## **Stranmillis Parent Teacher Association Trustees Annual Report Financial Year 30/06/2018** 

2017/2018 was another successful year for Stranmillis Primary School PTA fulfilling our main aims - to generate funds to enhance our children’s education as well as fostering the unique community atmosphere that we are are fortunate to have in our primary school. 

We have monthly evening meetings in the staff room at school and the meetings are well attended by both teachers and parents. 2017 saw the launch of our own Facebook page which has been a great success, particularly for advertising and drumming up volunteers for fundraising events. Along with our class WhatsApp groups and the school newsletter, we try to communicate with as many of our parents & teachers as possible to keep them informed of events and how proceeds are spent. 

We celebrated a sunny end to the school year in June 2017 at our annual **Summer Fair.** The good weather ensured a record turn out and a great time was had by all. Our **2017 School Yearbook** went on sale - a beautiful chronicle of school life that will be treasured for years to come. 

Our calendar has been jam packed this year with a combination of our staple events, along with some new ones. The school year kicked off with our **Nursery Welcome event** , a great opportunity to meet our new nursery children and their families. It was followed by the highlight of the kids’ year – the **Halloween Disco** which raised almost £2000. This year the fun was augmented by the addition of an interactive photo mirror which was a big hit and provided mementos of many fantastic costumes. The standard of entries for the Spooky Baking and Pumpkin Carving contests was very high, making it a difficult task to choose the winners. 

The **Stranmillis Primary School Christmas Tree Sale** debuted this year and was a huge success both financially (raising well over £2000) and in terms of a community event. The support for this event from both the school community and beyond was phenomenal and no doubt it will become a permanent fixture in the calendar. 

It was closely followed by the annual **Christmas Fair** which moved to the beautiful new venue of Malone House this year. A festive snowfall made the location even more magical and provided some additional activities in the form of snowball fights & sledging. There were a wide variety of stalls to suit everyone. Santa brought Mrs Claus along to help in the Grotto and with their 



mischievous elves, gave all the children a warm welcome. The bigger kids got to enjoy Santa’s Adventure Trail at the nearby Belfast Activity Centre. 

We closed out our Inside Outside & Discovery projects (proceeds of which were used to purchase IPads for the classrooms as well as refurbishing the school playground) & were excited to announce our next project, **Illuminate** , which aims to raise £25000 over the next 3 years. These funds will be used to provide new books for classroom teaching and learning, new books for Accelerated Reader and resources for practical learning in Science and other WAU subjects. The project was suitably launched on World Book Day in March 2018 when both pupils and teachers made a huge effort in dressing up as their favourite book characters. Further details are included in Appendix A. 

A grown ups’ night out was clearly overdue judging by how quickly tickets sold out for our **Informal** in April! Over 200 people enjoyed dinner & dancing at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a relaxed occasion and a great chance to catch up. We were fortunate to be supported by so many local businesses who donated very generous raffle prizes. This event raised approximately £2500 

Our final event of the school year **Culture Day** in June 2018 combined elements of our previous Summer Fair & International Food Festival. It’s was a great opportunity to celebrate the cultural diversity in our school with delicious food, lots of entertainment and good company. 

The success of this years’ events could not have been possible without the involvement and generosity of our wonderful parents and school staff. We are very grateful to everyone for their valuable contributions – attending meetings, organising events, sourcing & donating raffle prizes, advertising & communications, the team behind the school magazine, those who volunteer to help at events and everyone who supports us by attending our events. 

In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year, the trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity’s purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries. We are confident that Stranmillis PS PTA has achieved its main purpose of funding additional resources to enhance our pupils’ education and wellbeing 

## **Stranmillis Primary School PTA Trustees 2017-18** 

Chairperson: Mrs Jane Moriarty Secretary: Mr Ian McClure Treasurer: Ms Dani Soban 



Co treasurer: Mr Clifton Lockhart 

Signed: ____________________ Jone Moca ____Jane Moriarty______