September #1
Hello and welcome to the first Parent Teacher Association newsletter of 2019/20! In this newsletter you'll find out what the PTA is, how you can get involved, and all the exciting events we have planned for this term, including our movie night for which tickets are on sale now!
Don't forget coffee mornings run every Friday in the Rowan room (old nursery at the front of the school). These mornings are a great way to meet new people and find out more about what's happening at school. It was lovely to meet so many of you at last Friday's coffee morning, which also made £100 from the seocnd hand uniform and book sale. A great way to kick start the year!
NOTICE OF AGM - we'll be having our AGM on Monday 7th October at 2:30-3:00, in the first school canteen. Everyone is welcome to come, especially if you are interested in being a class rep, volunteering or joining the committee.
Keep in touch
Get the latest updates by following us on Twitter @BeaverRoad_PTA and Facebook Facebook.com/BeaverRoadPTA
Introducing your committee!
The PTA is a charity run by volunteer parents and teachers. It's a completely separate organisation to the school and our purpose is to raise money to buy extra equipment that the school wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. Please say hello if you see us at drop off or pick up!
Treasurer and Co-Chair: Kate Peacock. Kate is mum to Eliza and founder of award winning Imagination Baby
Co-Chair and communications: Sam Crowe. Sam is a mum to Thomas and Nicholas, and a freelancer PR Consultant
Secretary: Nia Horan. Nia is an early years teacher at Beaver Road, currently in Year 1.
Volunteer committee member: Gemma Martin. Gemma is mum to Honey and Pearl with a background in nursing. Gemma looks after fundraising campaigns that involve specialist suppliers.
Volunteer committee member: Dawn Cheshire. Dawn is mum to Callum, Connor & Luke, and studying for a BSc in health sciences
Get involved! Become a class rep or committee member
We're looking for class reps to help encourage classes to get involved in fundraising initiatives. It's a straightforward role in that you'll help us remind your class about what's going on and any important deadlines such as when Christmas Card or Mothering Sunday orders need to be in. You can sign up to be a class rep on PTA Social - read on for how to do this.
We'd also love to see some new committee members to help us organise and run events throughout the term. It's a great way to learn new skills that can boost your CV, feel part of the community and meet new people. In particular we are looking for someone to help us with bookkeeping. We'd also like help on our Christmas Fair sub-committee, which will start meeting after half term.
As a committee member you can do as much as you have time for. And it's a great chance to shadow Kate and Sam to see if becoming chair or Treasurer is for your next year when they step down. Drop us a line if you'd like to find out more beaverrdfundraisers@outlook.com or talk to us at Friday's coffee morning.
We're also very keen to hear from anyone who can help us with Matched Funding - a scheme companies run that lets employees double the money they raise for good causes. Read more about which companies are involved and all about the scheme on our Matched Funding page here
What's our target? This year it's £20,000.
Over the last couple of years our mission has been to raise money to transform the playgrounds at both schools.
We've now started to see our fundraising efforts pay off - the gazebo installed at the first school was bought using PTA funds raised in 2017/8.
The 'story area' is the next purchase the PTA will make using 2018/19 funds. We'll update you on installation progress and costs.
The remaining funds from 2018/19 will be pooled with money we raise from now on to buy larger pieces of equipment for the schools in the Spring (when the weather is better for installation) and also a new AV system for the Juniors.
We are also setting aside a fund, which the teachers can call upon for items they need to support their curriculum plans. We'll provide regular updates on purchases.
New fundraising challenge for the Junior School!
The Junior school has no audio visual facilities, which makes learning, assemblies and extra curricular activities difficult to deliver. At the moment teachers use an old overhead projector balanced on a gym box, or hold up paper.
We have started a specific fundraising page on Golden Giving to kick start our fundraising for this equipment - likely to cost in the region of £9,000. It's a cause that will benefit every child as they move through the school and when they attend events there. We're asking people to make a one off donation of £2, £5 or £10 to kick start our fundraising for this.
You can donate by card or PayPal using this link https://www.goldengiving.com/fundraising/beaverroadpta And of course, if you can afford to donate more then we'd be very happy to receive it!
ps is this your line of work, can you help get a quote or could your company make a donation to sponsor this equipment? Please get in touch!
How will we hit our £20,000 target? Dates for the diary...
We've got some brilliant fundraisers planned! Get these dates in the diary now. We'll send more details about all these events in our next newsletter.
AGM - 7th October, 2:30, first school restaurant.
Movie Night - 11th October (held at the First school for reception to yr 6), TICKETS ON SALE NOW. We'll give the children a choice of movies to vote on. The winning films will be shown on 11th October. If you have film suggestions please get in touch!
