North Hinksey Home School Association

H.S.A. NEWSLETTER JUNE 2008

The Sports Day Fiesta ’08 was our first major event.  Overall, as officers we were really pleased with the event.  A great big thank you goes out to everyone.  Thank you to: the school staff for accommodating us in the Hall (and particularly over lunchtime); those that gave up time to help with a stall or to set up and pack away; and of course those that spent money.  We took £1533.75 at the event.  £435 were consumerable expenses, we gained a £100 asset – the waterslide and have £800 banked to put towards the outdoor classroom.  Kia from year 2 won the £20 gift voucher.  Well done!!

As officers we have reviewed the event and have considered how different aspects of it went.  On reflection:
•    We were really disappointed at the size of the waterslide, it was great for key stage one children but not necessarily for the older ones.  It did pay for itself though.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of the slide used at previous events and we were hesitate to use it for two reasons: there had been problems with access to water; and there were some serious concerns about whether the NCPTA insurance would cover the activity (due to the high risk of breaking a limb).  We do now have a reliable hose and tap fixtures and will endeavour to provide a more ‘grown-up’ activity at the next summer event.
•    We felt the token system worked quite well.  It really helped with managing floats and security.  We do think that the tokens may have been too much pocket money each and will review the price (starting at 30p maybe).  We also think we will keep the price the same up to 20 tokens, and then reduce for bulkier buys.
•    Using the tokens for tuck was popular, and the BBQ in the end! We hadn’t really considered this initially and think it would be good to increase their use across stall s.
•    We thought that the water shot was really successful, particularly as there was such little outlay – this is likely to do at least one more come back tour!!

We didn’t really anticipate the length of time the computer would take to upload over 700 photographs for the slide show.  We will be putting on a slide show at PARENTS EVENING on 7th and 8th July in the LIBRARY.

As part of the photograph display we wondered if you would like to be part of a feedback display.  Below you will find some ‘balls’.  Do encourage the children to get involved and colour them in and cut them out.  We’d like you to make comments on them too.  There will be a set of goal posts to stick them onto.  The higher you kick them into the goals on the board the greater your satisfaction of the event!

Our final event this year is Foundation year Cook4Books on Monday 30th June, do as Gayle (the year rep.) for more details.

Kind regards
Your H.S.A. Officers.     Maria (Chair), Alison (Treasurer) & Mandy (Secretary)

COLLECTION OF: JEWELLERY & WATCHES - broken items too please!

WE RAISED OVER £98 FROM THIS. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT CONTRIBUTED.

OUR NEXT MEETING IS

MONDAY 23rd JUNE

at 3:30pm

Minutes of HSA meeting held on Wednesday 7th May

Present: Maria S (Chair), Alison B (Treasurer), Mandy R (Secretary), Nicki P, Sarah B, Gayle, Sara M, Jo, Clare M, Sally Wheatley (if needed)

Apologies: Cath D

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a true record and signed by Maria.

Quick fire agenda items

It was agreed that we buy receipt books, a memory stick and cash boxes.

A £100 float was agreed and this money is to be used for refunds.

Foundation cook for books is on Monday 30th June. This clashes with our proposed next meeting.

Gayle and Maria to decide when might be better to have it. 23rd June was suggested.

It was also agreed to make various purchases for sports day. These are icecream, lollies, scones, jam, cream, bbq meat, rolls, picnic orders (inc. Wine, beer, fruit drink) packaging for picnic orders, stickers, card tokens, bouncy castle, key fobs, printing of A3 posters (30p each). Alison, Maria and Mandy are getting together to produce a shopping list for these items.

Organisation of prizes for shoot-out events (2). We agreed to purchase JJB sports vouchers at £20. Alison to buy these.

Mandy agreed to make fruit cake for the picnics for sports day.

It was agreed to have an end of year raffle at PROM150. We will get raffle tickets printed. These will go on sale from 9th July.

First prize will be £150 cash.

Sara agreed to go to Warlands and Pot shop, Botley Road to ask for prizes.

Gayle to ask in the Co op & at other shops in the precinct for prize donations.

Sarah B is to write a letter to ask for donations. This should be sent out by 1st July.

