PTA Chairperson Report for the academic year 2015-2016
2015-2016 has proven to be another successful year for the PTA at Orangefield Primary School, and as always the year seemed to fly in far too quickly! As chairperson, I would like to start by saying a massive thanks to all of the PTA committee, the PTA members, the parents and staff for their ongoing enthusiasm, support and hard work throughout the year.
The school year began with the KS1 Movie event and the KS2 evening disco. This is an exceptionally popular event with the children, allowing new comers to the school to meet new friends and returning pupils to have a social event to enjoy. This event is kindly sponsored by Dominoes Pizza for which we are very grateful.
In October, we organized our family calendar, I would personally like to thank Sharon Mills Hunter for doing a super job taking the photos, thanks to Laura Grant for compiling the art work on the calendar, and thanks to all of the sponsors who support this venture financially. The success of the calendar was demonstrated through the fact that we completely sold out of copies again!
The highlight for the children in October is always the Monsters Ball which is held just before the half term break; children from all classes are invited to come along in their fancy dress costumes for a disco and spooky fun. This event cannot run without the willingness of the PTA to help both in terms of setting it up and making sure it runs smoothly on the night. A special thanks to everyone who donated cakes for sale at the tea bar!
In November we organized our community Cash for Clobber fundraising event, we delivered flyers and collected donated bags to and from the local community and asked children to bring in bags of unwanted clothes and shoes to the school to be donated, as a thanks all children who participated received a small prize. This was exceptionally successful and as a result we organised two further Cash for Clobber events in January and May. This is a simple way to raise funds; it also ties in with the schools Eco status by recycling goods. We are absolutely delighted as we also won the prize of £1500 for being the school to donate the most weight.
December is an exceptionally busy month both for the school and for the PTA. Some of the nicest events are the nativity plays and the carol service at Orangefield Presbyterian Church. Ian Higginson Videography filmed the events and put them on to DVD for parents to buy, we sold over 100 copies so this was a successful venture and a lovely keepsake for families.
In the run up to Christmas Santa and Mrs Claus came to visit the school, the children really enjoyed hearing about Santa’s stories and were very pleased with their selection box gift. The PTA members arranged a beautiful grotto and a number of pta volunteers coordinated the children on the day. The event was very well supported by the parents and the children.
February saw our second movie afternoon for KS1 and valentines disco for KS2, again this was very well attended and the children had a fabulous time enjoying entertainment by David Ralston and party bags supplied as part of their entry fee.
Our annual table quiz has surpassed our expectations with the year on year support from parents and teachers alike, making this an event thatis penciled into the parents and teachers diaries as a must. The British Legion on Montgomery Road again provided a good local venue. Thanks go to Gina McVeigh for booking the venue, and to Michelle Morrison’s brother for organising such a super set of quiz questions. Thanks also to all of the PTA members who kindly donated a prize to the ballot on the night. This was another great fundraiser for the school. The disco at the end of the quiz finished off the evening nicely.
In March we also held our annual Easter Ballot which is well supported by businesses in the local community. Jo Greene works very hard to source prizes from the local community which children and families are always delighted to win! This raises valuable funds for the school.
April saw our charity bag pack at Sainsbury’s Forestside. Again I would like to offer a big thank you to all of the staff, PTA members and parents who gave up time in the Easter Holidays to pack bags in the store. We had a smaller number of helpers due to the date, however, we still raised a significant amount of money.
The final event of the year is the summer fair held in June. This is certainly one of our most popular events with the children and their families. We had a great deal of support from the local community who hired tables in the hall so that they could sell their goods, Scone Mad was particularly popular again and sold out in just over an hour! The children loved the variety of activities on offer including face painting, bouncy castles, party animals NI, BBQ’s, dancing and sports activities to name just a few. There was also a lot of support for the parent’s v’s teacher’s football match, where Mr. Long again scored more than one goal! The committee for this event worked tirelessly for months in the organization of this event, without their hard work, and the support of staff, PTA and parents on the day it would not be such a success. Massive thanks goes to all on this. Together we raised well in excess of £4000 on this day alone.
Although the PTA has several purposes, we do need to raise the funds which allow us to support the school and our aim is to do this in ways which include as many children and their families as possible. The PTA needs the support of all parents, whether as members of the committee, occasional helpers or as supporters of our events. The PTA is grateful to all the parents who support our events, whether by attending them or by donating items or sponsorship to help us defray our costs. The money that is raised goes straight back in to the school for the benefit of our children. The PTA aims to give donations to all aspects of school life and this year we are delighted to have donated £11500 to the school to spend on items that are needed.
I personally would also like to say a special thank you to everyone who has helped me in this challenging and demanding but extremely rewarding role as I step down as Chairperson. A big thank you to those who have contributed their time and effort in any way they could, to help us achieve the success we have had this year and hope to have continued support in the years that lie ahead. PTA committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month (subject to change pending school holidays). We aim to keep the PTA pages on the school website up to date. The PTA welcome any views and comments from parents either in person or via the website. I would like to thank Mr. Long for his support and guidance and to all the staff in the school for giving our PTA access, time, effort and support for the many events we hold throughout the year.
Tammie Rea
PTA Chairperson - Orangefield Primary School