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13/01/2025 – The Claremont Pub - 8pm
Attendees present:
Axelle Joos de ter Beerst AJ (Chair), Natalie Jolliffe NJ (Vice chair), Shagun Bansal SB (Treasurer), Lisa Gammon LG (Secretary), Lucy Prior LP (CM), Jenny Brown JB (CM), Ben Dryland BD (CM), Anna Pearson AP1 (CM), Emma Butterworth EB (CM), Gemma Ferguson GF (CM), Marta Zielinska MZ (CM -Teacher), Nicki Webb NW (CM), Jennie Maslin Fong JMF, Carmen Di Cara CD, Giles Lamb GL
Apologies:
Claire Summers CS (CM), Candi Roberts CR (CM- Headteacher), Ami Parker AP2 (CM)
Sarah Seddon SS (Duty Headteacher), Becky O’Brien BO, Emma Doward ED (CM), Samantha Walker SW(CM)
1. Chair’s Update (AJ):
Axelle opened the meeting thanking everyone’s efforts towards successful terms 1 & 2.
2. Financial Summary (SB/NJ):
Figures as @ 11.01.25 (Financial Year starts 01.09.25)
£24,051 Cash in bank
£32,565 Grand Total Expenditure
o £30,347 donations to the school. The difference relates to PTA expenses.
Wreath Making: Another successful year. £1,670 profit (up on last).
Playground Sales: Strong earner.
Cinema Club: expenses paid are 100% accurate
Bank Interest £232. Healthy income for very little work.
Craft Club: £156 profit. A trial pop up club which received great feedback. Would be great to do more.
Direct donations £4,695. Mainly from Chip In. Projections: with another two terms of circa £5k, PTA will hopefully meet the £15k committed I.T. donation to the school.
PTA plan to have £20k in the bank as a comfort blanket. Idea being no commitments to school until cash in bank or guarantee future income increases cash in bank above £20k.
2024-2025 school initiative: Axelle to meet with Mrs Roberts to understand school requirements and any monetary values including update on libaray request made in last meeting. PTA currently has £9k available cash. The PTA would like to support this initiative but cannot commit to any new school provisions until terms 3&4 events have taken place.
3. Debrief on Terms 1 & 2 (AJ):
Wreath Making was a big success, lots of positive feedback. Axelle led the raffle on the night which made a healthy amount of money for the PTA, using free gifts and putting hampers together from left over alcohol from the Summer Fete.
Wonderful to have SEN as a visible part of the PTA. Ben Dryland has put together a SEN box which will be a continuous and evolving provision.
Secret Room, as always, was a highlight from many children at Christmas, even those who were unwell and not in school on the day received gifts chosen by staff.
4. Chip In (BD)
72 direct debits, down from 74.
People will drop off naturally over time, and this is expected.
Income landing in the PTA bank account is a shade under £1k a month.
No message went out at Xmas linking Xmas events to a chip-in sign-up prompt (this generated 10 new sign-ups in 2023 across a number of comms messages), so we have no new joiners to report.
Going forwards there'll be placeholder dates with the comms team for chip-in content to go out within the newsletter slot, and therefore a strategy all PTA volunteers are unified on. Generally, that content will be a monthly one- or two-liner with a hyperlink and graphic, with something more wordy around annual relaunch, Xmas and Easter.
Action Point: BD to liaise with AP1 to get the dates in place
A promo video was suggested by AP1 - could include pupils in situ seen using IT equipment/ championing chip-in in their own words and Mrs Roberts’ endorsement
Action Point: AP1 will explore ideas with school office and feed back to the exec & chip-in team
New parent pack.
Action Point: BD to review insert with chip-in team and BO
BD advised to expect 10-15 drop offs between now and Sept due to year 6 leavers.
CD asked whether we can get better stats on members and the year of youngest child, etc. BD explained the sign-up process is with a 3rd party, Localgiving, so we collect very little data when people sign up and both privacy and data protection are paramount. We're some way from having our own webform to handle sign-ups and therefore customising the data we collect, and it's not a pressing ambition to do so. But it was suggested that should the PTA decide to issue a parent questionnaire it could include a section of carefully crafted chip-in questions.
NJ closed with a thank you to the chip-in team and the wider committee efforts, that the PTA now has in place a dependable income stream.
5. Comms Team (AP1)
Reminder to fill in the comms spreadsheet with future announcements for newsletter and WhatsApp.
Future events to be communicated in a calendar format, similar to Claire Summers' events calendar published last year.
Action point: AP1 to put together a FAQ’s sheet on who/what/why the PTA operate.
6. Clarefest – (CD & GL)
Thank you Carmen Di Cara and Giles Lamb for collaborating and allowing Clarefest to take place for another year.
Carmen has a strong background in events and is committed to Clarefest going ahead this year. Giles has been involved in the music at Clarefest since 2019.
