PTA AGM
PRESENT:
Christine Stephen (Chair)
Jo Steele (Sec.)
Tracy Sturrock (Lottery)
Alison Harrison (communications)
Hilary Fowler (Co-opted)
Emma Illing
Amanda Hillier-Taylor
Sandra Harewood
Jools Hind
Kerrie McCoy
Joanna Matthews
Gene Chesters
Shelley Holmes
Andrew Swatland (President & Head)
TUESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2010 MINUTES
Jane May (Treas)
Dawn Adams-Howard (Advertising)
Shirley Clench (Vice Chair)
Julia Maxwell (co-opted)
Alison Dale (really useful uniform)
Claire Fletcher
Alison Basson
Cathy Anne Burchett
Mike Wilkins
Paul Matthews
Hilary Young
Elena Perez
Sam Oliver (Teacher)
1. INTRODUCTIONS, WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Christine opened the meeting, welcomed everyone – particulary the new parents to the school and
introduced all members of the committee who were present.
Apologies had been received from: Natalia Neira, Meredith Phillips and Jeanette Martin.
2. MINUTES OF MEETING 27.04.10
The minutes were accepted.
3. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Andrew began stating how much he and the school value the support of the PTA, and commented on
how it tends to reflect the work of a small number of members and if there were more people
involved the tasks could be shared out more evenly. He thanked us for our fundraising and also the
extra social events such as discos and refreshments at sports days etc. He particularly thanked
Christine and Jo for their work as Chair and Secretary.
Trim Trail There has been a delay with the manufacture of the trim trail but it is hoped it will be installed this
October. It is a really great use of PTA money.
Parent mail – Only a small number are now not registered, although some siblings do not appear to
be registered even though their details have been given to the school. Andrew will investigate this.
Some staff still use paper copies at their discretion for certain letters. The school still uses paper
copies when a signatures and/or remittance is required, however Parentmail do have an electronic
signature and e-payment facility which we will need to adopt at some point as cheques are fazed out.
Andrew to investigate this also.
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4. CHAIR’S REPORT
Christine began by thanking all parents and staff who have helped at the events put on by the PTA
since the last meeting in April. She would like to especially thank Ken Leggett who is fantastic and
does so much for us. In particular Natalia Neira and Rose Maguire for organising Frylands day camp;
all the parents who helped man the refreshment tent at the sports days; those who helped on stalls,
setting up and clearing away at the summer fair and those who ran the tuck shop at the year 6 disco.
Without the help and support we get, we really couldn’t raise the amount of money that we do.
She also wished to especially thank some dads too: Andy Howard who ran a 10K for the PTA and at
the last count raised over £1100 for the school, which is a phenomenal achievement.
Also Andy Stephen and Dave Illing who applied for Match Giving awards from their employers and
have been awarded £750 for the PTA. These are incredible sums of money for the PTA and would
take a lot of hard work and time to raise it in the traditional way. Christine wanted to encourage
other parents to check if their employer offers Matched Giving, and to see whether this is
something that we could benefit from.
Panto 2010 – Aladdin - Churchill Theatre, Bromley
The PTA has reserved 200 tickets for Tuesday 7th December (5.30pm performance) and 80 tickets
for Friday 17th December (7pm performance). This is a lot more tickets than 2009 and should avoid
any disappointment. Flyers will be going out before half term. Early bird tickets purchased by 8 th
October will be £16 each, tickets bought after 8th will be £18 each. This is a fund raising exercise so
it should be understood that the face value of the tickets will be less than the PTA is selling them
for. However these prices would not be available to them if bought directly from the box office.
The Giving Machine
We now have 72 registered users and have raised over £550 just from shopping via The Giving
Machine’s portal. Xmas is fast approaching so, if you haven’t already registered please do and
remember to use the site every time you shop. Promotional cards are available at the school office
– please spread the word to other parents and friends of the school.
Bags 2 School
From the 2 collections we had last year we raised £660 which is fantastic.
Our next collection is on Tuesday 12th October so please start saving your clothes, shoes, handbags,
bedding, towels or old curtains for this collection. Christine appealed for volunteers to help
coordinate this and also assist on collection day. Gene Chesters agreed to do so.
Puffin Book Club
This continues to be very successful and the next magazine is in school ready for distribution.
Christine appealed for a volunteer to coordinate the orders and distribution. Dawn Adams-Howard
agreed to do so.
PTA Request form
This was introduced after last year’s AGM and proved to be very popular. This needs to be sent out
again early this term so that all requests for money are received by February half term.
PTA Newspaper
The last few issues of the newspaper were a great success. Dawn Adams-Howard did a great job of
getting some new advertisers on board and the magazines were almost completely self funding. The
next edition is due out after half term, but this is another area that we need volunteers to help. We
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are incredibly lucky that Ali Harrison lays out the magazine for us, but we really need an editor or
someone to write articles and co-ordinate the magazine. Last year we produced 2 issues of the PTA
Times. No one volunteered to coordinate this
If you know of potential advertisers please let Dawn know as soon as possible.
