All parents of children attending Uplands School are eligible to become members of the Uplands Parent Teacher Association (UPTA), and eligible to join the UPTA Executive Committee. Our current executive committee includes:
The UPTA has an active committee and is an important part of the school organisation. The UPTA’s role is to support the school, raising funds to expend on equipment and other items to enrich the school environment, and help facilitate social events to enrich the Uplands community, in a harmonious atmosphere. UPTA’s opinion is valued by the school in the decision-making process and in day-to-day activities. This means all can contribute towards improving the quality of the education and the school experience of our students. We hope that all parents will feel proud to call themselves Uplands parents.
The 2019 – 2020 school year was another phenomenal year for the Uplands Parent Teacher Association! We have a truly International and amazing parent team that can achieve just about anything asked of them. We started the year with a teacher, staff and admin appreciation lunch. An absolutely amazing display of food was eaten and appreciated by over 200 people, along with a display of cards signed by all the students in the school. Just amazing. Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day were next with activities planned at the school for the students and an evening mingle held at The Shed for the parents and teachers. Next was the Diwali Extravaganza. This was a beautiful event held in the Majestic Theatre in Georgetown for over 300 guests. Everyone dressed in their best Indian apparel and ate amazing food and watched some fantastic Indian performances.
In November was the International Fair, with over 1500 attendees joining from throughout Penang and RM40,000 raised! Fun was had by all and all funds raised will be used to purchase items for the school that are needed and outside of their current budget. The start of 2020 came with some amazing Chinese New Year events for both the students and the parents. Through these efforts we have been able to contribute meaningfully to the school and its students, our valued members and the local community.
At Uplands, the Parent Teacher Association works closely with the school as an active partner to enhance the experience of our members and their families. This is something the UPTA Committee is very enthusiastic about, and we’re fortunate that within our international community we have a terrific supply of willing volunteers to keep up the momentum all year long!
In addition to lending a helping hand to the school whenever the occasion calls for it, we organise many annual activities including food fairs with games and entertainment, coffee mornings with informative guest speakers from the school staff, pizza evenings at the beach to unwind and reconnect, and car boot sales to boot!
We run all sorts of special interest groups for our members’ enjoyment as well. Arts and crafts, football, badminton, cycling, Frisbee… there’s something for everyone and we always aim to please.
Fostering a sense of community is one of our key objectives as an association, which our events and activities provide plenty of opportunities for. In addition, our country reps, primary reps and secondary reps help to facilitate communication amongst parents, teachers and the school, while members of our welcoming committee host pot-lucks and morning teas several times a year and provide information and resources to incoming families.
Members of the UPTA always turn out in great numbers to support school sporting events and the arts as well. We arrange the printing of flags, banners, and supporter T-shirts and help to coordinate parents travelling to important events like the FOBISIA Games. One of our most enjoyable roles is raising school spirit and we take our celebrating seriously!
Because we want Uplands to be the best it can be, we take pride in the fact that our collective voice is heard when making suggestions for improvements, and our representatives are regularly invited to take part in meetings and sub-committees for this purpose. Currently, our UPTA constitution is undergoing some changes itself. We want to adapt and evolve as needed to meet our members’ expectations.
UPTA members always enjoy the opportunity to contribute something special to the school, as our way of saying thank you for the support we are given. All monies raised on school grounds, go straight back into suitable gifts each year from a short-list of possibilities that are suggested and voted on by our teacher and parent members. Some of our recent contributions include high-tech “toys” that students and a forward-thinking school like Uplands have really appreciated and put to good use. For instance: GoPro cameras that students can sign out from the library and a 3D printer for the DT department that all classes have the opportunity to benefit from, a 75” television/scoreboard for the sportshall, a large contribution of books for the new primary library, a large contribution towards the forthcoming rock climbing wall and so much more. We also donate 10% of each year’s monies raised to help a local school in Batu Ferringhi.
The UPTA commends Uplands students for the terrific effort they put forth for charitable causes and community services, and we lend support by providing opportunities for students to fundraise at our fairs and help them with bake sales to raise money as needed. We also contribute funds towards their special events like discos to help ensure everyone has the best time. Uplands students certainly deserve it!
As a thank you to our membership and to positively promote Uplands within the community, we continuously add to the UPTA Community Privileges Program. UPTA members can show their Uplands cards to participating local businesses and immediately enjoy discounts and other exclusive benefits through this program. Responses have been very positive of course! And of course, we know every ringgit saved is likely to find its way into the coffers of an Uplands student bake sale or the like! So make sure you carry your UPTA card with you to enjoy those savings wherever you can!
If you have any questions about the Uplands Parent Teacher Association, would like to volunteer or just want to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email at [email protected] today.
The UPTA’s role is to support the school, raising funds to expend on equipment and other items to enrich the school environment, and help facilitate social events to enrich the Uplands community.
The International School of Penang (Uplands)
Jalan Sungai Satu,
11100 Batu Feringgi, Penang,
Malaysia
E: [email protected]
T: +60 4 881 9777
F: +60 4 881 9778
