Newbridge Primary School Association
COMMITTEE MEETING
25 January 2010
MINUTES OF MEETING
1. Apologies for absence
2. Nomination of KS as Vice Chair
Nominated by IT, seconded by SA.
3. Treasurer's Report
£4,700 in account and £5,500 has been raised with £2,230 coming from sale of calendars - this is more than last year with the profit coming from the printing, thanks to KL for this. £2,870 was raised at the Christmas fair, the nativity DVD raised £294.50 and £105 came from the children's Christmas disco. So far only £395 has been spent on outdoor teaching equipment, PTA membership and cookery ingredients. This gives a total of £9,800 in the account but no trips have been requested yet and agreed funds from last meeting have not been spent. Uncommitted funds therefore are £4,845. The bird box with camera will cost £250. There is a movement sensor on the camera that triggers image recording and it can be moved onto a feeder in no birds are nesting in the box. Point made to LL to clarify if NPSA can claim back VAT - yes.
4.Report on school calendar
JC was amazed how well it was organised and asked for thanks to be passed on to all concerned. Request made for it to become a regular annual event, agreed.
5.Report on nativity DVD
Lower school nativity was videoed by an outside party with 100 copies being made, 92 of these were sold at £6.00 each. There was also an offer to deliver some for a fee (£1.50) due to the timescale (very close to the Christmas holiday break), 26 asked for this to be done. This was offered as a service rather than a fundraising opportunity to ensure anyone who could not attend could see the nativity and it also presented a design competition opportunity as the children designed the DVD label image. Suggestion made to offer it again in the same manner, agreed. JC asked how the quality of the recording was. Comments were - the background was pale so children in white were difficult to see, panning missed children at the end of rows, perhaps the person recording could have been higher, however generally you did see each child more than once. Comment made about the final song for all the children to stand up and face the audience. Professional recording would have been £8 per DVD so there would have been no profit. JC is happy to do it again and will take on board comments on the direction and pass them on to staff. Question was raised about what to do with spare copies - suggestions were to give them to staff involved or to low income families - 7 remain. JC will buy one.
6. Report on Christmas Fair
A really busy event as usual, the children really enjoyed it and it went very well. A large amount was raised (see Treasurer's report). Lessons need to be passed on for next year to continue to make the job easier. IT has some feedback and will make a report to file. It would also be useful if everyone who runs an event or a fundraising activity sends a file to the NPSA hotmail account. JC said details can always be improved but generally it was fabulous and received positive feedback. Thanks to all who helped, especially those children who got involved.
7. School requests
At the last meeting the subject was raised to do up the Lower School Hall. The School Council are involved to rename and redecorate it. It is in dire need of a multimedia system. A quote of £3,800 has been received from the same company that did the Upper School to include screen, projector, laptop and radio mikes. Average quotes are around £3,500. In addition to this basketball posts are needed for the Upper School and would cost £1,500 for sturdy posts and digging and setting. Also, the boat in the Lower School playground has had to be condemned as the wood is rotten. The School would like to replace it with a play boat or long boat or extra long boat, the last option being 5.2m long and costing £1,900. The breakfast club also needs developing. It is currently run in the Lower School Hall but it is being investigated to move it to the Blue Room which would be a cosier environment but funds are needed for better games and toys, £500 is needed for this. SW asked JC for priorities - the boat must come first, the multimedia system could, if necessary, come from devolved capital with possible top up from NPSA. SA asked if the boat could be cheaper if it was made by the people who made the conservation area equipment. Suggestion made that the basketball posts for the Upper School and the boat for the Lower School would balance well. Votes were taken for these two items and were carried. This leaves £3,500 left in the account. A vote was taken on providing the breakfast club equipment too and this was also carried. JC asked for help for someone to look into sourcing the boat, or if anyone knows a carpenter who could make one, SA will put a request in the newsletter. SW agreed to take this on and KS offered to help. Another big raffle is planned so a big fundraising project will be needed to go with this. It was felt the multimedia system is ideal for this. TM thought a cover for the Lower School theatre was needed to provide shade in the summer and this was agreed to be a future consideration for fundraising.
8. Up-coming events
The quiz night arranged for the last Friday in March (26th) is under control. It will raise funds for the basketball rings and the boat in the Lower School. A pampering evening was pencilled in but unfortunately JA has had to drop out due to other commitments so this will now not take place. IT was talking to staff about a barbecue that was held in previous years but was stopped as it was before the site was secure and things got out of hand! Now the site can be secured it has been requested to run this event again. It would be an early evening event (5pm-9pm) so all the family could attend. It used to be held in the conservation area, would this be a good location still, although we would need to watch out for the pond. We would need live music to be booked for it. Date suggested of Friday 21 May for this event. We need a committee to organise this and DF, LC, EB and TM volunteered. Question was raised about the provision of alcohol - agreed not to sell it but people can bring their own. No entrance fee - this is a social event rather than a fund raising event but we would make some money on the barbecue. There is a cake sale arranged for the same day, agreed to change this to the last day of half term (Friday 28 May). The Summer Fair date also needs changing due to the inset day changing - rearranged for 26 June.
9. Outstanding items from last meeting
Funding for the notice boards was passed at the last meeting so if SW can dig out the information this can be moved forward.
10. Any other business
IT asked if everyone can have a CRB check carried out because at the Christmas fair any volunteers needed to be CRB checked to be able to leave the Blue Room. TD in the LRC has the forms. Cake sale next Friday, 5 February for years 2&5. Also arranged for 26 March for years 3&1 and 28 May for Reception & yr 4. Finally a letter has been received from some children in 2H at school to raise some funds for wet play games. £444 was paid out last December, JC to look into this, it may have been just for some year groups. Agreed to ask the School Council to ask the rest of the children what games they would like to have and then for SA to put out a targeted request for those games in a newsletter. Offer to buy Road Block (the game requested in the letter) for 2H made by VN.
11. Date of next meeting
Wednesday 3 March, 7.30pm in the Blue Room
