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Welcome to Monkspath Junior & Infant School

This information has been put together by Monkspath PTA especially for you, as a new family joining our school community. Starting school is an exciting time for the whole family. Studies show that there’s a direct link between parental involvement and how well children do, so why not get involved from the

start! This booklet provides you with information about Monkspath PTA and lets you know how you can join in.

Why do we have a PTA?

We are fortunate at our school to have a PTA that’s an integral part of the school community. We usually raise circa £10k per year which is been spent on equipment and resources to enhance our children’s educational experience and the school’s facilities.

Our association is about much more than simply fundraising. Monkspath PTA exists to provide closer links between home and school and it is an excellent way to bring staff, parents and friends together socially in support of the school, working towards a common goal. It’s fun too - just ask any of the Committee members or volunteers.

Membership of the PTA

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 PTA when their child joins our school.

Role of the Committee

Our Committee consists of some elected members:

Chair

Treasurer

Secretary

Vice Secretary

Plus a number of Ordinary Committee Members

The Committee meet on a regular basis with smaller working groups meeting as necessary when we are planning larger events. The Committee also hold open PTA meetings, any member can come along, find out what they are planning, share ideas and get involved.

Volunteers

We welcome any help from parents, teachers and friends, and have a growing list of volunteers who commit some of their time to helping the association. Every little helps, so just one hour of assisting at event or wrapping lucky dip prizes or folding raffle tickets (just a few examples) would be invaluable. If you would like to join us please speak to a committee member, come along to our next meeting or email us – [email protected] or contact us through Facebook or Instagram messenger.

School Staff

The amazing school staff also play a very important role, providing a link between individual classes and parents, and the PTA committee. The support from school staff is vital when it comes to organising and running our main events. We really could not manage without them.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Our Annual General Meeting is held in September and provides an excellent opportunity for all parents to come along and hear in more detail about our work, the events we have run, the funds we have raised and how the money has been spent. It is also when we elect any new committee members.

Support from Parentkind

For peace of mind, our PTA is a member of Parentkind, which is a national charity and membership organisation providing support and guidance to over 13,500 parent associations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

How we raise money

Like most PTAs, the majority of our funds are raised through the events that we run. Some of our most popular events are:

School disco’s Christmas Fair Summer Fair

Dress down days

Donations from parents are extremely important. You can donate time, money, items for sale, raffle prizes and of course volunteering.

We also have lots of other ways to raise funds throughout the year:

My School Lottery

Buy a lottery ticket and get entered into the weekly draw. At least 40p in every pound is donated to the school. When you win, you can choose to keep your winnings or donate to the PTA.

Pre-loved uniform

We understand that uniform is costly, so we have a range of items across all branded/school specific uniform items for you to purchase. Please donate any pre-loved uniform back to the school, thanks!

easyfundraising

When you download the app or toolbar for easyfundraising and use it to shop big brands and offers we get a donation. Since we joined in June 2022 over £415 has been raised for our school. There are 7,000 brands on the website, so you can raise circa £12 when you purchase car insurance, or a weekly donation when purchasing your usual food shop. Its super easy to do, and best of all its FREE to use! All you need to do is buy what you normally would, your holiday, online purchasing, click & collect and the PTA gets a donation; easy!

Stamptastic

All school uniform needs to be labelled, so why not buy from stamptastic. No sewing needed and its super quick and easy to label everything!!!

Every time an order is placed for a Name Labels Deluxe Bundle with our PTA code, you will receive a FREE white fabric pen (worth £4.99) and our PTA receives 15% commission on the whole order!

Stamptastic The code you need to enter is: 6080613c47887

Ink bin

Ink Bin is a specialist teacher-led business which supports pupils to collect empty inkjet printer cartridges. ‘The Ink Bin’ pledge to recycle as much of the single-use plastic as possible and also send away some cartridges for refilling in order to reduce their carbon miles. The project aims to support children to be as eco-conscious as possible as well as learn through enterprise. Wherever possible, it will be child-led.

Please do check at home, at work and with friends and family to see if you have any old cartridges - every cartridge makes a difference!

How to find the it….The ink bin is located at Co-op Shelley Farm.

My Name Tags

Our PTA will receive 24% donation of all orders made on the my name tags website using the link below:

https://www.mynametags.com/affiliate?id=18745

How we spend the money we raise

The PTA committee are responsible for deciding how our PTA funds are spent. Usually the School Leadership Team provide a ‘wish list’ of items that the school would like us to consider funding.

We also invite input from parents too, so if you have an idea of something that would benefit all the students in the school, please do share it with the Committee. We can discuss it at a meeting and feedback.

Funds are typically spent on the ‘extras’ that are not provided by the school’s budget, thus making our children’s learning experiences so much more fulfilling and exciting. Funds are not generally spent on improving the fabric of the school building, as this is the responsibility of the school. Our Constitution commits the association to spending money on things that will benefit the children directly.

Recently, the money donated to the school has been spent on:

90 iPads & 100 pairs of headphones

A new courtyard area for year 6

Guitars

21 smartboards, for every classroom

How we keep you up to date

Our newsletter is sent home via the SchoolZine app this includes information on upcoming events and dates plus as well as details of the help we are looking for at larger events. Periodically, we will update on much was raised at various events. When we reach our fundraising target for big projects we will let you know too!

If you use social media, you can follow us on: