Spring Fair Committee MeetingTuesday 26 July 2016, 7pm

Minutes

Action Items from last meeting

  • Peter to update class sites and send links. Action

To be done before next meeting. Refer

  • Noted that profits differ quite widely from stall to stall and ideally more resources are devoted to stalls that make more profit (or contribute to school in other ways) rather than stalls that do not. Peter to issue list. Action

Discussed at meeting (see below).

  • Lots of discussion around water. Can we hire a large bubbler? Should we sell water bottles? Can we sell drinks at food stalls? Gail will look into bubbler hire. Action

In the hunt for water fountains Gail eventually found that Shelley (in her day job) can supply water fountains and/or water bottling refilling stations (ACT Government Department). Shelley will also supply some ACT government branded bottles to give away. Additionally, we will ensure some cups are available to be used (but likely to have them at nearby stalls on a request basis rather than stacked up at the stations). Locations of the stations are yet to be decided.

  • Poster guidance to be provided by Olga/Ros for class 4 parent. Action

Sent

  • Can we end examples of past year vouchers to Emily to enable her to design one for this year? Action

Sent – but refer discussion below about alternate approach.

  • Can we ask other Steiner schools what they do at their fairs? Ros to ask. Action

Outstanding

Discussion

The Committee spend a significant amount of the meeting discussing stall allocations for 2016. The key driver was how to best balance the number of hours required to setup and run a stall with the number of parents available in each class. We agreed that students from classes 8 to 10 could also fill a roster spot and this influenced which stalls were allocated to those classes. The larger number of Kindergarten (and below) classes (and hence parents) has increased however it was decided to keep those classes allocation unchanged. The premise is the extra parents would help to more easily fill the rosters and this would in turn allow parents with multiple children to roster onto the older child’s stall. Class 1 and 3 are unchanged as these align to the age group and curriculum.

Approximate parent numbers per class in 2016:

Class 1: 96 parents

Class 2: 98 parents

Class 3: 96 parents

Class 4: 104 parents

Class 5: 112 parents

Class 6: 106 parents

Class 7: 104 parents

Class 8: 104 parents

Class 9: 92 parents

Class 10: 78 parents

We discussed the approximate profit per stall (figures to be finalised and provided) to better understand which stalls could generate more profit given extra resources. The Spring Fair made approximately $30K in 2015. We added an extra baking duty, to make three classes and will include the rule that parents are not obligated to bake more than once. The cake stall within the Café always runs out and it was thought that the extra cakes would sell well and hence increase the profit accordingly.

The very draft breakdown is attached (note we do not have the actual receipts from the ATM and hence some approximations were made – the distribution between Gallery, Craft and Plants may change).

Mandy and Peter met with Johann during the school holidays to walk around the site and get his perspective. We visited the new kindergartens (where the teachers prefer to hold the puppet show), were advised the bottom oval can be fully used now and that the recent location of the Café is no longer available(it is a computer room).

The committee discussed alternate locations for the Café but no final decision was reached. We talked about the Children’s Activities and the use of ‘old school’ games (tug of war, egg and spoon) could be run on the oval … and we noted these activities were usually held during the Autumn Picnic but since that stopped we can move them to the Spring Fair.

Janet noted that in another Steiner school they ran a points system whereby you bought stars and each star was worth one dollar – everything was priced accordingly and hence children could walk around with their stars and reimburse at any stall. We agreed this could not replace the entire way of buying goods at stalls but that it was a better method that the current voucher system that restricted the child to a specific set of items.

Baked Potatoes went well last year, did not required much preparation time but we did not over order as we were unsure on how it would go. This year we can increase the order size so the stall does not run out as early.

The alternate suppler for Ice Cream has downscaled his operation – Gail is looking for another supplier.

The stall liaison split was finalised:

Kirsten - Kid's Activities, Books, Clothes, Children's tents, Craft Group

Shelley - Potatoes, Plants, BBQ, Pizza, Decorations and Entertainment

Janet - Cafe, Ice Cream, Drinks & Snacks, Auction, Amusements and Gallery

Next Meeting – Tuesday 16th August 2016, 7pm. Same Location.

NB: In 2014 the Committee met outside of the school in parent homes. In 2015 we mainly met at the school but occasionally at a café. We can hold the meetings in 2016 at any venue – there are no restrictions, just be mindful not everyone lives close to the school.

Attachments

-2016 Class Allocation

-DRAFT 2015 stall profit breakdown

Class / Preparation / Running at Fair
Preschool and
Kindergarten / Plan Children’s Activities / Children’s Activities
2nd hand Books and Clothes
Class 1 / Create Children’s Tent ‘treasures’ / Craft Stall & Children’s Tent
Class 2 / Bake for Café / Baked Potatoes
Class 3 / Grow Seedlings / Plants & Produce
Class 4 / Fair Hosts
Collect 2nd hand clothes and books / Fair Hosts
Class 5 / Bake for Café / Café
Café Express
Class 6 / Bake for Café / Ice Cream
Class 7 / Food Preparation as required / BBQ
Class 8 / Food Preparation as required / Pizza
Class 9 / Cold Drinks and Snacks
Class 10 / Plan Amusements / Amusements
Class 11 / Gallery / Gallery

Note – this is unofficial and incomplete – the official profit (with no stall breakdown) is $1500 higher.

Stall / Class / Income / Expenses / Rostered Hours / Profit
Food
Baked Potatoes / 10 / 771.90 / 541.39 / 32 / 230.51
BBQ / 9 / 2246.60 / 1374.55 / 30 / 872.05
Café / 5 / 1469.15 / 196.90 / 25 / 1272.25
Café express / 5 / 869.85 / 201.51 / 25 / 668.34
Chai Tent / n/a / 437.50 / 165.49 / n/a [1] / 272.01
Drinks and Snacks / 2 / 1391.45 / 933.39 / 50 / 458.06
German Café / n/a / 1953.25 / 226.46 / n/a [2] / 1726.79
Ice cream / 6 / 2656.30 / 1835.86 / 35 / 820.44
Japanese Tea House / n/a / 330.00 / 376.16 / n/a 2 / -46.16
Pizza / 8 / 2690.55 / 972.04 / 31 / 1718.51
Sub-total / 14816.55 / 6823.75 / 228 / 7992.80
Non Food
2nd hand books / KG / 3334.55 / 28 / 3334.55
2nd hand clothes / KG / 2136.95 / 28 / 2136.95
Children’s Tent / 1 / 753.20 / 26 / 753.20
Craft / 1 / 5653.00 / 16 / 11825.00
Gallery / 3063.90 / 37.36 / 3026.54
Information / 4 / 1656.00 / 18 / 1656.00
Plants / 3 / 2239.15 / 48 / 3010.65
Silent Auction / 3550.50 / 3550.50
Kids Activities / KG / 33
Older Kids Activities / 7 / 32
Sub-total / 21615.75 / 37.36 / 229 / 23121.39
TOTAL / $36,432.30 / $6,861.11 / 457 / $31,114.19

[1] Run by vendor

[2] Run by students/teachers