Minutes of PTFA Meeting - 07.11.2007
held at ‘Chapel, etc’, Martingate Centre, Corsham
Present
Becky Roberts, Andrew Shirley, Peter Dove, Frances Inman, Paul Arrowsmith, Zak Feaunati, Cat Feaunati, Nick Skeet, Lis Skeet, Sally Mitchell, Letitia Bradley-Proulx, Charlotte Smith, Rachel Hills (for Kieran Loftus).
1) Apologies for Absence
Martin Edmundson, Julie Duddy, Sarah Taylor, Elinor Anderson.
2) Matters arising from the previous Minutes.
These were agreed by all present to be accurate.
3) New posts, introductions, roles and responsibilities
Paul, who has become the treasurer, gave us an outline of his role (overseeing the accounts, getting the floats for events, NCPTA, and generally all things financial) he told us he felt he was at the time of his life he wanted to give something back and was looking forward to working on the committee, Peter thanked Paul on behalf of the PTFA for volunteering and said what a welcome addition he was.
Peter then talked a little about how he had read Nick's letter from September and Peter Robson's article and that these had inspired him to put his name forward as the Chair. He hopes to inspire others to help and get involved. So that together with the class reps and all those who help the school we can create some really effective team effort.
Peter explained that he has been in Corsham for the past 4 years after moving back from the US with his family but how settled he feels within the community.
4) Chair's Report
Peter reported that he had had an informal meeting with the other committee members and also with Peter Robson, who is still convalescing but that together with Neil Bolton, Nick and Letitia a smooth transition from old committee to new has been ensured. He is looking forward to meeting with Kieran soon and setting objectives and targets for this year.
5) The School's Report
Charlotte Smith and Rachel Hills attending on behalf of Kieran Loftus explained that the school wanted to thank everyone who supports the PTFA and state how appreciative they are of all the work that we do behind the scenes. They are looking forward to the start of the class teas. Nick expressed the parents' thanks for the keeping the Art Week Gallery open until 7.00 pm, it really did give a lot of extra people the chance to see the fantastic work that our children had created. He also took this opportunity to thank the staff for all the time and effort that they had spent to inspire the children.
6) The Treasurer's report
Paul made a short presentation on the current financial position and options for moving the PTFA bank account.
Neil Bolton in his final act as Treasurer had reported that the accountants had pointed out that we do not require our accounts to be audited due to the size of our turnover. In future our accounts will only need to be verified, a simpler and cheaper option.
On the current financial statement, Paul explained that there are several outstanding liabilities - these are mostly cheques that had been written but not yet cashed.
The school uniform ordering system has been changed since the last financial report and it is now sold for us by Michael Hope. As it is the beginning of the new school year we expect a spike in the revenue coming in, there will not usually be such a large amount generated.
Nick also explained that the PTFA make slightly less as a result of changing to the on-line system as Michael Hope's charges are higher. We have however kept the price of items at last year's levels to ensure best value for parents. Profits are small but the inconvenience for all involved is now reduced to a minimum and the system seems to be working well. Nick added that parents should note that prices may well need to be increased next year if the supplier increases their costs.
A more detailed discussion was then held as Paul went through the various banking options that we have available to us. CAF bank (provided by the NCPTA) is the obvious choice and Paul proposed that this become the new PTFA account provider. There are some concerns about the branch service being provided by HSBC for CAF bank as we have experienced problems with our current service levels, through HSBC. Cat who works for HSBC also queried whether the Corsham branch would know anything about the CAF bank and that they were linked. Paul promised to report back if there were any blockages to transferring our account across. The proposal was agreed by all present.
Peter remarked on what a good job Paul had done in both the research and presentation.
7) Vice Chair's update
Nick noted that the Vice Chair does not usually do an update but to continue the smooth transition he wanted to bring everyone up to date on a few on going background events. The school was going to enter the competition being sponsored by the RBS which will give £100,000 first prize and 10 regional prizes of £10,000, to be used for improving the outdoor play areas of primary schools. Mr Loftus has approached Year 6 to help write the schools entry. The closing date is the 26th November 2007.
The idea of creating and selling a school calendar was suggested and Nick gave the committee's apologies for not raising the idea with parents before going ahead but due to the pressures of time in order to get the calendars done we talked to Mr Loftus about it and started the ball rolling. This is something that a number of parents have asked the PTFA to consider on a number of occasions.
Nick described the look and features of the calendar and explained that the finished item was not going to be a flimsy thing that falls apart but is a high quality full colour item. Notable dates will be printed on it which we felt would be helpful as well as child self portraits and the school crest. Mr Loftus had suggested we order 250 calendars which puts the unit cost to the PFTA as being £2.75. A straw poll suggested that those present would on the whole buy two each at a price of between £4 and £9. The meeting agreed that £5 was a fair price and it meant it was affordable for us all whilst also making some money for the school.
If we are able to sell all 250 calendars we stand to make in the region of £500.
