Chairperson Address – 21st May 2024
Folks, hard to believe it has been almost a year since our last AGM. And what a year it has been. Busy is an understatement – PTA of the Year in June through to FOSPA Does Family Fortunes in March, with lots in between and more still to do before we can sign off for the year.
So - we won PTA of the Year 2023 - the equivalent of the Oscar’s! Amazing. But totally deserved when you think of the hard work put in to all we do. And then we went and got ourselves a Civic Reception over in the Civic Centre – thanks to Catherine for organising this and hosting us. How lovely to receive awards and then be recognised for receiving the awards.
Between September and October we used the remainder of our TNL grant . I have to say – I had a lot of fun with this grant and huge thanks to Julie for securing it. We had a ‘Back-to-School’ Fun Day in September, a resilience workshop for u14s from our local GAA club and a Silver Sunday event in October. Whilst these events are not necessarily fundraisers they do help keep us in the spotlight and let the community see that we give back due to the support we receive from them throughout the year. Thanks must go to the school and the Wolfe Tones for allowing us use of their facilities for these extra-curricular events, and thanks to all of you for coming on board and helping out – many hands do make light work.
In terms of fundraising, our reason why , I firmly believe that we definitely put the FUN into fundraising!
In September we were able to hit the ground running and provide the school with £1250 to cover the cost of Sum Dog and a new learning mat for Primary 2.
Our DerrymaCASH Call raised £1200 to help support the provision of counselling in the school.
Our Christmas events raised a whopping £3000 and this helped with the upgrade of the sensory and ICT areas as well as covering the cost of the Accelerated Reader Programme.
Our FOSPA Does Family Fortunes epic event saw an amazing £9000 being raised and that money going towards helping the school upgrade its ICT equipment.
This amounts to £14450
I am extremely proud of each and every member, friend and family member who contributed towards this and I feel very privileged to play a small part in this success. Thank you to all of you (present and not present), thank you to our many friends of FOSPA, thanks to Mrs Brown and the school and huge thanks to all in our community for supporting what we do. It really is an honour to stand here and reflect on a year that saw us raise such vital funds for our school and see, first hand, that we really do make a difference.
In addition to the money/funds we generate there are a lot of other ‘highs’ that I feel we cannot ignore. The organisation that goes into ensuring our P7s have their leaver hoodies in advance of term 2 must be appreciated. Additionally, the funding provided by Lurgan Credit Union is vital and really does reduce the cost of these. Janette has hit the ground running every September with this initiative ensuring the design is agreed, the names are accurate, payments are made and funding is secured. I have to say – I love seeing our P7s wearing these so proudly in term 2.
£14450 given to the school and still funds in our account to cover Confirmation, Communion, the P7 leavers event, ice-cream treats for Sports Day, World Book Day treat and Easter Eggs. It’s just something else!
Thanks must also be communicated to the school staff and the wider community. It is clear to see how supportive the school is of all our antics. How willing they are to facilitate us in a variety of ways – even opening the doors tonight for our AGM. They share our communications, put our events on SeeSaw, send out text messages upon request. This really helps us connect with the school AND wider community. It really is appreciated and I hope, Mrs Brown, you communicate this thanks to all of your staff.