**P T A** ## **Carrickmannon Primary School PTA** ## **Annual General Meeting** **Chairperson’s Report 2022-23** I am delighted to welcome you to our Annual General Meeting of Carrickmannon Primary School Parent Teacher Association and present my Chairperson’s report from 2022-2023. An extra special welcome to those in attendance who aren’t current PTA members - it is great to have new faces at our PTA meetings and we really do appreciate your support at the AGM. As is customary, I would like to present to you a short report on a summary of the PTA’s activities over the past academic year outlining how we have met the primary focus of the PTA through raising funds to purchase educational equipment and resources to support our children’s learning. As Chair, I am delighted to report that last year saw us fully back into organising ‘normal’ events and fundraisers after the restrictions which COVID enforced on our activities in the previous couple of years. With renewed enthusiasm and energy, the PTA planned a full programme events within the community and for the pupils to help raise funds for school resources. Our activities included our usual events such as Clothes recycling and Unhealthy breaks just before our holiday periods. We always aim to include events which the children enjoy and I know they were particularly pleased when Break the Rules was advertised! We partnered with Scentsations in December 2022 to host a wreath making workshop and although numbers were small each person who attended thoroughly enjoyed it and it was decided that this would become an annual event. After all the Christmas activities were delivered, we set about in the New Year to plan for two large and high profile events both of which we had successfully delivered in previous years. Jenny Bristow received a very warm welcome back to Ballygowan and delivered a successful cookery demonstration to a packed Church Hall. We are indebted to two businesses who supported us, namely Gibson’s Family Butchers who sponsored all the meat and to Frances from The Bottom Drawer, Portadown who travelled to deliver an inspiring home styling workshop. Bolstered by support from the local community, we were able to plan and deliver a very successful Tractor Run with over 100 tractors enjoying the scenic route and delicious refreshments which were provided by the PTA. We’d like to acknowledge support from our sponsors of this event, Cooke Bros Engineering. Again, after this event, we have decided to make this an annual event. The final highlight from our fundraising year, was supporting the School’s Oliver production through providing beautiful framed cast photos. We’d like to thank Mrs Matthews for taking the photos and also a school Governor, Elaine Scott, for adding a souvenir logo to the photos. I think you’ll agree this is always a lovely memento from what is always an outstanding performance from the whole school. As Jennifer will explain in the financial report, we have had an exceptional year again in terms of our income target achieved which reached £9311.95. This is very similar to our income from our pre-Covid year of 2018-2019, when our income before expenses was £9500 so this is very encouraging. The income raised was more than enough to cover our commitments to the school of paying for licences for Accelerated Reader, Mathletics, Reading Eggs and Mathseeds. The teachers have recognised the value that this has been to the whole school in raising the literacy and numeracy levels throughout the school and the PTA have agreed that this is an ongoing commitment. As you know our target this year was to replace the computers within the school and all our activity from the year we are reporting on meant that Miss Brown was able to place the order knowing that the PTA had the necessary funds to cover the expenses. This was a remarkable achievement for a small band of volunteers to achieve within one year. Just to note, the computers were received and paid for in the 2023-2024 year, so you won’t notice them in the financial report. Our Facebook page continues to prove popular with a total of 734 likes and 846 followers, which shows around a 15% increase from last year, providing a good, instant way of communicating with the parents and sharing Carrickmannon’s ethos with our local community through sharing not only our PTA events but also showcasing classroom activities, sporting events and achievements of the school. This means of communication and promotion of events can’t be underestimated with our posts reaching a global audience. I would like to thank you for your part in this, as every like and share that you give, helps spread our reach beyond those who just like the page. The Facebook Group for Committee Members continues to be invaluable as a way of communicating and sharing minutes, updating each other on actions etc. This has proved very beneficial and ensures all members are up-to-date at the same time. I’ll finish my report with some thank yous, so please bear with me. I’d like to put on record, on behalf of the PTA, our sincere thanks to Laura Meharry for her work annually as our Independent Examiner of the PTA accounts. We thank Laura for her time in doing this in ensuring our accounts are scrutinised and comply with Charity Commission regulations. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to the whole PTA team who so willingly support me in leading the fundraising activities which aims to benefit our children’s education. You are a fantastic bunch and no matter what is asked, no one grumbles and we are all united to do whatever it takes to make our events and activities a success. You really make my job so easy, so thank you so much. Barbara has served diligently on the PTA for the past seven years in supporting Jennifer as Deputy Treasurer and also giving of her time so freely to ensure all events ran smoothly and providing delicious treats as required which even included not running away at the request to make 100 shot glass desserts! We were delighted that Barbara was so willing to come back and support the PTA events this year even though her son has moved to secondary school and we welcome your support for as long as you want to be a part of our endeavours. Thank you, Barbara, for your considerable contribution to Carrickmannon’s PTA over the years! Finally, the School and the PTA have a great relationship which we will aim to guard so that we can continue to support the growth of the school. On some PTAs, you can find that you may have a bunch of enthusiastic parents and school staff are reluctant to give of their time to support activities. This is NOT the case in Carrickmannon!! I think you will agree, with Miss Brown, with a full year of her Principalship behind her, it is us that are struggling to keep up with her energy, creativity and attention to detail in organising events. With Mrs McCoy, hot on her tail with an abundant fervour for events, I think it will be the incoming committee that will find it hard to keep up. This was certainly evident at our recent successful and sold out Winter Wonderland. I think you’ll agree we all are so thankful for a united approach to keeping the Team Carrickmannon spirit alive. Whatever happens during the rest of this meeting, I just wish to put on record that it has been my absolute honour and privilege to serve on Carrickmannon’s PTA for the past 14 years and do whatever I can to support and further the work and reach of Carrickmannon Primary School and of course ensure that our children are equipped with whatever resources are needed to help them reach their full potential. Thank you all for taking your time listening to this report. Thank you Janice Cooke Chairperson of Carrickmannon PS PTA