AGM 2020
Minutes from the AGM - chair Kate Peacock. 4th November, 7pm.
Unanimous vote Lauren Fulton joins as treasurer.
Unanimous vote: Kate Peacock and Sam Crowe remain as co-chair until replacements come forward. Sam Crowe to continue as secretary and with communications.
A sad farewell to Dawn Cheshire who steps down to focus on her studies. Our thanks for all she did and our best wishes. Gemma Martin remains on the commitee.
Kate and Sam remain until post until an EGM can be called to vote in a replacement.
Chair's report
2019/20 has been a year of two halves. Buoyed by the success of the previous year we launched 2019/20 with a fundraising target of £20,000 and a stretch target of £25,000.
We kicked off with confirmation of a donation of £3,500 from the Co-Op, following our nomination as a community project. This money was immediately allocated to the playground.
During the first half of the autumn term we ran a movie night, glow disco and a portrait offer from Neil Barrett. All very successful events in their own right and brought the total to £8,500.
The second half of term focused on Christmas initiatives, which saw this total double. The Christmas fair was an exceptional event and a great example of volunteering, generosity and good spirits. Taking into account the amounts raised by the raffle, Christmas cards and the fair we closed the autumn term with an income of £16,000.
We opened up the new year by repeating the tried and trusted movie night, and bedding plant and Mother’s Day primrose sales. We supplemented income with second hand book and uniform sales.
However by March, our ethos of bringing the community together was much needed as we gathered donations for food banks to support those that would be hit hardest by the pandemic. The overwhelming response by families was a reflection of everything we are proud to represent as a PTA.
As lockdown eased we turned our attention to socially distanced events, such as a treasure hunt and cycle raising £300, and second hand uniform sale, which to date has raised over £200.
We’ve also reignited ways to keep funds coming in - Stamptastic, Stikins, Amazon Smile and The Giving Machine - and plan to add more such as Terracycle.
Despite the upheaval we have still raised after costs and expenses £16,700 this last year.
None of it would have been possible without the generosity of families, the army of volunteers who make events a success and our sponsor Philip James Kennedy. I’d like to thank them all.
Finally, as I plan to step down at the end of this year I’d like to give personal thanks to committee members Gemma and Dawn, Nia and Tina who go the extra mile to make a difference. Their enthusiasm has helped make all the difference. Thanks also to the senior leadership team who have supported our ideas and allowed us to try new things.
But most of all I’d like to thank Kate for her clear head for numbers, her faithfulness to the charity constitution and her hard work. Together we have achieved great things building on the foundations of our predecessors. We have raised money that will make a material difference to life at school and we have created positive memories that come from taking part. But I am most proud that we have brought a sense of community to our approach, something which I believe is critical to running a successful PTA, but has shown to be so important in times like these.
I wish our successors - whoever they may be - every success in the future.
Treasurer's report
The opening bank balance was £17,959.45 on 5th September.
Closing bank balance was £34,256.43 on 27th Augus
During the period 1st September 2019 – 31st August 2020 we raised £17,691.21.
Our cost were £6,310.58
We spent £1,171.46 on books for all year groups from Madeline Lindley
We approved requests for
£9,000 AV system for Junior School
£ 442.75 Year 1 Role Play
£ 483.60 SENCO sensory play area
£ 2,900 Nursery outside play equipment
£540 Art equipment
£5,000 KS1 playground
£5,000 Early Years playground
£310 Year 6 Hoodies
£375 Spanish Day
Total £25, 222.81
So going forward we have just over £10,000 available to allocate
This has been an exceptional year in many ways. To raise the amount we have in such difficult circumstances is a real achievement. Our target was £20,000 and we were not far off even with Covid 19 and no summer fair.
It is a testament to what can be achieved in a very large school with a relatively tiny committee and I would like to thank Gemma, Dawn and Nia for all their efforts. However I would particularly like to thank Sam for her relentless optimism, amazing communications and her determination to create a new event/ funding stream such as the treasure trails and photo vouchers and for being an absolute pleasure to co chair with.