Meeting Minutes 11th February 2026

11/02/2026 – School Hall 7pm

Attendees present: 

Axelle Joos de ter Beerst AJ (Chair, Lisa Gammon LG (Secretary), Shagun Bansal SB (Treasurer), Jenny Brown JB (CM), Marta Zielinska MZ (CM -Teacher), Ami Parker AP2 (CM), Becky O’Brien BO, Lucy Prior LP (CM), Candi Roberts CR (CM- Headteacher), , Rachel Mackenzie, Nikki Webb NW (CM),Julia Beath JB (CM)

Apologies: 

Gemma Ferguson GF (CM), Natalie Jolliffe NJ (CM), Anna Pearson AP1 (CM), Zoe Phillimore ZP (CM), Claire Summers CS (CMP)

1.    Chair’s Update – AJ

Axelle thanked everyone for their efforts towards successful terms 1 & 2.

2.    Financial Summary – SB as at 11.02.26

Overall, we have a healthy bank account, thanks to successful events.

• £55,448 Cash at Bank and in Hand.

• £6,172 Current Profit from events run from September 2025 to current date.

• Top three profitable events: Wreath Making- Parents Festive Party- Second Uniform

• ChipIn Direct Donations £5,453

• Operating Profit £2,578

3.    Debrief on Terms 1& 2 – AJ

Overall, committee members felt this term went as planned.

AP2 highlighted they have a box of Christmas hats collected from the Christmas meals over the years, probably like most families. Rather than buy 400+ hats each year, should we consider asking children to bring their own hats or boppers and have spares for anyone who doesn’t have hats.

Secret Room went very well. Many donations received which meant not as many additional gifts needed to be purchased.

4.    Parent Survey – AJ

Axelle’s noted that the parent survey received 64 responses from a total of 440 families. Axelle felt the response rate was insufficient to provide a representative reflection of parental views. The results will be taken as directional feedback, and shared on our website in due course. The committee read through the Parent survey results PowerPoint. Please see document saved to DropBox for more information. 

5. Annual events for the year and lead person- discuss new updates & outstanding action points:

5.1 Discos NW

o   Years 5&6 - 90 ticket sold disco sold out. Very happy for silent disco to continue for this year group.

o   Years 3&4- Questions raised as to whether silent disco is the best format for these year groups. A poll was sent to each class asking parents to vote for their preference silent discos or DJ Lollipop. Overall silent discos had the majority vote however; there was still a strong vote for DJ Lollipop. General feeling was that a DJ brings the room together and everyone dancing to same song. In contrast, DJ lollipop discos you tend to find children sitting out whilst they wait for a sing they like. Silent discos allow for multiple channels with a mix of music. Nicki will revisit the format for next year’s discos.

o   All other year groups format will stay the same.

o   Feedback- Song request option and child collection information at ticket sale. Silent discos not to occur in the same week as there is a lot of admin and setup to complete.

o   If a mobile phone needs to be checked during event, adults can use the staff room.

5.2 Quiz Night        AP2

Due to work commitments Ami Parker can no longer commit to this event.

Action Point: PTA to advertise vacancy.

5.3 Silent Auction AP1

Silent Auction will form part for Summer Fete.

5.4 Cinema Club   AJ

New Lead Fran Green and Andrew Phillimore-

Date: Monday 27^th April

Film: Zootropolis 2

5.5 Easter Egg Hunt  LP

o   Date confirmed Thursday 2^nd April

o   Easter Bunny and volunteers confirmed

o   Budget approved 700

o   Comms- LP and Steph (from the office) are in discussions as to how they can improve the communications regarding allergies. School will help with directly communicating/reaching out to impacted children.

o   Idea- to email families with allergies directly highlighting the process for chocolate alternatives. Also, teachers can post a message on Teams reiterating the allergy process.

5.6 School Fete     AJ

A group of Year 2 parents have kindly come forward to lead the Fete this year. Previous Fete team have met with the parents and completed a handover. Axelle, Lisa and Natalie are meeting with the new team Friday 13^th February to go over the plan and budget. Committee to expect to receive an email Fete expense vote Friday evening.

The Silent Auction will take place alongside the Fete. Axelle asked the committee if everyone was happy that the Silent Auction has its own stall and lead by Ash class, instead of that class leading a game stall. Committee were happy with the silent auction prizes being present on the day, it’s good for advertising the prizes and a convenient way to collect on the day. Committee support the way it works and make it easy for the team to achieve the goal.

