The Friends

HELLO

We wish you a very warm welcome to our school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), known as the Friends of Charlton Mackrell School Committee, or just ‘Friends’ for short!

Newsletter

See what we have been up to… Checkout our latest newsletter here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YRly84EvTXCY6D5l19SYHLVOKQ8826k7

About Friends

Friends The Friends committee is, and has always been, an integral part of the school community. Consistently raising thousands of pounds to be spent on replacing equipment, providing transport for educational and fun trips, gifts, birthday books, sports medals, and lots more. All with the sole aim of enhancing and improving our children’s educational experiences.

All parents automatically become members of Friends when their children join our school. Parents and members of the school community can get involved in a variety of ways when they want to.

The Committee meets informally, once a month, to ensure the children have the best experiences they can. New members are always welcome – we would love to have you on board!

Our Events

Like all PTAs, our aim is to raise money for the children while ensuring the events we run are fun, such as activity afternoons, trips and school discos. Every penny we raise goes back into the school and directly benefits the children. It is truly rewarding to see the children having fun at the events we run, enjoying their birthday book or using a new piece of equipment provided by the Friends.

How you can help?

It really is a case of "many hands make light work". Either occasionally or on a regular basis would be superb! We can only achieve what we do with the dedication of parents and behind the scenes help, that exists throughout the school.

You don’t have to come to every Friends meeting to be on the committee. These are some of the ways you can help support us:

  • Offering time (on stalls at events, collecting money, cleaning up, producing posters)
  • Giving money by donating via our Friends Facebook page.
  • Donating raffle items
  • Baking cakes / donating treats etc.
  • You can even shop and donate to the school at the same time via The Giving Machine: www.thegivingmachine.co.uk Here you can raise money for the school simply by shopping at your favourite online retailer. There are over 2700
    retailers signed up and all you need do is set up a ‘Giver’ account and select Charlton Mackrell School as your beneficiary.

On-Going Fundraising

Historically, Friends have supported / funded important ongoing activities like swimming lessons and educational trips, medals, theatre visits and books, also large projects like the re-development of learning and playing areas. In the main, the funds which Friends raise are for the "extras" that unfortunately school budgets cannot stretch to.

If we stopped fundraising, the fun stuff would stop in school. It is hugely important we keep doing what we do! That way, we can be sure that in supporting our school, our children will feel the direct and ongoing benefit!

The Legal Stuff

The Legal Stuff Our ‘Friends’ committee consists of 4 Officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary). We also have several other committee members, made up of a school Governor, School staff and a cross section of parents and carers.

It is a legal requirement that organisations such as ours, with an annual income in excess of £5,000, register with the Charity Commission. As a Charity we must abide by Charity Commission rules and regulations and we are bound by a constitution. Our constitution sets out rules about how we operate as a PTA and a full copy can be provided on request from the Friends Secretary. We are also a member of the NCPTA, which is a national charity that advances education and supports over 1300 PTAs throughout the UK.

We hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) every September, at the beginning of the academic year. An opportunity for all parents to participate, vote in your Friends committee officers and share ideas for the year ahead.

Get in Touch

We would love to hear from you! Please make contact with any of the committee members via the school office, or message us via our Facebook page: Friends of Charlton Mackrell School and Preschool.