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08/11/22 – 7.30pm Zoom Call 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), Nicki Webb (Committee Member), Emma Butterworth (Committee Member), Candi Roberts (Headteacher), Michelle Bovey-Wood, Jonathan Coupee, and Cat Christodoulou. APOLOGIES: Emma Doward
Chair Update - CS
Lots of fundraising activity going on in the first term. Dragon Boat team won the Tonbridge Boat Race and raised nearly £500 in September. We hosted a Reception social; good vibe, encouraged interest and raised money via the raffle, and we also hosted the Afternoon Tea with governors and school. Big thanks to Juliette Hatchman for organising the pre-half term Halloween costume playground sale that raised £200. The recent Raffle raised ~£1k and huge thanks to Zoe Phillimore for hunting down some amazing prizes. For the first time we sold Dunorlan Park Fireworks tickets (with thanks to Lucy Prior), for which the PTA received a kickback totalling ~£200. Michelle Yeatman organised Christmas Cards again this year and thanks to Emma Doward who is supporting and will take over next year (post meeting note: raising around £450). The Wine Tasting event was held last week and was a big success, raised ~£700-£750, and was much enjoyed by all. Uniform sales continue well with two online sales and one in person sale raising ~£800. Huge thanks to parent body and wider community for their continued support during tough economic times. Looking forward we have planned a Cinema Club, the usual “Christmas Cracker” including Secret Room and we have committed £170 (approved by email in the term) to costs to contribute Christmas hats to the Christmas lunch and prize for Christmas card winners.
New Committee Member Voting - CS Michelle Bovey-Wood has kindly volunteered to join the PTA and was nominated by CS and seconded by NJ. Welcome to Michelle and a big thank you for your time prior to this meeting. Actions from last meeting - S O'M – see attached update.
Treasurer Update – SF £7,177 profit raised this academic year to date, which is almost double compared to this time last year so a great effort from all involved, many thanks. £37,202.70 cash in the bank. Figures from individual events were presented but various expenses had not yet been processed so revised figures for the term will be presented at the next meeting. 5. Funding Request from School - CS CS provided an overview of some of the equipment suggestions that the school are interested in investing in, and that the PTA could contribute to. The school are looking into more Canopies for the outside area(s) & a Trim Trail (the wooden play areas on the school field). The Committee had a productive discussion on this; we reviewed the overall funding contributions the PTA normally donates forecast for the whole year (see below diagram) and noted that if all potential projects are contributed to, with the year's lower amount of expected fundraising than last year, then the buffer in the PTA bank account could deplete by over half and be under £10,000 by year end (which would not be enough to fund even 1 future year of IT spend). CS highlighted that all figures in the chart are forecast estimates and no firm commitments or requests for funding have yet been made.
[Chart unable to load to blog - Please contact the PTA if you'd like to see the chart] The Committee felt that it was a big outlay to commit to at this point in the year when future fundraising efforts are uncertain e.g. we do not know if the Summer Fete will be able to go ahead due to lack of volunteers to organise and there is no guarantee of being able to raise the whole amount the school may request. However, the PTA agreed in principle to work towards funding £40,000 of projects and set a fundraising target of that for this year. The PTA requested for CR to revert to the PTA for formal approval once costs and specs are confirmed and known following the school's formal procurement process.
Summer Fete – CS CS has had some discussions with a previous organiser of the Summer Fete; it was acknowledged that it is a resource intensive project. It was agreed that a brainstorming session could be held to look at innovative ways of making it more light touch on the organisers (e.g. children only event in school, outsource bouncy castles). ACTION: CS to organise Summer Fete brainstorm; SO’M, BD agreed to attend.
