NPSA Committee Meeting 9/11/09 Minutes

Newbridge Primary School
COMMITTEE MEETING
9 November 2009

MINUTES OF MEETING

1. Apologies for absence

2. Matters arising from last meeting
MP has spoken to SH about putting the NPSA agenda and minutes on the school website and is happy to take responsibility for doing this and updating the NPSA pages of the website. (http://www.newbridge.bathnes.sch.uk/npa/). Action - MP

FV will set up a file in the school office with copies of agendas and minutes. Action - FV

3. Treasurer's report
The following money has been raised so far this year:

Barn Dance - £160.00
Coffee Morning - £20.00
Cake sale - £145.00
Total - £325.00

The balance of the accounts now stands at just under £4,700.

Regular committments made for the year:

School trips - £1,400.00 (£200 per year group)
Storybox Theatre - £1,000.00
Book at Bedtime - £50.00
Year 6 leavers' books - £280.00
Year 6 leavers' party - £150.00
SATs breakfast - £115.00
Total - £2,995.00

Remaining available funds are just under £1,700.

4. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair
SM nominated IT as Chair, seconded by MP.

The post of nearly-new uniform co-ordinator is now vacant, IT and JA will continue to organise this until the post is filled.



There were no nominations for Vice-Chair, IT will canvass.



5. Christmas Fair - dates and volunteers
A sub-committee has been formed, new members are still welcome, especially someone to be in charge of the kitchen. Next meeting tomorrow evening (Tues 10th) at IT's house.


The Christmas Fair will be held on 3 December from 5-7pm with a similar format to last year.



6. Coffee mornings and cake sales
The next coffee morning will be held on Friday 13 November from 9-10am - also nearly new uniform sale. Please spread the word especially about nearly new uniform as this wasn't mentioned in the newsletter. Action - all


7. Items for newsletter
No discussion required.


8. Fundraising events & ideas for spending funds
Available funds = just under £1,700 after usual commitments taken into account.


Requests from the school:

• Books to support each class to have a set of banded books or for topic books for the library - £1,000

• Foundation stage - 8 lower case keyboards and small mice - £300


• Art equipment including 6 sculpting kits for wire and paper sculpting, 6 wooden mannekins for drawing, set of acrylic paints, colour portfolios - £461


• Science outdoor environment equipment, eg, pond nets, plant/animal identifying guides - supports making better use of conservation area - £300

Total £2,061. All of the above requests were agreed.

Other suggestions:

Display boards for NPSA information - eg a large display case for end wall of link building and a small one for posters on the school gates. SW has stated looking into suppliers/costs. Agreed in principle subject to cost and availability of funds. Action - SW

Five way basketball net for adventure trail area, although there is discussion about obtaining a set of basketball nets for the school field. JC researching cost and possibly external sponsorship. JC to report back. Action - JC

EB suggested investing in languages resources (every key stage 2 child will be taught a foreign language from 2011). Eg, a small language library in each classroom, signs around the school in different languages, story telling course for a teacher to attend and cascade to others, making links with a primary school in France. Many other useful resouces around, eg, puppets, DVDs. Discussions will be held in school re provision within curriculum budget, NPSA willing to consider contributing where there are gaps.

LB suggested a web cam in a bird box = £150-£200. Suggested tying this in to raffle prizes at Christmas Fair, more likely to get donations of prizes if aiming to raise money for specific item to benefit pupils. Agreed in prinicple, exact cost to be confirmed.

JC suggested for the NPSA's main project to be a multi media system for the lower school hall as there is in the main school hall to use in assemblies, etc. The system would enable use of images, music, DVD, song words, etc. Cost approx £3,000. JC to investigate cost. There was general support for the idea but further research required to determine cost and commitment will depend on successful fundraising. Action - JC

Fund raising ideas

Quiz night - planned for March.

Pamper evening (other primary schools have done well with this idea). JA has volunteered to organise in May or June. Agreed.

Joint fund-raising with other charities was suggested, eg, an Easter egg trail, a charity would run it and we'd share the proceeds. Also Mercy in Action have offered to run a quiz night. Debate around possible conflicts with other fund-raising activities already agreed for Mercy in Action (school-supported charity for terms 1 & 2) and other charities the school is supporting over the year. Agreed to quiz night as long as it is held this term.