Key points:
o Making Clarefest accessible for SEN families. Possibly open earlier with no music or have a dedicated SEN tent. Direct questions and ideas through Mrs Smith first.
o Last year’s team helpers have said they’ll help again.
o Plan to use existing advertising material and design, update these with current information.
o Ideally, the first comms to go out next week with the date: Saturday 17th May -TBC.
o Require a robust support network. Ask year groups to help, to steer away from just the committee being responsible.
o Carmen to direct questions through Emma Butterworth.
o Looking into merchandise ideas. Firstly, Carmen plans to understand what has and hasn’t worked well in previous years.
o Team would like to get more families involved musically. It was suggested to explore former pupils and Irock being involved
o Security: Must have a clear policy on how security plan to handle an intoxicated person.
o Increase ticket price (TBA) and lower free entry age to under 1’s.
o Plan for tickets to go on sale end of March. Carmen to advise Natalie to these can be added to the website
Action Point: NW to communicate with Year 2 parent to gather some volunteers.
Action Point: NJ to update website with ‘Save the Date’ as soon as date is agreed with school. Carmen to confirm
Action Point: EB to show Carmen and Giles the documentation and process to get school access approved.
Action Point: Carmen to ensure all SEN suggestions are approved by Mrs Smith.
Action Point: GL approach Candi Roberts to ask the children if they would like to perform at Clarefest. Perhaps the school’s iRock bands can perform; this would need an iRock representative there to support children.
Action Point: CD Clarefest team to catch up with exec committee in two weeks.
7. School Uniform Handover Update (NW)
Julia Beath fully taken over. All in hand.
Moving under wet canopy for collection soon.
Once Julie has got to grips with stock, process and admin then she’ll be pulling on volunteers list.
8. Annual events for the year. Lead persons discuss new updates & outstanding action points
8.1 Playground Sales JF /AP2
o Team of additional volunteers required. It was a struggle last term to successfully put on the playground sales.
o It’s the second highest profit maker, we need to support the team to keep it going. Target year 6 children to help. The playground sales plans are in place, team just require volunteers to execute. Low effort and time required.
Action Point: AP1 Comms to put a volunteers call for 10 new volunteers.
8.2. Discos NW
o Dates confirmed and DJ Lollypop booked.
o 6th February YR 1&2
o 13th February YR 3&4
o 13th March YR 5&6
o 17th March Reception
o Proposed ticket cost increase in line with cinema club. New ticket price £6.5. Meeting attendees in favor of the increase.
o Expenditure £700 for all four discos. Breakdown:
o £140 DJ cost for each disco. Grand total £560
o £140 for snacks & drinks
Committee members voted on expenditure: Approved (12/17)
Jenny Brown, Shagun Bansal, Lucy Prior, Natalie Jolliffe, Axelle Joos De Ter Beerst, Lisa Gammon, Ben Dryland, Marta Zielinska, Gemma Ferguson, Emma Butterworth, Anna Pearson
Action Point: NW- What are the extra costs to have a silent disco for YR’s 5&6
8.3. Easter Egg Hunt LP
o Date confirmed with school: Friday 4th April
o Easter bunny coming back and booked
o Expenditure £700. To Purchase eggs to fill each child’s Easter basket.
Committee members voted on expenditure: Approved (12/17)
Jenny Brown, Shagun Bansal, Nicki Webb, Natalie Jolliffe, Axelle Joos De Ter Beerst, Lisa Gammon, Ben Dryland, Marta Zielinska, Gemma Ferguson, Emma Butterworth, Anna Pearson
8.4. School Fete AP1/ZP
o Proposed Date: 5th July TBC
o 1ST team meeting in two weeks
o Team to update PTA committee via email before Easter break
o Fete will have a ‘Project Library’ focus this year. All Fete related comms will promote proceeds from the Fete to support school’s library renovation and provisions.
9. SEN (GF)
Can playground sales consider a SEN queuing system for those who require an alternative.
Action Point: GF/AJ to speak to Claire Smith to discuss suitable ideas and solutions for playground sales team.
Action Point: GF & AP1 to create a SEN box wish list for comms team.
Action Point: NJ add a SEN tick box to ticket sales webpage to allow a family member to support their child at an event.
10. AOB
JB: Secret Room was a success just under 1000 gifts donated. No shopping required. 100 gifts left over. The nonperishables have been stored away for next year.
Action Point: NJ- Question to be added to PTA website for next year’s secret room. What if my child is sick on the day?
Action Point: PTA -gazebos, look to invest in new ones.
Action Point: AP1- Comms to advertise for a Quiz Night lead person. Ideally quiz night to happen before Easter Break.
Next PTA meeting: Tuesday 29th April at 8pm
Location: The Claremont Pub
APPROVAL OF MINUTES BY CHAIR OF MEETING:
SIGN: Axelle Joos de ter Beerst
DATE: 16th January 2025