5.7 Clarefest          AJ

Communicated points noted at Clarefest meeting held on 29^th January with Carmen, Giles, Axelle, Lisa and Shagun. 

Carmen requires a strong second in command to help with running the event especially the days leading up to 16th, on the day and clear up. Second in command shadowing with the intention of taking over lead for 2027. Since the meeting Natasha Collins has agreed to take on the role.

Reflections on last year.

o   The lack of volunteers made it very time consuming and stressful on a limited number of people.  Especially the lead up to the event and over the whole weekend. The heavy lifting from field to tank room and clear up especially.

o   To prevent a repeat of last: Do we scale back and not have as many stalls? This will impact token sales and therefore profit.  Is this something we’re happy to accept.

o   Do we pay for an outsourced clear up team. This particular task was a disaster and very stressful last year due to lack of helpers. Recoup the cost by increasing the ticket price.

o   Volunteers confirmed: Bar, BBQ, Music, Marketing, First Aider, Popcorn and sweet stall

o   To reduce the requests for volunteers on the day, Carmen will consider scaling back the number of entrainment stalls.

o   Ticket price Proposal – Small increase raising an extra £800 potentially.

2025 Ticket Price

·      Adult £14

·      Kids £3.50

·      Under 1s free

2026- Proposal

·      £15 adult 2026 (increase by £1- will raise extra £800 on ticket sales)

·      £4 kids (increase by 50p- many children are also older)

·      Under 1s free

·      Pupil Premium option at ticket purchase

·      £38 for family of four (extra £3 per family)

5.8 WBD Fancy Dress Sale   JB

JB checked the current stock, there’s not enough items to arrange a sale nor the time to collect donations for this WBD.

Action Point:  Send comms out to collect donations for next year.    

6.    Committee Votes

o   New Vice Chair: Rachel Mackenzie has volunteered to take on the Vice Chair role. Rachel has Millie in Saplings and another child who will join Claremont.

• Axelle nominates Rachel and Mrs Roberts’ seconds nomination.

• All committee members present vote in agreement of her position.

Action Point: LG to update the Charity Commission website.

o   Outdoor Storage: The school’s woodland field is in desperate need of a storage container for the children’s belongings during activities held on this field. School would ideally like two a robust shed and with shelves inside. School have proposed a school equipment supplier. Two sheds will cost £863.98 Inc vat and currently on offer. Delivered already built. Three week lead time.

Mrs Robert’s has asked that the event leads to take responsibility for clearing the shed after each event.

All committee members present vote yes to the expenses.

o   Clarefest Budget- Intend to roll over much of the structure as last year.

• Carmen has requested a slight increase in expenses to act as a buffer. At this moment in time, she has not received any quotes. Therefore, doesn’t know how much the costs have increased by this year, if any.

• Uplift the expenses slightly from £12,500k (2025) to £13k with the full intention of working towards £12k (actual expenses from 2025).

All committee members present vote yes to the expenses.

o   Summer Fete budget- Budget and plan will be discussed Friday 13^th February. Email vote for Fete expenses will be sent after this meeting.

7. AOB

First Aid training. JB proposed the need for volunteers to become first aid trained as finding first aiders to commit to events is always a challenge.

• Event Leads becoming first aid trained would be ideal.

• Potential service providers

• St Johns Ambulance. 1 Day course £150pp

• Piggyback school’s inhouse first aider course programme.

Action Point: Miss Zielinski will ask the school

• Make it a parent event. A booked event paid by parents not the PTA.

• AJ noted that any training would need to be covered by the individual.

Christmas Parents Party 2026- Committee agree the 2025 party was a great success and wish for another to be planned for 2026.

Chipin – How can we showcase ChipIn alongside IT provisions.

Need to find another way to inform parents that ChipIn is an important donation towards the school’s educational services. IT contributes towards all IT provisions; IT licensing, IT security, educational programmes, maintaining and replenishing equipment, classroom interactive whiteboards.

PTA’s annual commitment of £15k is half the required funds, school contributes the other half. 

Idea: Afternoon arrangements like the Phonics programme for parents. Showcase IT provisions

Action Point: LG to ask Lucy Prior, if she would be happy to continue conversations with Mrs R.

Phone misuse during school disco. A child witnessed another child taking pictures on her phone when she was near her bag. Mrs Robert will take this back to teachers to discuss how they prevent this from happening again. Initial thought is for those attending the disco, their phones remain in the designated box until the end of the disco.

Signed by Chair

Axelle Joos de ter Beerst

17th March 2026