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

Meeting Minutes 10th June 2024

10/06/2024 – Claire Summers’ residence - 8pm

PRESENT: Claire Summers (Chair), Natalie Jolliffe (Vice chair), Shagun Bansal (Treasurer), Lucy Prior (Committee Member), Jenny Brown (CM), Lisa Gammon (CM), Ben Dryland (CM) and reps from Summer Fete team (Zoe Phillimore, Anna Pearson, Helen Sanderson, Marishka Dunlop and Sarah Lester)

Virtual attendees: Candi Roberts (Headteacher), Niloufer Jamal (secretary), Nicki Taylor (CM), Emma Doward (CM), Samantha Walker (CM)

1.     APOLOGIES: Sara O’Malley (CM), Emma Butterworth

2.     Chair Update- Claire Summers

Term 5 Review:

• Clarefest: CS acknowledged this year’s event as the best yet with excellent security. Special thanks to Emma B and her team.

• Second-hand Uniform Team: CS gave thanks to the team who consistently do a great job.

• Easter Egg Hunt: Huge thanks to Lucy for a great event as always

• Cinema Club: Thanks to Sam for organising. 120 out of 150 tickets have been sold this term, with a final push needed.

• Playground Sales: Have been held less frequently based on feedback but have been highly profitable. Thanks to Jenny and her team.

• Sports Day Ice Lollies: Thanks to Sara for organising this. The school have said it’s a real highlight for the children.

• Ice Lolly sales: These are upcoming for the rest of the Fridays in the term. Thank you to Lisa & Juliette for organising these.

CS reminded the Committee that our 3 new policies (financial control, safeguarding & complaints procedure) have been uploaded to the website & can be accessed here and requested all Committee members read them and are familiar with their contents: https://www.claremontprimarypta.com/financial-policies https://www.claremontprimarypta.com/safeguarding-policy https://www.claremontprimarypta.com/complaints-policy

2.    Financial Summary (SB/NJ):

Current Status: Healthy balance of over £31,000 in the bank

Total Income for the Year from Events: Just over £39,000, with a profit of £21,875 to date.

• Clarefest & playground sales have been the most profitable with Clarefest looking to be highest profit ever made from the event - over £11,000.

• Other expenditure (bank fees, PTA overheads & general expenses) totalled £29,361 with £27,380 going to the school towards things including I.T., repair of the footpath, theatre trips, sports kit, DT and parking signs.

• Expenses voted for but not yet paid include the Year 6 BBQ & yearbooks, summer fete and cinema club expenses totalling £3,031

• Expected expenditure (not yet approved by the committee) includes Trim Trail (playground) equipment and a wet weather canopy for Maslow’s corner. The amounts are TBC.

• NJ highlighted the school lottery as a significant, low-effort income source. Action for Holly: Highlight lottery sign-ups in the weekly PTA newsletter.

• Chip In Initiative: Need to clarify funding goals and broaden its scope beyond IT. Action for Lucy: Prepare some year-specific communications about IT funding usage and research Chip-In banners for future consideration by PTA for purchase.

3.   Funding for the School (CR):

• Trim Trail: The responsiveness reps worked with Mrs. Cook & Mr. Coulson to look at options, process & eventually presented a shortlist to the school.

• For KS1 - images were put up & children were asked to travel to the Piece they most liked.

• For KS2 - Responsiveness reps went to classes to have an ‘eyes closed, hands up’ vote.

• Votes were collated & the Net Tunnel & Chin Up Bars were the winners

• Mrs. Roberts presented this data to the PTA on June 10th (at this committee meeting)

• The members present at the meeting unanimously voted in favour of the potential expense of £4,321 for the trim trail with installation set to be completed by September 2024.
  

