St Oswalds PTFA Newsletter
Newsletter October 2013
Volume 1, Issue 1
PTFA News
2013/14 sees some changes to the
School PTFA.
Upcoming
Events in 2013

16th October1st Cake Sale
3:15pm in the
school playground

25th OctoberHalloween DiscoInfants- 6:30–
7.15pm
Juniors- 7:30pm8:30pm
Tickets- £3.50
Available at the
school office now.

29th, 30th November
and 1st December
Xmas Raffle Ticket
Sale.
We need volunteers
to give up 1 or 2
hours of their time
to help sell tickets
outside Booths over
these days please.

8th December 11.30–
2pm Xmas Fayre.

13th December –
Selection Box Bingo
for Juniors

14th DecemberBreakfast with
Santa for infants
Mick Laraway and Tracey Newsham
have stepped down as the Chair and
Vice Chair of the school PTFA. After
working tirelessly for the past three
years, Mick is now deservedly looking
forward to be able to relax and enjoy
some of the events. Both Mick and
Tracey have kindly agreed to stay
involved during the transitional period.
The PTFA committee will this year be led
by two parents. Mark Power and Paul
Campbell, Paul’s son, Raif and Mark’s
son, Aaron are in Year Two and Mark’s
daughter, Abigail is in Year One and so
they are well placed to introduce parents
of the schools younger children into
supporting the fund raising events.
At the PTFA AGM on the 24th Sept, the
committee was agreed (see table below)
and the dates for the list of school events
for the forthcoming year set.
Joint Chair
Vice Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
In order to ensure that the PTFAs
great work is maintained, we are
actively recruiting volunteers to help
support our events. Two new parents
have pledged their support and
attended the PTFA AGM which was
great to see but we need even more
support. Everyone is invited along to
any of the meetings; but you do not
have to attend a meeting to be part of
the team.
To make the PTFA work and generate
income for the school, it is important
that as many parents from Reception
upwards have an involvement.
We need volunteers to help at events,
generate and prizes, sell raffle tickets
and to generally spread the word to
other parents please.
Mark Power and Paul Campbell
Vacant post - Volunteers welcome
Dave Redding
Catherine Neville
How the PTFA benefits the School
The PTFA at St Oswald’s do a fantastic job organising great fun events
throughout the year to raise funds. Over the last few years funds raised by the
continued support of the PTFA and its volunteers have been used to purchase  100 laptops for the children to use throughout Key Stage 2
 Over 3,000 books to stock the new school library
 Interactive whiteboards for each classroom and the school hall was
equipped with a large screen and projector
 20 new laptops for Y2
 A play hut and huge planters for the Wildlife Area to help us make the most
of our outdoor curriculum
 I-pads and apple TV for every classroom for more efficient interactive
learning experience
Without the continued support of ALL parents, the school may not
have the opportunity to purchase this fantastic equipment in the
future.
October 2013
PTFA Newsletter
I’d like to help out, how can I get involved??
The next newsletter will contain further details about the full school year schedule of
events and confirmation of the dates.
If you would like to provide longer term support to the PTFA committee or
alternatively help out at one or more events, please contact either Mark Power on
07961 339 748 (markpower7@icloud.com) or Paul Campbell on 07802 920726
(paulcampbell430@gmail.com) All help and involvement large or small will be greatly
appreciated, your support is all we ask for.
Upcoming Events and Fund Raisers

The First event of the new school year is on Wednesday 16th October after
school in the playground, this is the school cake sale.
Is anyone out there a Great British Bake off fan who can supply the school with a
few cakes and /or cookies for this event?? We are currently heavily reliant on
one grandmother who provides most of the cakes on sale and so more cakes/
cookies donated would be great
Even if your cake cooking skills don’t match your cake eating, please come
along and buy a cake or two. All cakes are 25p each.
We would like to try to have representation from each school year, and to
generate interest there will this year be a competition for the best cake, this will
be judged by one of the school teachers.

The second school event of the year is the Hallowe’en Disco on the 25th
October. The disco is split into two events. The Infant Hallowe’en Disco is 6-307-15pm and the Juniors 7-30pm until 8-30pm. Tickets are £3.50 per child
available now from the School Office. At the event there will be a spooky shop
selling assorted Hallowe’en gifts as well as drinks and tuck shop.
 In December, the School Calendar will be available for sale at the Christmas
Productions and through the School Office, using the calendar pre-order form on
the next newsletter. A key part of the calendar is the local business adverts on
each of the months, if there are any business owners that would like to utilise
this for cheap advertising space please let us know.

Feedback and Ideas
29th 30th November and 1st December, Xmas Raffle ticket sales. Every year
Booths very kindly allow the PTFA to sell raffle tickets in the foyer. Last year we
were unable to sell on the final day due to a lack of volunteers, this meant we
had a reduction in sales. We have a total of 27 hours to fill over the three days, if
anyone can help out by pledging an hour or two to sell the tickets then please
contact us. Paul is on the playground most Friday afternoons and is already busy
raising volunteers to help out.
The PTFA is all about the school and the benefit of our
children; we are constantly looking for new ideas and
suggestions that will not only raise funds for the school
but also generate the Health and Well-being of both
parents and children alike. We also want to make our
events fun for all to enjoy.
We would like you to have a say in the events we put on
and we welcome all contributions in both time and effort.
If you have any ideas for events or fund raising, please
contact either Mark or Paul. The calendar is already quite
full with events but new ideas are always welcome.
We want to keep you informed, so if you have any
feedback on the contents of the newsletter, please let us
know.
The monthly newsletter will provide updates on PTFA
news, how much has been raised and where the money
raised has been spent.
Date of Next PTFA Meeting – Tuesday 15th October @ 7pm- 8pm- All welcome