Nicki is to ask at the Fishes if they would give a voucher for a meal as a prize.

It was agreed to buy 50 crested water bottles at 75p each and sell them for £1.20. This can then be reviewed in light of sales. Maria to action.

Everyone was happy with the website that Maria has set up.

Everyone was happy for us to give some tea towels and calendars to Emma J to give to children in schools in partnership countries.

Mr Roberts to look into organising a walking for cycling event for the sports day. This involves hiring a walking or cycling machine from Westminster College and seeing who can run or cycle the quickest. Prize the fastest. Possibly book of swimming tickets that parents and children can enjoy. All is subject to agreement by the leisure centre and availability of equipment and prizes.

Financial Report.

Alison presented this.

Incomings:

Easter Raffle ñ made a net profit of £114.31

2nd hand unform sale (winter sale) £49.75 (Feb sale) £16.00

Tea towels and calendars (25th March) £14.00

Mufti day (6th April) £242.06

Yr 2 cook for books £41.45

Tea towels and calendars (sold at pagent & open day) £67.00

Collection for outdoor classroom (at pageant) £231.92.

Uniform sales (incl.obsolete & current unform) £372.00

Balances:

Current account balance = £1951.95*.

Saving account balance = £794.93

Making a total of £2746.88.

*The previous trustees report from February detailed that £2500 had been raised by them towards the outdoor classroom. The total balance of account at that time was £2711. However there was an outstanding cheque for £800 (staff wish list) which had not been accounted for. Taking this into account, the balance on handover was £1911.05.

IMPREST System ñ Alison is using the IMPREST method of accounting to implement and maintain the petty cash system. The maximum balance held will be £100.

Cash handling

Alison handed round a draft document about financial protocols. The intention being to ensure we adopt clear procedures. This is to be ratified at the AGM.

It was agreed that cash taken at events must be counted on site by two people. If this is not possible, then it can be placed in an envelope, sealed and signed across the seal by two people. This procedure is adopted from the NCPTA website.

Sales at cook for books are down. This is going to be reviewed at our next meeting.

Mufti day money is used to buy skipping ropes. The current total is £367.06. Alison is going to ask Emma J how many skipping ropes are going to be bought.

IOUís

It was voted to agree to use IOUs. The person running the stall is responsible for collecting any IOUs given.

Second hand uniform sales

It was voted that the HSA do accept the funds from second hand uniform sales.

It was voted that the HSA direct redundant uniform stock to the second hand store.

The law states that as sole supplier, we must sell new sweatshirts at cost price.

PROM150

It was agreed that we could use the communication structure of the HSA to help run this event that is being organised by the 150th committee. Many of those at the meeting knew very little about this event.

Disco

It is apparent that one or two parents and children would like the school discos to go ahead. These had not been thought necessary as the 150th Committee are organising a Prom, which is a family event with a live band and is an end of year celebration to finish off the 150th year celebrations at the school. This was thought to be a good send off for those in year 6. However, in light of concerns Maria agreed to talk to Mrs W about asking the school council to ask the children if they wanted a disco.

After the meeting Maria spoke to Mrs W who said that she did not want it to go school council yet as she wanted to wait for more information about PROM150 to be available. She wants all parents and children alike to get excited about this grand end of year event. This item has therefore been put on hold for the time being.

(IF it goes ahead Sarah Brown agreed to organise it. The school would need to get an event notice from the council to be able to hold the disco. This must be in place 10 days prior to the event going ahead. A disco that children are paying to get into and where there is regulated entertainment (a disco) requires an event notice. This is the law !)

Sports day - Monday 16th June (reserve day Tuesday 17th June).

Sara fed back that she had heard that a few parents felt children found sports day tiring and having an event afterwards might be too much for some of them. It is being held on a Monday so children have the rest of the week to get through. If its a hot day, this will not help. These views were considered.

A bouncy castle was considered too energetic, so a waterslide is being provided instead.

Mandy is organising the event notice for the sports day extravaganza.

Maria handed round some action sheets that she had drawn up.

Setting up on the afternoon of Friday 13th June. Nicki, Sara, Clare, Sarah, Mandy, Maria and other parent helpers too.