Agreed to stick to supporting the school's nominated three charities as chosen by the school council (terms 1 & 2 Mercy in Action, terms 3 & 4 South West Children's Hospice, terms 5 & 6 Great Ormond St Hospital), plus RUH (Ted's Big Day Out), link Romania (Christmas) and Julian House (Harvest).

Agreed that any events run by other charities should be run on the basis of renting the school hall and advertising to general public, ie, no joint events unless they fit with the school's chosen charities for the appropriate terms.

Videoing the school nativity play and selling DVDs to parents - agreed. JC to find name of person who filmed the year 6 play. Action - JC

9. Any Other Business
New roles working out really well, eg, JM has tidied the cupboard, JA has sorted out the second hand uniform, CM has made a great start with cake sales, KS has agreed to judging the Christmas Fair poster competition, raffle prizes are already being organised and SA is doing a great job with the NPSA newsletter.

Help is needed on Monday 30 November to put up Christmas decorations. Request by JM.

JC gave congratulations for the school calendar - supported by AH who praised the excellent organisation of the photoshoot.

10. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is to be held on Tuesday 12 January 2010 at 7.30pm in the Blue Room.

NPSA Committee Meeting 9/11/09 Agenda

Newbridge Primary School Association
COMMITTEE MEETING
9 November 2009

AGENDA


1. Apologies for absence

2. Matters arising from last meeting

• Displaying agenda & minutes in school office/on website

3. Treasurer's report

4. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair

5. Christmas fair - date and volunteers

6. Coffee mornings and cake sales

7. Items for newsletter

8. Fundraising events and ideas for spending funds

9. Any other business

10. Date of next meeting

AGM Minutes 8/10/09

Newbridge Primary School Association
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
8 October 2009

MINUTES OF MEETING


The minutes of the last AGM were agreed.

Overview of the year and NPSA
SM welcomed everyone and outlined what the NPSA does and what the constitution requires - for us to raise funds and help support the school for the provision of all children in the school.

In summary, this year the NPSA funded: the outdoor classroom, playground equipment including the adventure playground. We have supported school trips and co-ordinated many smaller events such as cooking with the children in the school.

It's been a really exciting year...starting with the birthday calendar, for which the pictures of the classes have just been shot for the second year today! For the first time we've had regular coffee mornings and second hand uniform sales...important new services. We had a really successful Christmas Fair and the Summer Fair was a great success with an outstanding raffle! There have been events for the children such as the school discos and social events for adults such as the Barn Dance and Quiz Night.

It's a great way to meet others and get to know your way around the school.

JT added that she felt the committee deserved much thanks for an outstanding year...when attendance at committee meetings and events has been higher. A great team effort. JC seconded that! SW felt all the new projects were good to see.

Treasurer's report - LL
£14,000 was on the balance when LL took over this time last year. This was largely the result of the ReNewbridge campaign throughout the previous year. Throughout this year £13,700 has been raised - an amazing achievement. £23,000 has been spent on the events and facilities already named and also picture frames for the wonderful black and white photos of the children around school, digital cameras for classrooms and trips for the children. We now have £4,000 in the current account - enough to cover the regular annual outgoings for projects we support in school, namely the leavers' events, school trips, etc. Any extra monies raised now will be added value.

Election of a new committee
There are a plethora of new roles to fill, which comes from our decision to divide up the five main roles on the committee this year, as the workload was felt to be too much for a small number. We need more people involved...the more central people involved, the more we can do.

A list was sent out with the newsletter and some volunteers have come forward;

Chair. SM is standing down. The role of Chair is now not as big a responsibility. There have been no nominations prior to the meeting. The role involves chairing 6 meetings a year, liaison with the school and to be a general cheerleader! This post remains unfilled.

Vice-Chair. JA is standing down from this role. It requires supporting the Chair and general events organiser with the rest of the committee. This post remains unfilled.

Another plea for volunteers for the two above roles will be made in the NPSA newsletter next week (16 October) with the aim that new people for these roles be found at the next committee meeting - see later note.

