CCNI Number: 102516
St. Ronan’s Primary School Parents Association
Trustees’ Report
2018/2019
Charitable Purposes of St. Ronan’s Parents’ Association
St. Ronan’s Parents’ Association is a registered charity. The Trustees confirm that we have had regard to the Public Benefit Guidance published by the Charity Commission when carrying out the work of the Parents’ Association.
We work towards the public benefit by pursuing two goals:
-
Improving relationships between home and school
-
Advancing the education of pupils in the school
The Parents’ Association achieves these goals by arranging and attending social and educational events, by fundraising, by providing educational equipment and subsidizing human resources and by supporting a wide range of school activities.
Members and Trustees
All parents, guardians or carers who have children at St. Ronan’s Primary School are automatically members of the Parents’ Association. All members are very welcome to join in with the activities of the Association any time that suits and to enjoy the opportunity to be a part of a warm and welcoming school community. A Committee of elected Trustees, all of whom have children attending St. Ronan’s Primary School, is responsible for managing the charity and organizing its activities. The Trustees during 2018/2019 were:
| Sarah Gilbert | Co-Chair |
|---|---|
| Julie Stamm | Co-Chair |
| Ursula Bristow | Vice-Chair |
| Laura McCloskey | Treasurer |
| Rachel Hogan | Secretary |
| Martin Doyle | Trustee |
The Committee would like particularly to thank Karen Strain, who stepped down as Trustee in September 2018, and continues to provide support as a member, for her time, commitment and creativity at the Committee meetings and events over the past number of years.
Many thanks to the parents who attended Parent’s Association meetings during the year and who assisted and supported in running the annual activities and made donations of raffle prizes. It has been wonderful to see more and more parents getting
1
CCNI Number: 102516
involved and having a say. Thank you as well to parents, family and friends who supported and enabled the pupils to join in with the social and fundraising activities arranged. Thanks to the parents and friends who spoke at our P7 Career’s day to tell the children about their jobs. All of these essential contributions of time and resources, which ultimately enable the pupils to benefit educationally and socially, are very much appreciated.
We would like to thank the school Principal Mr. Donaghy and all the dedicated staff of the school who have provided support and encouragement, including putting in significant time and effort as well as working late nights to enable us to run events and hold meetings on school premises. Mr. Feenan has facilitated our use of school for all meetings and evening events and we couldn’t do our work without his help and support.
Parents’ Association Events 2018/2019
Our year began with the AGM and the election of Committee members. Our CoChairs, Treasurer and Secretary remained unchanged and we were delighted to welcome Ursula Bristow onto the Committee.
Activities for the year were part of a now familiar regular calendar of events and included:
-
Halloween Disco
-
Speaking at P1 parents’ induction night
-
Christmas Cards
-
Christmas Movie Night
-
Sponsored Cycle and Fitness Freddy
-
Career’s Day
-
Summer Fayre and raffle (supported generously by local businesses listed below)
Grant Funding
This year we were also able to attract some community grant funding from Cooperation Ireland as part of our fundraising efforts which enabled purchase of sports and play equipment. We were awarded £5,000 by way of a non-repayable capital grant that was used to purchase this much needed sports equipment and also picnic tables to encourage active outdoor engagement between the children. We will endeavour to seek out and obtain additional funding in 2019/20 from both Co-Operation Ireland and the National Lottery.
Fitness Freddy :
Fitness Freddy is a fitness expert who is becoming a regular fixture, coming into school to enrich the children’s knowledge about health and fitness and to lead fun sports activities for everyone to enjoy.
2
CCNI Number: 102516
Summer Fayre & Raffle :
The Fayre was extended from the Assembly Hall out into the grounds of the school for the second year running. It was wonderful to see all of the parents, school staff and children gathering together around the various stalls in the sunshine and taking time to get to know one another and catch up with old friends whilst getting a few bargains. Martin Doyle’s “sweetie skewers” and all of the lovely baked goods provided by parents and children were a magnificent success as always. Thank you to all of the parents who made donations of bric-a-brac to our Summer Fayre and helped in organizing the set up and running of stalls. Thank you to our staff and P7 pupils who helped us to get everything ready and took charge of the stalls with us.
Our raffle this year surpassed all expectations with an amazing array of prizes generously donated by local businesses and parents. We had an enthusiastic team of parents selling a great number of tickets and lots of very happy winners at the end of the draw!
Generous Local Businesses
We are also very fortunate to have received sponsorship from local businesses by way of drinks and treats for the children to enjoy at our events throughout the year. A list of local businesses who contributed their support is attached to this report.
What we bought:
Over the last three years our fundraising has contributed to and bought: iPads, sports equipment, an educational App and Spanish lessons for all students. At Halloween, Christmas and Easter we provide sweets and Easter eggs for all children. The funds contributed to the cost of transport to take children to and from school and sports events as well as providing other school treats for all pupils. Without these funds, school would not be able to provide all of the educationally enriching experiences which the children currently enjoy.
We plan on contributing £4,500 of surplus finds to the school following the fundraising efforts in the year to September 2019.
Plans for the Coming Year
The Parents’ Association plans to run all of its usual calendar events again this year and to meet regularly to discuss ideas and opportunities for the coming year. We would warmly welcome input and suggestions from parents about how best to continue to develop our Parents’ Association for the benefit of pupils and the wider school community.
It has been really pleasing to see a number of new parents coming to meetings this year and contributing to discussions on our WhatsApp Group. This has brought a great energy to the Association and we encourage anyone who would like join in, to get in touch and we will be happy to answer any questions or provide information.
3
CCNI Number: 102516
Financial Statements
We approve the draft financial statements prepared by the Treasurer, Laura McCloskey, for the year from 1[st] October 2018 to 30[th] September 2019.
Financial Review:
As Trustees we can confirm that there were no funds held by the charity that were materially in deficit at the end of the financial year. We can also confirm there were no funds held by the charity as a custodian trustee.
The charity operated on a positive cash balance, with a surplus of funds totaling £4,659 and plans to contribute £4,500 to the school from funds raised during the year 2018/2019. Funds raised were largely in line with the previous year. Income from fundraising activities fell slightly by approximately £130 in this financial year. All of the events performed within expectations and we hope to run these again next year with Summer Fair being the most successful event to date, thanks to the input from both existing and new members of the PA.
Principal Address of the Charity:
St Ronan’s Primary School, Ashgrove Avenue, Newry, BT34 1PR.
Charity Constitution:
The charity is governed by its constitution and its governing document which was adopted and approved by its Trustees.
Local Business Sponsors
A.M. Motor Services AMPT Body Transformation B&M Bargains Bubbles Burns Skills School Campbell Cleaning Services Dress House Fifi Make up Gabble Galaxy Coaching Gordon’s Chemists Grounded Gym Tech JC Reflexology Kate Car Space Hot Yoga Newry Hughes Butcher Deli Grocery Inertia Gymnastics JKB Sports Massage Therapy Karen Simpson La Dolce Vita
4
CCNI Number: 102516
Laura Murtagh LD Health & Fitness Leafy Greens Louis Boyd McDonalds MACs Pizza Make up by Eve Mamacitas Maya Café McCartan’s Menswear MCR Sports Mourne Country Hotel Mr. McKernan Summer Camps Newbrook Cleaning Newry Academy Hair & Beauty NW Kehoe & Sons Olivia Monaghan Holistic O’Neills Sports Paul Coulter Fitness The Pamper Room P&E Fitness Philips Fruit The Quays Shopping Centre Reem Hair Boutique Saints & Scholars Shamrocks GAA Club Sheridan Stage School Try the Alternative Wards Rockmount
5