In summary:

The HSA stand will be manned by year 2, Maria, Mandy, Jo (later), Alison (earlier), Sarah and possibly Gayle. The stand needs 4 people on it at any one time.

Pimms Tent/refreshments will be manned by year 2 and needs 2 helpers : Nicki will action this and also agreed to cut up the fruits for the pimms. It will be sold at £1 a glass or 50p for a glass of fruit juice.

Photos of sports day : Richard S and Dr. Marsden. There will be slide show in Miss Griffithsí classroom. Pick the picture you want, note its number and hand it in with your name and email address. Photos are then emailed to you. 50p a photo. £1 for three.

Wine/Lolly Lotto this requires 2 persons at any one time and will be organised by Sara.

Paint a pot this requires 2 persons at any one time and will be organised by Clare.

Chuck the chicken and striker requires one parent and then some year 5/6 children. Sarah B to organise this. Mandy to arrange to get it to Oxford first ! Sarah B to confirm with childrenís parents that they are happy for their siblings to help.

Penalty shoot out (football and netball)will be manned by year 4/5. Cath D to organised this.

The bouncy castle is replaced by a waterslide. This will be manned by the Foundation class. Gayle to organise.

Face painting. Nicki to ask for someone to come in and do facepainting.

Barbeque ñ school governors.

Financial Outlay

Stickers £15, prize draw cards & icecream cards £3, facepaint £50, ikea pots £15, ceramic pens £40.50. Lollies £10. Wine x 15 bottles £75, tombola prizes £50, pimms ingredients £80, picnic ingredients £100. Total £438. Waterslide will also incur a cost.

Next meeting: Monday 30th June at 3.15pm

SHALL WE CHANGE THIS TO 7TH JULY SO AS NOT TO CLASH WITH COOK FOR BOOKS ?

H.S.A. FUNDRAISING - JEWELLERY RECYCLING WEEK
An envelope is attached to this letter. Please fill it with:
o Jewellery – cheap, expensive, broken, with missing bits;
o Watches – new, old, broken.
Please return your filled envelope to the box near the library by Friday 9th May and your donation will help raise money. All the contributions are valued and the school will be given a cheque for their contribution, and you might win an MP3 player. EASY MONEY!! The jewellery collectors will either sell-on stock or use it to create new jewellery – carbon low recycling!

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H.S.A. FUNDRAISING EVENT - SPORTS DAY FIESTA – Monday 16th June - 3:30 – 6:00pm
(or Tuesday 17th – weather dependant)
The H.S.A. are organising a special ‘after sports day’ extravaganza. You will be approached soon by your class rep. asking for you to support the event by giving a short amount of time (30-60mins). Special features will hopefully include:
o A Pimms tent (during the children’s sports activities);
o Refreshments, including BBQ, ice creams, teas, coffee, cakes and advance booked luxury family picnics;
o Football penalty shoot outs;
o Netball shoot out;
o Bouncy castles;
o Lolly lotto;
o Wine lotto;
o Tombola;
o Chuck the chicken (AKA chicken soup!)
o Striker;
o Crafting your own sports cup.
So watch this space – we are holding a meeting on Wednesday 7th May at 3:15pm to determine which class takes on which stalls (Bazaar and Fete style) so if you would like to contribute to the planning please come along. The meeting will end at 4pm. A video will be provided for the children to watch.

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SCHOOL ORGANISED EVENT – PROM ONE.FIVE.OH! – Tuesday 22nd July
This is a school 150th celebration committee organised event. The H.S.A has agreed to support in giving time. The school will be underwriting the expenses as part of the 150th celebration but is obviously very keen to draw even. In previous years the parents and children have been invited and involved in two end of year activities: a summer picnic and the children’s end of year discos. It was thought it would be a good idea to combine these events, making one large event: yet not increasing any additional financial pressure on parents. PROM ONE.FIVE.OH! will be an all family event, where everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic (‘Ascot’ and ‘Picnic in the Park’ style) and eat it amongst other current and past: families; pupils; and teachers from the school. There will be a small ‘on-the-door’ admission charge likely to be about £5 per family (or £2 per adult and £1 per child) to cover the cost of marquee hire and disco entertainment. We hope you will all support this event especially those year six pupils that will be leaving us this year for adventures new! Look out for the posters…

-

Kind regards
Your H.S.A officers.
P.S. Go to www.northhinskeyHSA.org - let us know what you think and add your comments.

