PTFA Meeting Minutes 21st September 2021, 8pm online via Zoom
Apologies: K McMahon, L Griffiths
Attendees: A Jones, S Smith, S White, J Rayner, R Moffat, L Savage, S Shreeves, Helen, H Wilcox, A Choles
1) Actions from last meeting
· Unidentified transactions from PTFA account – this is with school office to clarify details of duplicate payments. PTFA will not pay the upcoming library scanner licence due the mistaken duplication in payment.
· Teacher rep on PTFA – Mrs Ballentine supports this and is going to email teaching staff to seek interested parties.
· Duplicate invoices for SATS breakfast – issue resolved. Joe’s Bakery inadvertently sent two invoices.
· Confirmation of well being pod purchases – Mrs Ballentine took Sophie and Aisling to look at the yoga/mindfulness cushions that were purchased with PTFA funds. Action: Aisling to add photos to the PTFA website/newsletter.
· Proposed costs of well being pod equipment and landscaping – meeting held with Mrs Ballentine to discuss this. School is still in process of getting quotations and renderings of landscaping. However she is very much in favour of PTFA assisting with funding and allowing parents/carers to contribute their ideas with how the garden/grounds are developed.
2) Finance
Review of current balance – balance of PTFA account is £15,400 at last statement.
· Regular credit going into the account of varying amounts, query where this has come from. Suspect that it is donations made via the PTFA website. Action: Aisling will check and get back to Jason.
· It is noted that the cheque (£200 donation) to North Bristol food bank has still not cleared. We will check again at next meeting and contact the food bank to query this.
· Updating signatories to PTFA account – despite providing all required information to Natwest this has still not progressed. Delay of >3 months now. The committee expressed their frustration at this and lack of online backing provision currently. It was discussed that as a last resort we could move bank accounts. Action: Jason to push with NatWest one more time. Sophie/Aisling/Jason to research potential alternatives to Natwest.
· Gift aid – research ongoing however need to sort out bank account firstly.
· Paypal – remains on hold until signatories resolved
· Sumup – card reader machine purchased (card reader cost £17 and SumUp takes 1.69% commission per transaction). This was approved by committee prior to the uniform sale. Purchased by Sophie who has been reimbursed. Committee agreed that we should purchase another to have for larger events coming up this term.
3) Recent events
· Second hand Uniform sale – table top sale held on 17th Sept. Card transactions plus cash payments came to £144 on the day. It would be good to publicise more that families in difficulty can approach school office for uniform as needed. Action: Aisling to do social media/website notice to ensure families know about this provision. Feedback from carers was that regular (once a term) sales would be useful. Committee agreed that a dedicated uniform stock manager would be preferential. Action: Aisling/Sophie to advertise for this role.
4) Events Ongoing
· Usborne books – Sophie is keen to ensure books that we receive as commission are useful and reflect school curriculum. Mrs Ballentine supports this and suggests we get in touch with Mrs Tudhope (English lead in school). Agreed we should put reminder on Newsletter about PTFA Usborne shop and remind parents that for their child’s birthday they can purchase a book through the PTFA shop. Action: Sophie to do reminder to publicise Usborne PTFA shop.
· Other income streams – committee agreed we should do a reminder on social media/website about Amazon Smile and Easyfundraising, and step by step process on how to set up. Action: Sophie/Aisling to do this.
5) Events future
· New parents meeting – planned for Friday 1st Oct just after drop off. We can use school urn or PTFA have their own urns and tea/coffee. Remind parents bring their own re-useable cups or sell the reusable cups in the cupboard. Weather dependant. We can make/buy cakes/biscuits. Sandra, Jason, Isabel volunteered to help. Hilary can make a cake but cant be there!
· Christmas cards – packs have been distributed to teachers. Should trickle down to parents shortly. Payment online options, possibly PTA Events or another. Via QR codes however question of how to get parents details of what they have ordered. Can we do it over the website? Action: Speak to Marcus on how we can automate this process as far as possible.
· Christmas fair – need to start thinking about this now, timed visit to Santa grotto, refreshments, crafts etc… Hampers will still take place. A sub committee will be set up at next meeting, we can arrange to meet in person. Fair to be held roughly the first weekend of December. Action: need to recruit sub committee/general volunteers.
· Parent’s event – quiz vs rock bingo, we have permission to hold this in the school hall. We will ask parents if there is a preference for which event type. Suggested we could look into a silent disco from Term 2 onwards.
· Children’s event – for this term we need to ensure current pods/bubbles are maintained. Therefore suggested we hold:
i) KS1 – disco online, same DJ host as last time. Action: contact the DJ and get availability and quote.
ii) KS2 - discussed which events will engage KS2 children. Suggestions include a puzzle room/escape room, and a make your own slime event. Needs further research on quotes as well as feasibility.
· Bag 2 school – looking at dates and alternatives to Bag2School which may pay out higher rate per kilo.
· Tea towels – Sophie has received some samples with a view to doing this to sell at Christmas fair.
6) Proposed spending
· Mud kitchens – school has ordered x2 mud kitchen for reception play area. Delayed in shipping but school hope they will arrive shortly.
· Bristol Old Vic nativity play – PTFA has previously paid for Old Vic performances. This yeat we would need to hold x2 performances to accommodate school pods. Awaiting feedback from Old Vic if they can do this. They may be able to offer discount, to be confirmed.
· Is there anything we could offer for teachers as well as students? Nice coffee machine, could be sponsored? Subscription service? Committee to contact Mrs Ballentine to find out if there is anything staff would benefit from.
· Suggested it may be worth purchasing a big marquee for the school playground to enable outdoor events going forward. Jason is going to look at some quotes.
7) PTFA Development
a) Website – stats provided on users etc. Website has many features that are currently not utilised. Would be good to drive more traffic to the site. Suggestion that we simply issue business cards with QR codes rather than making and printing out a leaflet for New Parents. Action: Aisling to look into this prior to 1st Oct New parents coffee morning.
b) Uniform shop – pending paypal set up.
c) New committee roles/skills database - push this again with parents.
d) Future meetings – feedback to alternate between day and night, and alternate in person and online. Can we use Presbytery? PTFA used to do this. Action: Aisling/Sophie to approach new Parish Priest to ask about this.
AOB – Can we make use of the back of the school for outdoor events in event of restrictions? Suggestion to use ‘linktree’ to link to website from SM accounts.
Date next meeting – 14th October