Summer Fete 2023 - how you can help!

As many of you know, the Summer Fete is a family fun day for the whole Claremont community – pupils, parents, extended family, future pupils, past pupils, neighbours,.. There will be all your usual fete fun – bouncy castles, games, ice cream, face painting, food and refreshments. And the best bit? Every penny raised will go towards the PTA!

It will be on Saturday 1st July, 12-3pm and this year ENTRANCE IS FREE! All are welcome - family, friends, neighbours.

The PTA has a small number of coordinators and we will again be reaching out to the Claremont community to help make the success fun for all. This blog is to explain the ways we will be asking the Claremont community to rally together to help make the Summer Fete a success!

WAYS TO HELP:

We are not charging an entrance fee but we welcome donations. You can quickly and easily make a transfer directly to the PTA's bank account from the banking app on your phone by clicking here.

We are asking for donations of the below items to help us populate the stalls and raffle hampers.

Please bring these to school during drop off on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd June. Find the PTA helpers either at the Banner Farm Road Gate or in the bottom playground from 8.40 am until 9am.

Please donate:

- Teddies

- Books

- Unopened bottles of alcohol

- Raffle prizes – a specific colour depending on your child’s year group (see below).

Teddies and books can be second hand but please ensure they are good quality (clean, no holes etc).

The raffle will be a “Colour Raffle”. There will be 7 wonderful hampers up for grabs. We are asking each year group to donate raffle gifts of a specific colour:

- Reception – RED

- Year 1 – ORANGE

- Year 2 – YELLOW

- Year 3 – GREEN

- Year 4 – BLUE

- Year 5 – PURPLE/PINK

- Year 6 – WHITE

VOLUNTEERING ON THE DAY:

As is Claremont tradition, we will be asking each class to provide volunteers to help set up, run a stall and tidy away. We are asking Class Reps to coordinate this for each class so please do add your name to the rota when it comes around. These are the stalls that each class will be responsible for:

Acorns - Lucky Dip

Saplings - Hook a Duck

Ash - Tuck Shop

Elm - Coconut Shy

Rowan - Gingerbread Decorating

Maple - Poo in the Loo

Hazel - Sponge a Teacher

Cedar - Bottle Tombola

Juniper - Book Stall

Acer - Teddy Tombola

Elder - Human Fruit Machine

Linden - Token Stall (& guess the name of the teddy)

Hawthorn & Whitebeam - Entrance Gate & Token Stall

The Summer Fete really couldn't happen without each and everyone coming together so thank you very much for your support - whatever you can give will make a huge difference!

THANK YOU!

CASHLESS FETE:

The Fete is following the same format as Clarefest. Stalls will be CASHLESS and you can pay by tokens. 1 token costs 50p.

You can buy tokens (using cash or card):

- BEFORE THE DAY: After school in the bottom playground at pick up on Monday 26th June - Friday 30th June.

- ON THE DAY: at the Token Stalls near the entrance gate at the top playground.

Full Fete information including a map and how many tokens you'll need for each stall, will be available in the Fete Brochure that will be handed out to every family at school on Tuesday 26th June and also at the gate on the day.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting Minutes 7th March 2023

07/03/2023 – 7.30pm The Claremont & Zoom PRESENT: Claire Summers (Chair), Sara O’Malley (Secretary), Sami Fatoohi (Treasurer), Lucy Prior (Committee Member), Ben Dryland (Committee Member), Sam Walker (Committee Member), Emma Butterworth (Committee Member), Emma Doward (Committee Member), Candi Roberts (Headteacher), Shagun Bansal, Jenny Brown.

APOLOGIES: Nicki Webb (Committee Member), Michelle Bovey-Wood (Committee Member), Natalie Jolliffe (Vice-Chair).

Chair Update – CS

A great start to Term 4. Cinema Club was a sell-out, just 4 tickets left for Year 5-6 Disco. Lottery launched, £850 income already. 2 x grant applications submitted in the last week 1) community fund (South East water) - for up to £5k and 2) LocalGiving £500 little magic grants. Media Pack has been refreshed; can be issued to potential sponsors, and sent to parents. Batcheller Monkhouse confirmed sponsorship of £2,750 for Clarefest and Summer Fete. We are also now selling adverts for summer fete brochure. CS been working on New Parent pack. It is Sami’s last meeting, another big thank you for his commitment; Shagun Bansal has volunteered to be the new Treasurer. CS voted Shagun in + LP seconded. Welcome and thanks to Shagun. Michelle Bovey Wood has tendered her resignation due to potential conflict of interest, new role as editor as Times of Tunbridge Wells.

Thanks to John Coupee who is doing a website update.

