Minutes George Abbot School PTA Committee Meeting Thursday 13th November 2014 at 7.30pm Room G1, Elmslie Library, George Abbot School Committee Present: Members Present: 1 1a 1b/c 2 Julie Dickson Mr Reeves Belinda Barratt Phil Grainger Sibylle Lintott Tony Mainee Fiona McGowan Sarah Bradshaw Allan Grimshaw Nimal Rajapakse Julie Cogan Emma Hall Kieron Spinner Page | 1 Rebecca Ellis Christina Kantartzi Welcome Julie welcomed everyone to the meeting and members introduced themselves. Apologies for Absence Mrs Cooper David Clarke John Matthews Mayra Spiring Acceptance of Minutes 10/9/14 and Matters Arising The minutes of the last meeting were accepted with the following matters arising from the action points. Item 1b/c - Rebecca reported that the value of textiles for recycling has dropped but they still raise money for nothing. She will look into the possibility of having a RE permanent textile collection point in school. Mr R - We are waiting to hear from the School Council about the student disco. - Just Giving had confirmed that the account should be used for voluntary donations for fundraising activities rather than to sell tickets for events such as quiz nights. DC - The drama studio refurbishment by the PTA needs to be followed up. Item 3a - Kieron has organised several social events for dads. Invitations are currently by word of mouth between dads who have attended events: Schoolcomms might reach a wider group. Treasurer’s Report Tony thanked Karen Stevens for reviewing all the accounts from 2011 to 2014. Accounts for 2011-13 have now been filed with the Charities Commission. Karen has some questions about the 2014 accounts, mainly regarding the Sainsbury’s Scheme, but these should be resolved soon. Belinda thanked Tony on behalf of the PTA for his very hard work in pulling the accounts together. The school has now received the PTA cheque for £100,000 for the astro pitch. Tony Mr R has had no acknowledgement from the school and Mr Reeves will look into this. Julie has received the PTA ‘big cheque’ which will be used for photo opportunities for all PTA donations to the school, including money donated for the astro pitch. Following completion of the astro pitch funding, £32,000 remains in the PTA bank accounts. Tony noted that money owing from this sum is slightly unclear due to the fact that invoices for items funded by the PTA are not handed over to the PTA until the year after the items were purchased. Tony would prefer quarterly invoicing by the school. A pro forma has been created for all applications for PTA funding and this will be amended to note that copies of invoices are required within a specific time FMcG of the purchase. 3 Insurance Liability of PTA Trustees Julie will obtain a further quote for this specific insurance once 2014 accounts have JD been filed with the Charities Commission. In the meantime, it is understood that adequate general insurance cover is in place through our PTA-UK membership. 4 Funding Requests from School Mr Reeves noted that the school has three priorities for financial support. (1) Science Laboratory Refurbishments: Three labs have been refurbished from school funds but pressures on school finances will limit the school’s ability to proceed with work to update others. The cost of improvements was about £35,000 per lab although Mr Reeves noted that R51 is particularly awkward to teach in, with overhead cabling requiring rerouting, which might increase costs. Since science labs are used by all students in the school, improvements would provide wide benefits. (2) Social Spaces: Playgrounds have been reallocated in order to create more car parking spaces. The area currently used by Year 11 is particularly in need of improvement and all students would eventually benefit from being able to use this playground. Some landscaping is required as well as shelters and seating. A letter from Mrs Medley outlined a request for the PTA to match £2,500 from the School Council to purchase benches and picnic tables for the playgrounds. The items specified have been sourced for robustness and fitness for purpose in the school environment and would cost around £1,000 for a bench and picnic table. Therefore £5,000 would provide a bench and table for each playground. (3) Relocation of Fitness Suite: As Mrs Cooper noted in her talk at the PTA AGM, the fitness suite is currently in a small room with old equipment and the school would like to move the suite to the gallery above the sports hall. The Cricket Centre will provide some financial support