Welcome to our PTA
What is our PTA?
The PTA (Friends of Halsford Park) is a group of parents and staff who dedicate some free time to help, plan, organise fundraisers and events within the school throughout the year. As a parent in the school you are automatically a member of the PTA and you can get involved as much or as little as you like. It is a great way to get to know other parents and have a say in how we fundraise and support our school. We are a different set of parent to those that attend the School Forum which is designed to liaison between the school and parents on school run matters.
Why does the school need our PTA?
The fundraising events raise money for the school to pay for much needed ‘extras’ which are not provided by the school’s shrinking budget. Sadly the budget provided by the government is forever being cut. These ‘extras’ benefit all of our children and support their education, funds are raised for the good of all students from Early Years to Year 6.
PTA Events Website
The Friends of Halsford Park PTA Events website is used for sharing news, selling products and booking events
http://www.pta-events.com/friendsofhalsfordpark
Charitable Status
Friends of Halsford Park is a registered charity which enables us to receive charitable donations from local and national companies. We can also apply for gift aid, give as you live and match funding schemes. Our charity number is 1103845.
How your PTA works
How is the money spent?
The money we raise goes towards buying new equipment for the school, subsidises school trips and helping fund major school projects. We have purchased learn pads and sports kits and most recently we have bought new playground tables and benches and a new PA system for the KS2 Hall. We are currently raising funds for the purchase of ever important IT equipment to support teaching and learning as well as an defibrillator and literacy resources. On an annual basis we provide funds and organise an Autumn Family disco, a Summer School disco, Christmas lunch with crackers, Christmas decorations, Easter Eggs, Sports day ice lollies, Year 6 Leavers gifts and more.
What happens at meetings?
We chat, we decide how the money is raised and how it is spent. We discuss ideas and organise the events and when the school needs us to help out. Event planning meetings are held in a local pub in the evenings. If you have any suggestions or ideas and/or would like a say in how money is raised and spent, please come along to the meetings.
How we get information to you!
Parentmail – monthly emailed newsletters, Notice Boards in the playground and next to KS2 hall as well as Facebook groups eg Friends of Halsford Park. Most year groups have facebook pages, please see your year rep for relevant info.
How you can help
What the PTA means to our school
School Governors
The Governing Body of Halsford Park are glad that we have such a dedicated and proactive PTA. We support their work in providing a range of activities and equipment that further enrich the experience of our children and our school community. It is a great way to get involved and have fun!
School Council
'They are really helpful.. if we need something they help us to do a fundraiser so that we can buy it'.. '..they care for the school and all the children..'
Headteacher
"Our PTA work very hard to raise funds to support a wealth of activities in our school and provide additional resources to supplement our resources to support teaching and learning as well as our inside and outside environment. Both the Summer Fair and the Christmas Fair are highlights in the PTA calendar which provide wonderful opportunities for children and their families to enjoy a really special day out.
Our PTA always welcomes new members, so if you are interested in joining us please use the contact information below."
Claire Spencer
Contact us
PTA Committee 2020/21 as agreed at the AGM on 3 October 2020 |
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President |
Claire Spencer |
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Co-Chair |
Claire Winslade |
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Co-Chair |
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Rebecca Smith |
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Vice-Chair |
Sally Cooper |
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Secretary |
Sarah Everson |
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Treasurer |
Emily Brooks |
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Vice-Treasurer |
Lisa Harris |
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Year Rep: |
EY |
Lucy Carey* |
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1 |
Penny Duly |
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2 |
Sally Cooper |
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3 |
Emi Daniels |
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4 |
Kizzy Stoner* |
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5 |
Kizzy Stoner |
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6 |
Emi Daniels* |
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Fundraiser (Grants) |
Kate Fennell |
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Store Person |
Sally Cooper |
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Second-hand Uniform |
Jacquie Cullen |
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Raffle Coordinator |
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Sponsorship Coordinator |
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Designer |
Emma Ewing & Brad Silby |
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Committee Member |
Jessica Courtney |
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Teacher Reps |
Emilie Myles |
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Rosie Loftus |
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Sharon Lucas |
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Sarah Gibbons |
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* Members co-opted since the AGM |
On Sunday 31st May, the PTA organised a 'Socially Distanced relay' with the school community. The route had 50 relay legs using the school catchment area in and around the Gardenwood and Imberhorne Estates. Finishing at the school gates seemed like a nice idea, so they planned the route around the addresses of the children taking part, and the eventual goal of finishing at the school. 33 of the relay legs started from outside the homes of children taking part. 17 runners came from outside the area of the relay route, so they were slotted in to gaps between other runners addresses.
The PTA planned the route out on a big paper map, then plotted it in Map My Run, online, to work out the total distance. It ended up being exactly 10km from start of finish, so the children each had an average of 200m to run. We ended up with 64 children participating, as we had 14 sets of siblings taking part, as well as 36 individual runners. Each child was sent a runner number, to represent the ‘leg’ of the relay they were going to run. The PTA also set up a WhatsApp group for parents, so they could all coordinate and update on progress on the day of the run.
The relay started at 10am, and it finished at 10:48am, which was super speedy! This is where the WhatsApp group came into its own, as parents communicated with each other throughout the event, updating the group with who was running, or had just finished running. After the event, the PTA members collected together photos and video clips of all the children, and made the video, which you can enjoy below.
Each participant was encouraged to set up a fundraising page on Virgin Money Giving, to collect sponsorship. In addition to the money the children raised (over £5,000 and counting), we were kindly offered £100 sponsorship from one of the Halsford Park parents, so we put his company logo on the runner’s race numbers by way of thanks.
The event was a resounding success, and PTA have received so many lovely comments from people whose children took part, or who came out to support the relay. In particular, parents of Year 6s were thankful that their children got to participate in such a positive primary school event, which involved children from across all year groups.