Whiteabbey Primary School PTA
Trustees’ Annual Report
Year ended to 30[th] June 2023
ended 30[th] June 2023.
Registered Charity Name : Whiteabbey Primary School PTA Charity RegistraEon No. : 101751 Principal Office : Whiteabbey Primary School 20 – 30 Old Manse Road Newtownabbey Co. Antrim BT37 0RU The Trustees in office on the date this report was approved : Catherine Dwyer Alison Graham Nadine Fraser Kathy Hamilton The following persons served as Trustees during the year ended 30 Catherine Dwyer Heather Owen Silke Gushurst Alison Graham Nadine Fraser Kathy Hamilton
The following persons served as Trustees during the year ended 30[th] June 2023 :
Structure, Governance & Management
The Charity’s governing document is a consEtuEon.
ObjecAves and AcAviAes
1. Charitable Purposes
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flow from this purpose includes funding for addiEonal resources for the school, and links built with the local community. This conEnues to be demonstrated by having an acEve PTA that works in partnership with the school and engages parental support. This purpose does not lead to harm. The benefit is for children of Whiteabbey Primary School. Charity Trustees (PTA Commi\ee members) are usually parents at the school which their children a\end and hence gain benefit in the same way as all other beneficiaries. This benefit is incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is supplied to all beneficiaries.
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flows from this purpose includes increased educaEonal progress and a\ainment within the school and links built with the local community. This is demonstrated through pupils having access to resources, events, acEviEes, and links with the local community which are not available through direct school funding. This purpose does not lead to harm. The benefit s for children at Whiteabbey Primary School. Charity Trustees (PTA Commi\ee Members) are usually beneficiaries. This benefit is incidental to ensure the benefit is provided to all beneficiaries.
Charitable AcAviAes
At the AGM in Sept 2022, the commi\ee members formally announced their intenEon to step down with immediate effect a_er many years of dedicated service to the school community. A period of discussion followed across two meeEngs to inform whether the PTA should conEnue in its current form, create a more informal “Friends of Whiteabbey” or cease acEvity altogether. At a meeEng in October 2022, sufficient volunteers were found to form a commi\ee, enabling the PTA to conEnue operaEng as a charitable organisaEon. Commi\ee roles were filled as follows, and the ChariEes Commission noEfied of the changes:
Co-Chairs Catherine Dwyer, Heather Owen and Silke Gushurst
Treasurer Nadine Fraser
Secretaries Kathy Hamilton and Alison Graham
The commi\ee members sought input from the wider school community to establish reasons for parental involvement decreasing over recent years and discuss ideas to encourage more parents to join. One of the key issues affecEng a\endance at meeEngs was childcare for those working shi_ pa\erns and the inflexibility around the days meeEngs were tradiEonally held. To combat this, the commi\ee offered a dial in opEon via MS Teams and conducted meeEngs as a hybrid of in-person and virtual a\endance. In pracEce, this had
mixed success as Internet provision in the school is locked down for security purposes and the mobile signal is weak. The commi\ee persevered for a few months and tried various opEons to improve the connecEon with limited success. This resulted in the majority of meeEngs being held virtually. There are pros and cons to this approach, however a\endance and parEcipaEon in meeEngs remained high throughout the year. A shared drive was created to store documents and all members were provided with access to negate the requirement to issue agendas and minutes via email.
Early prioriEes for the new commi\ee included the transfer of member details held by the ChariEes Commission, changing signatories on the PTA bank account, planning acEviEes for the children and making improvements to the PTA uniform shop. Ideas were discussed at PTA meeEngs and where members agreed to proceed, a smaller sub-group of volunteers formed to take ideas forward to implementaEon. There was a heavy reliance on WhatsApp to enable day-to-day communicaEon within these sub-groups with mixed results; inevitably, this form of communicaEon worked be\er for some, however comments are open to interpretaEon which can and did lead to misunderstandings. In the second half of the year, there was less reliance on the sub-groups. Messages between monthly meeEngs were sent using a “PTA members” WhatsApp group. This had the advantage of informing all members of progress but inevitably resulted in significant volumes of messages and some members feeling overwhelmed. Further discussion will take place in the new school year to establish consensus of the best means of communicaEon going forward.
The open invitaEon issued resulted in 38 parents and teachers a\ending the meeEng in Oct 2022. Feedback from parents on the night idenEfied interest but also concern around the Eme commitment required. The commi\ee decided the best way forward was to divide parents into two disEnct groups. One group, “PTA members,” made a commitment to plan and deliver events, a\end and parEcipate in monthly meeEngs. The second group, “PTA helpers,” formed a group to provide ad-hoc assistance with specific events. The helpers had no parEcipaEon in monthly meeEngs but provided a means of securing help and input where required from parents unable to commit Eme every month. The outcome was a PTA Members group of 20 including commi\ee members and teaching staff, and a PTA Helper group with an addiEonal 25 parents.