• Maslow's Corner: CR mentioned quotes had been obtained for the different sizes of canopies with costs ranging significantly. She is awaiting a final quote and will come back to the PTA once she has it. Work will potentially only take place during the October half term. CR requested PTA support for funding these. The Committee considered the current funds available, and need to maintain reasonable reserves and concluded there is in principle broad support from all members that at least £10,000 could be donated towards this project but that there would need to be a formal vote once final numbers were in and fundraising from the rest of the term’s activities known.

• CR highlighted the serious challenges with school funding and that it would be beneficial if the PTA could fully fund the above items.

• Ben emphasised the importance & value of CHIP-IN especially now that schools need to self fund more due to reduced funding. CR agreed to put out more information to the school about funding in September.

• Summer Fete team suggested they fundraise for a specific item from the Summer Fete silent auction. The Committee agreed the trim trail would be an ideal item to highlight in the marketing of this.

• Action: Claire and Anna/Zoe to prepare blog for parents about funding and work with school on comms on this.

4. Summer Fete:

• Preparations: HS updated the Committee on preparations underway and that plans and budget is broadly on track. Discussion & advice shared about logistics, communications to parents/children etc.

• Approach to cash floats on the day was agreed - Shagun to secure £400 cash float.  Summer fete team were advised to read the financial control policy.

• Decision that animal encounter tickets to be sold online prior to the event

• PTA advised to ensure clear signage on age restrictions for bottle tombola.

• The platform for, and the comms around, the Silent Auction was discussed - will launch 2 weeks before and close 2:30 PM on the day of the fete.

• Donation for Kent Radio - fete team to request a bank transfer to avoid cash on the day.

• Vote: Vote to increase Fete budget by £300 to account for additional costs for the summer drinks stall - unanimous

• Vote: A unanimous vote on expenditure for headsets (£300) and gazebo replacement (£600) - if they are required to be purchased. [Post meeting note - items are being borrowed for the fete so this expenditure won’t be required this year]    

• Action: CS to share details of liability forms and insurance required from 3rd parties and for fete team to collect and file on drop box.

5.    Recruitment for Next Year:

• CS reminded the Committee that after four years CS and NJ are stepping down as Chair and Vice-Chair from September - no interest yet received and PTA is at risk of continuing without more volunteers for these roles. Clarefest team also needs volunteers (supported by current year).

• Action:CS to prepare short bullet-point explanation of chair, vice chair/co-chairs roles, and Clarefest team roles for communication after the summer fete.

6.  AOB:

• Anna Pearson was nominated by CS to join the committee and seconded by NJoliffe.

• Ice lolly expenses of £34.75 for the upcoming playground sales were agreed upon by CS, NJollife, LP, LG, AP, JB, BD & NJamal.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:

SIGN:   C Summers

DATE:  27th June 2024

Meeting Minutes 19th March 2024

19/03/2024 – 7.30pm The Claremont Pub & Garden

PRESENT: Claire Summers (Chair), Natalie Jolliffe (Vice chair), Shagun Bansal (Treasurer), Niloufer Jamal (Secretary), Lucy Prior (Committee Member), Jenny Brown (CM), Lisa Gammon (CM),  Emma Butterworth (Committee Member), Vanessa Sharpe, Gemma Ferguson, Caz Powell, Maria Khan, Bill Mew, Emma Mew, Ami Parker, Mandy Hill

Virtual attendees: Nicki Taylor (CM), Emma Claridge (CM)

1.     APOLOGIES: Candi Roberts (Headteacher), Sarah Seddon, Sara O’Malley (CM), Samantha Walker (CM), Ben Dryland (CM)

2.     Chair Update- Claire Summers

-    CS welcomed everyone and invited introductions from all

-    CS said we’d had a busy term and included main highlights:

• Discos - Thanks to Nicki & her team for successfully running all discos.

• Cinema club - Thanks to Sam and all parent volunteers for the recent cinema club. It’s worth noting we didn’t sell out tickets for the first time ever

• Second hand uniform sales have been going smoothly. Thanks to Lydia & team

• Playground sales team have been testing which sales work best and planning for future events. Thanks to Jennie & her team for their running.

