PTFA meeting minutes, 24 April 2025, 8pm

Attendees

Helen Albon, Kat P, Johanna Probert, Sandra, Sarah Shreeves, Marcus Cherry, Simon Voisey, Charlotte Barnard

Apologies

Kelly Brown, Charlotte Harman, Ellie Eakins

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

7. PTFA developments / opportunities

8. AOB

1) Minutes and actions

Reviewed and no objections made - agreed reflected last meeting.

2) Finance

• Balance in Lloyds = £21761

• Spending since last meeting: £600 on year 6 leavers. Pump flasks recently purchased.

Treasurer (Simon Voisey) update

Paperwork hasn't been received from Lloyds yet. Jason approved and Simon confirmed as signatory but awaiting card which has been posted to school.

Proposal from Simon to purchase an online finance management tool = make use of simple, online financial management, easier to report on budget plans, savings for schemes, multi-person use/access, Automated - proposal to come from Simon at next meeting [ACTION SV]

3) Past events fundraising totals

• Year 5 bake sale £282.41*

• Window Wanderland £409

• Wonderlicious £500

• Year 6 bake sale £195

• Asda Cashpot £179

• Reception bake sale £202

• Spring Refresh £1000

• Drama refreshments £434

• Easter bonnet parade £50

*Money from bake sales gets added all together and then divided between each year group - year group who raises the most £ gets an extra £100 - teachers with pupils decide how to spend £.

4) Agreed future spending

Grow With It Project

Background – Grow With It Project

Our a long-term project to develop underused outdoor spaces across the school. The committee approved the project last year 23/24, and we’ve been approving costs incrementally in response to needs from school.

Our big fundraising target has been £20k + for the playground phase.

What we’ve delivered so far:

• Phase 1: Creation of raised beds and murals to enhance the front garden and involve children in growing – £4,628 = COMPLETE

• Phase 2: Installation of the greenhouse and development of a school garden – £2,816, plus additional recent spend on plants = ONGOING

• Phase 3: Back playground = PENDING

Phase 2: Update

Vision confirmed for greenhouse (see AOB below from meeting with Mrs Ballantine). Gardening kits for Sunflower competition (to coincide with RHS National Gardening Week), and Jubilee Year of Hope (£400). Seeds, trowels, flexi tubs, ordered, 550 pots sourced from recycling centre at Almondsbury. Compost etc still to buy this weekend ready for assembly on Monday.

Helen A to launch Sunflower competition via the newsletter Friday 25th April [Action HA].

Phase 3: Update

Our aim for phase 3 has always been to create a natural play area at the back of the school.

It’s an area which is currently used regularly by lots of children during break times and lessons. The space is limited — just tarmac with a four square court and a basketball hoop. The children use the space creatively though (apparently they run back and forth along the fence between the trees).

Mrs Ballantine has confirmed that they can supervise more use of this space going forward, which opens up its potential significantly (see AOB).

Designing a natural playground in one go has been tricky because of the slope and layout of the space - fine for softer planting and smaller things, but harder for more structured play equipment, which is needed. The three companies we approached struggled with this brief, particularly the slope.

After discussing with Mrs Ballantine we’ve landed on a phased approach:

• Play equipment will be installed along the grassy side of the playground (between the trees – where children already naturally play

• New playground markings will be added on the tarmac to really get the most from that space.

• There is a desire from school to add further features on the slope and quieter seating areas as requested by the children (e.g. behind the wellbeing pod)

PTFA ran a focus group with the children in the last week of term before Easter holidays, and the feedback from the children has gone into the final design. They wanted:

a court / pitch for football etc, more four squares, equipment for climbing, swinging on and upper-body strength (like pull-up bars/ monkey bars) – all have been included in the designs.

Other ideas from the children:

• a graffiti wall,

• a storage shed for balls,

• quiet seating / more seating,

• an area to grow seeds (apparently some children are regularly bringing in seeds to plant behind the wellbeing pod!!), are all relatively low-cost and can follow in a future phase.

The children were worried about:

• Neighbours - how loud and busy it may be

• Discussed idea of stop watch for a race track, but the children felt it may break or be broken and therefore wasn't a good use of money

Decision needed: Do we want to fund these other ideas - Yes absolutely if we don’t have full funds then to put further fundraising into raising money to purchase these ideas.

The quote

KB and HA have been working with Mrs Ballantine to obtain three quotes and the best value and most suitable plan comes from Pentagon (the company that installed the trim trail at the front of the school).

• Their quote is: £10,762 + VAT

• Their design meets the brief- ie equipment that challenges older pupils in particular, and reflects the children’s own ideas

• A picture of the proposed layout (still TBC) is below (note the range of equipment running down the side, the football/netball court, & four squares):

Held up at present - a wall along the playground is leaning slightly (not a major risk but will need replacing at some point). Outcome of discussions with school, independent advice and PTFA, is wall does not affect the playground installation. Agreed can go ahead with playground plan - school should be providing official signed off end of this week 25th April. HA reported that we don't know if plans for wall will happen before, alongside or after playground build.