The advertising costs are:
Full page outside: £120
Full page: £100
Half page: £40
QTR page: £20
1/8 page: £10
5. TREASURER’S REPORT
The Summer Fair raised more money than ever before which is outstanding considering the financial
climate, the soaring temperatures on the day and the fact that we had lowered a lot of stall prices.
Please see the attached report for full details.
6. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Christine Stephen has decided to step down as Chair and Jo Steele is stepping down as Secretary.
Jane May requested a Vice Treasurer.
Jeanette Martin was proposed as acting Chair – this was seconded and agreed.
Gene Chesters was nominated as Secretary - this was seconded and agreed.
No Vice Treasurer was found
All other committee members remained in their positions:
Treasurer – Jane May
Vice Chair – Shirley Clench
Communications – Alison Harrison
Advertising – Dawn Adams-Howard
Lottery – Tracy Sturrock
Co-opted members – Julia Maxwell, Hilary Fowler, Wendy Taylor-Nye
Teacher Representative – Sam Oliver
7. PTA Lottery
Tracy explained the Lottery system: £24 per annum or £8 per term enters you into the PTA lottery.
Half the monies raised goes into the prize fund – the 1st prize is always £200 and the other half raised
goes to PTA funds. It is an easy way to raise money without volunteer support. Some of those present
at the meeting were shocked at the low number of members (currently less than 80). We explained
that we promote the lottery in new parents’ packs, in the newspaper, at quiz evenings, at each fair
and spent a lot of money re-launching it 2 years ago, however numbers do not seem to have
improved.
Please see the attached report for details of membership and prizes.
8. Forthcoming events
The following events were discussed and subcommittees formed for October quiz evening and
Christmas Fair, some people offered to coordinate other events:
Bags 2 School collection
Tuesday 12th October – Gene Chesters
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Quiz night
15th October – Pete Perké confirmed – Hilary Fowler
Xmas fair
Saturday 4th December – Andy Howard
Panto. tickets
7th/14th December – Christine Stephen
Pupils’ discos
January 22nd 2011
Parents' event (Quiz night?)
March 4th 2011
Easter tombola
Friday 8th April – last day of term – Jo Steele
Frylands Camp
early June – Natalia Neira/Rose Maguire
Sports days
tbc –
Summer Fair
Saturday 2nd July
Year 6 leavers disco
Thursday 21st July to be confirmed (this is good date for
school but Martin Dye (the DJ) is unavailable and his services are free). Andrew to investigate
another date.
9. AOB
Teachers Resources
The following resources were requested by Sam Oliver, on behalf of the staff:
Year 2 automatic pencil sharpeners
Large paper trimmer
Staff cycle rack – to be costed and requested at a later date
£140
£100
Total
£240
These were agreed
Yellow Moon Catalogues
A volunteer to distribute yellow moon catalogues (a proportion of money spent goes to the PTA). Ali
Harrison and others agreed to help with this.
Christmas Cards/Calendars
Shirley Clench and Hilary Young offered to coordinate the popular Christmas cards this year. The same
company also produces calendars containing children’s self portraits, and those present thought that
we should opt for calendars rather than Christmas cards this year. Shirley and Hilary to investigate.
Year 3& 4 PTA funded Swimming
Pupils currently have 10 swimming lessons at the end of Yr3 and 10 lessons at the beginning of Yr4.
A swimming teacher at the Spa (who is also a Balgowan parent) had asked that this be reviewed, as
many children lose skills and confidence over the Summer holidays between Yr3 and Yr4. She was
concerned that as the PTA funded these lessons, it would be better to run all 20 lessons consecutively
as a better use of money. Sam Oliver explained that as the lessons took up an entire afternoon out of
the timetable, it would be too much time removed from any one Year group, hence it was split
between two. This was accepted.
There was some concern over the organisation of classes and changing facilities at the Spa – Andrew
suggested those parents concerned should speak to Aaron Bartlett (teacher ic PE.)
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Enterprise Week
Andrew said there would not be another enterprise week this summer, but probably next Academic
Year.
Staff Photos
It was requested that there be photographs of all staff at the school in the reception area so parents
knew everyone by sight. Also the 3 number/letter code used for each class be publicised. Andrew
thought this an excellent idea – He will investigate.
Visiting Circus
Ali Dale showed details of a visiting circus which has been a fundraising event at other local schools
and suggested it might be a good event for the PTA to organise. Jeanette to investigate.
10. Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 18th January 2011
- Please note the start time of 7.30, meeting must end by 9pm -
Meeting ended at 9.30 pm
Addendum to Minutes
6. Election of Committee Members: Jeanette Martin has decided to become the Chair on a
permanent basis – no longer in an ‘acting’ capacity.
8. Forthcoming Events: Quiz Night has been rescheduled to Friday 12th November
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