-    Big thank you to the Year 2 group of parents for volunteering to organise the Summer Fete

-    Thank you to Emma B and her trusty team for organising the upcoming Clarefest

-    Thanks to Lucy for organising the Easter Egg hunt at the end of term too

-    Feedback from CS’s recent meeting with Mrs Roberts: there was discussion on potential pledged funding for the school including £15,000 for IT, improving the trim trail (the school are currently involving the children in choosing pieces for the trail) and wet weather canopies for the playgrounds.

-    We received 103 replies from the recent feedback survey - thanks to all who participated.

-    Financial reports are up to date. We have formally submitted fully audited the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 accounts. Thank you to Andrew Gray our volunteer auditor (and parent!) for his work supporting this.

3.    Treasurer Update

-   Natalie Jolliffe presented the financial report for the YTD figures. The PTA is now using Xero which is making tracking and reporting much easier.

-   The Committee was asked to note the healthy bank balance of £29,943 but forthcoming expected donations to school of a minimum of £16,000 with unknown amounts for trim trail and maslow corner investments. highlights the importance of profit from Clarefest and Summer Fete.

- Some of our events and their corresponding profits are listed before:

• Playground sales - £2,698

• Discos - £1,507

• Cinema Club - £1,397

• Xmas Wreath Making - £1,051

• Second hand uniform - £1,007

-  Worth noting that Bank interest earned us £254 and Committee noted more balance should be put into savings to generate interest while waiting for invoices from the school.

-  Donations to school YTD of £12,380 included £8,000 for the new pathway, netball kit, DT expenses, parking signs, theatre trips & classroom expenses.

- Potential future expenditure to school (not yet voted on nor paid) is IT, Y6 Leaver’s Book & BBQ, Trim trail (field/playground equipment) & the wet weather canopies for Maslow’s corner (unknown amounts).

Expense Policy:

-    NJ highlighted that one recommendation from the auditor was to update our financial controls and expenses policy. THis policy has been recently introduced but been reviewed. CS & NJ proposed that for small expenses (eg. Christmas lunch hats), there is a threshold under which the whole committee doesn’t have to approve the expense, proposed level £250.

Action:

Niloufer to circulate the final expense policy to the committee.

Natalie to publish all policies to the website

4.     Feedback Survey: Claire Summers

-    We received 103 responses which were mostly positive with lots of support from the parent body.

Below is some of the feedback received along with our response:

-    One clear and helpful piece of feedback was that not all PTA events are SEN friendly.

Thanks to the SEN parents for coming along to the meeting to discuss this further:

-    Some of the suggestions brought up at the meeting included a breakout space at Cinema Club, quiet space in the library during the discos, silent discos, special zones at Clarefest for SEN children. Parents noted that the brochure for the Summer Fete previously printed are helpful with preparation for the event.

-   An idea was raised to include in the newsletter how we’re making events more SEN friendly which will help raise awareness

Action: PTA to consider SEN needs for each event - starting with Clarefest. Emma B to work with SEN families to incorporate a SEN area at Clarefest.

Action: SEN families to send a representative to each PTA meeting.

Action: PTA to highlight changes being made to help raise awareness of SEN.

-    Playground sales - some support but quite a lot of consistent comments about their frequency, too much sugar/plastic and are too expensive. New suggestions included selling seeds for a sunflower growing contest, summer activity packs, craft kits, plant sales for Mother’s Day, Glitz & Glam (jewellery, etc). 

Action: PTA to consider this feedback in planning future sales.  

-    Second hand uniform - suggestion to include other items such as coats and wellies in the second hand uniform sales. The logistical issue is storage, volunteers to take individual pictures for the website, etc. There is, however, potential to include them in the in person sale.

Action: PTA to pass on the feedback to second hand uniform leads to consider for future sales.