8) Christmas Bazaar
Lis started her update by explaining that last year we had toyed with the idea of an evening Bazaar but this year Mr Loftus had specially asked us to give it serious consideration so that the staff could be more involved. In light of all the factors we decided to try it out and see. The bazaar is scheduled for the same night as the Christmas lights are turned on in Corsham but due to finish in time for people to move on to the town hall.
Lis is hoping to plan it through the class reps again this year, she mentioned that they have all been really positive and planning is well under way. Lis thanked everyone for their enthusiasm. We need to think about food and drink as the children are usually hungry by the end of the school day and some families won't go home before the lights are turned on. There will be cakes for sale but we wondered about selling pizza again as it sold really well at the school disco and was liked by the children who were there.
The School has granted us access to the hall from 11.00 to begin set up and have promised to be as co-operative as possible to help us with things like access to classroom tables etc. The grotto will be the main project and we are planning to start this Thursday afternoon (6/12). Peter Dove offered last year to do the photos the children visiting Santa, and the PTFA gratefully accepted this kind offer.
We have had an offer of the hire of a Candy Floss machine which will be £50 to use, but it will be a little bit of a novelty and we discussed the idea of a ensuring portions are kept small and possibly bagged to prevent lots of mess. This is likely to be important as the school are having their RE inspection on the following Monday so things will need to be left as tidy as possible.
The question of a raffle was raised, and we talked about the various options but that we would be running a hamper raffle again at the nativity play/concert and we were hoping that Mr and Mrs Joel would run the Christmas Cake raffle again. Therefore we didn't want to run a proper raffle for the Bazaar which would involve sending tickets home. We felt once a year - in the summer was enough.
Zak suggested a silent auction as this is a great fundraiser, we agreed but felt it might be a good enough event on its own. Zak promised he would source some prizes and we would then build an event around them or tie it in with the St Patrick's celebration in March for which we have the Town Hall booked.
Lis went through the other stalls and attractions we would be having such as the Rock Shop, craft activities, bottle stall, Santa's stockings, face painting, etc. The school has agreed that the 7 December will be a bottle for Mufti day.
Lis has produced stall holder briefing sheets and is sourcing good gifts for the grotto as well as prizes for stalls. It was suggested we have an indoor Coconut shy possibly in the table cupboard in the hall, and the use of a skittle alley was also offered. Lis will produce a final list of stalls and attractions after a planning meeting has been held and risk assessment has been considered.
9) Upcoming events - proposal to establish an informal calendar
Paul has started to set up a time line for organising future events - Peter thanked him for his work with this. An agreed events planner will be placed on the website and notice board in due course. The events that are planned at the moment are St Patrick's night - the town hall has been booked for this, but we have not yet decided on the type of event and we need someone to lead on it.
A summer fete, we again need a leader to help co-ordinate this event, with lots of support!! It is important to start to book the various attractions as soon as possible. Other suggestions for events we have at the moment are a Bingo Night, auction of Promises, a sponsored Event, Parents rounders, Cream Teas, Golf Competition, Safari dinner, Quiz night. The point was raised that we are all full time parents many with full time jobs and we really need some names put forward to lead on events, with the ideas to get them started.
It was agreed that a list of the potential events be compiled and consulted upon with the parents so that we can ensure what we run as a PTFA is based on the wishes of the majority that respond. Nick to take this on.
Nick has agreed to organise a wine tasting evening and is investigating venues at present. This is planned for sometime early in February 2008.
The PTFA will again serve complimentary mulled wine and cake after the evening Nativity performance and we are running the Hamper raffle again this year at both the KS1 and KS2 performances but are writing to different companies to try to raise the hamper contents that way rather than ask the parents for more donations - we are mindful of the amount of donations asked for at this time of year.
10) Fund raising targets and objectives to summer 2009
We don't have any news of targets yet from the school, and we feel it is important to maintain a balance between social events and fundraising events but we do know that developing the playground and outdoor play facilities, especially for the early years is going to be a priority this year. It was agreed we should raise this point at the next meeting. Peter pointed out that he would be having a meeting with Kieran shortly at which targets and objectives would be discussed.
11) A.O.B.
Road Safety
Becky raised the issue of road safety at the school entrance. She asked that the PTFA approach the school to see if a 'No Turning' sign can be sited at the entrance.
At the moment requests re: parking and traffic are placed in the newsletter every so often but this is insufficient in her view and does not always reach the target audience. We are one of the only schools in the town that does not have zig zag lines in front of the school or other warning signs for approaching motorists.
Nick and Peter resolved to bring the matter up with the school in the first instance and the governors and district council following that as appropriate.
Car Sharing
Andy proposed the idea of a scheme to facilitate car sharing to reduce the number of cars fighting for a place along the Lacock road and it was agreed that it couldn't be done through the school. However Andy very kindly put himself forward as the organiser and will act as a point of contact for parents in different areas to get in touch with others who may be able to share journeys. A newsletter article would be submitted to promote the scheme.
Date of next meeting
A suitable date and venue for a meeting will be advertised in due course.