Friends of St Dallan’s Annual report for period 1st July 2023 – 30th June 2024
Background
Friends of St Dallan’s is the voluntary parent-run fundraising association for St Dallan’s Primary School in Warrenpoint. All parents / guardians of St Dallan’s school children are automatically members of Friends of St Dallan’s. The aims of Friends of St Dallan’s are:
• To support St Dallan’s Primary School through fundraising to provide extra resources and facilities for the benefit of pupils at the school, as agreed with the school principal.
• To foster positive relationships between staff, parents / guardians of St Dallan’s pupils and others associated with the school through organising and running fundraising social events.
Although independent and voluntary, Friends of St Dallan’s works in close conjunction with the school to agree fundraising initiatives and expenditure on projects. School pupils are consulted on project ideas through the School Council. Parents are regularly asked for their ideas and contribution via Facebook and email, with all suggestions greatly welcome.
Chairperson’s Report
Well done to all the committee on another year of hard work and good results! Friends of St Dallan’s are back working hard to fundraise and organise family events. Our total fundraising efforts this year brought in £5,147 for the benefit of our children at St Dallan’s Primary School.
New volunteers came on board our committee, bringing with them many new ideas, skills and energy.
This year we were successful in obtaining funding of £500.00 from the Warrenpoint Port Community Fund. The funding received was used to purchase resources for mental health first aid training for the school. These resources worked alongside the school, who obtained Education Authority funding to train two members of staff in mental health first aid. I am sure this will be of beneficial use to the school and children.
Alongside Warrenpoint GAA, committee members from both groups were able to provide a Uniform Exchange for preloved Uniforms to gift them a new home. This initiate was received well with many uniforms finding new homes. It helped greatly in the cost-of-living crisis to help families with the increasing cost of uniforms along with saving the environment. Any items left over were donated to Home Start a local charity based in Warrenpoint who help families in need.
During the year we developed our Facebook page further and raised our profile significantly. The use of social media to display the variety of children’s pictures from world book day to Halloween dress up brought plenty of colour and cheer to Facebook page.
The school playground also had a face lift with a wonderful snakes and ladders game and long jump being painted in the school playgrounds. There was great excitement in the school with these new play additions. Our donations funded these playground additions.
Throughout the year we worked closely with key school staff on developing relationships and new projects, and we continue to do so.
Fundraising initiatives during the year:
Street Collection
In recent years Warrenpoint has hosted the ‘Wake the Giant’ Festival which has provided Friends of St Dallan’s with the perfect opportunity to hold a street collection during the festival on Sunday 20[th] August 2023. The town was packed with people eager to see the Giant and the sun was shining down on us. We successfully collected £752.12 on the day. Many thanks to all our volunteers on the day who helped with the collection.
Quiz Night
The Quiz Night was held in Warrenpoint Golf Club on 17[th] November 2023 and was a very sociable night out for all the adults. Warrenpoint Golf Club was a new venue for us as unfortunately the Lough & Quay was closed. There was a great atmosphere and a fantastic array of quality prizes. We raised £1,563.07 at this quiz. Many thanks to all our quiz round sponsors along with raffled sponsors. Also, to the Warrenpoint Golf Club and quiz master on the night Mr Kevin McCann.
INF Quiz
On Saturday 10[th] February Warrenpoint INF host a quiz with the proceeds in aid of Friends of St Dallan’s. £111 was raised and we thank Warrenpoint INF for picking us as charity recipient.
Parent Contribution
This year we were very lucky to have a lovely parent fundraise for us. Mr Stephen Robinson whose children attend the school and also a volunteer Warrenpoint GAA coach volunteered his time to coach the children during PE lessons in school. Stephen’s employers State Street donate to charity for voluntary work undertaken by their employees. We were extremely grateful to receive £829.89. We truly appreciate this donation.
Craft Fayre
For a new event this year the committee held a Craft Fayre in the school on Saturday 11[th] May. The fayre showcased a variety of stalls ranging from custom hair accessories to lego. Unfortunately, footfall was low at the event with the wonderful weather on the day. Despite this £275 was raised – it all counts. We thank the school and Gervais the caretaker for providing the facilities on the weekend.
Sports Day 2024
On 31[st] May the school sports day was held up at Milltown. Once again, Friends of St Dallan’s held a tea/coffee/water cake stall along with holding a raffle with hampers and gift vouchers to be won. Our lucky winners were Sophie McArdle P5, Oisin O’Hare P7, Daire Robinson P4, Ronan McGinn P5, Oisin McErlean P5, Louise Murray P3, Finn Owens P3 and Grace Duffy P2. Thank you to the many parents who volunteered to help out on the day! We sold all our stock and raised £987.61 on the day. Many thanks to our food sponsor JP Corry and our Coffee provider Barry along with Warrenpoint Town FC for providing the facilities, your support is greatly appreciated.
P7 Leaver Hoodies
During the final term of the school year Friends of St Dallan’s organised for all the leaving P7s to be provided with a leaver’s hoodie displaying their school year and every child’s name. The orders were flying in and provided with P7s with a lovely memento. The hoodies were worn with pride at sports day and on their final day in St Dallan’s on 21[st] June. Profit from the hoodies was £129.
FOSD contribution to St Dallan’s during the year:
Mental health first aid resources
We provided resources to for the mental health first aid training which the Education Authority provided funding to train two teachers. This is an important contribution to our school to look after the mental health of all the children.
School Playgrounds – All school playgrounds were retarmacked during the school year with FOSD providing funds to redecorate the new playgrounds with creative and colourful playground markings. We can all agree the playgrounds look fantastic!
P1 welcome pack – Prepared a small welcome pack for all our P1 parents to enjoy on their child’s first day of school. We love this way of welcoming the new P1’s to our school community and is a great way to introduce ourselves to new families to the school.
Thank you:
Thank you to all the hard working, dedicated committee volunteers who are the driving force behind FOSD. Thank you to our sponsors who have supported our events or donated prizes during the year. We couldn’t do our fundraising without their continuous support.
The total raised during the year including grants was £5,147 with a fabulous £5,000 being donated to the school. Here is to another fabulous year of fundraising ahead.
Thank you to Alice, Sinead and Niamh in the office and Mrs Farrell for your ready assistance with all the FOSD projects. Thank you to the parents, family and friends of St Dallan’s school children who have supported our efforts through the year, it is greatly appreciated. A special thanks to all the volunteers who helped us during the year – photographers, quiz masters, sports day volunteers, translators, and many more. Remember, our children, our school, their future!