PTFA meeting minutes, 22 May 2025

Attendees

Helen Albon (Chair), Simon Voisey (Treasurer), Siobhan Riordan, Sarah Shreeves, Heather Turner, Charlotte Harman.

Apologies: Ellie Eakins, Kat Pollock, Kelly Brown, Charlotte Barnard, Johanna Probert, Marcus Cherry, Sandra Whitehouse.

Agenda

1. Minutes and actions from last meeting

2. Finance

3. Past events / fundraising totals -

4. Agreed future spending

5. Proposed future spending

6. Planned events (Summer fair)

7. PTFA developments / opportunities

8. AOB

1) Minutes and actions from the last meeting

Minutes approved. Actions reviewed.

2) Finance

Balance in LLoyds account: £23,438.51

Spending since last meeting: £357 on greenhouse installer; £186 on hoodies, t-shirts for swim team coaches; Plants for troughs and tubs and seeds for class gardening kits: £93.21; Gardening kits, £400; Wonderlicious prize- Bruce Bogtrotter cake £14.10; Book stands for library (publicity done for this).

Finance management tool

Simon Voisey, Treasurer, proposed the purchase of an online finance management tool/ app to help streamline things for the team. It would help us track fundraising and spending, keep records in one place, and enable us to easily share access with committee members instead of using Whatsapp and the shared google drive. It would help simplify tasks like budgeting for events, generate reports if we need them, and help keep a clear audit trail for transparency and accountability. Approx monthly cost for a tool like this would be £15. Simon has researched several tools which might be suitable for us.

Discussion: A tool sounded very sensible. It was acknowledged that Committee members can often feel the weight of responsibility for finance matters, and something like this could relieve some of the pressure felt around processing receipts, managing cash flow etc and also make the handover process a lot easier a more efficient.

Decision: Yes to signing up to a new tool for around £15 a month. ACTION: Simon to identify the right tool and sign up ASAP.

3) Past events fundraising totals

Bake sales

• Year 3 bake sale: £314

• Year 5 bake sale £282.41

• Year 6 bake sale: £195

• Reception: £202

• Year 1: £246.50

• Year 2: £185

• Year 4: £207

Total for bake sales: £1632 split between all year groups for class resources.

Year 3 winners get £100 more for raising the most.

Helen has contacted school to ask how they would like to money to be transferred so class resources can be purchased.

Quiz night

£500. A great evening. Positive feedback from those who attended. Particular thanks to Matt McMahon for all the hard work which went into organising the quiz itself. Discussion about how we would like to run this event next year too. Date TBC.

Disco

Total: £2628. Very positive feedback on the discos on the night itself, particularly from Reception parents who enjoyed the separate disco. It was noted that there was an exceptional amount of litter left by the children this time. More so than previous years. ACTION: Helen to speak to school to see if they can cover the issue of litter as part of the care for the common home topic - thinking in particular about the upcoming fair, and how much work it takes to clear the school grounds after the event.

4) Agreed future spending

Grow With It Project

At the last meeting there was a substantial update on the Grow With It project including detailed plans for the playground.

Playground equipment being installed w/c 30 June with the line markings just prior. Playground spend: £10,762 plus VAT

The wall

A section of wall in front of the proposed area for the play equipment will need to be replaced in the next few years. There's no school budget for this which will mean the area will eventually need to be cordoned off and the play equipment won't be able to be used. The children have also said they would like extra areas to sit in this part of the playground.

Proposal: Are we happy to pay the cost of replacing the wall with steps and seating for better access and futureproofing the use of the equipment in the longer term? Andy Gore, landscape gardener (Plantscapes Bristol) has quote £5,666 for replacement of wall with wooden sleepers with steps leading to the new playground equipment, and built in seating facing toward the playground.

Discussion: Wooden sleepers become very slippery when wet so we would need gravel/ anti slip material on each step to mitigate that risk. Do we want to investigate cost of materials which might last longer than wood? could we grade the slope and cut in steps? We could get another view from a surveyor. Heather T to come and look at the area to advise.

Decision: In principle the PTFA are happy to pay this cost to replace the wall as part of the playground project to ensure it can be used in the longer term, but would like to consider a few other materials / options which might last longer. ACTION: Helen to arrange visit from Heather to advise, also to go back to Andy to discuss other options and the slip risk.

Year 6 Leavers

SATS breakfast expected cost £200

PA system

New PA system quote now £7k with VAT. £1k more than approved by the committee previously. Simon is investigating with school about how the payment will work. Agreed previously to spend on PA system after the summer fair to keep a sensible contingency in our budget.

Discussion about whether Ralph Davis would like others to look at the quote. Several experts mentioned. ACTION: Helen to go back to Ralph Davis to discuss. Simon to discuss payment arrangements with school.

Window Wanderland fundraising

£350 on books for classes using the amount raised at Window Wanderland.

Helen has been in touch with Gloucester Road Books to make the order from classes, and is awaiting a reply on the order (Committee previously agreed to stick with local supplier rather than Amazon). ACTION: Payment to be made to GRB.

Show you care Park Elsewhere signage

Update: Helen has received high res logo from school - next step is to liaise with the company to design the signage.

