Caterham School Parents’ Association

AGM

Wednesday 5th October 2016

Maggs Library

Present Sophie Locket(SL) Chair, Tim Allison(TA) Deputy Chair, Maureen Gibbins(MBG) Treasurer, Chantal Baker(CB) Account Reviewer, Janna Kellaway(JK) Secretary, Matthew Godfrey(MG) Deputy Head External Relations, Howard Tuckett(HT) Head Prep School, Angela Higgs(AH) Bursar, Jane Bainbridge(JB), Orla Flatley(OF), John Hill(JH), Omar Ibrahim(OI), Liz Mason(LM), Sam Ogden(SO), Karuna Patel(KP), Belinda Russell(RS), Giovanna Sessi-Knott(GS-K), Payal Shah(PS), Tracy Wyner(TW)

Apologies Ceri Jones, Debbie May, Diana Lewis, Viara Challier, Angela Chauhan, Zoe Jackson, Erika James, Monica Quijano-Evans, Helen Simmans

Welcome

SL welcomed everyone to the AGM and introduced the Officers to newcomers. SL also introduced Angela Higgs, our new Bursar. A number of parents from both Pre-prep and Prep were in attendance and SL stated it was great to see more members from the lower schools on the Committee to ensure all areas of the School are covered for events and funding.

SL also thanked TA for replacing Debbie May as Vice Chair from this term.

Minutes of the AGM 4th November 2015 and matters arising

Taken as read.

Chairman’s Report

SL talked about her own 14 years on the PA and of all the fun times, of particular note the first Welcome Supper where her husband was mistaken for being a 6th former but she wasn’t!

She described the purpose of the PA to be to bring the school community closer together, through services and fund raising activities and handed out newsletter booklets for people to peruse. SL reviewed some events from last year:

Fireworks 2015, while rather wet, was very loud and a lot of fun – huge thanks to OI for organising this event, and also to the many parents from throughout the school who helped to run the various stalls, man the gates, set up and clear up. As ever, John Dodwell and his fantastic team of groundsmen were incredibly supportive.

Christmas brought the Dinner Dance arranged once again single handedly by MBG – it was a sell-out and another great success.

The Prep School Christmas Fair was ably led by JB with all hands on deck for an energetic event. Parents, staff and students all enjoyed the festivities and Christmas began. Diana Lewis once again took charge of the Christmas tree sales. The event is a lot of hard work for parents, but one which every child will fondly remember as they reach the end of their time at the Prep School.

Spring term brought Burns Night, organised solely under the wing of MBG for the first time. Padraig Ahern and team catered superbly and Mr Robert Burns himself would have been proud to have been there.

Next was the summer fun day run by Caterham Events Team where JK over-saw the Pimms tent and JB the bouncy castle. We raised just under £90 for The Breck Foundation.

The last event of the year was the Casino Ball, for the last time led by Debbie May with a team of dedicated helpers – feedback on the event was incredibly positive; food, bar, DJ, band, décor, sixth form dance etc. This wonderful event totally captures the community aspect of the school – parents from Nursery to Upper 6 joining together to celebrate another year at the school.

SL extended sincere thanks to all the reps for their hard work organising the many get-togethers for their classes throughout the year which make all parents feel part of the community. Reps really are at the core of making things happen here and the PA would like to thank each and every person who has volunteered this year to take on this role.

SL then thanked many others:

- Senior NNU ladies, JK, Colleen Tuckett, Linda Lee, Mitalee Baruah and Helen Hammer

- Prep NNU ladies, Helen Sampson, Linzi Park, Lisa McGarvie and particularly Helen Simmans for co-ordinating the merger of Senior and Prep NNU

- Lost property angels: Helen Sampson, TW, JK and Debbie Blythe

- Helen Simmans who runs Phil the bag collections with the help of JK, Mandy Davies and Rebecca O’connor

- Classlist coordinator, TW and GS-K who is looking into the possibility of advertising on Classlist

- JH as PA quarter master

- Mandy Davies who oversees the Giving Machine and Rebecca O’Connor who runs the 200 club

- CB who has reviewed our accounts again and to the wonderful artists, Angela Chauhan, Amanda Bishop and Dean De Villiers (who has now left the school) for designing fliers

- Viara Challier for sorting the web site and LM for being the PA liaison for The Breck Foundation

- Paul Brushett and his maintenance team, John Dowell and the groundsmen, Tom Richards for AV and Padraig Ahern and his catering team. All these people are so supportive of the PA and for everything they do – sincere thanks

She then had special thanks for MBG and JK for their help and Debbie May who we have sadly said good bye to after 18 years at the school.

Finally she toasted to the next academic year and said a huge thank you.

Treasurer’s Report and Adoption of Accounts

MBG thanked CB for reviewing the accounts and thanked all the organisers of events and the school for submitting invoices in a timely manner, which enabled the accounts to be reviewed in time for the AGM.

As at 31st July 2016, the bank account balance totalled £27,037 with £8,087 already allocated to items for School.

A total of £40,312 was spent on items for the School in the academic year 2015-2016. The PA is pleased to have funded the Innovation Centre in the sum of £16.067 and a further £3,993 has been allocated. Additional items the PA has funded are the composting toilets and mapping for outdoor learning area; marquees and gazebos; the Leavers books for the Upper 6th and Prep Year 6 pupils and there are several smaller projects which the PA has funded which can be seen in the accounts.

