Happy New Year!

We’re sure you’ll all agree that first term flew by!

In case you blinked and missed it, here’s what the PTA* got up to:

- We welcomed Reception and (belatedly) Yr1 parents to the school community at our socials at the Claremont pub in September,

- Our first ever Raffle by text raised £700,

- The monthly 2nd hand uniform sales raised nearly £900,

- We welcomed back cinema club which raised £650,

- We held our first ever Wreath making workshop which raised £400,

- We ran Secret Room which raised a whopping £1000,

- We sold children's Christmas cards/mug as well as Christmas trees & wreaths, raising £500.

That's over £4,000, just from the events, so THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for all your support this last term, whether you volunteered time, donated money, bought tickets, donated Christmas presents or bought 2nd hand uniform. It all counts!

The fundraising in the Winter term enabled us to pay for:

- A trip to Trinity Theatre for all year 4-6 children to see the Panto (£2000), and;

- Santa and Elf hats for the children’s Christmas lunch (£175).

We also invested in a brand new storage unit (the large green box in the car park – you can’t miss it!) which will serve mainly as our 2nd hand uniform shop, and some new signs which will be up around the school grounds shortly. We hope these will make it even easier for you to engage with the PTA!

We also bought Waterstones vouchers for the two Christmas Card competition winners – well done again to Robyn in Elm and Marcy in Linden for their fantastic designs - check them out below.

We’re also pleased to announce the name of this year’s Claremont Teddy, won at Secret Room by Luca in Year 4, was Christopher Claremont.

Remember, as well as the fun extras (like theatre trips and sports kit), we are fundraising for two main items this year, to help the school:

1) maintain it’s IT offering to the children – for that we need to raise £15,000 per year

2) build a brand new outdoor classroom behind the Lodge (tendering process is ongoing so watch this space for the contribution the PTA needs to make).

To raise these amounts, we have various fun activities planned for the rest of the year, including a SCAVENGER HUNT, FAMILY 5k, CLAREFEST (21st May – SAVE THE DATE!) and parent socials.

One big area where WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS is for the SUMMER FETE.

***At the moment the Summer Fete will not be happening as we do not have enough volunteers.***

Remember … many hands makes light work so it’s not a big job if we have a lot of people!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get in touch if you think you can help in any way. It’s a massive earner for us (can be £8-10k!) and is a brilliant day enjoyed by all.

COME AND GET INVOLVED!

You're invited to join our next meeting - you'll find us on zoom at 8pm on Thursday 13th January 2022. Email us to be sent the zoom details.

Thanks for reading and your continued support!

Claire, Natalie, Sami, Sara and the rest of the Committee

*please note all figures above are approximate estimations of profit after fees/costs paid out

What is the Claremont Secret Room?

What is happening at school on Wednesday 15th December?

The PTA is creating a magical day of festive fun for the children with:

• A magical Christmas “Secret Room” experience where each child will have the opportunity to select gifts for 2 of their loved ones to give them at Christmas

• A “Guess the name of the Claremont Christmas Teddy” competition – each child will have the opportunity to guess the Teddy’s name when they visit the Secret Room. One lucky winner will be able to take the teddy home.

• Giving all children the opportunity to wear a Christmas Jumper/festive item that day.

What are you doing to minimise the risk of Covid transmission?

As with every PTA event, we have to conduct a Health and Safety risk assessment, and to minimise the risk of Covid transmission during Secret Room we are:

- asking each child to sanitise their hands upon entry to Secret Room,

- keeping the back doors open at all times for good ventilation,

- asking every parent volunteer to undertake a LFT on the day and they can only attend if they have a negative result, to wear a mask at all times and to bring, and use regularly, their own hand sanitiser,

- ensuring all the usual good hygiene practices are encouraged as a matter of course.

What can parents/guardians do to help make this happen?

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

We will be accepting donations of (small, low value) gifts ideally 2 per child if you can - on 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th November at morning drop off. Gifts should be left with the PTA helpers, in the marked boxes by the main school entrance.

2) Donate financially:

Children do not need to take cash into school on 15th December to participate in the Secret Room. All children will be given 2 non-monetary tokens to “spend”. However, if you can donate (we suggest £4 per child) to support the efforts of the PTA, then please do so through our website, through localgiving here or by texting CLAREMONT 4 to 70085 to donate £4 (or CLAREMONT 8 for £8 etc).

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 15th December. Your child is given the opportunity to choose two Christmas gifts for their parent(s)/guardian(s), 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. Every child will be given 2 tokens to “spend” in the Secret Room.

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 gifts can I donate?

Gifts really do not need to be expensive. We recommend small low value gifts such as socks, chocolates or bubble bath. 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 15th December they can participate. No child will be excluded regardless of donations received. It is an inclusive and festive fun event for ALL Claremont School children and all donations are optional.

Thank you for your support!

AGM - what happened, what is planned for this year and where we still need your help...

Following our AGM on 30th September 2021, we're delighted to be able to introduce the new Committee and update you all on our plans for this year. We welcome Sami Fotoohi as our new Treasurer and Lucy Prior and Sam Walker as new Committee members. Details on the whole Committee can be found on the About page on our website.

We discussed how much we need to raise this year - which we have estimated to be £35,000 to be able to meet all the school's needs (which they've set out in the attached poster).

We looked at how much we hope to raise from the events we know we can run - which amounts to a whopping £20,000 - but we know we could raise the additional £15,000 needed if we ran more events.

Crucially, the Summer Fete cannot currently take place due to lack of volunteers, yet it could raise £10,000 alone! Nor do we have enough volunteers to run parent socials.

So we very much STILL NEED YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TO COME FORWARD to help us run these, or any other events that you're interested in, to raise valuable funds for the school as set out in this poster from Mrs Roberts:

Fundraising Poster Oct 2021

.pdf

Download PDF • 725KB

The full list of PTA events that we know can happen are:

- Autumn Raffle (Exec Committee)

- Christmas Cards (Jilly Thomas & Michelle Yeatman)

- In school Christmas Secret Room (Clare Lynch, Theo Tully, Loran Haines)

- Christmas Wreath Making Social (Ami Parker & Natalie Jolliffe)

- Christmas Cinema Club (Sam Walker)

- Scavenger Hunt (Kate Bourne)

- In school Easter egg hunt (Lucy Prior)

- Family physical challenge (Kate Cooper)

- Clarefest (Emma Butterworth & team)

- In school discos (Claudine Cerrini)

- Monthly 2nd hand uniform sales (Nicki Webb)

Events we could run but require volunteers for:

- Summer Fete

- Parent socials

- Any new events..all ideas welcome!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Claire, Natalie, Sami & Sara