St Joseph’s PTA meeting
17th January 2017
Attending
Ruth Davies
Helen Ward
Jenny Brochwicz-Lewinski
Emma Houston
Gabrielle Chateauneuf
Helen Wood
Richard McCarthy
Andy Callen
Shaun Fogarty
Cathy McBride
Julie Bastin
Jennifer Rafferty
Laura Potter
Mrs Taylor
1.Apologies
Toni Rawcliffe
Nadia Gazely
Bernadette Flynn
Jenna Cassidy
Cathy Tarr-Graham
2. Minutes
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved and signed.
3. Treasurer’s Report.
Please could you refer to the Income and Expenditure Account handout;
· The period under review since the last meeting is November and December 2016
· The net expenditure for November 2016 was £702
· The net income for December 2016 was £8262
· The weekly draw generated a net income of £95 over the two periods
· APFS Xmas card generated £623.50 less £43 of expenditure for folders, dividers, plastic sleeves etc. Prior year raised £686.
· St Andrew’s day raised £207. Not as busy as last year, however, for those that attended you will agree that the it was actually a more pleasant event due to the hall not being as crowded
· Major income for the period was the Christmas Fair. We raised £6576, £362 more than last year. Even more impressive when you consider we had one less cash matching this year too. The ladies from our local Barclays branch, who normally cash match on the cake stand, unfortunately cannot do it going forward due to them having been relocated to another branch. However, a huge thankyou to Duncan Gazeley and Barclays for whom he works, who raised £712 via cash matching on the tombola stall.
· Other events expenditure of £60 was the up front expenditure on Race Night which we had to cancel. This was £20 for the TENs license we had to apply for in advance, £20 on glass hire deposit and £20 on raffle tickets, which we will obviously use for later events. Cancellation was due to poor ticket sales, too close to the Christmas “season” events.
· We received £133 of sponsorship from My Donate. Remaining sponsorship raised from Sylvie Davies and Grace Kelly climbing Snowdon. Totalling £560 which is a fantastic result!
· Received £118 of easyfundraising commission in December
· Other expenditure of £90 related to kitchenware goods for the PTA kitchen and flowers for the office staff for Christmas.
Please could you refer to the Statement of Assets handout;
Total cash balance as at 31st December 2016 is £24,800. £4,000 of this balance is restricted funds, therefore approx.. £21k is available for spending. £11k of this has already been allocated to the new storage garage £2700, KS1 Playground markings £4000 approx., Reception/Nursery play area refurb £4000 approx. The allocation of these spends was approved at the AGM.
Other actions:
We currently have £7,700 sitting in Scottish Widows Account. Historically money was kept in this account as it was a high interest account. The interest rate has been gradually been decreasing and we have just been informed that the interest is to further decrease to 0.01% which is equivalent to Barclays, therefore it is more practical to transfer into the Barclays Premium Account.
Therefore I am proposing that the Scottish Widows Account is closed and the money transferred into the Barclays Deposit Account, for which we have online banking.
Proposal was agreed.
Mrs Taylor also requested the following expenditure, which was approved by members:
· Literacy Books for Mrs Noone’s Library £500 approx.
· Table Tennis Table £458 excluding VAT
Total committed expenditure is as follows:
New storage garage £2700
KS1 Markings £4000 approx.
Rec/Nursery Play Area £4000 approx.
Literacy Books £500 approx.
Table Tennis Table £500 approx
Total £11,700
Balance in bank not committed: £9,100
Thanks also to Duncan Gazely for his cash matching at the Christmas Fair.
4. Review of last half term’s events.
i) The race night- unfortunately this was cancelled due to low numbers. It is something that we are looking to run again in the future when there are fewer events in the calendar.
ii) Saint Andrew’s Day- although there were smaller numbers than last year it was a nice atmosphere and not so overcrowded.
iii) The Christmas Fair-financially this was a great success. Ruth said it down to a fantastic team.
A massive thank you to all contributed. Mrs Taylor asked if we could have a layout map to give to parents so that they know where each stall is located now that we have moved some around. The grotto may need to change location. Also the tannoy was not working so the slots times may work better in the future. Thank you Angie Hilton for the Father Christmas letters. Musical performances by the children was also discussed as something that may happen again in the future. However, It is noticeable that when the children perform, people stop spending. There are also quite a few musical performances throughout the year now so it is probably not needed at the fair. Jennifer Rafferty mentioned the bottle neck to the eating area. Mrs Taylor said that in previous years, eating had occurred in the hall. The committee will look into this.
iv) Christmas Cards- Ruth said that the end result was that 150 cards ordered from. Only one order was not complete. Everyone seemed to be pleased with the finished result. However due to the complications of ordering with this company, we will have to revisit who we order from next time.
5. This half term-
Thanks to Fiona for an excellent newsletter!
i) Children’s Disco- this will be taking place on 10 May February. It is a very popular event to children. The DJ is booked and there will be separate discos for different year groups. The last few years we havehad a man man man scene however we are moving away from there. For Key Stage 1, there will be a fancy dress disco with the DJ doing some balloon modeling. For Key Stage 2, DJ will be holding dance competition. There is the opportunity for the children to make a song request in advance. There is a ‘crazy hair’ theme. A parent mail will be sent out later this week and Julie is doing the posters. Flyers are to go into bags and replies are to go into the box next to the office. Emma Houston mentioned that there had been some issues with Heeleys last year. It is going to be added to the newsletter that they are not allowed at the disco.
ii) Summer Dance- the venue has now been booked and the date set. It is going to take place on the 24 June at Northenden golf club. This is a brand-new room and does not require a lot of work. The main area of work will be attaining prizes for the auction and the raffle. Ruth said we will be aiming to start selling at the end of next month.
iii) Second Hand Uniform- there is not always the best time to sell the uniform. Ruth would like to trial people ordering things in packages in advance. Helen also mentioned having a Sports day T-shirt swap.
iv) “Big Peddle”- This is an initiative suggested by a parent to promote other form of transport to get to and from school. This is to take place in March and is a competition.
v) Recycling- Ruth said that the PTA plan had an article about recycling ink cartridges. This is something we are going to look to do.
6. Spending
- See Treasurer’s Report.
Garage is now on order and Table Tennis Table has also been agreed.
Mrs Taylor said that she would like to redevelop behind the KS2 area. It is quite a substantial space and could be developed to have a hard surface with a canopy over some of it. This would be quite a substantial new project.
7. AOB
Ruth Said that Cathy McBride has now applied to the Co-Op Community Fund. We will hear back in March as to whether we have been successful. Emma said that Tesco are doing something similar and she will also apply.
Gabrielle asked if we could do something similar to Mother’s Day for Father’s Day. The committee will discuss this further as Mother’s Day is run by the school as part of the Lentern Fund.
Neil Barratt Photographer is doing a scheme for schools where the PTA sells vouchers for £20 to parents. This voucher than enables the purchaser to have a photograph worth £65. We will need to check the website for prices and look into this further.
Mrs Taylor wished to thank the PTA and all the parents for their continued help and generosity.
Next Meeting-
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 8th March.