PTA News Archive

April 2010

Thank you to all of the children (and the adults!) who supported our Easter Raffle; even though the tickets were only 10p each we still made a profit of over £100. The children enjoyed an exciting special assembly for the raffle draw – there was lots of applause and cheering when their friends or classmates won a prize! Congratulations to all the winners!

Our next fundraising event will be a Film Night on Thursday 20th May. Please look out for a flyer with full details of this event in the next few weeks. Also please note that our Summer Fair is taking place on Friday 9th July. Our next PTA meeting is on Thursday 13th May at 7pm at the school.

The Uniform Shop

Over the last year we have been very grateful to Jeanette Yorke and Sue Fricker for managing our school’s Uniform Shop so successfully. Unfortunately they both wish to retire from this voluntary role at the end of the school year in July. Their eldest children will be entering Year 7 in September and moving on to Lytchett Minster School making it impossible for them to continue in this role. We are therefore looking for new shopkeepers – if you think you might be interested in running the Uniform Shop and would like further information please contact Jeanette or Sue via the School Office.

March 2010

Thank you to everyone who supported our Easter Discos and our Easter Raffle. Over 40 lucky winners will be rewarded with a chocolate treat in the next few days. We must say a very big thank you to Georgina Bell and her team at Southern Co-op for kindly donating over £50 worth of Easter Eggs for the raffle.

Thank you to Andy Robinson for generously donating £340 on behalf of his employer BP Wytch Farm as part of their "pound for pound" matching scheme. Many companies run schemes whereby they will equal monies raised by registered charities; usually this involves very little effort on behalf of the employee. We would be very grateful if you could check to see if your employer runs a similar scheme and please contact us if they do, so we can try to access these funds for our forthcoming fundraising events.

In the Autumn Term your financial support enabled us to purchase musical instruments costing £3500 for the school. 7 new violins, 6 new flutes, 5 new clarinets and 2 new saxophones are now owned by the school. This is a fantastic achievement allowing many children over future years to have the opportunity to learn to play these quality instruments. It has however been even more successful because in the few months since these instruments were purchased they have generated £500 of income! This money will be used to provide further resources for the music department. Those people who were lucky enough to attend the recent Spring Concert were treated to brilliant performances from all the musicians. The finale combining the skills of the Orchestra, the Choir and the Lytchett Singers was spectacular! It was great to think that money donated by parents to our fundraising events had helped and would now continue to help develop the music department.

Please note the following dates in your diaries; we will be holding a Film Night on Thursday 20th May and our Summer Fair is taking place on Friday 9th July.

Thank you once again for supporting your PTA.

February 2010

We are really pleased to announce that our Christmas Fair 2009 made a fantastic profit of £4523. Thank you to every member of staff, every parent and every child who supported this event. An especial thank you to Paul Nicholas, Karen Townley and Louise Lewis who individually raised £682, £600 and £215 respectively. This money was generously donated by the companies who employ them as part of “pound for pound” matching schemes. Many companies run schemes whereby they will equal monies raised by registered charities; usually this involves very little effort on behalf of the employee. We would be very grateful if you could check to see if your employer runs a similar scheme and please contact us if they do, so we can try to access these funds.

We have recently agreed to requests from the school for £800 towards new reading books; £150 – £200 for Big Write resources and £400 to hire a climbing wall for the older children. A sum of £3000 already given to the school to assist in the rebuilding of the Adventure Playground has been reallocated to provide various equipment for the Key Stage 1 and 2 playgrounds.

Our next fund-raising event will be our Easter Discos on Thursday 25th March. The disco for children in Reception, Years 1 and 2 runs from 3.45pm until 4.45pm and costs £1 to include a drink and snack. The disco for children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 runs from 5.15pm until 6.30pm and costs 50p with a Tuck Shop available. This term we will also be holding an Easter Raffle with lots of yummy chocolate treats to be won! Please look out for our flyers, in the next few weeks, for further details of these two events.