The PTA uniform shop has always been a welcome addiEon for parents and the commi\ee sought to establish how to make it operate more smoothly with an accurate means of stock control. The shop was open at various Emes during the year for parents. Two commi\ee members (Kathy Hamilton and Heather Owen) researched its operaEon, established the constraints of the current technical soluEon and discussed opEmum stock levels and order procedures with previous commi\ee members. An online uniform shop was created to allow parents to order and pay online with fulfilled orders delivered to classrooms or collected by a parent. The sales offering was also expanded to include donated pre-loved uniform items available for purchase in exchange for a donaEon. The online shop opened for advance orders in June via a link on the school website to facilitate the largest annual uniform order for the new school year. More than 80 parents placed an advance order for September 2023. The uniform shop team with some addiEonal volunteers opened the shop across 5 dates in
August, including evenings and weekends, for orders to be collected and to allow parents to purchase items. This is one of the commi\ee’s most significant achievements this year and feedback from parents has been very posiEve.
In line with previous years, the PTA conEnued to support the school with a donaEon towards the Accelerated Reading Scheme. The P7 leavers fund was provided with an increased donaEon this year to reflect the increase in costs associated with organising events. Teddy bears were sourced for all incoming P1 children and distributed by P1 teachers during familiarisaEon visits in June. Teams of PTA volunteers also put up and took down the school Christmas decoraEons and marshalled parking in the school grounds for the Carol Services in December.
PTA members and helpers arranged the following fundraising and school community events over the course of the year:
| October 2022 | Whiteabbey Pumpkin Patch | Children were invited to bring their carved or decorated pumpkin to the Forest school area. Classes were brought to the area by teachers to allow the children to view thepumpkins on display. |
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| Fancy Dress day | Children a@ended school in fancy dress in exchange for a donaCon. |
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| December 2022 | Pre-loved Christmas Clothes sale | Jumpers, pyjamas and costumes were collected, sorted and sold in the school assembly hall along the theme of reduce,reuse and recycle. |
| Wreath making workshop | An evening workshop for parents and friends with all equipment and foliage provided to make a door wreath. Refreshments were included in the Ccket price and Cckets were sold via Parentmail. |
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| Refreshments at the Carol Services |
Tea/cofee and traybakes collected and ofered to parents before junior and senior school services in exchange for a donaCon. |
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| Carol Service recordings | USB video recordings of carol services were available to purchase via parentmail to be collected from school on Christmas Eve or delivered to classrooms at the start of term. |
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| Feb 2023 | Love yourself day | Children a@ended school in whatever clothing they felt most comfortable in exchange for a donaCon. |
| Pre-loved costume sale | Costumes collected, sorted and sold to children in the school assembly hall in advance of World Book Day as part of the drive to reduce, reuse and recycle. |
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| March 2023 | Money March | Spare change was collected in each classroom during March and children in the class with the highest total received an ice-cream from Mauds. |
| Easter craU workshop | Two small workshops were held in the hour aUer school for the children to make an Easter garland and egg decoraCon. Places were booked via Parentmail. |
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| Quiz | This event was organised and run by Paula Millar in the Transport Club in Jordanstown. It included a ballot with prizes donated by local businesses sourced by PTA members. Tickets were sold via Parentmail. |
| April 2023 | Silly Hair Day | Parents donated for their child/children to a@end school with a zanyhair-do |
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| May 2023 | Odeon Cinema private screening | A private screening of “Mummies” with the opCon to purchase a snack pack. Tickets were sold via Parentmail. |
| Sports Day Tuck shop | Drinks and confecConery available for visitors and children topurchase on the day. |
CollecEvely, the Commi\ee is pleased with the volume of acEvity and the events arranged this year. Whilst some events proved more popular than others, this must be viewed within the context of the absence of acEviEes during the pandemic and the lack of volunteers following the pandemic to assist the exiEng commi\ee with organisaEon and delivery of events. It is hoped that a period of adjustment will allow parents to become more familiar with PTA acEvity within the school and increase support for events. The commi\ee also intend to encourage new members to provide fresh ideas and input.
The commi\ee would like to thank all volunteers and teaching representaEves for their advice and assistance during the year. As ever, we remain indebted to parents and friends who support the acEviEes and events and for the generous donaEons received.
Achievements and Performance
£10,092.64 was spent directly on resources and acEviEes for the school.
As at 30[th] June 2023, the charity holds £17,282.84 in reserves.
Note – the amounts submi\ed through governance reporEng have been rounded up to the nearest £/pound.
The Trustees’ annual report was approved on 16[th] October 2023 and signed on behalf of the board of Trustees by :
Catherine Dwyer
Co-Chair 2022-23