The Magical Secret Room 2024

What is the Secret Room?

The Secret Room is a much-loved magical Christmas event for the children that takes place in school, this year on Friday 13th December. Your child is given the opportunity to choose two Christmas gifts for their loved ones (parents/guardians/grandparents etc), wrap them up in their classrooms and take them home to hide ready for Christmas Day.

The PTA transform the school library into an enchanting festive room of wonders where the children get to choose their gifts.

The children really do love selecting secret gifts for their loved ones and are thrilled to watch you receive a genuine surprise on Christmas Day. If, of course, they can keep it a secret that long!

What can parents/guardians do to help make Secret Room happen?

Donate gifts to fill the Secret Room full of wonderful presents:

We will be accepting donations of (small, low value) gifts (2 per child if you can) on Monday 2nd through to Friday 6th December at drop off. Gifts should be left with the PTA helpers, in the marked boxes by the main school entrance.

What gifts can I donate?

Gifts really do not need to be expensive. We recommend small low value gifts such as socks, chocolates, mugs, womens & mens toiletries, books, photo frames, key rings, festive food products. Ideally gifts should be neutral or 1 appropriate for a male & 1 for a female. We are unable to accept any gifts containing alcohol, nuts or DVDs over rating PG.

Will all children be able to participate?

Yes, if your child is in school on Friday 13th December they can participate. No child will be excluded. It is an inclusive and festive fun event for ALL Claremont School children.

Thank you for your support!

AGM Minutes 23rd October 2024

If you'd like any further information or have any questions on any of this please don't hesitate to get in touch.

CLAREMONT PRIMARY SCHOOL PTA

23rd October 2024 – Claremont School Hall 7-9pm

Committee PRESENT: Claire Summers (Chair), , Niloufer Jamal (Secretary), Shagun Bansal (Treasurer), Lucy Prior (Committee Member), Ben Dryland (Committee Member), Sam Walker (Committee Member), Jenny Brown (Committee Member), Nicki Webb (Committee Member), Anna Pearson (Committee Member)

Committee APOLOGIES: Natalie Jolliffe (Vice-Chair), Lisa Gammon, Emma Butterworth, Emma Doward.

Agenda:

1.        Chair’s Welcome

2.        Chair’s Annual Report

3.        AGM Treasurer’s Report

4.        Constitution - Request to Modernise Constitution

5.        PTA Policies

6.        PTA Committee: Resignations and Appointments

7.        Looking Ahead to this Year - Events, Why We Need You and Vacancies

1. Chair’s Welcome:

Claire Summers (Chair) welcomed everyone to the 2024 AGM, noting the attendance of new reception parents. She outlined the PTA’s key goals, including fostering a strong relationship between staff and parents and supporting the school with resources to enhance education.

2. Chair’s Annual Report:

Highlights:

•  Chip-In was launched, now raising £12,000 annually as of October 2024. Claire thanked Ben, John, and Lucy for their contributions to the success of this initiative.

•  Flagship Events: Clarefest and the Summer Fete were highly successful, with increased profits this year. Claire thanked the teams who coordinated these events.

•  Playground Sales new initiative for 23-24 and has become a regular income stream (3rd highest earner for the PTA). Jennie was thanked for her ongoing efforts in managing them.

•  Claire expressed appreciation for the large number of volunteers and committee members who helped with various events over the past year.

•  PTA Feedback Survey: Over 100 responses from parents provided valuable insights into PTA activities and priorities , for consideration and action by the Committee.

Reflections:

•  School Funding: Claire emphasised the increasing challenges of school funding and the need for a long-term fundraising strategy.

•  Volunteers: With key individuals leaving, there is a pressing need for new volunteers to run events. Currently, there is no team in place to run Clarefest 2025.

•  Support from Local Community: There was no sponsor for Clarefest 2023-2024. While positive relationships exist, there is significant potential for growth in this area.

•  New Parent Engagement: It would be useful to have a dedicated volunteer to coordinate new parent events.

3. AGM Treasurer’s Report:

•  Income for the year: £62,000, a £2,000 increase compared to the previous year.

•  Event Performance: Profits were slightly higher this year from the two key events but less as a %. Affected by lack of corporate sponsorship for Clarefest. As the success of these events is weather reliant, initiatives like Chip-In are of great importance in providing steady funds.

•  Expenditure and Donations:

◦   £28k donated to the school, with a further £28k committed for the trim trail, wet weather canopy, and classroom contributions.

