## **Dame Allan’s Schools Parents’ Association Charity #1137728 Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 July 2024** The Trustees of Dame Allan’s Schools Parents’ Association (DASPA) Charity present their annual report and independently examined financial statements. As an organisation, DASPA is approaching its centenary and is an important part of the Dame Allan’s Schools community. ## Our Aims To advance the education of pupils in the schools, in particular by: - Developing effective relationships between staff, parents and others associated with the school - Engaging in activities or providing facilities or equipment which support the school and advance the education of pupils. DASPA’s mission statement is to ‘advance the education of pupils by developing the community of parents, pupils, and staff. The goal is to engage in community activities that help provide facilities or equipment which support the school and pupils.’ We have pursued the means to achieve this mission with an extensive schedule of fundraising activities. The main events in our calendar are a Biennial Ball – which was this year – Christmas Fair, Summer Fair, Ceilidh, provision of refreshments at drama, music and dance events, a Lucky Numbers club, monthly uniform sales, parties and film nights, selling Dame Allan’s supporter merchandise (like hats and scarves) and selling calendars. Some of our activities incur expenses which are kept to a minimum and are agreed in principle in advance by trustees. Some activities such as junior competitions and the EYFS Fun Day are considered a contribution to the school and are represented as a payment to Dame Allan’s Schools. Other activities make a positive contribution although the level of this differs according to the activity. For example, the Ceilidh is costly to run but the event supports the school community and the school’s ceilidh bands, while the two annual fairs have some expense but raise considerably more income. All of the activities which incur expenditure have made a profit. We are lucky that for some activities, such as the Christmas Fair and Summer Fair, that parents and carers generously donate items which we are then able to use as fundraising opportunities. We thank all parents and carers for their support. We are also fortunate not just to have the support of parents and carers but also of the staff and school itself. The generous opportunity afforded by using the school’s payment system to sell tickets for events and fundraising items such as Christmas cards and raffle tickets means that the charity is able to explore many possible revenue streams extensively. The profits made by DASPA are available for expenditure by the schools. Departments and schools are invited to put forward a fundraising request before a DASPA meeting to the Deputy Head of Pastoral at the school or deputy head at the Junior School. If the amount is under £2,500 it can be agreed at the meeting or if it is more than this, then it needs agreement by the majority of trustees at a separate online or IRL meeting. At the meeting consideration is made that requests are additional and how many students would benefit from the purchase. This year we have supported a magnificent sand pit and hub for our Junior School’s OPAL project. We have made considerable donations to Junior treats which include a visit from a reindeer, year 6 autograph books, a visit and treat from Father Christmas and an EYFS fun afternoon. We also bought a container in which to store our uniform. We purchased some Equipment for our OLED programme and some Bergens for our CCF division. We also enhanced the OLED offering at our school with archery tag equipment. We purchased an embroidery machine for our art department. We also purchased extra VEX robots for the school to enable more pupils to enter Robotics competitions. We gave seed funding for our enterprise students. The Modern Language Department benefited from a purchase of headsets. Our pupils also all were treated to an ice cream in the summer. Additional funding was given to our VI form Ball and additional items for our food tech department. We also funded the inflatables for Dame Allan’s Schools Giving Day. ## **Overview of 2023-4** What a great year 2023-24 proved to be for DASPA, with not only a full normal calendar (including our Ball) but also with some additional events. We welcomed Julie Brazier at our AGM as treasurer for our senior schools and Kat Lilford as treasurer for our junior school for the forthcoming year. A big thank you to Julie, Jen and Kat who have prepared our accounts. We bade farewell to Jen Vakharia who has been our treasurer at the Junior School for five years. Many thanks to Jen who has been an excellent treasurer. We also bade Sarah Johnson and Rachel Bowey Bland farewell as Secretaries at the junior school and are delighted to welcome Sarah and Jill Davies as Secretaries for our senior school and thank Wanwuri Akor for her work as secretary. Melissa Gaglardi has been a wonderful trustee and chair of DASPA Junior and has worked so well in the role and we would like to thank her formally here. She has been ably assisted by Cath Huntley who has taken on the enormous task of junior uniform and Cherie Mobberly who is the junior secretary. As co-chairs, Laura Percy and Vanessa Morrell have worked well together with the support of the DASPA committee to help manage an extensive year of fundraising for pupils at Dame Allan’s Schools. A big note of thanks to all the active members of DASPA who enable our great events to happen. The financial statements for the year show how successful the DASPA Committee has been in raising funds for the school, with payments made of just under £25,000 and just under £31,500 raised this year **.