Discussion - if the wall is being replaced could this be changed into steps / provide more seating area as identified by children in the focus group session?

Wall should be school maintenance cost - paid for by school - Mrs Ballantine is finding quote to have wall repaired/replaced.

Agreement that if there's an additional cost to change the wall into steps this could be considered to be supported funding from PTFA as it supports a request from children.

Year 6 Leavers

SATS breakfast (12th May) expected cost £200

PA system - Request from school

New PA system - request from school - rough estimate £6000. Enhances experience and communication for all pupils, staff and parents. Enables sound to be projected to large groups more effectively. Support assemblies, sports competitions, performances, guest speakers. Current PA system is old and not reliable as it's broken.

The committee approved this amount during Easter holidays and agreed that we would delay the spending on the PA system until after the summer fair to keep a sensible contingency in our budget.

Winter Wonderland fundraising - request from school

£350 on books for classes using the amount raised at Window Wanderland in progress. HA has been in contact with Gloucester Road Books. The committee agreed to stick with local supplier rather than Amazon. Teachers have sent in their book lists.

Show you care Park Elsewhere signage - request from parents & school

Helen has been in touch with school and still waiting for artwork from school so order can be made. [Action HA]

Branded St Bons Coaching staff top - request from parents & PTFA

Sandra has been in contact with school - pending school logo high resolution image

Update - 2 enquiries 1 redland - a bit cheaper , 1 glos rd has set up cost

Swimming gala in May - aim to have them for then.

3x = Hoodie + Polo shirt - St Bons logo, Coach on back = Miss Rigg, Mr Morgan, Emma

Couple of volunteer t-Shirts that would be used by those who are there helping.

Tea Towels - fund raising suggestion

Sarah S reported have found a number of companies who could provide printing. Xmas card people do it but expensive. The proposal is to do 2x tea towels 1 = Reception, yr 1 + 2, other = Yr 3, 4, 5, 6

Kids do head drawing. SS would edit to put it together. It needs to be bulk order to get best cost per tea towel. The feedback from Mrs Ballantine is that need to time it right in school. If we want it for the summer fair we need to get pics in next few weeks. Pending email back from SB for timing.

Discussion - should we do tea towels this summer or postpone for next year? The option of pre ordering through our website and then doing a bulk order was discussed so we would know total number we would be purchasing. Autumn term - don’t want to take away from drawing and buying xmas cards and gifts.

5) Proposed future spending

School library subscription

Request from school. £415 on library subscription payable in July. Agreed

PTFA website subscription

Request from PTFA. The Wix website is one of our primary channels of communication with parents and helps with the organisation of PTFA events and ticketing. The Wix website renewalwill take place on 26 May but payment will be taken a few weeks before £192 for 1 year with downgrading. We would save money with 2 year renewal or purchase next package down cheaper again, Marcus has reviewed functionality and believes we could manage with downgraded package saving £108 for 1 year. Marcus couldn't see actual saving for 2 years, but suggests there will be a saving.

Vote “2 years in the downgraded package” = yes = no objection.

Likely card will not be ready - Marcus may pay himself and claim back.

6) Planned events

Quiz night for parents Friday 25 April.

Matt McMahon agreed to write and host the event. Sub committee of Matt McMahon, Katie, Sarah, Charlotte, Helen and Martha. Risk assessment drafted. Supplies now purchased. Alex (caretaker) has been contacted.

May

Friday 16 May: Discos

One for reception, one for KS1 and one for KS2. We will be restricting KS2 adult tickets so we don’t end up with too many adults attending and not enough tickets for the children. Class reps will organise rotas this time. Tickets to go on sale this weekend for two weeks.

Tickets - KS2 fixed allocation of adult tickets - as last time = more kids get to come and don't have to have tickets for adults - previously has sometimes been a 50:50 split children and adults.

Tickets KS1 - 1 adult to 4 children and encourage to buddy up.

Tickets reception - 1 adult to 4 children and encourage to buddy up.

Selection of separate tickets held back for pupils who require a carers ticket / additional needs - more important for KS2 in this years set up

Setting up for 3:45 SB checking with set up duties, Alex (caretaker) available to put tables out while PTFA get stock - Marcus and Johanna can help to set up

Discussion feedback within PTFA group felt this set up reflected learning from last year and enabled reception children to be supported by their parent giving other year group pupils more opportunity to attend. Will review again after this Disco to see how it has gone and any further learning

Discussion - Some feedback received about reusable glow sticks and children not using them appropriately. Decision in PTFA meeting that we would purchase them again this year and review.

Frozen Fridays from Fri 23 May

• 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

June

Sunday 22 June, 2-5pm Summer fair

• Bouncy castle now booked.

• Emily Baker dance putting on a performance with students of the dance studio who are also St Bons pupils (agreed by PTFA at last meeting).

• Expect school choir may want to sing - to confirm nearer the time

• Football on the MUGA - yes Coaching with Sophie - 'beat the goalie'

• Any another ideas which need booking now?