Gloooo Disco - Wednesday 6th November (held at the Juniors for nursery to Yr 6)
Christmas Fair - 29th November (held at the First school for everyone!)
Parent skills exchange - 14th & 21st November - an evening for parent and carers, where you can learn a new skill. We'll have cookery and art classes on offer.
If we can sneak a movie night in before Christmas we will - stay tuned....
We also have a great family portrait promotion with local photographer Neil Barrett lined up and of course we'll be producing Christmas cards using the children's designs. More details soon!
Set up your PTA Social account to buy tickets, volunteer and be a class rep
We use an online ticket platform called PTA Social to sell all our tickets and manage volunteering. You'll need an account, which is easy to set up just follow the steps below.
Create an account
Visit our page at: https://app.ptasocial.com/register/beaver-road-pta create an account and you will then be directed to our home page.
Or log in
If you already have a volunteer account then log in on the PTA Social home page as normal: https://app.ptasocial.com/auth/login (you can get a password reminder here).
Find the event
As soon as you log in you will see our homepage with all the events that you can buy tickets for, as well as the class rep sign up. Click on the event you want to buy tickets for.
Buy your tickets
You'll then see 'Buy Tickets', select the tickets you need, a buy now button will appear to check out securely. You'll then see a pop up, please enter your child's name and class to help us organise fast entry to the event.
SMILE! WE'RE ON AMAZON!
Over the summer we applied to become a charity in the AMAZON SMILE programme. And we're pleased to say we were accepted!
From now on when you want to buy something from Amazon please go to smile.amazon.co.uk and seach for Beaver Road PTA. After selecting our charity you will then be redirected to the main Amazon site. 0.5% of everything you buy will be donated to us.
This may seem small but given the size of the school and the amount we are likely to purchase between us all, especially in the run up to Christmas, this has huge potential to raise a lot of money for us.
BOOK MARK THIS LINK NOW as you'll need to use it every time! https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/700509-0
Other quick links to fund raise while you shop
£583.56 raised with Stamptastic!
Stamptastic donates 20% of all personalised name stamp and ink pad orders to us. You will get 15% off on your next order as a thank you - perfect for all the great gifts they have. All you have to do is enter the school postcode M206SX at the checkout in the promo code box. Over the summer you helped us raise £583.56!
£1,755 raised with Co-Op - can we hit £2,000?
Co-Op members can earn money for a local cause and save money off their next shop each time they swipe a membership card. We hope to hit £2,000 before our time as a local cause comes to an end at the end of October. Simply sign up here, and choose Beaver Road Primary School PTA as your local cause. You can shop in any Co-Op in the country and we will benefit, so please ask friends and relations to sign up too!
Funky Labels, which produces personalised sticker name labels, gives us 20% of your order when you shop with them using this special link.
The Giving Machine makes a donation to charity/ies each time you use its website to buy something from your favourite retailer. You simply go to the Giving Machine website, set up an account and nominate us as your charity. You can choose more than one charity and how you'd like the money you earn to be split between them. When you're ready to shop just select the retailer you want to buy from and it will redirect you to the retailer's website. This is then tracked and your purchase earns us commission. Find out more here.
Fact File: How does a PTA run?
Here's what you need to know if you've not come across a PTA before:
1. The PTA is a charity and has its own constitution. The Parent Teacher Association runs separately from the school and has no influence over how it is run. Our registered charity number is 700509.
2. Our purpose is to raise funds for the school by running events that are fun and bring people together.
3. Elected committee members can stay in post for up to four years, but generally people do the role for two to three years.
4. The roles are voluntary: There are no paid roles in the PTA, people give up their time to fundraise.
5. We have an AGM. This happens annually.
6. The committee relies on volunteers. While the committee co-ordinates the events, they wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. Anyone can volunteer by joining the committee, or if you'd prefer not to commit then you can help at an event with face painting, running a tombola, baking cakes or running an event related to a hobby you have.
7. We set a fundraising target. This year it’s £20,000.
8. As a charity we qualify for matched funding from companies. If you are employed by a company that will give a donation up to the same value of the money raised at an event then please get in touch. You can find out more here
Keep in touch: Beaver Road Primary School PTA on Facebook *** @BeaverRoad_PTA on Twitter *** beaverrdfundraisers@outlook.com
PTA committee: Kate Peacock, Treasurer / Co-Chair & parent - Sam Crowe, Co-Chair, communications manager & parent - Nia Horan, secretary & teacher - Gemma Martin, Dawn Cheshire volunteer committee members and parents