◦   £15k allocated for IT support.

◦   £8k to match fund the footpath refurbishment.

◦   Contributions for parking signs, new sports kit, pantomime, and Year 6 activities.

•  Profit from the Year: £11,407.

•  Balance Sheet (as of 31 August 2024): Total cash in bank and hand was £43,247, with £15,204 remaining after commitments (donations agreed to but not yet invoiced).

4. PTA Constitution:

Sara O’Malley presented how the PTA constitution has been unchanged since 1983. A new draft has been developed in line with the latest Parentkind model constitution. The changes proposed are not “regulated alterations” that affect in any material way the PTA works. These would be need to be authorised by the Charity Commission. The new draft instead includes clarifications to bring it inline with the Parentkind model. Members were asked to note the following:

•  Purpose: removed reference to “otherwise funded by the local authority” from original constitution.

•  Membership: clarified Parentkind model to reflect our existing structure of the executive committee and general committee members.

•  Powers of the Committee: clarifies that a member of the committee must be part of the sub committee (e.g., Clarefest, Summer Fete) with explicit responsibility for request and managing funds on behalf of the Committee.

•  Quoracy: PTA model suggested 50% Committee members required to hold valid committee meetings, we recommend keeping to 7 members as per existing constitution.

There were no questions for concerns raised by Members attending the AGM and the new constitution was unanimously approved by all present.

Action: PTA Secretary to prepare a special resolution and submit to Charity Commission with copy of new constitution.

5. PTA Policies:

•  All four PTA policies (privacy, safeguarding, complaints, financial controls) have been through the Exec Committee’s annual review. No changes other than to:

•  Financial Control Policy: The drafting on the approval process for expenses under £250 was updated to reflect the new process that had been previously approved by the committee. No other changes were made.

6. PTA Committee: Resignations and Appointments:

•   Resignations:

◦  Claire Summers announced her resignation as Chair after four years of dedicated service.

◦  Niloufer Jamal stepped down as Secretary.

•   New Appointments:

◦  Axelle Joos de ter Beerst was nominated by Claire Summers as the new Chair and unanimously elected.

◦   Lisa Gammon was nominated as Secretary and unanimously voted in.

◦   Marta Zielinska was introduced as the new teacher representative and unanimously elected to the committee. CS expressed her thanks to Marta for offering to step into the role which has been empty for several years.

◦   Ami Parker was nominated and voted in as a new committee member.

◦   Claire Summers was nominated to stay on the committee and was unanimously re-elected.

Claire displayed a chart outlining the new committee structure and thanked the many volunteers who support the PTA in various roles, beyond the formal Committee roles.

7. Looking Ahead to this Year – Events, Why We Need You, and Vacancies:

Claire highlighted several key events for the 2024-2025 academic year and stressed the importance of volunteers for their success:

•  Clarefest: Needs a coordinator.

•  Second-hand Uniform Sales: Needs a coordinator.

•  Other Volunteer Roles:

◦  Become a ‘Friend of the PTA’.

◦  Assist with tea/coffee at new parent events.

◦  Help with playground sales.

◦  Source free Christmas trees.

Claire emphasised that the PTA’s ability to run successful events depends on the active participation of parents. She outlined potential future initiatives, including library refreshes, new storage for sports equipment and a wet weather canopy for the second Maslow area.

AOB (Any Other Business):

•  The next committee meeting was scheduled for Monday, 11th November 2024. The time and location are to be confirmed.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:

SIGN:    ________________C Summers_____________________       

DATE:  26-11-2024

It's the end of term - find out here all about what the PTA raised and what's next for the PTA...

We can't believe it - another year has flown by! 

This blog is not only the last of this academic year but also my last one as Chair of the PTA - it’s been an absolute privilege to chair the PTA these past 4 years and Natalie and I look forward to handing over to the next generation of Chair and Vice-Chair - we are still looking for 2 volunteers to come forward to ensure the PTA can continue next year so do read below for more info on that.

Thank you!