December 2009

Thank you very much indeed to all the children, parents and staff who supported our Christmas Fayre. We are especially grateful to all the volunteers who offered to do various jobs in advance of the fayre and those who set up, cleared away and worked on the stalls during the event. We hope everyone who attended had a great evening. We are still in the process of calculating how much money the fayre raised but we believe that the final figure will be over £2000. THANK YOU so much for your generosity especially at this time of the year and in this current economic climate.

Your financial support has recently enabled us to purchase musical instruments costing £3500 for the school. The music department now possesses 7 new violins, 6 new flutes, 5 new clarinets and 2 new saxophones. Hopefully this will allow many children over future years to have the opportunity to learn to play these instruments.

On behalf of the PTA we wish you all a very happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Thank you once again for supporting your PTA.

October 2009

Following our Halloween Discos on Thursday 22nd October our next fund-raising event will be a Film Night on Thursday 3rd December. Please look out for a flyer containing more details of this event after half term. Thank you in advance to all the staff, PTA members and parents who will be helping with the Halloween Discos.

The Lytchett Matravers Primary School Calendars 2010 are currently being produced. As usual every child in the school has drawn a miniature portrait of themselves with each class having their own page in the calendar. Once again the pictures are fantastic making the calendars ideal gifts for relatives or souvenirs of your child’s years at this school. We hope to have them available to buy at a cost of £5 at the Christmas Fayre. We do have to limit the number of calendars we print so please buy early to avoid disappointment.

Our Christmas Fayre takes place on Friday 27th November, 6pm - 8pm. We have started our planning early and already have some great new ideas. We hope to have an exciting evening of entertainment, superb stalls, good games, and a riveting raffle - a fun family fayre.

Just to warn you in advance, as usual, there will be a non-uniform day prior to the Fayre on Friday 20th November. In exchange for being able to dress as they wish we will be requesting that the children bring in items on that day for our 3 tombolas. This year we would be grateful if children in Years 1 and 2 donate chocolate items for our Chocolate Tombola and those in Years 3 and 4 donate any type of bottled goods for our Bottle Tombola. Children in Years 5 and 6 are asked to donate filled jars for our Jar of Surprises Tombola. To explain this further we would like you to fill cleaned glass jars with any items you wish – some things such as sweets, crayons, hair clips, small toys, marbles etc would be desirable to win but you could also fill some jars with cotton wool, paper clips, etc which although useful might not be so appealing! Please use your imagination and don’t feel you are limited to supplying only one jar – we would be very grateful to have more! We will be asking the children in Reception to bring in items for our Christmas Hamper Raffle – a letter explaining this further has already been sent out to Mrs Spicer’s and Miss Hirst’s classes.

We will be running a quality book and unwanted gift stall at the Christmas Fayre. Any items you wish to donate can be placed in the labelled box by the school office on the 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th November. Please do not bring in items on any other day and we definitely do not want bric-a brac.

Thank you once again for supporting your PTA.

September 2009

Following our AGM last week the PTA is already preparing its fund-raising ideas for the year ahead. At our meeting we were extremely glad to welcome several new parents keen to join us. We were also very pleased to see many familiar faces who are willing to help us again this year. Lisa Thompson-Purvis will be continuing as our Chairperson while Karen Townley and Cara Fusco remain as our Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Melanie Gill was duly elected into the vacant role of Vice Chairperson. We were once again very grateful to Paul Nicholas for performing the annual inspection of our accounts covering the year 08/09.

Last year we raised over £10,000 and we must say a very big thank you to every member of staff, every parent and every child who supported our fundraising events. We also need to say a special thank you to the parents who made use, on our behalf, of the “£ for £” schemes run by their employers. Many companies will match money raised by charities such as ourselves on a £ for £ basis – if your company runs such a scheme we would be very interested in hearing from you!

