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Downey House PTA Annual Trustees’ Report [date] 2022
The committee was formed on 13 October 2021 and the Trustees for the last year were:
Alan Jennings Anne Cunningham Susan McNeill
Jon Glass
As of the AGM on 29 September, 2022, Susan McNeill is no longer the Chair.
The Trustees have paid regard to the Commission’s Public Benefit requirement statutory guidance.
Downey House PTA was formed to carry out the following purposes:
Purpose 1. Purpose 1: Improved relationships between home and school. The benefit which flows from this purpose includes funding for additional resources for the school and links built with the local community. This is demonstrated through having an active PTA that works in partnership with the school and engages parental support. This purpose does not lead to harm. The benefit is for children at Downey House School. Charity trustees (PTA committee members) are usually also parents at the school which their children attend and hence gain benefit in the same way as all other beneficiaries. This benefit is incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is provided to all beneficiaries.
Purpose 2: Advancing the education of pupils in the school. The benefit which flows from this purpose includes increased educational progress and attainment of pupils in the school and links built with the local community. This is demonstrated through pupils having access to resources, events, activities and links with the local community which are not available through direct school funding. This purpose does not lead to harm. The benefit is for children at Downey House School. Charity trustees (PTA committee members) are usually also parents at the school which their children attend and hence gain benefit in the same way as all other beneficiaries. This benefit is incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is provided to all beneficiaries.
The main achievements of Downey House PTA for the last school year September 2021 - June 2022 are as follows:
Autumn term 2021
- Pumpkin Patch & fancy-dress day : In Autumn 2021 we were living under Covid restrictions and could not have our usual indoor Halloween party, followed by a fireworks display. The PTA therefore organised a pumpkin patch and Halloween fancy dress day so that the children didn’t have to forgo their first fun event of the year. There was great excitement when the children in their Halloween outfits saw the pumpkins in their decorated ‘patch’ at the front of school. This raised £440.
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Christmas Wreaths and candles sale : December also saw the welcome return of Alan Chambers’ festive Christmas wreaths and candles, which are always popular items. He generously gave a portion of sales income to the PTA in the amount of £250.
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Christmas Raffle : Parents were able to buy tickets via the school app to be in with a chance of winning a basket of festive goodies. This raised £275.
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PTA Christmas Activity Day : Ongoing restrictions on indoor mixing in school meant that this year’s PTA Christmas activities remained class based. Instead of our usual fair in the upstairs hall, the children enjoyed outdoor activities lead by Galaxy Coaching, followed by a hot chocolate treat and Lucky Dip in the Christmas Grotto, (aka the outdoor classroom). Class based Guess the Number of Sweets in the Jar and Guess the Name of the Teddy games were run in advance and winners were awarded on the day. These activities raised a total of £1,100.
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Infant Nativity Concert Photos : Covid restrictions unfortunately meant that parents were not able to watch the Infant Concert in person. The PTA arranged for framed individual photographs of Preschool – P3 children in their costumes to be available for purchase as a memory of the play. These raised £155.
Spring term 2022
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Non uniform day : Our first event of 2022 was a non-uniform day where the children wore something new or in a new way for the start of the year. This raised £255.50.
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Cash for Clobber : At the start of February the PTA arranged for Cookstown Textile Recyclers to collect our ‘clobber’, which gets sent to Africa for reuse. The PTA received a payment based on the weight of the donated items. This raised £200.
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Sponsored Bounce : The ever-popular sponsored bounce took place in April. The children bounced for a minute each and their bounces were counted. This raised a grand total of £2,650.
Summer term 2022
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Colour Run : The PTA organised its first ever Colour Run in May. The whole school from Preschool to P7 took part and great fun was had by all. Spectators were able to come and watch and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. The total raised was £1,416.85
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Prep Festival : For the first time, Downey and Fullerton PTAs came together to organise a summer Prep Festival, held at Pirrie Park in the middle of June. The aim was to gather as many parents and children as possible from both preps for an end of year celebration. Undoubtedly this was achieved. The children enjoyed inflatables, a petting farm, a barrel ride, face painting and the spectacle of a circus performer. Both parents and children enjoyed live music and tasty pizzas and burgers. The feedback from our post event survey was overwhelmingly positive. The final amount of profit for Downey House PTA was £2,738.82.
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Prep Golf Outing : A further joint prep event, held at Malone Golf Club in the last week of June. This has been popular and well attended in the past. It followed the usual format of a shotgun start and ended the day with dinner and a raffle in the clubhouse. The total amount raised for this event was £5,302.50.
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In addition to organising the events above, the PTA held second-hand uniform sales each term, which raised a total of £959.
The PTA funded various items for the school this year including puddle suits for the preschool children, indoor and outdoor PE and gym equipment and classroom items for everyday use including a measuring set, a weathervane, a new classroom play carpet, a sand and water play tray and DVD players.