• 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).

• HA has contacted summer fair team to start the process of looking for sponsors and donations. Is there anybody who wants to join Summer fair team? please contact Helen.

Discussion - nerf battle, felt risk if not led by a company, there is a parent in the school who has lots of nerf guns, and we could use on a specific target instead.

Can we make use of the car park - just need to make sure we can run the stalls and have enough volunteers.

We have no capacity for further stalls currently.

St Bede’s will sponsor again - need to identify a stall - something linked to nature.

A group of parents have approached Mrs Woolley about running a stall at the summer fair focus on keeping children safe in the digital world, following on from Papaya event held in school. Mrs Woolley is happy for this to go ahead as a non-political venture in response to parents expressed interest in finding out more and following on from the sessions that Papaya have been running.

Discussion in the meeting =

Who is the stall aimed at children or adults?

What content is being presented to children / adults?

There was an agreement that whilst this is an important issue for some, the summer fair didn't feel like the right forum for a stall on this topic. There were a few things raised:

• the stalls at the fair are for the children to enjoy and the activities are aimed at them. This is potentially a difficult and emotive topic, which might not be suitable for children to see or engage with; and it's not necessarily what parents are expecting to see at a family fun day.

• feeling that this might achieve a better response from parents in another setting? if aimed at parents would sports day be better where parents are sat at times waiting for their child to undertake their event - set up near coffee stand?

• The fair is a PTFA run event and whilst this is a topic which is seen as important to some parents, the issues associated with it have the potential to be polarising and perhaps could be misinterpreted as us as the PTFA taking a particular stance on say use of particular smartphone apps which some parents allow and others don't.

Action: Helen to give PTFA feedback to Mrs Woolley.

July

Sports day refreshments

Reception and KS1 9.00-11.30 Tuesday 8th July

KS2 9.00-11.30 Wednesday 9th July

New reception parents open evening

7) PTFA developments / opportunities

Bristol Balloons

Tethered balloons in schools. Sent on to school to see if they are interested.

Tesco grants

Information sent on to school.

8) AOB

1- Helen Albon meeting with Sarah Ballantine, Friday 14 March 2025

The following questions were put to SB (these were questions raised by those at the last PTFA meeting):

• If the PTFA is going to spend up to £25k on the back playground, we need to make sure it's going to be used regularly by lots of children.

• If we develop areas further from the main tarmac, presumably more supervision will be required?

SB has provided reassurances about use of the back playground and the issue of supervision. The school would like to see the entire area used daily by lots of children during playtime, and other times too, and will provide supervision for that. 

SB suggested we tackle the playground in three phases to have things complete ASAP:

1. Line markings on the playground 

2. Installing play equipment up the side / fence / between the trees

3. The slope with the orchard on it and the pond area.

Question from PTFA: 

• We spent quite a bit of money on plants for the pond last time, but now it needs more investment possibly due to lack of maintenance. Is it worth it? Would lots of children use it? What's the plan as the area is looking neglected?

The areas we’ve funded already are used regularly by different groups of children. 

SB would like to make the pond shallower. However, there are structural problems with pond. PTFA concerns flagged about further investment in the pond area. 

Action: SB will speak to Alex and get back to the PTFA.  

Question from PTFA: 

• Can we involve children and parents in a consultation on the playground ideas?

Yes - this happened in the last week of term.

Question from the PTFA:

• What are the school’s plans / vision for the school garden?

There are plans to create a gardening club at lunchtime or after school. We discussed how the PTFA could support that. 

SB is keen to have year round interest in the raised beds and to get the children involved in growing, maintaining and harvesting the plants. 

The care for the common home theme is fast approaching so SB would like the children to start planting seeds ASAP. She wondered whether children could sell their produce after school in the summer term too. 

PTFA support 

The RHS gardening awards were flagged to SB who was interested to hear more. We discussed how these awards would give focus to a school gardening club. 

Action: SB is going to ask teachers for their thoughts. HA sent details of the award scheme to SB.

Next steps:

Greenhouse: seed sowing for Jubilee Year of Hope.. Galvanised troughs have been planted - gardening session on 29 March with parent volunteers. One left to plant. 

Vision Pond: see meeting with Mrs Ballantine.

Norbot the Smart Gnome will be arriving soon.

Playground Notes from doc circulated to the committee during Easter:

2- PTFA communications regarding fundraising from Summer Fair and other future events

What is the focus of our fundraising?

There was a discussion about future spending requirements including a PA system. We agreed that some thought should be put into future fundraising themes, ie enrichment through performance, sports, arts or further Grow with it project needs.  Go back to children to ask them?

3- Ice cream van

The ice cream van blocks exit out of school making it difficult for families, bikes, and push chairs to leave school.  Action: HA to raise with school regarding access.

4- Archaeological dig site

A suggestion from Mrs Ballantine that sandpit area be created and company that offers enrichment activities as a archaeological dig - more details pending

End 21:30

Next meeting to be arranged ASAP.