Friends of Newbrough - Our PTA

Welcome to your PTA 

(Registered charity number 1044003)

This information aims to provide you with information about our Parent Teacher Association, known as ‘Friends of Newbrough School’ (or Friends for short), which forms a major part of school life.

If you have any questions that remain unanswered, please contact one of the committee members or your class teacher

Our PTA is about much more than simply fundraising. The ‘Friends’ exists to provide closer links between home and school and it is an excellent way to bring staff, parents and friends together in support of the school, working towards a common goal.

All parents and members of the school community are encouraged to get involved, even if they only have a small amount of time available. All families are automatically members of the Newbrough Friends when their child joins our school.

The Committee

Our ‘friends’ committee consists of three elected Officers: Chair, Treasurer and Secretary, along with the Head teacher and a number of non-elected volunteers.

Our ethos is informal, and we hope that everyone will ‘muck in’! All are welcome.

The Committee meets on a regular basis, usually once or twice per term, with smaller groups getting together as necessary when we are planning larger events.

Our Annual General Meeting is held each year, where new members can be elected onto the committee, this is usually held in or around September of each year.

We try and keep a list of ‘friends’ volunteers who commit some of their time to helping the committee. Every little helps, and even one hour assisting at an event is invaluable. Please contact school if you would like to be included on the list.

Our PTA is a member of the PTA-UK, which is a national charity and membership organisation. Our annual membership fee gives us many member benefits including comprehensive insurance cover for all PTA run events.

Our Aims

We aim to raise funds to help support and enrich the curriculum activities. We organise fundraisers in school and in the local community which are accessible to all.

We aim to communicate effectively with parent and school, to provide information of the funds and fundraisers

Examples of what ‘friends’ have paid for:

• Coach transport for ‘school trips’ is subsidised by friends on a regular basis
• Building work and improvements to school environment
• IT equipment/licences
• Subsidised ukulele lessons for year 3 & 4
• Books/resources in school
• Xmas presents

Examples of regular events held:

• Fairs
• Discos & parties
• Film nights
• Cake stalls
• Bags for schools

How we spend the money we raise

At our Friends Committee meetings, decisions are reached on how to spend the money we have raised. This is based on requests from staff, and children via the school council. We ask the staff to submit their wish lists. At other times it will be for resources to improve a particular area of the curriculum or school environment or on visitors into school to enhance the children’s learning. The Friends funds are spent on the ‘extras’ that are not provided by the school’s budget, to make the children’s learning experiences more fulfilling and exciting. Our constitution commits the friends to spending money on things that will benefit the children directly. We also help fund transport for educational visits from school to various places. The money we raise is usually spent fairly quickly. That way, you can be sure that in supporting our school, your children will feel the benefit, along with everybody else.

Company matched giving

Company matched giving is a very simple. Companies or businesses pledge to donate to a charity such as ourselves an amount of money relating to the amount that an employee(s) donates or fundraises for us. If you think that your employer has a matched giving scheme already in operation, or if you would like some more information about charity matched giving or setting up a scheme in your workplace, please talk to one of the PTA officers, or ask in the school office.

Gift Aid

Gift Aid can boost our funds considerably. It is tax claimed back from the Inland Revenue from donations made to us out of your earned income.

If you are a UK tax payer, we are able to claim 28.2p in every pound that you donate to our PTA. The procedure for this is very simple. We ask our parents to sign the declaration form attached (this only has to be done once whilst you are at school) to confirm you are a UK taxpayer. The declaration can be cancelled at any time. Following this, every time you support the PTA with a cash donation or if you support a sponsored event, the PTA can claim the Gift Aid on your contribution. There is nothing further for you to do and we need no other information from you. The issue of Gift Aid is taken on trust and you can support more than one charity in this way. We do not, and are not required to divulge any personal information to the HMRC from your completed forms.

How we get information to you

All Friends information is advised by parentmail and friends email and sometimes in your child’s book bag. This might be information on forthcoming events plus requests for assistance, when we are planning large events. We also advertise events with posters in and around school. A newsletter is published at the beginning of every term giving a roundup of previous terms events, details of the amounts raised, and where the money has been spent. We are currently trying to establish a list of parents’ email addresses, so we can contact you this way. If you wish to be on an email circulation list, please email your details to friendsofnewbrough@gmail.com

How you can get involved

There are lots of ways you can help and support your child through the PTA.

• Come to the meetings! This doesn’t have to be anything formal, but attending meetings helps keep the committee vibrant and responsive and generates new fresh ideas for fundraising

• Offering to help with events during the year is so valuable. It doesn’t matter if you can’t help on a regular basis, or even if you cannot come into school. There are always jobs that can be done from home if you have half an hour to spare e.g. wrapping gifts, preparing posters, preparing raffle tickets etc.

• If either or both parents complete the Gift Aid declaration form, your donations will be worth a lot more to us.
• Take part in events – if you can’t help at events, taking part is just as valuable, attending organised events is a great way to donate valuable funds to your school and have fun in the process
• Advise the committee if you have any ideas or comments about what we do. We are always looking for new ideas for fundraising and always welcome constructive comments on events to help improve what we already do

• Appreciate the efforts of all volunteer parents. A lot of parents give a lot of their own time and money to help our school and this is very important and should be appreciated

• Join Easyfundraising (http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/). This is a free and easy way to raise money, just buy doing your internet shopping. Go on the website and have a look how you can help

• Donations. We sometimes ask for donations from parents, mainly raffle prizes or table top sale donations but also equipment and materials can be requested on occasions

• You can help by letting us know if you have any contacts or skills we could use, everything is potentially valuable to us.

• Make regular direct debit donations to your child’s school, this can be set at an amount of your choosing and for as long a period as you wish

Thank you for reading this information. We hope your family has a happy time at Newbrough School and look forward to welcoming you to many Friends events.