As requested we donated nearly £6000 to the school – we supplied the money to purchase Early Years’ “learn through play” items, PE equipment, markings on the Reception playground, items for the Key Stage 1 courtyard redevelopment, additional stage blocks and new bins for the Key Stage 2 playground. With a healthy bank balance we are looking forward to helping fund many new projects over the next 12 months.

Our first fund-raising event for this year will be a Hallowe’en Disco on Thursday 22nd October. Please look out for the flyer advertising details of this event in the next few weeks. A future date for your diaries is our Christmas Fayre on Friday 27th November 6pm until 8pm! Yes it does say Friday 27th NOVEMBER!!!

Our next PTA meeting is a Christmas Fayre planning meeting on Wednesday 7th October at 7pm at The Chequers. If you couldn’t attend our AGM but are interested in joining the PTA please come along and meet us.

July 2009

We are very pleased to say that as a result of our fundraising we are in the process this term of giving the school as requested £5000. This is being spent in three areas; on early years "discovery through play" items such as a kitchen set and 4 sided easel; on PE and sports equipment including hockey gear and hurdles and finally, as specially requested by School Council as part of their anti litter campaign, on new bins for the KS2 playground. We hope to be in receipt of these items soon and we should then be able to show you exactly how your generously donated money is being spent. Thank you once again for supporting your PTA!

May 2009

The Uniform Shop

Over the last four years we have been very grateful to Melanie Gill and Claire McKenzie for managing our school’s Uniform Shop so successfully. Unfortunately they both wish to retire from this voluntary role at the end of the school year in July. We are therefore looking for new shopkeepers – if you think you might be interested in running the Uniform Shop and would like further information please contact Mel or Claire via the School Office.

PTA News

Thank you to all the children, staff, parents and PTA members who supported our recent Easter Discos. Our next fundraising event will be a Film Night on Thursday 11th June. Please look out for a flyer with full details of this event later in May.

Our Summer Fair takes place on Friday 3rd July 6pm – 8pm. Just to warn you in advance there will be a non-uniform day on Friday 26th June. In exchange for being able to dress as they wish we request that children bring in items on that day for our 3 tombolas. This time we would be grateful if children in Years 5 and 6 donate chocolate items for our Chocolate Tombola and those in Reception, Years 1 and 2 donate any type of bottled goods for our Bottle Tombola. Children in Years 3 and 4 are asked to donate the traditional filled jars for our Jar of Surprises Tombola. Once again we will also be holding a Summer Fair Art Competition with each class trying to win the huge silver trophy! Last year Mrs. Pritchard’s Year 4 class were victorious when their fantastic flags made up the best strip of bunting. In the next few weeks your child will bring home an item to decorate to form part of their class’s art work which will then be displayed and judged at the Summer Fair.

We are very pleased to say that as a result of our fundraising we are in the process this term of giving the school as requested £5000. This is being spent in three areas; on early years “discovery through play” items such as a kitchen set and 4 sided easel; on PE and sports equipment including hockey gear and hurdles and finally, as specially requested by School Council as part of their anti litter campaign, on new bins for the KS2 playground. We hope to be in receipt of these items soon and we should then be able to show you exactly how your generously donated money is being spent.

Thank you once again for supporting your PTA. Further information is always available on the PTA website www.lytchettmatraverspta.net.

January 2009

The PTA’s most recent purchase for the school has been an additional portable stage block costing £692. Hopefully now at future music concerts the whole orchestra will be able to fit on the stage without risking injury!

November 2008

Firstly we have to say a very big Thank You to the wonderful staff in the HOMEBASE store at Tower Park who very generously donated many large storage boxes to enable us to keep items safely and tidily in our new shed.

Secondly we have to say Thank You to all the children, parents, PTA members and teachers who supported our Hallowe’en Disco and Film Night. As a result of our fundraising we have been able, this term, to give the school as requested £568 to paint inspiring markings on the Reception playground and £500 to provide additional equipment for the outside learning area in the courtyard.