Feedback Process - CS The PTA sometimes receive feedback (positive and constructive) on events / fundraising activities. Responding to individual feedback can be time consuming so the below text in blue was reviewed by the Committee and it was agreed it would be issued in response to any future feedback. We also agreed to introduce a formal standing agenda item at the PTA Meetings where feedback received would be tabled for the Committee to discuss and address as appropriate. Hello, Thank you for taking the time to email us your feedback. We love hearing your thoughts and ideas, and we look at everything we receive at our regular committee meetings. We can't respond directly to every email, but rest assured we will be looking into the points you've raised in your email. The PTA committee is made up of Claremont parents, and most of us have work to balance too. We joined the PTA because we want to create fun memories for the children at Claremont, so we're always looking for ideas of how we can improve. But we have a limited capacity, and need an increase in active PTA members to help get everything done. Could this be you? We'd love to see you at our next meeting, where we will be discussing your feedback. You can find details of when our next meeting is by clicking here. We hope to see you there. With thanks, Claremont PTA committee
Cinema Club Feedback – SW
SW informed the Committee of feedback we had received following Cinema Club ticket release. It was felt that there were not enough tickets and not enough notice before they went on sale. It was acknowledged that there was a “glitch” on the website which meant tickets were available before they should have gone live and parents had been able to starting purchasing. Once realised we put ticket sales on hold until agreed time. It was a very popular event.
We explored whether we could hold another one around similar times which SW kindly agreed to organise again. Everyone agreed if we could secure the hall and enough volunteers. Discussion on allowing Reception children but CS advised the adult: children ratios are different.
ACTION: SW/CR to take offline and discuss possibility of Reception children at Cinema Club. SW to explore second date.
Christmas Cracker – CS This year's PTA Christmas Cracker is again being organised by Theo Tully and Loran Haines and will include the Secret Room, Guess the Name of the Teddy, Christmas Hats at the lunch (organised by Michelle Yeatman, handing over to Lucy Lamb for next year), and being able to wear a Christmas jumper on the day of the lunch. We are asking for a donation (no-one is excluded) of £4 per child and the LocalGiving site is open. CS advised that King Charles the Martyr is holding a Christmas Tree festival and they’ve offered a tree which we can decorate and trees get auctioned off before Christmas of which we would receive some funding. There is no cost to the PTA, we just provide the decorations Jonathan suggested that the children could do at home and offered to provide a template we could send out to parents. ACTION: Jonathan to provide Christmas decorations template.
Second Hand Toy & Christmas Jumper Sale – Cat Christodoulou Cat kindly attended the meeting and proposed an idea for doing a second hand toy and Christmas jumper sale before Christmas this year. Everyone thought it was a great idea so this will be progressed. NW agreed to support and help. Many thanks to Cat for proposing and taking the time to attend. ACTION: NW to contact school about availability of facilities to hold the sale one day after drop off.
One Hundred Club idea – JC Jonathan Coupee attended this month to propose and explore the idea of a “One Hundred Club”. Parents donate £100 per year and this would include certain items such as PTA tickets for events, an ‘x’ amount of second hand uniform items and potentially benefits such as offered by the TN1 card organiser had offered 50% discount on the cost of that card. It was suggested whether it would be a subscription approach rather than a one off payment. Again, there was lots of support for the idea but more thought and brainstorming would need to go into it to ensure it was inclusive. Many thanks to Jonathan for proposing and taking the time to attend. ACTION: LP agreed to arrange a brainstorm session in January and BD, CR and SO’M offered to attend and support.
AOB – All Wine Tasting – NJ – great feedback received on event and looking into possible gin tasting in the future. It was noted it was a good networking opportunity and perhaps a parent networking night could be held if we had any volunteers. Kent Wines supplied the drinks and they have offered to supply our wines for future events and beat the cost of Bookers or Majestic. Boon – CS – like a local e-bay within Claremont community and has been discussed before. CS will revert in January as no capacity to do anything now. Not Just Travel – EB – there is an initiative called “Not Just Travel” which offers a kick back, at no cost, to charities when people book a holiday through them. ACTION: EB to revert with a formal proposal on this and check there is no sponsorship conflict. Panto – BD – The Assembly Hall offers a school deal “cheaper rate”; BD wondered if the PTA could sell these tickets with a mark-up as a service to parents. Committee agreed it was worth looking into for Christmas 2023. ACTION: CS to discuss cheaper panto tickets with Council / Assembly Hall and explore the opportunity of accessing and selling such tickets. Date of Next Meeting - S O'M – Tuesday 24th January 7.30pm at the Claremont ACTION: SO’M to book next meeting at the Claremont. 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: _______7/1/2023______________________________________
