Minutes of Last Meeting - 19.03.2007
Present
Peter Robson, Sally Mitchell, Nick Skeet, Sarah Taylor, Letitia Bradley-Proulx.
1) Apologies for Absence
Miss Mitchell, Fiona Dowling, Neil Bolton, Martin Edmundson, Lis Skeet.
2) Minutes from the Last Meeting
- Neil is still waiting for a response from the school with regards to the class tea money.
- Letitia is to investigate further Lottery Funding.
- Sarah to approach Sister Concepta about the Ball.
3) The Chairman's Report
Peter started his report by thanking Neil and especially Margaret Gill for the great Race Night, it was a really enjoyable evening.
Peter went on the say thank you to everyone who took part in the Spellathon which raised £1700 without gift aid, and £2100 with the Gift Aid, (thank you to everyone who is a tax payer and ticked the gift aid box too!).
Peter went on to explain that we are now registered with H.M.R.C. for Gift Aid and that they have accepted our registration date and allowed us to go back to May last year to claim Gift Aid retrospectively. Peter is to investigate this as it is different to the information he was given last time, (it was suggested we could go back up to 6 years). Peter explained that the PTFA will continue to purchase some items through the school as this will give us some cash flow advantages and they can claim any VAT back, whereas we would be unable to do so.
The Trustees meeting was unfortunately postponed and is to be rearranged shortly, but Peter did not yet have a date for this.
4) Headmaster's Report
Due to preparations for the parents evening Miss Mitchell gave her apologies and Mr Loftus was unable to cover for the staff representation as he was at St Gregory's. He sent his regrets and hoped the meeting went well.
Peter presented the report that was emailed to him by Mr Loftus. He wrote:
Many congratulations on the excellent race night on Saturday which seemed to be a great success. From a personal point of view, it was nice to be away from the work place for a social. The organisation and attention to detail was fantastic and thanks to Mrs Gill and Mr Bolton for your hard work along with everyone else.
The Sainsburys promotion is working well and again your assistance with the administration has been very helpful indeed.
I am aware that you have a commitment to the building fund already but have a list of projects relating to the development of the playground. The School Council have ‘got in first’ and have written to you regarding a friendship stop and some picnic tables as I understand. I am hoping to hear confirmation of a Phase 2 grant for the Reception Year 1 block and I am very keen to improve the Early Years play area. This will be fairly major expenditure but I think there will be opportunities for the PTFA to purchase additional trikes etc. for the next generation. I know you are mindful of the need to get a surfacing down on the ‘outdoor classroom’ ……hopefully during the summer term. While we talk about surfacing I have asked for a large chess board marked onto the playground with large chess pieces. This would be a long lasting project for stimulating play for the older children.
The school kits with the school badge is also an excellent idea as the traditional royal blue kits seem to have disappeared into the ‘ether.’
I am delighted to learn that we have a volunteer for the banner and that the mugs for the anniversary are in progress.
As Peter will tell you we have a date for the new Reception Parents induction 8th June and as in previous years, PTFA representation will be much appreciated. We are still awaiting confirmation of an open air mass for the summer term.
The report raised a few questions that Peter will seek clarification on, these were:
- Where is the funding for the second phase of the buildings development coming from, as this may result in the PTFA having to contribute. Should this be the case we will need to plan.
- Clarification on the chess set, is this the one that was bought from the class tea money last year?
- It was suggested that Jacqui may be able to approach Michael Hope to scale up a crest of the school for the banner.
5) Treasurer's Report
As Neil had sent his apologies Peter also presented his report,by telling us that there was a big boost to the balance due to the very successful spellathon otherwise it was a fairly quiet "news" month, however Neil felt this was the lull before the storm of activity from Race night and the Ball, and he felt that next month will be more frenzied with the income from ball ticket sales starting to cascade in.
Neil hadn't had time to balance the books against the latest Bank statement before the meeting.
Other issues from him for the agenda were:
Race night feedback
- Thanks to every one who supported this event, it was great to be able to call on so many to help sell tickets, set up and help at the event. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. We anticipate making somewhere between £1200- 1500 for the night. Figures should be finalised over next couple of days. Thanks again to Margaret who has been an absolute star in driving the event and taking the strain as work pressures have made my involvement more difficult this year. Its been hard going for both of us...but now its over I am sure we can both say we enjoyed it!!
- I would also like it noted that I wish to personally apologise to Lena for forgetting to mention the appeal. It was a total oversight of mine on the night that I can only put down to pressures of making it all work on the night....my brain was up to 90 for most of the night and the weakness on the part of the MC meant I had to be more directly involved than I had originally planned. This is an explanation rather than an excuse - I had one of those awful cold sweat moments the next morning when I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to raise the issue. I hope Lena knows me well enough to know that the omission wasn’t intended. It was proposed that the PTFA produce a flyer to be issued to appeal for support for Jenny O’Connor in her Run for Alice campaign at the London Marathon. This would be passed to Lena prior to issuing. This proposal was agreed unanimously.
This report raised the issue that we don’t have any other fund raising events planned for the year, this produced an action point for both now and the next meeting to circulate ideas and collect ideas so that we can vote on them at the next meeting.
