GLASSWATER PRIMARY SCHOOL
PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION
Registered Charity No: 101878
6 John Street, Crossgar, Downpatrick, BT30 9EG
Tuesday 15[th] October 2024
Annual Chairperson’s Report
September 2023 – August 2024
Mr Milligan, Office bearers Mrs Sarah Aiken and Mrs Rachel Dickson, the committee and to everyone present here this evening, I offer a warm welcome to this year’s Annual General Meeting for Glasswater Primary Schools Parents Teachers Association.
This year we again welcomed Miss Creighton as our parent – teacher representative and we would like to offer a special thanks to Miss Creighton for all her encouragement and support throughout this year. A special word of thanks also to all the staff at Glasswater, teaching and non-teaching, and to the board of governors for their continued support and enthusiasm. The PTA has really felt part of the team here in the school, and we thank the school for making us feel welcome, supported and valued.
In September 2023 we started to brainstorm and think about the school year ahead and the opportunities we could find to fundraise, organise treats for the children and raise the PTA profile within the school family. Events and items were organised throughout the year to both support
the school financially and to ensure all the children had fun and made happy memories. We also took care to continue building upon the healthy relationship between the school and the local village. The PTA made an effort to reach out into the community and open the school gates for events where we could. Feedback from our neighbours and local businesses was very positive and it was a great opportunity to join together and plan events where we could extend an invitation to local primary and post-primary schools. In addition to promoting good relations with other PTAs, it also opened the opportunity to apply for some community-based grants. While this year’s application unfortunately was unsuccessful, we are very hopeful we will meet the criteria for another application in the future.
We are aware the role of the PTA within school has changed dramatically in recent years. Gone are the days of the PTA raising funds all year to buy the children a Christmas treat or pay for a bus for a school trip. With the tight budgets schools are granted, the need for fundraising to help support purchasing learning resources and equipment is great. Items such as iPads or children’s reading books are now on the teacher’s wish list. With this in mind, we were keenly aware of striking a happy balance and not always asking for money from the same people in our school family. This is why we made a concerted effort to find opportunities to fundraise and change the pool of people when possible and reach out into the community with the static cycle, fun run and tractor run.
The events and celebrations enjoyed this year simply would not happen if it wasn’t for the dedication, passion and commitment from a wonderful group of parents and grandparents who have worked so hard and given up their time for the benefit of all the children in Glasswater. We genuinely do have a brilliant team who have a heart and enthusiasm for our whole school family and our neighbours also. So to those of you here this evening who are able to make the meetings and are on site for the school events and to those who help from home and engage in the communications over WhatsApp, bake and send things into school – a huge THANK YOU to each and every person! I feel this is a timely moment in the report to credit a word of thanks and recognition for the families behind the faces of the pta. Especially for our bigger items such as the fun run and the tractor run, those events ran so smoothly with the extra help, dedication and support from our spouses at home and our wider family circles. Being part of the PTA is quite often a family affair and we are so grateful for all the time given by all involved.
Term 1 – October – December 2022
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Harvest / Halloween. Our Autumn at Glasswater item invited the children to pick a pumpkin that was kindly donated, from a pumpkin patch in the front garden. The children were asked to take the pumpkin home to carve it and return it for a display. The pumpkins were displayed in the yard and lit up one evening. Families were encouraged to come along and enjoy the pumpkin display, word circulated in local social media pages to invite the community to join together for refreshments in the hall and collect a harvest trail map for an interactive walk around the village. A photo booth area was created in the hall and the porch was decorated. TREAT
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A money donation was taken on the morning of the crazy hair day / dress up. FUNDRAISER & TREAT
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Just Giving was updated. FUNDRAISER
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Static Cycle in Costcutters. Parents, children and staff participated in hour slots of static cycle and bucket collection. FUNDRAISER
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Purchase of 3 iPads for the school children. TREAT
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Christmas hamper raffle. Children donated festive treats and groceries, and class hampers were made. FUNDRAISER
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Christmas film afternoon and each child was provided with a treat box of sweets / crisps and drinks. TREAT
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Refreshments for children, families and staff after the Christmas Carol Service at Lissara Presbyterian Church. TREAT
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Santa Visit on a tractor where all the children received a donated selection box gift on the last day of term. TREAT
Term 2 – January – March
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Valentines’ sweetie jar. Our P7 children enjoyed assisting us with this item. They visited each classroom with the jar and took note of the guesses of how many sweets were in the jar. The winner took home the jar of sweets. FUNDRAISER
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Pizza guy. Kits were made to order, and fun was had sharing pictures of the pizzas we made at home. FUNDRAISER
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Each child was given an Easter egg that was kindly donated. TREAT
Term 3 – April – June
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Community 1K and 5K Fun Run. Our second year running this successful event. A wonderful opportunity to engage with the community and fun for all the family. FUNDRAISER
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Tractor Run. Our first tractor run was a hugely successful event and again opened a brilliant opportunity to engage with the community with supporters coming from far and wide. FUNDRAISER
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Refreshments for the children, families and staff at the Summer Music Concert. TREAT
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Assisting with the P7 BBQ, leavers ties and Bouncy castle. TREAT
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Classroom resources from teacher’s wish list all purchased. TREAT. These included,
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50% Core NI subscription
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2x Beebots for P1/2 classroom
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Practical numeracy resources including scales and trundle wheels.
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New set of large balls.
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Teacher resource file replacement.
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Set of P7 class novels.
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Alfie Murray. The PTA partnered with a Killyleagh butcher for a loyalty scheme that will benefit the school purchasing materials and resources. FUNDRAISING
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Spending Money. Each class teacher was offered a small sum of money to use at their discretion to purchase treats / materials for their class. TREAT
Ongoing Fundraisers throughout the year
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Easy Fundraising
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Uniform Shop
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Just Giving
What a wonderful programme we were able to organise for the children and their families again this year. This full-to-bursting schedule took more commitment and effort than usual from our wonderful teacher representative, Sharon. We are truly thankful for her continued enthusiasm and for all the extra hours she freely gave to assist. The school is very blessed with such a committed team member who has a
genuine zest and love for the school and its community. This excellent teacher / PTA rapport made sharing ideas easy and relaxed, and we always felt heard and valued, such qualities make being part of a volunteering role so much more enjoyable and worthwhile. We thank you so very much.
Our PTA is growing from strength to strength, and I am really looking forward to what we have in store for the school again this incoming year. Thank you for making my second and last year as Chairperson a very happy and positive one.
To Sarah, our dedicated and hardworking treasurer, I thank you for all your determination and work with the accounts and all the behind-thescenes efforts with liaising with Dankse Bank and the school office. Sarah has had a very busy year with large volumes of cash to handle, bank and keep account of. Thank you, Sarah, for looking after the PTA purse and all that comes with it.
Thank you to our brilliant secretary Rachel for her encouragement, knowledge, and support. While we do try to follow the agenda at our meetings, we must admit we love to have a yarn and chat and don’t often stay on track! So, thank you Rachel for taking the minutes, keeping us right and for much more.
A special thank you to the wonderful Sara in the school office. There was lots of printing and laminating for some of the events this year and no task was too big for Sara. She continues to be a brilliant support and friend to the PTA, and we are very grateful to her. Thank you, Sara.
Finally, to each person on our amazing committee, to our children, who wait until everyone else has an easter egg or bag of sweets just in case we run out, and to our families at home – THANK YOU. Without each of you, the fundraisers and treats in this report simply wouldn’t happen.
THANK YOU ALL!