Parent Teacher Association
The PTA plays a key role in supporting the school community and the success of the PTA depends on your involvement; so please have a think about what you may be able to offer whether it be time, knowledge, ideas or simply your support and enthusiasm.
What is the PTA?
The primary purpose of the PTA is to support Mr Mountstephen and his staff in giving our children the best possible all-round education. It also creates an opportunity for all those involved in St Stephen’s School (children, parents, extended family, staff governors and community) to meet and enjoy themselves through a range of social activities.
The PTA acts as a parent network, fundraiser and event-organiser. It is open to everyone who is either a parent or a member of staff. It is a registered charity and has its own constitution.
The PTA communicates with parents via the weekly newsletter (PTA section), through specific ParentMails, the PTA notice board by the entrance of the school and the school website. Look out too for the regular posters that go up around the school detailing exciting upcoming events!
Each class also has one to two parent class representatives who help to coordinate activities and social events within the class. The PTA works closely with the class reps who help to communicate information from the PTA to parents. Class reps can also help to pass on fundraising comments and ideas from parents to the PTA.
Fund-raising
The PTA raises a considerable amount of money annually to support initiatives that will benefit the children at St Stephen’s. This money helps to fund school trips, as well as buy classroom, sports and play equipment. A full review of how money raised by the PTA has been spent, appears in the treasurer’s end of year report.
Every year we arrange a whole range of events, some just for children or parents, some for the whole family. Regular children’s events include the annual bedtime story when key stage 1 children come to school wearing their pyjamas to be read a story by their teacher (also dressed in their best pyjamas). Parent’s events include an annual quiz night for which tickets can be snapped up within 24 hours - so you’ll need to be on your toes when details are released! Family events include the Christmas Fair, our biggest fundraiser of the year where the whole school community pulls together for a fabulous day of festive fun and Father Christmas spotting.
As well as our regular events we also run a host of activities and get-togethers through the year. We are always looking for new events to run and would love to hear from parents and carers with fundraising ideas.
PTA Meetings
The PTA meets once every term. These friendly and informal meetings are held at 7pm in the staff room and last approximately one and a half hours. All parents are very welcome – you don’t have to attend every meeting, just come along when you can make it. If you can’t make the meetings but have ideas and comments about the PTA that you’d like to share, please do contact the PTA Chairs, Annie and Mandy or get in touch with your class rep.
Minutes of the PTA meeting come out as an attachment to the newsletter and the agenda is sent to class reps prior to the meeting.
All Year-round Fundraisers and Activities
We are fortunate enough to have a very dedicated team of parent volunteers who run regular activities throughout the year which provide a valuable service to the school community (all with a healthy recycling slant!) as well as raise funds for the PTA. These include:
Second Hand Uniform Sales
Usually held once a term after school in the hall or playground. An excellent opportunity to pick up good quality second-hand school uniform at great rates, with most items only £1. Donations for the second hand uniform sales (clean items with no holes or chewed cuffs please!) can be dropped into school reception throughout the year. Dates for the sales appear in the newsletter.
DVD Club
The DVD club runs every week and is held in the hall on a Friday after school, from 3.20 to 4.00. (Note: even though no longer advertised in the newsletter).
This fun and ever popular club offers a great way of borrowing a wide range of DVDs to watch at home, at very economical prices. Membership is not required and DVDs are loaned for just £1. The club has two boxes in the school reception. One is for DVD returns/Amnesty, and the other is for DVD donations. These are much appreciated as they give new life to our stock and therefore to our funds.
Rag Bag Textile Recycling Scheme
This is a free scheme that allows us to collect and recycle your unwanted textiles and convert them into cash for the PTA - we get paid 50 pence for every kilo of textiles collected. A handy big silver collection box is permanently sited adjacent to the F7 classroom, just beyond the wall of the reception playground.
We can accept the following items: * All men's, ladies and children's clothing * Paired shoes (tied together, either by laces, Velcro, string or elastic bands) * Handbags, bags, ties & belts * Soft Toys * Blankets * Underwear to include socks, tights, pants and bras etc. * Household textiles to include towels, bed linen, curtains etc.
We cannot accept pillows, duvets or plastic-backed items. It really doesn't matter if the clothes have holes in or not. All the textiles are sorted at a recycling centre in the UK. Good quality clothing is transported to Africa and other developing nations where the clothes are re-used. Low grade textiles are made into industrial wiping cloths for the UK's manufacturing industry.
Please bring in your unwanted clothing and shoes, securely wrapped in a plastic bag so they don’t get wet and deposit them in the Rag Bag bin in the playground.
‘The Trading Post’
The St Stephen’s School PTA Trading Post board gives the school community a chance to sell and buy an array of previously used or unwanted items (from beds to bikes, clothes to curtains…) in a simple and easy to use way. Items for sale will be displayed on the Trading Post board which can be found outside the reception playground gate.
If you have an item you would like to sell all you have to do is place your advert on a piece of card. Maximum size 15cm x 10cm.
- Detail all your items for sale – add photos or decorate your ad to make it stand out, but don’t forget to include your contact details and prices.
- Put your advert in an envelope along with £1. This will get you 2 weeks on the board, then pop it into the ‘Trading Post’ box in the school foyer. The £1 card placement fees will go directly towards PTA fundraising projects.
- Please be aware that we will only change the board each fortnight, so your ad will be on display for the full two weeks; please be patient if your items sell before the period ends.
We do hope you will enjoy being a part of the PTA, whether you can make a PTA meeting or can simply come along and have fun at a fair. If you have any ideas or comments or would like more information on anything to do with the PTA, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
PTA Chair
