What We Do

The SFPA has historically been an events team, and this is still at the core of what we do.  From the Scavenger Hunt for new families at the start of the academic year through to the Summer Party in June to celebrate the passing of another school year.  

More recently we have started to branch out into other activities that are designed to bring parents together and provide opportunities to engage with the school.  These include Coffee Mornings, Year Group Reps, and now this website.

What We Don't Do

The SFPA is not a parent-teacher association and as such we have no responsibility to act as a liaison between parents and the school on issues or concerns. These should be directed through the normal school channels.

The SFPA is not here for the kids.  Although in exceptional circumstances, we have organised events purely for the children, our events are normally family events, such as the Fireworks Display, or purely for the benefit of parents, like the Summer Party.

The SFPA does not intentionally raise money for charity or the school. However, having said that, we do inevitably accrue a small surplus each year, some of which is held as working capital and some of which is allocated to the school for specific projects and/or charity (see below).

How We Work

We meet formally with Dr. Hyde-Dunn (Headmaster) and Richard Brent (Bursar) at the start of each half-term and informally in smaller sub-teams as required.

With the exception of the Chair and Secretary, SFPA roles are fairly flexible depending on the needs of the moment and strengths of the team members. The team currently consists of several Event Leads as well as roles in Recruitment,  Year Group Rep Co-ordination, and various aspects of Communications. 

All parents are eligible to put themselves forward to be members of the SFPA.  We are primarily looking for people who have time to give, are enthusiastic to be involved, and enjoy organising events or writing communications.

For those who have less time to give we also have an active list of volunteers who do a great job of helping out on the day at events and activities.

Day-to-day decisions are typically delegated to the sub-teams involved in organising events and activities, but for anything more significant the decisions are made in the formal meetings at the start of each half-term.  These include any amendments to the constitution, the programme of events for the year, ticket prices, new member applications, and the annual allocation of surplus funds.

Finances

Part of the Bursar's role is to administer the SFPA finances on behalf of the team.

The team decides on the amount of working capital to hold, the allocation of surplus funds, and the setting of ticket prices.

It is not the aim of the SFPA to raise money, so ticket prices are set as low as possible to cover the costs of the event while, at the same time, not risking a significant loss if we don't completely sell all the tickets.

The small annual surplus accrued has typically been donated to school projects, such as the outdoor table tennis tables, and to charities chosen by the school.

This year we are hoping to contribute towards new theatrical sound and/or lighting for Ashburton Hall.