Our next fundraising event is the Christmas Fayre on Friday 5th December 6pm until 8pm. Please support this fun family fayre; come and buy some gifts, play fun games, eat delicious food, taste our mulled wine, visit Santa in his magical grotto and hopefully win a prize in the raffle!

Thank you already for purchasing tickets for our main raffle and our hamper raffle - extra tickets will be available at the fayre. Thank you in advance for your donations to our tombolas and hamper raffle on non school- uniform day on Friday 28th November. Don’t forget we will be running a quality book and unwanted gift stall. Any items you wish to donate can be placed in the labelled box by the school office on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th December. Please do not bring in items on any other day and we definitely do not want bric-a brac.

Please note that children visiting Santa Claus in his grotto this year will need to be accompanied by an adult.

Finally the Christmas Fayre is very rewarding as we usually raise over £2500 for our school but setting it up, running it and clearing it away is extremely hard work. We would be delighted to accept any offers of help. If you feel you could spare a few minutes of your time on Friday 5th December please look out for our volunteers list in the foyer of the main school entrance from Monday 17th November.

The Lytchett Matravers School Calendar 2009 is now available to buy at a cost of £5 from the Uniform Shop on Wednesdays at 3.30pm. We hope to also sell these at the Christmas Fayre but the number printed is limited so buy early to avoid disappointment. Thank you once again for supporting your PTA. Further information is always available on the PTA website www.lytchettmatraverspta.net.

September 2008

New for 2008! Grateful thanks to Lisa Thompson-Purvis who has volunteered to be our new chairperson! We look forward to working with Lisa for a very successful year ahead.

Updates Coming Soon: Event dates for the next year are being sorted out at the moment and we will post these as soon as we can, but please note the changed date of the Film Night to November 20th, and the addition of a Hallowe'en Disco on October 23rd. Details to follow and watch out for flyers which should be winging their way to you via kiddiemail very soon!

July 2008

Summer Fair: Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to provide so much entertainment and fun for our Summer Fair - despite the weather being somewhat against us, there was a good turnout of people and as always we very much appreciate the support from parents, school staff and the community. Thank you!

Summer Fair Photo Gallery

May 2008

May Ball discos: the children all seemed to have a good time and we were lucky to have a good number of staff attending who helped with the dance routines! A big 'Thank You' to them! The signing in/out process proved a little trickier this time with some delays, we apologise to children and parents attending who may have found it a bit cumbersome and we will be reviewing the process before the next childrens' event.

April 2008

Thank you to everybody who helped at the Film Night on Friday 25th April, especially to Mr Dorrell for giving his time and technical expertise to ensure all went smoothly! The evening was well attended, the children were well-behaved and enjoyed themselves, and we are grateful to the parents for their patience while we tested our new signing in and out process, which worked very well.

March 2008

easyfundraising update January 2008

Our quarterly statement from easyfundraising has arrived, and we have been awarded £4.00 for the last quarter. This comprises donations from retailers for items bought online, and one pence for every time anyone uses easysearch to search the web.

This is money for nothing and we are extremely grateful to those who have remembered us when shopping online. Let's try to add to that for next quarter - see the 'Fundraising' page for an explanation of how to use this facility.

easyfundraising launched!

Extract from school newsletter 'Roundabout' no. 267:

The PTA have arranged a new fund raising scheme that you can help with by staying at home and shopping on the Internet! www.easyfundraising.org.uk is an organisation that helps groups to raise money in this very easy way. If you shop online you can raise money for school every time you shop with no extra cost to you. You simply have to visit your favourite shops by first going to the above website. Once there you can register your support for our school and then just follow the links to the shops you want. It really is that easy! You may even get some extra discounts from some shops. Every time you buy something the school receives a small some from the shops you use. If a good number of parents shop in this way we will soon earn a significant amount. If you shop in this way you could really help us by doing very little.

Thank you for any support you are able to give us.