An additional donation of £3,804.08 is being made to The Breck Foundation. This is the final year for this charity and a total of £8,527.64 has been raised for The Breck Foundation over the two years.

LM proposed the accounts and JB seconded.

Presentation of cheque to The Breck Foundation

SL invited LM, Trustee, and Rebecca Bush, Development Officer of The Breck Foundation to step forward to accept the PA’s final donation, which was presented by MBG.

LM’s response was: On behalf of the trustees and members of the Breck Foundation, we would like to thank Caterham School PA for all their support and donations received over the last 2 years. This has been an amazing amount of money and has really helped us enormously with the initial set up costs for the charity. The money raised has helped us with starting our website, printing leaflets and wristbands and applying for our charity status.

We finally received our charity number this July from the Charities Commission and it is now full steam ahead for the Foundation. We have big plans for our future and these include a bus - similar to the Life Bus that visits the Prep school every year. We hope that with this we can tour schools and teach all pupils about internet safety in a less formal setting.

In the past year Lorin LeFave, Breck’s Mum, and the Foundation have spoken to over 4000 school children, 1800 parents and 3000 professionals, as well as call handling training for the Police and many media appearances. BBC3 produced a documentary about Breck called Murder Games and we launched “No Tech for Breck” day in February, encouraging children to be sponsored to go tech free for a day. This will be rolled out nationally next year.

Caterham School has always been a huge support for Lorin, from help with arranging the funeral and hosting the wake to lending us the Rudd Hall for the Silent Disco in March. We would particularly like to thank Padraig Ahern for all his help beforehand and on the night where he made a spectacular barman!

Lorin is also very grateful for the memorial bench that the PA paid for and has spent many hours here at the school finding solace in a place where Breck was so happy.

So a huge thank you to everybody from all of us at the Breck Foundation. It is nearly 3 years since Breck was murdered and we hope that by starting the Foundation, it has made everyone a little more aware of the dangers of the internet and online grooming and this will be his legacy.

Rebecca also wished to pass on Lorin’s heartfelt thanks. It has been very difficult for Lorin to return to Caterham School, where Breck was so happy for 2 years, but she now feels enough time has passed for her to be ready to do so and would like to come in to speak to children and parents. She also thanked the School for all their support. It is difficult to quantify the help the money has given; they assume they are helping to save lives but can never be sure but they will continue to strive to raise awareness of the dangers.

Appointment of Accounts Reviewer

CB offered to continue as Account Reviewer. MBG proposed CB and SL seconded.

Vote of thanks to outgoing Committee Members and Officers

SL offered the PA’s grateful thanks to Debbie May who has left the PA after 18 service.

Election of Officers

LM proposed the current officers and TW seconded.

Election of Committee Members

We have two new members wishing to join the PA Committee: Mark Mear and Paul Thomas. MBG proposed and OF seconded.

Headmaster’s Response

MG read Mr Jones’s report in his absence:

News from the summer holidays: they were very busy with several successful trips including 6th form charity trips to Tanzania, Romania and, for the first time, Nicaragua; Kingsford School in East London, CCF camp, Biology students to Dale Fort, Wales, and a Spanish trip.

We are delighted with our pupils’ exam results; 85% received A*-B for A’ Level and 50% graded A* for GCSE.

The School site has been transformed with the completion of the new Centre for Performing Arts, which includes the newly invigorated (and named) Humphreys Theatre; an additional studio theatre, to be named The Deayton Theatre; a dance studio; a recording studio; and a newly redecorated music school.

The Innovation Centre, a technology hub within which our pupils can experiment and collaborate on IT and STEM projects, is up and running. Our thanks go to the PA for donating all the equipment included in this Centre.

Speech Day saw the unveiling of the marble statue of our founder, The Reverend John Townsend, which is at the entrance to the School.

News from September: there are new swimming and hockey academies operating out of the Sports Centre. These academies will boost the quality and range of coaching available to our pupils and extend the opportunities to compete at an elite level.

This season’s fixture lists demonstrates that we have worked hard to also increase the competitive opportunities for all pupils by extending the number and range of school teams and fixtures.

Open Morning on 24th September was our busiest ever, with 750 visitors. Thank you to everyone involved.

Friday 30th September saw Miss Trehane coming out of retirement to attend the MacMillan Coffee Morning which she has organised and run for several years, and a surprise Lunch Party in the Sunshine was organised for pupils the same day. Both were a great success.

Rehearsals are well underway for Grease!

Coming up: the official opening of the Centre for Performing Arts is on Thursday 6th October, with Simon Callow CBE as the special guest.

Parents’ iPad masterclass is being held on Wednesday 12th October.

Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut in space, will be giving a lecture in the school at 7.30pm on Thursday 13th October.

David Rogers will be giving an insightful presentation of “The Evolution of Caterham School over the past 60 years” on Friday 11th November.

The PA are hosting their annual Firework display on Saturday 12th November and Remembrance Sunday/OCA Day is on Sunday 13th November.

Preparations for building up at Hill Fields has started with completion scheduled for September 2017.