** ## **DASPA Ball** We held a very successful Summer Ball at The Biscuit Factory. Over 180 parents and staff attended this fantastic evening. The room was beautifully decorated by our Ball committee, and we had a successful raffle and auction. We would like to thank Laura Percy, Annelise Kopko, Jocelyn Tantawy and Stephen Davies for all of their hard work planning and managing this event, which raised £8,000. ## **Christmas Fair** Our Christmas Fair was a huge success. The footfall was over 400 people and alongside our Lotto which was launched on the day, we raised over £4,000 for DASPA. The fair was very successful, and the sixth form helpers really enhanced the event. We had stalls for our own fundraising, from local businesses, fundraising from pupils and stalls for local charities. There was a great sense of community and atmosphere at this fair. Many thanks to everyone who helped make it such a memorable day. A big thank you to our wonderful school choirs who serenaded us with Christmas music and special thanks to James Percy who played a key role at this Christmas event! ## **Uniform Sales** Our regular monthly uniform sales (alongside a coffee morning) at St James and St Basil’s Church, have proved to be a great way not only to raise funds but also make friends and support the parent community. It is with heartfelt thanks that we take this opportunity to thank Rev James McGowan and his team at ‘Js and Bs’. Thanks to, our brilliant senior uniform subcommittee (Laura Percy, Vanessa Morrell, Bronwen Deane, Stephen Davies, Julie Brazier and Jill Davies) who enable these sales to happen, with special thanks to Bronwen who makes everyone extra welcome with her homemade cakes. Uniform sales have raised just under £5,000 this year. ## **Refreshments** Our refreshments at concerts and performances have proved very popular and a great money raising activity. The main school performance of High School Musical was very well attended and our refreshments for the three-night run were welcomed by all. Thanks to Laura Percy and Annelise Kopko for managing this activity. The contribution from refreshments was £1,200. ## **Family Ceilidh** We were thrilled to be able to hold our Family Ceilidh. Our own school ceilidh bands and Irish dancers entertained us to music from the British Isles. The tickets quickly sold out. A new addition to this ceilidh were pizzas that were shared by families which we’ll be exploring in more detail at our next event. Thanks to Vanessa Morrell and Laura Percy who organised this exciting event. ## **Senior Parties** The year 7 party was well attended. It was only the completely supportive teaching and nonteaching staff and the committee that enabled these parties to happen and we’re sure pupils were all extremely grateful. Many thanks to the subcommittee of Vanessa Morrell, Laura Percy and Sarah Johnson in organising this event. ## **DASPA- Allanian Art Competition** DASPA supported the school by holding a magnet design competition with prizes for each class, where students were invited to design a picture for a calendar. These were then donated to Allanians and local care home residents. Many thanks to Laura Percy who manages this activity. ## **Junior School** It is with great pleasure that we can report that the Junior School offered a full range of DASPA activities this year. Four parties, three film nights and a summer fair. The fair had over 400 attending and raised over £5,000. The regular Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Year 6 party all went extremely well, ably led by Mrs Needham and most of the children in the year attended these events and they also all now know how to play party games! We also organised a reindeer visit for pupils, a Santa visit with small gifts for all pupils and a colouring competition with popcorn and candy floss for EYFS pupils. The uniform at juniors has been changed so we anticipate our usual income stream from sales may dip below normal levels for a short amount of time. We have however invested in a container to keep all our junior items and uniform. DASPA Juniors made just over £11,000 this year. A big thank you to our DASPA J Committee, led by Melissa Gaglardi. ## **Merchandise fundraising items** The calendar, hoodies and Christmas card fundraising activities were other successful activities that helped DASPA fundraising objectives. Jackie Needham works tirelessly each year to enable these activities to happen which all make a massive contribution to our fundraising (over £2,200). Many thanks for this work. This year memory bears were sold which were made out of the old uniform and proved to be a very popular item. DASPA supports the junior school by providing prizes for the annual bauble competition and Easter egg competition which also contribute to income streams with a cost of entry. Yet, we have not only supported the school in raising funds and organising events for the Dame Allan’s Schools community but we have also supported the school at Open Days, music festivals and jump-in mornings. ## **Year Ahead** We hope in the year ahead to be able to offer this extensive range of activities and we hope to be able to help fund additional resources and opportunities for pupils at the school through a good variety of participative fundraising streams. We hope to significantly reduce our reserves this year and spend the money raised enhancing the school experience of the students at Dame Allan’s schools. OamE Allan's Schools Parents'Assodation Charlty Number 1137728 Income and Expendlture Accountfvrthe yeareDded 31107124 Lloyd5 B3nkTrea5urersAicount 01108IZ3 Junior AccountsOUO8123 21,052 11643 33.696 8all WinterFair & k)rto Summer Fall Uniform Merchand15e lundraisln8 Parties FIITll Nights Oonaiion 18,432 4,811 7.287 4.939 9,836 3.686 L365 1.087 Junlor Compel￿On5 Transfer to seniors Refreshments Gl¥e a5 you Ilve Totsl In