AGM 2021

Minutes of meeting held 6pm, 1 November 2021

Appointments: Secretary - Siobhan O'Leary Donkin, Treasurer - Lauren Fulton, Chair - Samantha Crowe

Chair's report

Every child matters. These words are at the heart of the Beaver Road PTA constitution and guide our purpose and activity. If ever there was a year when improving the lives of children at school mattered most it was 2020/21.

It would have been easy to let the pandemic squander our chances of raising money for projects that make a difference. Instead, we took the opportunity to experiment and try new things.

Our Christmas pizza party a case in point. This represented our ethos that events should provide a chance to have fun and celebrate our community first and foremost. Our Santa fun run brought people together too and raised over £4000, half of which was donated to Perry’s Pantry foodbank.

These events complemented traditional Christmas card and raffle fundraisers. Thanks to the generous prizes donated by Philip James, many families and local businesses, our raffle raised over £1000, which Barclays double match funded, bringing the overall total for Christmas to £8,000.

We’ve topped up our fundraising with smaller activities such as the Easter Hunt sponsored by Bisous Bisous and sales of second hand uniform.

All of this has meant we could fund Christmas entertainment, year 6 business projects, important digital safety training, playtime equipment and field trips to forest school through to year group library books that give every child access to diverse literature and literature about diversity.

However, it will be the castle for the year 1 playground and the new early years playground, which will have underlined the reason the PTA exists. Helping the school make its budget stretch to big ticket investments will and has changed the start to school life for our youngest children.

Our efforts now turn to the development of the Junior woodland, where we intend to build on the successful volunteer day. Working in partnership with the school, our ambition is to create a space to play, explore and learn. It will take considerable funds. However, we are certain that the Beaver Road spirit will make it happen.

We would like to extend our thanks to the enthusiastic committee, the Beaver Road teaching team, and every person who made a donation, took part or volunteered. None of this is possible without you.

On a personal note, Sam would like to thank Kate for her steadfast commitment to upholding our constitution and ensuring compliance, as well as her unfailing willingness to say yes to the ideas Sam has. As Kate steps down, Sam is sure everyone will join her in thanking Kate for her dedication.

Finally, it’s worth saying that although 2021/22 won’t be easy it does start with optimism. More people have joined the committee. We welcome them and look forward to achieving our goal of improving the life of every child at Beaver Road Primary for another year.

Samantha Crowe, Kate Peacock

Ends

Treasurer's report


The opening bank balance was £34,347 on 4th September.


Closing bank balance was £29,739 on 31st August.


During the period 1st September 2020 – 31st August 2021 we raised £18,707.


We spent £23,415 on fundraising & expenditure for the school.


We are waiting for a £20k cheque for the playground work to clear and have also approved the following spending:

  • £400 on instruments

  • £100 for nursery reading corner

  • £100 for parking banners

  • £200 for year 2 role play

  • Christmas entertainment (value TBC)

  • This leave c£9,000 before any Christmas fundraising


Thanks to a healthy opening bank balance at the beginning of the year and some excellent Christmas, Halloween & Easter Fundraising along with continued uniform sales, it’s been an excellent year despite continued difficult circumstances due to COVID. Thanks to everyone for their efforts this year.


Lauren Fulton

ENDS