-    Lots of new ideas from the survey - forest school, craft/music clubs, serving mulled wine/ coffee at events, car boot sale, christmas fair. This discussion generated further ideas in the meeting - a sponsored walk to school week, a park run in which schools & charities can do it alongside each other, a cultural event/cultural food night and quiz night.

Action: Holly to include a call to all parents in the newsletter to help implement these lovely ideas.

-    When asked do you feel engaged with the PTA, a quarter said no (not got time/not interested) - Suggestion for PTA to come up with different ways in which parents can engage e.g. asking for volunteers to do small, easy jobs, spelling out time commitment etc.

Action: PTA to be as clear as possible about the time commitment for involvement and to streamline comms/asks to help parents engage.

-   The main negative feedback points were around inclusivity - to have less focus on fundraising and more about community/building relationship with the school, and to ensure the feedback is acted on.

Action: PTA to consider inclusivity and enhancing community further when taking decisions/designing events - as an example, in this meeting, it was decided to not push donation opportunity around the Easter Egg hunt.

Action: PTA to publish a full summary of the results of the feedback survey and actions as part of these meeting minutes.

Action: PTA to encourage all parents to all meetings to continue a two way diaglogue.

5.     Christmas Cards: Emma Claridge

-    Last year’s cards raised £380 which is a little lower than usual. This could be due to the artwork return date being earlier.

-    Emma has looked into schoolfundraising.co.uk whose artwork deadline is Nov 15. They offer tree ornaments, posters, fridge magnets and cards and work out cheaper than the current company as well.

-    Emma B suggested a Christmas craft kit with make your own cards but to also keep the competition for best artwork running.

Action: Emma C to find out if final product delivery can take place earlier with the new company and revert at the next meeting.

6.    Planned Events:

Easter Eggs - Lucy Prior

-    The egg hunt is set to take place next week with Year 3 doing it a day earlier due to a school trip being scheduled on the same day.

-    Clear messaging to be sent out to parents/carers of children with allergies regarding providing basket contents or emailing school if children are allowed to have the contents of the basket provided by the PTA.

Chip-in

-    We currently are at 48 direct debits out of 340 families

-    Following feedback from the survey, Chip-in’s focus on IT was discussed as some parents felt it didn’t sit well with them. Discussion on whether we should take Chip-in focus from IT and allow it for broader uses - consensus was it is still early days and there’s a opportunity to relaunch in Sept 2024 with the new in-take. Agreed to not push chip-in alongside Easter but look for other opportunities.

Clarefest:

-    No current sponsor for Clarefest. We need to find a sponsor for this year or will need to consider putting up ticket prices.

-    Recruitment of professional security was discussed and approved. Ticket policy will be updated to clearlyexplain behaviours expected, alcohol consumption and responsibility for children remaining with parents.

Action: Niloufer & Holly to put out a message on comms looking for a sponsor and all to ask any contacts.

Action: Niloufer & Holly to message on comms asking for volunteers to shadow Emma B for next year to take on Clarefest.

Summer Fete:

-    Batchellor Monkhouse have confirmed sponsorship of £1500.

-    The Summer fete team has put in an expense request for £3,730 (for PA, bins, tuck shop, animal stall, bar, toilets, bouncy castles, tokens). All committee members present voted in favour of the expenditure.

7.  AOB:

-    New idea raised to set up an Amazon wishlist for any items needed by the PTA and shared with all , and also for school to set up their own.

-    New idea raised for any uniform that isn’t suitable for sale could be offered for free on the website.

-    New idea raised for families donating holiday change/foreign currency (through children filling boxes of raisins/jam jars, etc)

Action: Vanessa to find out how this money can be deposited

The next meeting will be Monday, April 22nd. 7:30pm

APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:

SIGN:   C Summers

DATE:  16th April 2024

APPENDIX 1

CLAREMONT PTA FEEDBACK SURVEY

Claremont PTA Feedback Survey 2024 - summary of responses_

.pdf

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