ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PTA COMMITTEE, YEAR
ENDING FEBRUARY 28TH , 2009.
THE WOODFORD GREEN PREPARATORY SCHOOL LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE 2009 INFORMATION
PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION
(Registered Charity Number
1016980)
Constitution
The Woodford Green Preparatory School Parent-Teacher Association was
constituted as a registered charity on 3
February 1993.
Committee (as at 28 February 2009)
OFFICERS
Chairmen: Paul Fredericks and Clare
Cockrell
Treasurer: Juliet Bray
Secretaries : Veronica White
Parent
and Associate members
Caroline Amos
Angela Austin
Sue Baxter
Rikki Chahal
Tricia Darvell
Jane Fletcher
Claire Giles
Mandy Howarth
Suzy Hobbis
Rose Kearin
Natalie McGinlay
Jo Prior
Jane Samuel
Mel Sewell
Martin Simpson
Sarah Spencer
Anna Stack
Fran Stary
Lynn Styles
Michael Summers
Caroline White
Sally Wroblewski
Headmaster: Tony Blackhurst
Teacher members: Robert Butterworth and Ann
Cross
Registered Address
Snakes Lane
Woodford Green
Essex
IG8 0BZ
Bankers
HSBC Bank plc
20-21 Electric Parade
Independent Examiner: R. H. Tish AFA FSPA
THE
PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION Year
ended
28 February 2009
(Registered Charity Number
1016980)
The
Committee presents their annual report and accounts for the year ended
Objects
The charitable purpose of the Association is to advance the education of
the pupils in Woodford Green Preparatory School Limited (“the School”). In
furtherance of this object the Association may:
1. develop more extended
relationships between the staff, parents and others associated with the School;
2. engage in activities which
support the School and advance the education of the pupils attending it; and
3. provide and assist in the
provision of facilities for education at the School.
Membership
Full membership of the Association shall be open to the parents or
guardians of any present pupils of the School by paying the annual subscription
in such amount as shall be decided by the Committee. All present teaching staff
of the School shall be full members of the Association.
Management
The management of the Association is vested in the Committee, the
members of which are the Charity’s Trustees. Details of the Committee as at
Activities
The activities of the Association during the year ended 28 February 2009
are described in the Chairmen’s report on pages 5 and 6.
Connected Charities
The Woodford Green Preparatory School Limited is a Registered Charity,
number 310930. The Association is a member of The National Confederation of
Parent-Teacher Associations, Registered Charity number 275113.
Funds
At 28 February 2009 the Association had net assets of £24,063 (2008 - £9,913)
represented entirely by unrestricted general
purpose funds. These are considered available and adequate to fulfil the
obligations of the Association for the foreseeable future. Funds are used when
appropriate projects or activities are agreed by the Committee, and the policy
of the Committee is to raise sufficient funds to be able to support such
projects or activities as they arise.
On
behalf of the Committee
Clare Cockrell & Paul Fredericks
Chairmen
April 2009
THE WOODFORD GREEN PREPARATORY SCHOOL REPORT OF THE CHAIRMEN
PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION Year
ended
(Registered Charity Number
1016980)
We are pleased to
present our report as chairmen of the WGPS PTA and advise that this last year
has been another busy and successful one for the PTA, with the total funds
raised being £50,362 and total funds
spent being £36,212. These figures
include £25,229 received from the summer ball and £22,056 of summer ball costs.
This success has been
due to the inexhaustible contributions and commitment by the PTA committee
(past and present), parents, teachers and school staff.
At
last years AGM, Mr Blackhurst advised
that a new science facility was planned and would be open in September
2009. He asked if the PTA would
consider providing funds for the
equipping of this new facility. This
request was formally agreed and as a
consequence the majority of funds raised throughout the year have been ring
fenced for this expenditure. Hence the significant amount of money in our bank account. However, the PTA still provided funds for the
Art fortnight and book week in addition
to a number of hanging baskets to
brighten up the school playgrounds.
The activities
undertaken by the PTA during this last year are as follows:-
The AGM. The AGM was held in
April 2008 with a review of the previous years activities and the remaining business
of the evening was conducted quickly and efficiently.