WEDNESDAY 7TH MAY 3:15pm

1. Agree minutes of previous meeting.

2. Financial report.
a. Income since Feb ‘08
b. Expenditure since Feb ‘08
c. Forthcoming outgoings

3. TRUSTEE VOTE on I.O.U.s.
On 2 previous occasions since the new committee stood, H.S.A. representatives have had uniform and redundant stock sales (calendars, tea towels, Christmas puddings). The main objective for these sales was to reduce the stock starting to overflow in the spare classroom. Mrs Wheatley wished to use the space for displays for the 150th celebration, stock had to be removed within a 2-4 week time period, options were for it to be stored at a trustees home. To aid ‘getting rid of stock’ an I.O.U system was put in place to avoid loosing a sales opportunity from parents without cash on them on the night of the sale. One officer disagreed with this action and rightly pointed out that the minutes didn’t clearly state a trustee vote of approval / disapproval. There was concern that using I.O.U.s meant that the H.S.A. assets were being used as a means of offering credit and an element of risk was involved as to whether the funds would be lost.

VOTE:
- to agree that I.O.U.s can be offered to parents of school children on stock that the H.S.A is keen to release from their assets. i.e. dated stock that will become redundant if kept, excessive stock that is causing storage issues.

- To disagree with I.O.Us being granted in any cases.

4. SECOND HAND UNIFORM
It has been suggested that the H.S.A. might like to support volunteers collecting money from second hand uniform sales. Trustees to vote to accept fund from second hand uniform sales.
AGREE ? yes no

If yes, are we happy to direct redundant uniform stock into second hand store?
(polo shirts, jackets)
AGREE ? yes no

Note about the sale of new sweatshirts – as we are the sole suppliers, these have to be sold at cost price. This is the law !

5. 150PROM – proposals for H.S.A. parental involvement – use of communication structure.

6. SPORTS DAY – PROPOSED DATES
a. MAIN DAY MONDAY 16TH JUNE
b. RESERVE DAY
Friday evening help.
Early Monday morning help
SEE SEPARATE SHEET
FINANCIAL OUTLAY
Stickers £15, prize draw cards & ice cream cards £3, face paints £50, ikea pots £15, ceramic pens £40.50, lollies £10, wine x 15bottles £75, tombola prizes £50, Pimms ingredients £80, picnic ingredients – cash paid in advance, BBQ ingredients £100. =£438
INVOICED -BOUNCY CASTLE £175

8. AOB

The HSA served tea and coffee before the event.  The whole evening seemed to be a great success and the children got to show off to all parents, family and friends rather than just a select few!  Mrs Wheatley very kindly allowed us to badger people for donations on the way out.  We collected for the new outdoor classroom.  A lot of people were really keen to support this permanent fixture, helping the project along with a further £231.92.  Thanks go to all of you.

I received my first copy of the NCPTA Spring 2008 News and Views on Friday. An article that struck my attention was about school uniform. The discussion referred to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau survey ‘Adding Up’, which found that ‘many parents are struggling to meet the growing cost of items such as uniform and PE kit, plus a range of other expenses like trips and specialist equipment’. I decided that this was important and a little investigation was required.



The NCPTA have written an article about pricing, stating that ‘the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has introduced some important new guidelines that will affect you’ (available on Teachernet)…’The new guidance strongly emphasises the need to keep the costs of school uniform to a minimum’…’the guidance now prohibits governing bodies (and PTAs)…raising additional funds through the sale of new school uniforms’…’PTAs will be able to continue to fundraise from the sale of second hand uniform’… ‘the PTA (school) can continue to sell (branded goods as a sole supplier) if the items are being sold at cost with no profit and the savings are being passed on to parents’.



To ensure that our HSA follows these published guidelines you will see a drop in school uniform prices. If you are concerned about products that you have recently purchased from the HSA please feel free to come and discuss this with one of the Officers.



Maria (Chair)

Plans are in progress for a special SPORTS DAY FIESTA.
Watch this space!!!

If you’ve got ideas then please do COMMENT!