6) Events Update
Summer Ball update
Sarah felt it was a great start to ticket sales (25 bought and 29 reserved). After a meeting at Hartham Park, it was suggested by some parents who have had previous experience of a St. Patrick’s Ball, that a fun Casino would be great if we could work it into the budget. Sarah explained that we were hoping to be able to put some wine on the tables, and we did not have the budget for both, but it was felt that the Casino would be better and so acting on this Sarah has now sourced black jack and gaming tables for us on the night, and she wondered if we could buy a prize to be given to the person with the most chips at the end of the night. She is going to approach Majestic to see if they will donate a magnum for this purpose.
We also will be having an auction and Sally is writing to various companies to get some spa days, balloon flights and the like, the auction will take place between the two sets that the band is playing and this will be the main fund raising event for the evening. It was felt to be more fitting than a raffle and felt to be unfair to ask anyone to go round and sell tickets when everyone will have paid to be there.
Peter explained that the saving scheme is now in place and that the people taking part will each receive an envelope which contains 4 instalment envelopes these have suggested payment dates on them and the persons name so that there is no room for error. Peter again thanked Mrs Gilbert for her part in collecting the money when it comes in and we all thanked Peter for setting up the scheme.
Sarah said she will try and set up a table at the induction day for new parents and Letitia will write to them all individually after Easter when the ticket sales are opened to the wider School community. We will only write to the new parents to the school as we thought that some of them may like to take this opportunity to get to know the other new parents.
Lastly Sarah is to go back to Hartham and review the menus for us.
Street Party Update
Peter received an update from the school with their requests to the PTFA. The school said:
The Street party is rather straight forward as we see it. There will be two sittings in the hall (I think we should have it in the hall ... weather considered !!! ) in the afternoon with Christmas party like food. Children will have 60 70 80 clothes on (optional) with music from that era. Parents will make their own decisions re lunches.
| Sitting | Time |
|---|---|
| 1st sitting | 1.15 - 2.00pm |
| 2nd sitting | 2.15 - 3.00pm |
Perhaps a 40th cake from MY LOAF and we could get the Bath Chronicle in again. Food can be supplemented by home donations. Staff will do games with classes.
The PTFA were asked to provide some 'Pass the Parcel TYPE prizes for all of the classes.
We discussed and agreed that we would get two cakes from My Loaf one with the Crest and wording on and a larger cutting cake so everyone can have a piece that will have the icing on.
Peter agreed to contact the local papers and Nick volunteered to get the flyer in the book bags for Wednesday to give the parents as much notice as we could.
Fiona Dowling is to be approached to lead on this as she has headed up the Christmas parties and as we need to get the event up and running as soon as possible her experience is deemed invaluable.
7) Allocation of funds
It was agreed that this item be delayed until the next meeting.
8) AOB
- a). Margaret Gill requested the Chapel as a future venue as the Methuen arms can often be smokey and noisy, it was requested as a venue as reciprocation for their support with Race Night, This was noted. Comments made were that The Chapel is by past experience a noisy and very smokey venue but the suggestion was welcomed and we will act on trying to establish alternative venues, including the Chapel.
- b). Nick then ran through the forthcoming PTFA questionnaire. He explained that events like the Ceilidh were held because of suggestions received by the parent body from the questionnaire. It helps to give the PTFA some really useful feedback and it is a good way for parents/carers and friends to offer up a huge array of skills and build up a really useful database. It gives us the information to find a balance between fun and fund-raising. Nick assured us that the same incentive was on offer (Champagne) to one lucky person who completed the questionnaire and some changes had been made.
- d). Peter had received a letter from the School council asking if they could purchase a friendship stop as the last one broke. It was agreed that peter would liaise directly with them and that again we would support the School Council with a donation of £200.
- e). Mr Frankcom has been asked to measure up the area by the outdoor classroom so we can price the cost of decking the area and seek sponsors such as B & Q.
- f). A request was made to have the piano in the Bungalow tuned, however it was felt that this was not something from which all the children would benefit. It was felt that this comes under the responsibility of the school.
9) Decisions Taken
- 1. Offer to create a flyer to support Jenny O’Connor with the Run for Alice campaign.
- 2. Two cakes from My Loaf for the street party, one with the crest and one larger one.
- 3. Delay the discussion on the allocation of funds.
- 4. £200 donation to School Council as in previous years.
- 5. The request for the bungalow piano retuning was not accepted and this needs to be referred to the school.
10) Action Points
- 6. Neil to ask the school again about the Class Tea Money to date.
- 7. Letitia to investigate further Lottery Funding for the outdoor area.
- 8. Sarah to speak to Sister Concepta re: Ball.
- 9. Peter to review Gift Aid rules as to how far we can go back with claims.
- 10. Peter to source pricing for school sports kits.
- 11. Peter to speak to school relating to funding for of building developments.
- 12. Peter to prepare a flyer for Run for Alice and pass to Lena before sending out.
- 13. Sarah to approach Majestic for a Casino prize.
- 14. Letitia to write to new parents re: the Summer Ball.
- 15. Sarah to discuss menus with Hartham.
- 16. Peter to contact local papers for the street party.
- 17. Letitia to approach Fiona to lead on the street party.
- 18. All to consider and get views on other venues for the meetings.
- 19. Nick to issue our 2nd questionnaire.
- 20. Peter to liaise with School Council re funding and friendship stop.