Actions from last meeting - S O'M – see attached update.

Treasurer Update – SF

Events Income: £4,577.83 profit from winter term. £ 2,903.14 profit to date for Spring Term. Total other income to date £6,327.69 (inc. just giving, uniform sales, fancy dress etc). £39,602 in bank account.

Funding Proposals from School – CR

Traffic Safety Signals – safety on Claremont Road; CR identified potential opportunity to upgrade the Wig Wags (flashing signs), of which there are 2 already on Claremont Road. These are obsolete but other schools have upgrade with a remote timer to turn on/off during drop off and pick up. KCC do not have budget and last estimated this upgrade would cost ~£5k (post meeting update - estimate now £9-10k) with a 4 yearly maintenance cost of £400 (that could be covered by the school). Costs are approximate only; full details would need to be fleshed out. Committee agreed this could be a good “community” initiative, would be welcomed by parents and with wider benefits than just the school. Committee agreed that CS should re-submit application for the South East Water grant and CR will seek update from the Council. If don’t get the grant we could re-table this back to the Committee to decide if this is something to progress.

ACTION: Committee to rediscuss funding for road safety initiatives at next meeting, following outcome from SEW Community Grant.

CR expressed thanks for the continued support to struggling families that the PTA offer.

CR updated on the Wet Weather Canopies x 2 they are purchasing to protect the buildings due to flat roof at Hall and Year 1 area. The school has booked to get them installed over the Easter holidays and the request is what the PTA feel they can contribute towards it. PTA considered in context of remaining potential requests this academic year i.e. £15k for IT and trim trail ~£5k, so could be £35k required in total this year. With £40k in the bank, to maintain £20k buffer, it was identified the PTA would need to raise a further £15k in the rest of the year. This is unknown due to weather dependencies at Clarefest and the Fete. Therefore, agreed to commit 50% of funding £8k In April, and revert in July (after events in summer assuming we raise more than £8k we agreed to commit the rest). The committee voted unanimously in favour; (please refer to Appendix 1 for voting record). ACTION: Committee discussed the regular annual commitment of £15k. It would be good to be able to communicate with the parent community the specific items / equipment this is spent on. CR confirmed the school can help produce this after Easter. PTA to commission from Julie Cook.

Events / Fundraising updates - summary of events for this term and any help required from PTA

Easter – LP – Easter Eggs have increased in cost compared to last year ~£70. Price per basket is £1.27 compared to £1.12. LP requested £600 maximum (from £500 last year); proposing request increased donation of £5. All agreed. 439 children in the school now. Have enough volunteers.

Clarefest – EB – not much to update, all going well. Funds request (£5-6k) will come within the next month, expecting similar costs to last year, by email. Ticket pricing to be confirmed but same as last year £2 per child, £8 per adult. Ask for volunteers on the day.

Summer Fete – CS – not much to update things progressing well, working on costs which will be populated by team and then submitted to Committee at appropriate time.

100 Club Idea– BD/LP – ‘New Direct Debit Scheme’ (not called 100 club). BD/LP busy at the moment so no update, focusing on a September launch so plenty of time. Defining “what” it is and then the comms plan which we have volunteers for.

Tea Towels – JQ is poorly so couldn’t attend but sales going well. Close next week and delivered after Easter.

Cinema Club - SW/NW – Due to quick sell out again PTA circulated a feedback survey via Class Reps. Results showed potential demand for a second showing for ~90 children and a suggestion to run 2 showings e.g. splitting year groups ( 1-3, and 4-6). Still need to consider cost benefit of a 2nd showing; film cost is % of ticket taking. SW is considering feasibility of a second date. PTA also agreed volunteers will get a guaranteed ticket for their children (they still have to pay for it). SW highlighted how having a teacher present is essential. CR offered to support PTA with finding teacher rep for future showings.

ACTION: SW to investigate feasibility of a 2nd showing for cinema club in June and confirm dates to CR to secure teacher volunteers.

Disco – NW – Year 5-6 all booked, 4 tickets left. All in hand no issues to raise.

AOB

MyNameTags – SO’M – Has set up a code that can be used when ordering and for every order placed by Claremont families MyNameTags give 24%. This get paid to PTA in a lump sum annually in January.

ACTION: CS / NJ to add MyNameTags detail to website. CS to add to new parent pack and on school website page. Add to newsletter and class reps whats app.

Cinema Club feedback – CS/SW – see above.