Summer Ball was held in June raising over £3000. A special thanks to Annie Eagland who planned and organised the ball and to
Simon Rose who acted as an impromptu auctioneer and raised over £2500 in auction bids. The ball was a
great success and received many positive comments. A significant feature from
this event was that for the first time we used the event as an opportunity to
raise funds. Traditionally, the committee has been reluctant to make any profit
from this event, which to some, including us as co-chairmen, seems like a lost
opportunity considering all the hard work that goes in to organising and
running the event. We recommend therefore that for our Ball in 2010, we look to
raise additional funds but not at the expense of ticket prices which should
remain at £70 per person.
The Summer Fete was held on 28th June and was a huge success and raised £5700. The
BBQ and Pimms stalls sold out, the latter probably due to the extra generous
portions on offer. Again our thanks to
everyone who participated in the planning and running of the event.
New Parent Evening was held in
September. This was a departure from our
traditional Autumn Social where all parents are invited along to meet with the
teachers in an informal social gathering. Since the school now has dedicated
evenings where parents can meet their child’s teacher it was felt that the
PTA’s efforts may be better direct at welcoming new parents to the school. The evening itself was a large success with
approximately fifty new parents attending an informal gathering with wine and
nibbles in the music room. There was some feedback from this event from
existing parents who would also liked to have attended. In future therefore, we
will extend an invitation to existing parents however the focus will be on
welcoming new parents.
Lower School Magic Show and
Upper School Disco were held on Friday 3rd and Friday 10th October
respectively with Crazy Martin and Michael J Ffitch. All the children had a
great time and enormous thanks to Clare Cockrell, who planned and managed both
events so well. These events were designed to enhance the fun and engender a sense of community for the children and raised £600 for the PTA
in the process. Well done to all those involved.
The Christmas Fair was held on 29th November. Again, another hugely successful
day both in terms of fundraising over £5,100 and enjoyment. However, it was
noticeable particularly early on, that the number of people attending was down
on previous years. This could perhaps be attributable to the general economic
climate and also that there was a whole
year group missing due to a wedding. Despite this, our takings held up well to
previous years and were greatly assisted by auction donations. Many thanks to
those parents who kindly donated items for the auction. A new candy floss machine was purchased for
£622 prior to the event to replace our old damaged machine. This cost has been
attributed to the Christmas Fair which has reduced the funds raised from £5,700 to £5,100. For future
comparison exercises, the figure of £5,700 is the more meaningful.
THE WOODFORD GREEN PREPARATORY SCHOOL REPORT OF THE CHAIRMEN
PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION Year
ended
(Registered Charity Number
1016980) (Continued)
Second Hand Uniform Sales are run by Sue Baxter and she really does do a superb job. During the year, sales have raised £1652. Our immense thanks as ever go to Sue and all members of the PTA that help at these sales by either selling the clothes or serving the tea. In view of the significant funds raised by Sue, the committee urgently require someone to “shadow” her in her final year with a view of taking over the 2nd Hand Uniform sales.
From the funds raised from these activities, the PTA
have funded and sponsored the following:
Art Fortnight
Book Week
Hanging Baskets
School Staff. As ever we would like to thank all the WGPS staff for all that
they do to help us achieve our fundraising events. However, particular thanks must go to James
Bishop and Jo Youldon who are always happy to assist and advise as
necessary. Thank you to Mr Blackhurst,
Mrs Cross and Mr Butterworth for their contributions to the committee meetings.
We must also thank the caretakers, Frank Slaney and Trevor Baker, for their
invaluable help.
Officers and Committee. During
the year there have been a number of changes.
May
we say thank you to Natalie Avvoltoio stood down during the year and welcome to
Juliet Bray, Sarah Spencer, Martin Simpson, Fran Barrie and Mandy Howarth.
Finally,
if you have any thoughts or opinions on PTA matters or better still, if you
wish to join the PTA and you feel that you are able to make a contribution,
then please contact either of us or any PTA committee member. Thank you for all your support over the past year and
we look forward to this continuing for the coming year.
Clare Cockrell and Paul Fredericks
Chairmen
April 2009