Branded St Bons coaching tops

Tops have been ordered and distributed to staff. The branded tops looked good at a recent swimming gala. It was nice to be able to have branded tops like all the other schools at the event. ACTION: Helen to do comms about this purchase.

Tea towels

Children have been doing their designs this week. We are now producing three tea towels: one for reception and year 1, one for years 2 and 3, and one for years 4, 5, and 6. ACTION: Sarah to collect designs and stick them on the templates. Helen / Marcus to prepare on the website ready to sell. Timing TBC.

5) Proposed future spending

Gazebos

School has requested two new gazebos to replace the existing ones which are broken.

Gazebos are important particularly in the summer months, with no shade at the front of school. Need robust ones.

Proposal: Simon presented an option for a gazebo the same as one he had previously purchased. It's a different more sturdy design to the ones the school has currently. Do we want to purchase two similar to this?

Discussion: The gazebos won't need walls as the issue of needing to be able to see children during playtime was raised. It will need heavy weights to keep it in place and in line with health and safety requirements.

Decision: Yes to gazebos at an approx cost of £600 each as they are important during the summer months, and particularly when the front of the school doesn't have much shade. We would like to buy these ASAP so children can benefit during the summer term as the old ones are broken.

ACTION: Simon to look into suitable options ASAP and to share with the team/ school for consideration.

Archaeological dig site

School has requested funding for the construction of an archaeological dig site by the site manager this summer (£800 construction materials); and £300 for an expert to come and teach a session which is filmed. The film will then be used to train teachers to deliver the sessions in the future. All children will benefit. The site will be at the back of school towards the back gates. This is part of the curriculum. Do we want to fund this?

Discussion: Will the site be used frequently throughout the year? or are these once a year sessions? What else can the site be used for? This led to a discussion about the need for longer term planning through the year so the PTFA can make decisions based on what we know is in the pipeline for funding. Can school provide us with a longer term view / clearer idea of the projects and initiatives they would like funding for?

Decision: Agreement that this is an important project, and in principle yes to funding, but we would like to know what else it will be used for and the frequency of use before committing £1100. ACTION: Helen to contact Mrs Ballantine for more information; and also to see if we can obtain a longer term view of likely spending.

6) Planned events

Wonderlicious prizes

Friday 23 May - sweet making session for 5B and after half term the science session. Risk assessment has been prepared for the sweet making session and teacher and parent running the session are briefed. The science session date is still TBC. Recent tortoise visit for year 3 class and year 5 went really well. Positive feedback from year 3 teacher, although no photos were taken.

Frozen Fridays

• Friday 23 May year 5

• Friday 6 June year 6

• Fri 13 June year 3

• Fri 20 June Reception

• Fri 27 June year 1

• Fri 4 July year 2

• Thurs 10 July year 4

Advertising done, rota circulated.

Summer Fair, Sunday 22 June, 2-5pm

• Letter has gone out to parents about help needed to prepare for the fair, including a quick at a glance list of dates / reminders following the positive feedback about the reminders last year.

• Class reps have hamper info.

• Emily Baker dance are no longer able to perform at the fair, but are interested to do so next year.

• Football on the MUGA - possibly - waiting for Coaching with Sophie to respond.

• Vicky Bennett and family have come forward to run the Pre-loved clothing stall (agreed a while back instead of a Bag2School collection as they are offering such low amounts to schools currently and it made more sense to run our own and raise more).

• Silent auction has been launched and publicity on this and the fair will build after half term hols.

• Nerf gun stall agreed with school that risk of injury is too high, so can’t run this.

• St Bedes sponsoring the craft stall with a theme about the importance of pollinators. St Bedes students have volunteered to come and support the craft stall and create posters about pollinators for awareness raising.

• New stall ‘Floor is lava’ needs more prep and planning. Who can help with this? Sponsor too to cover cost of groundsheet.

• Advertising has gone in local magazine. Need leaflet drop to local streets.

• Need printing and laminating help

• Email received today from Taekwondo instructor at Tiger Martial Arts wondering about whether they could run taster sessions at the fair. Helen to reply to find out more.

New reception parents open evening

The PTFA has been invited to come to this session on 18 June.

Proposal: To provide goody bags for the parents similar to last year at a cost of approx £50? (chocolate, tissues, invitation to new parents coffee morning in Sept, and other bits to welcome parents to the school).

Discussion: Yes good idea. It was welcomed last year. Concern that preparing goody bags the week before the Summer Fair is a lot to take on. Also to display what fundraising activities we've done as a PTFA and how the money has been spent (posters similar to those provided at last year's event).

Decision: Yes to goody bags again. ACTION: Helen to source bags and prepare posters, and invitations for coffee morning. Heather offered help with bags. Simon to buy fudge in Devon.

Sports day refreshments

Reception and KS1 9.00-11.30 Tuesday 8th July

KS2 9.00-11.30 Wednesday 9th July

7) PTFA developments / opportunities

No updates

8) AOB

PTFA social

Proposal: To organise a social for committee members and reps in July after the Summer Fair. New Committee members haven't had a chance to properly meet each other in person. A social would be a good opportunity to do this.

Decision: Yes to a social. ACTION: Sarah Shreeves to identify a date for this.

Meeting ended 2125.