Firstly though the most important thing to say is a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the PTA this year - without volunteers the PTA wouldn't exist, this includes:

• The small but perfectly formed Committee - Anna, Ben, both Emmas, Jenny, Lisa, Lucy, Nicki, Natalie, Niloufer, Sam, Sara and Shagun,

• the amazing Clarefest team led, for the last time, by Emma Butterworth and friends (so triple thank you for the 3 amazing Clarefests you have run - we’re going to miss you!), 

• the brilliant Year 2 mums who smashed the Fete out of the park, and; 

• the rest of our volunteer army - you've sorted endless piles of second hand uniform, sold hundreds of items at playground sales, ran events, served coffees, audited our accounts, written our newsletter and ran our event stalls to name a few...

Thank you as well to anyone who came to an event, bought a ticket / donut / item of second hand uniform or made a donation another way - every donation whether time or money really does have an impact. Read on to find out how you made a difference this year....

What we’ve raised 

We’re delighted to say this year was a huge success with initial figures (yet to be audited) show the PTA has made over £37,000 profit this year! 

• Our two main events raised over £20,000:

  • Clarefest £11,727 

  • Summer Fete £8,741 

• The children have enjoyed buying gifts at Secret Room, participating in the Easter Egg hunt, watching a film at the 3 cinema clubs and dancing the afternoon away at one of our 4 discos. 

• We made a record profit at yet another successful sell-out wreath making event before Christmas, and:

• We sold over 500 items of 2nd hand uniform which raised nearly £2,000.

We wanted to make donating to the PTA easier by not asking for donations at Christmas or Easter nor having to rely so much on the weather (though we were lucky again this year that it shone for us not once but twice!)

In October we invited parents to set up a regular direct debit through our new CHIP-IN initiative from which every penny would go towards the £15,000 we give the school for I.T. equipment. This year, your direct donations have raised £7,500 to date - so 50% of that target - thank you to those who are contributing in this way. It really supports the long term viability of the PTA.

What we’ve spent

The PTA’s main job is to enhance the education of the pupil’s and provide funding where the school/council otherwise can’t. The challenges facing school budgets are only increasing. Government grants do not cover all school expenses and Local Authority are facing increased costs pressures along with the rest of the country. This has meant the PTA has been asked to contribute more this year than in other years - we’ve already donated £28,000 and have committed to another £27,262 - a total of over £55,000.

The biggest donations have been for I.T. (£15,000) and the pathway repairs (£8,000) with contributions also to the Panto trip, Year 6 yearbooks and BBQ, sports kits and D.T. expenses.

We’ve also committed to improve the outdoor play opportunities for the children with:

• £4,321 for new play equipment for the front field which will be installed over the summer, and;

• £23,042 for a new all weather canopy over the Maslow area at the front of the school that will be installed in the Autumn.

This is all making a material difference to your child/ren’s experiences and opportunities whilst they’re at Claremont primary school.

What about next year?

The school have lots of ideas for areas the PTA could support it next year which will be discussed and shared in the new academic year. 

But the PTA won’t be able to help without a new Chair and Vice-Chair to steer the charity through the next year.

The Chair and Vice-Chair make up 2 of the 4 trustees for the charity. Trustees are ultimately responsible for the charity doing its legal duty. Without anyone in these roles, the PTA will cease to exist from 1st September 2024.

What does being Chair and Vice-Chair mean in practice?

As Chair, I chair approx 4 Committee meetings per year (mostly in the pub), attend approx 3 meetings with the school senior leadership team and ensure there are people to do all the jobs (key point - I do not DO the jobs!). The Vice-Chair supports the Chair, chairing meetings where they can’t and helping with the oversight of the PTA’s activities (steered by what you’re interested in doing). The Vice-Chair can progress to Chair if they want to after a year, though Natalie and I have run it more like a co-chairing partnership for the past few years (so it’s great for 2 friends to do). You need no prior knowledge to do these roles as a full handover will be provided as well as support from the experienced Committee (on which we will continue to sit should you wish us to). The minimum ask is you hold the role for 1 year - you don’t have to sign up for more if you don’t want to.

Why do it?

I joined as Chair when my eldest started at the school (proof that you don’t need to know anything to start!), and have found it a great way to make friends from all over the school as well as it being a great sense of achievement when you see how much joy and value the PTA brings to not only your own children, but their friends and the school as a whole. It has also been great for my CV as last year I got a job that I don’t think I’d have got if I hadn’t been chairing the PTA.

I’m keen - what do I need to do?

Please get in touch for a non-committal chat by emailing us at claremonttwpta@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you and wish everyone a wonderful restful summer - here’s hoping for some sunshine!

Claire, Natalie and the rest of the Claremont PTA Committee