Secretary. Takes the minutes, responsibility for admin including the printing of agendas. JS's children have left the school and she has stood down. Print off minutes and make available at school for anyone who wants to see them. FV and MP will undertake this jointly.

Treasurer. LL is happy to continue as Treasurer to which there were no objections.

Grants and Sponsorship. A new role. LB and EB have volunteered. They were duly nominated and seconded for this role. Elected.

Coffee Morning Organiser. IT was nominated by JA to organise coffee mornings and seconded by SA. Elected.

NPSA Newsletter. This has to be written and submitted to the School by Thursday am. The content requires knowing what is going on and watching the calendar. There are archived documents to refer to. SA will undertake the role, although she has some concerns about the regularity of deadlines with her workload and therefore will be supported by IT when needed. Also press releases and external publicity when required.

Publicity. Posters, print tickets and design. JM volunteered for this role and was then nominated by JC and seconded by SW. Elected.

Second hand uniform sales co-ordinator. This will be combined with coffee morning organiser, so IT and JA and SW will help after Christmas.

Cake Sales. CM has volunteered, was nominted and seconded to the role.

Stock Manager. Someone to deal with supplies of tea/coffee/biscuits and any other supplies. JM put forward her name. Seconded by JA and carried.

Ice-cream Co-ordinator. Fridays after school sales, raising £480 overall this year, a valuable service and very popular role! SB has offered to take this on. LW seconded. Carried.

School Disco Organiser. Twice in the school year. JT offered to take on the role. Carried.

Christmas Decorations Co-ordinator. LW said she is happy to carry on being involved but needs someone else to lead. It now involves the whole school building. JM will share the role. Elected.

Class Reps. Co-ordinating with other parents in your child's class, selling tickets. It has a social role, for instance if children join in the middle of the year. Proposal to do this differently perhaps in the Upper School. Promotion through the children is good in the Upper School. Maybe a letter with all the class rep names asking for emails as an option. It was suggested we should reinstate the pictures of class reps. JT will liaise with JC on the format of a letter publicising the class reps and asking for email contact with parents.

The empty roles of Chair and Vice-Chair were discussed and it was felt there should not be pressure on those attending to fill all the roles. JC suggested someone should stand in for the next meeting and the position re-discussed after a letter has been sent out to rally people to take up the role, especially now that all of the supporting roles are filled.

The planned committee meeting for Monday will be postponed accordingly until after half term. The new date is Monday 8 November at 7.30pm. LL and LW will chair this temporarily. Fundraising is to be discussed at the next meeting - how, what and when, plus what the school would like money to be raised for. It was suggested this should be made clear as having influence over spending at the school is a big pull for new parents. Bring your diaries to the next meeting as dates for the whole year will be discussed and set!

Members also asked that it should be made clear that people can just take on one-off events and volunteer to organise them without feeling honour-bound to do more!

PS highlighted that it is important for the children to see their parents involved and taking responsibility at their school. It's an important selling point. SA pointed out that being involved in NPSA projects is a community responsibility, which reflects what the children are being encouraged to take on board in school. GK pointed out that there should be a working mums aspect/consideration to committee workings and communications.

AOB
There is a coffee morning on Monday (12th) at 0900. Can people encourage as many people as possible to come along.

An auditor has been appointed - PB - for the NPSA accounts.

JC would like the NPSA to be credited with thanks for a fantastic year of fundraising over the last 12 months - the outreach to the community, Groundforce days and Summer Fairs epitomise this. JC thanked the four central committee members whole-heartedly to a round of applause. He said he has a long experience of schools and often Summer Fairs, etc, can be less than favourable but all NPSA events at Newbridge are professional and excellent in quality and detail.
Flowers were presented to SM, JA and IT.
Thanks from SM.

AGM Agenda 8/10/09

Newbridge Primary School Association
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
8 October 2009

AGENDA


1. Introduction and welcome

2. Apologies

3. Minutes of meeting dated 25 September 2009

4. Chair's report

5. Treasurer's report

6. Election of officers

7. Appointment of auditor

8. Any other business

9. Date of next meeting