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA), which represents 13,000 schools across the UK, says that PTAs still put on traditional school fairs, barbecues, etc, but that these are primarily social rather than money-making events. To line their coffers more efficiently, PTAs have got clever, using the internet and eBay, for example, to buy up stock to sell on at a profit. Morrissey attributes this change to mums who are, nowadays, still working, and who bring professionalism and work skills to their PTA roles.

My children’s school PTA is run by a veritable Who’s Who of highly qualified mums and dads who include lawyers, accountants, musicians and graphic designers. There are stay-at-home mums, too, but the group is boosted by the expertise and contacts of parents with at least one foot still in the office door.

Of course, some PTAs still adhere to the old model. A friend who moved to a village was shocked to find that the PTA there consisted of a “coven of mums” who would “happily sit and talk about their children all night”. Another mum, who recently moved her children from a state to a private school in southwest London, found an antipathy at the new school to the whole idea of fundraising. “It’s tricky,” she says. “Parents think, shouldn’t the school pay for that out of the hefty fees? But there are things that it considers beyond its remit.”

Some schools struggle to get a PTA going at all. Lynn Anderson, a Year 6 teacher at Trinity St Mary’s Primary School in South London, is the new “community links co-ordinator” whose task is to get some sort of parent/teacher group off the ground. Despite being close to other schools with thriving PTAs, theirs has yet to harness much parental involvement – hence the £63 currently in its fund. Some PTAs in multi-ethnic areas also struggle to involve parents from countries where there is no culture of fundraising or active involvement with schools. Sometimes the problem is the PTA itself, though – often because it is controlled by a clique of parents who don’t welcome new ideas or fresh blood.

Last year the NCPTA celebrated its 50th anniversary, but the first record of a parent teacher association is attributed to a school in Rugby more than 100 years ago. Nowadays the average PTA raises about £4,000 a year, and parents who join are usually involved for about ten years. Last year PTAs registered with the NCPTA made a combined profit of £65 million.

So where does all this money go? According to Laura Warren of the NCPTA, most of it is spent on computers, either establishing ICT rooms or updating equipment. Next on the list are playgrounds, play and sports equipment, outdoor class-rooms and sun shelters. Paying for school trips and restocking libraries are also popular causes.

Some of the most successful fundraising ideas require little effort. One secondary school in Middlesex raises almost £50,000 a year from monthly car boot sales, and if saleable items are in short supply there are companies queueing up to supply eveything from tea-towels to glow sticks for this newly lucrative market. There is money to be made, too, from selling items of school uniform and even swimming lessons.

I’m glad that PTAs have got with it, and grateful to my children’s school PTA for providing social events that allow me to escape from the house once in a while and forget, if only for a few hours, that I’m a mum to three rowdy boys. Now, how weird is that?

Top six PTA fundraisers

–– Auction night
–– Summer ball
–– Car boot sale
–– Summer Fete/Christmas Bazaar
–– Fireworks
–– Disco

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