Date of Next Meeting - S O'M – Tuesday 18th April at 8pm Zoom

APPENDIX 1

Table 1 - RECORD OF ATTENDANCE & VOTING:

See PTA files for table (unable to load to blog)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:

SIGN: ________________________C Summers_____________________

DATE: 17 April 2023_____________________________________

Meeting Minutes 24th January 2023

24/01/23 – 7.30pm The Claremont

PRESENT: Claire Summers (Chair), Natalie Jolliffe (Vice-Chair), Sara O’Malley (Secretary), Sami Fatoohi (Treasurer), Lucy Prior (Committee Member), Ben Dryland (Committee Member), Sam Walker (Committee Member), Emma Butterworth (Committee Member), Michelle Bovey-Wood (Committee Member), Jonathan Coupee.

APOLOGIES: Emma Doward, Candi Roberts & Sarah Seddon (CS meeting them Monday), Nicki Webb (Committee Member).

Chair Update - CS

Sami Fatoohi (Treasurer) is resigning as of April 2023; big thanks to Sami. He has kindly agreed to do a handover.

Fundraising activity since last meeting in November has raised ~£1k from Christmas, Cinema Club raised ~£470 (higher bill from film hire than expected ~£200), Christmas Wreath making raised £700 and was more profitable this year, and Wine Tasting. First term raised over £7k, which is a great start. Well done to everyone and thanks!

Treasurer Update – SF

Winter Terms Events brought in £3,240.21 profit and including other income equals £8,945.07. Total expenses were £2,094.66. There is £37,227.37 in the bank account.

Actions from last meeting - S O'M – see attached update.

Events / Fundraising updates - summary of events for this term and any help required from PTA

Summer Fete – CS – met to brainstorm with a small sub-group to explore how to make it easier to organise and run due to lack of volunteers. CS & S O’M unable to attend on the day. Requested help again via a blog. CS suggested 5 things to change: no entrance fee (easier to get people through door); bouncy castles if teaching staff will run them, outsource food & hot drinks (charge % for trucks attending), 14 stalls (1 per class) – Class Reps pick which stall they want, more toilets (no access to Lodge), divvy up committee to manage the day on the day by operating 2 people on shift at a time. Agreed to progress as per CS suggestion on Saturday 1st July 12-3pm. LP to book 6 x toilets, EB to book bouncy castles. Any suggestions for Arena performances to NJ – e.g. Karate Club. CS to request sponsorship from Batchellor Monkhouse.

100 Club Idea– BD/LP - proposed a new scheme idea to replace Covenance Scheme; encouraging parents to become regular donors, in an inclusive way. The committee had a full discussion and gave feedback; agreed that the sub-committee would refine proposal based on feedback, and canvas opinions informally and revert to the Committee at a later date.

School Lottery idea – Jonathan Coupee - proposed idea to look into Your School Lottery, everyone agreed this sounded like a great idea and should be progressed. JC to progress and send information required to CS/SF.

Tea Towels (handover to Jemma Quartermaine) – EB – handover conducted, EB to liaise with JQ on when this will happen. In progress.

Cinema Club - SW/NW – Next Cinema Club Monday 20th March, SW to advise on film. Dominic Couslon willing to support all year.

Disco – Nicki Webb has agreed to take this and will catch up with Claudine re. Disco handover for all years. No dates fixed yet. First Aiders needed for all events.

ACTION: CS to ask CR what we could reasonably ask the school to support the events (e.g. bouncy castle at Fete / first aiders).

ACTION: CS to request for registered first aiders via Whats App and then create a register of names that we could ask to support. If struggle we could look into funding PTA committee members providing a course.

New Idea - potential idea needed for Term 4 – playground sale idea. Crispy Crème idea – request a volunteer to run.

ACTION: replacement freezer needed; CS to ask parent community for a donation.

Easter – LP – CS awaiting response from potential sponsor to cover the cost of the event so the event can be 100% profit. Voting request for £500 to cover the cost of eggs in the event we don’t get sponsorship. The committee voted unanimously; please refer to Appendix 1 for voting record.

Comms Plan – CS - Comms Plan being developed. Propose to use school assembly after half term to pitch Cinema Club, Discos, Easter. Launch Clarefest tickets after Easter.

Licence Renewals – CS – lottery licence (£25 annual fee) and alcohol (£295 annual fee) up for renewal. Mark Lester to consider whether to get annual or a pay per go licence. (Post-meeting note: ML confirmed worth renewing annual licence). Voting request to cover the cost of these (£320). The committee voted unanimously; please refer to Appendix 1 for voting record.

AOB – ALL (n/a)

Date of Next Meeting - S O'M – Tuesday 7th March 7.30pm The Claremont (upstairs private room)

APPENDIX 1 Table 1 - RECORD OF ATTENDANCE & VOTING: See PTA files for table (unable to load to blog)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:

SIGN: ________________________C Summers_____________________

DATE: _______6 March 2023_____________________________________