towards this but additional funding is required. Kieron expressed interest in setting up an after school technology club. Whilst this is an important area such a club would benefit a relatively small cohort of students and it was felt that the PTA should focus its resources to provide wider benefit across the whole school. Following discussion it was decided that the PTA would not support the relocation of the fitness suite since the PE Department has received generous support from the PTA recently. It was agreed that the PTA should match the School Council’s £2,500 to provide TM seats and tables. Further funding may be made available later for landscaping in the Year 11 playground. The School Council will be invited to present to the PTA on Mr R requirements for playground improvements. It was agreed that the main target for PTA fundraising should be refurbishment of one of the science labs, with a target of September 2015. Julie will also investigate JD external funding for this project. Belinda will ask Angela to photograph the labs which require refurbishment and also BB those that have already been improved. These will be a useful visual aid for promoting the Sainsbury’s and Easyfundraising schemes at the Christmas Fair. Mrs Cooper has sent a GAPS funding request for help from parents towards the projects identified above by Mr Reeves. Julie commented on confusion about the difference between GAPS and GAPTA and JD she will prepare a note for Schoolcomms to clarify this. 5 Review of Focus for Future Fundraising Quizzes: Two quizzes are held each year and this is felt to be sufficient. They are relatively easy to organise and raise around £2,000 per quiz. An additional social Page | 2 event was suggested, perhaps with a mini quiz. Textile Recycling: It was agreed that this is worth doing. A permanent collection Mr R point will be found rather than having specific collection days. Christmas Fair: This is a nice event for the community and the raffle in particular is a reliable fundraiser. Clandon Park Run: The run is an important event for the wider community and is unique amongst local school fundraisers. Phil G noted that from next year the lower age limit has been reduced from Year 6 to age 9. Kieron wondered if there would be interest in a cycling event. Concerns were expressed about health and safety which is covered for Clandon Park Run by the professional company, All About Triathlons. Julie will put Kieron in touch with Elise JD Shearan to see if he might be interested in taking over from Elise when she steps KS down as volunteer organiser after the 2015 run. Sainsbury’s and Easyfundraising Schemes: These should continue to be promoted SB to parents. Sarah has approached Kevin O’Sullivan suggesting rewarding 6th formers with a £5 voucher for each person they sign up for the Sainsbury’s scheme for a minimum of 3 months. Sarah suggested annual prizes for the students who sign up the most people to the scheme and whose sign ups total the highest value. 80s Disco: This event will be rerun before Easter 2015. Mr Reeves will look at Mr R possible dates and Rebecca will contact the DJ. RE Suggestions for new fundraisers will be discussed at the next meeting. 6 PTA Communication via Facebook: This item was deferred to the next meeting. 7 7a (i) PTA Events Updates on Forthcoming Event Planning Christmas and Craft Fair: Sibylle has preparations in hand and street SL 30/11/14 fliers will be circulated. JM 9&10/12/14 Christmas Music Concerts: The PTA will provide refreshments. Clandon Park Run: Elise has asked for help. Since this is Elise’s final 18/4/15 year organising the run someone is needed to take over from her, ideally soon, so they can shadow Elise in preparing for the 2015 run. Feedback on Recent Events: Feedback will be gathered by email. 17/9/14 New Parents’ Social 15/10/14 PTA AGM 17/10/14 Quiz Night (ii) (iii) 7b (i) (ii) (iii) 8 School Diary 2/12/14 Yr9 15/12/14 Yr11 3/3/15 9 9a Progress Monitoring: Parents will be in school on both afternoons. JM Mr Reeves asked the PTA to provide tea and coffee and there is an opportunity to promote Sainsbury’s and Easyfundraising Schemes. Careers Event 5.30pm: The PTA will provide refreshments. JM 9b Any Other Business PTA Emails: Belinda asked about the various PTA email addresses. Sibylle needs the Christmas Fair address but all other addresses can be deleted, apart from [email protected]. Sales of Secondhand School Uniform: Deferred to next meeting. 10 Date of next meeting: Wednesday 14th January 2015. Page | 3