PTSAClass Parent
Being a YIS Class Parent in Elementary School______________________________________________________________________An Elementary school class parent is a YIS Mum or Dad who volunteers their time to help
students, teachers and the parents of his/her child’s class. Ideally there should be two classparents per class (if possible, it is great to have one Japanese native speaker). Listed below aresome of the responsibilities of a class parent. This list is the minimum required, but you may liketo add your own “extra touch” to your role.
Please meet with your teacher early in the school year and discuss their requirements
and expectations of the class parents.
Class Contact List:​ Obtaining and maintaining an up-to-date contact list of all parents in yourclass. All parent contact details are available from the Veracross parent address book. Please
review your class on Veracross at the beginning of the school year to see if there are anychanges (due to departures or arrivals). The PTSA Mentor Coordinator receives information on
newcomers and if a new family arrives during the school year, the PTSA Mentor Coordinator willcontact the class parent regarding new arrivals. Please add those emails to the list. You may
also occasionally want to inquire with the school office or the class teacher whether there are
any new additions to be made (especially in January and April); and If you receive a new orchanged email from a parent, please encourage that parent to inform the school of this so that
their records can be updated.
PLEASE NOTE:​ According to Japanese Privacy Laws, these email lists are for the use of theclass parents only; they are not to be distributed to other parents or third parties. In order tokeep all the email addresses confidential, the class parent (when emailing the parents in theirclass), should put his/her own email in the “To” line and then put all other parents addresses inthe “Bcc” line.
Helping new families settle in:​ When you have a new parent in your class, please send a brief
message to introduce yourself and welcome them to YIS. The Mentor Coordinator may contact
you to help find a mentor for new parents, mainly because it is helpful to have a mentor withchildren in the same class as the new families. This does NOT mean that you are responsible
for mentoring every new family in your class. Just to help find mentors IF necessary. Contact theMentor Coordinator via ​ptsamentor@yis.ac.jp​.
Class funds:​ The class parent may choose to collect money from each parent in the class, tohelp with the costs of the class parties and gifts for the teacher. Traditionally, the amount isbetween Y1500 to Y2500 although a class fund isn’t always necessary and it is suggested thatyou discuss this with the parents at your first class coffee morning.

Student parties:​ Usually there are 2 parties per year; one before the winter break and one justbefore the end of the school year. Please check with your teacher and the other class parents inthe grade regarding the dates and format for these parties. Parents are usually responsible forproviding the food (either by the class parents ordering pizza or by each parent providing a dishto share).
Parent get-togethers:​ As a minimum, Class parents should organise a get together eachsemester, either as an individual class or more often as a grade. Make sure that you are awareof any new families and invite them to these events so that they are welcomed into the YIScommunity. These are usually held at an external location of your choice but can be held at theICJC or Cafeteria. If you choose to use the ICJC or Cafeteria please contact the school office tocheck venue availability.
Grade 5 celebration:
It is traditional for the class parents of the grade 5 classes to help coordinate the end ofelementary school celebration gift (if relevant) and party.
Celebration lunch: Following the ceremony, Grade 5’s attend a celebratory lunch, hosted
by the parents. During this lunch a graduation cake is served which is arranged by the grade
parents. Please discuss the requirements for this lunch, with your class teacher and the othergrade 5 class parents.
Celebration gift: In some years grade parents decide to coordinate a celebration gift. If
this is decided this is coordinated by the class parents and paid for with class funds.
Classroom/Field trip assistance:​ From time to time teachers may ask for class parents tocoordinate parents to help either in their classroom or in class/grade field trips.
Facilitating communication to parents:​ Occasionally, the PTSA may ask class parents to passon information to their grade. This means of communications is used sparingly but very muchappreciated by the PTSA.
Organise welcome back coffee morning for the following school year:​ At least two class parents
from the grade will host the first grade coffee morning of the next school year. The current
Volunteer Coordinator will contact you regarding this at the end of the school year and may also
provide you with agenda points to pass on to parents from the PTSA. Following this the hostswill communicate the names of the newly appointed Class parents for that year to theGrade/class parent Coordinator. The contact details of the current Coordinator is posted on theYIS Website under PTSA Committee Members.

Thank you for being a class parent and contributing your time and effort to your child’s class andthe school community. If you need any information or help, please contact the Volunteer

Coordinator. The current Volunteer Coordinator contact person is posted at the YIS Website
under PTSA Committee Members.