Hello Parents and Carers
Introduction:
The Friends of Shaw Ridge are a registered charity (1054106) dedicated to raising money for the school. We raise these funds by holding a selection of events for the children, their families and the local community throughout the year. The school then uses this money to pay for “educational enhancements” for the children.
Why do we have Friends of Shaw Ridge?
We are fortunate at our school to have a PTFA that’s an integral part of the school community. Over the last few years we have raised hundreds of pounds, which has been spent on equipment and resources to enhance our children’s educational experience and the school’s facilities.
Our association is about much more than simply fundraising. Friends of Shaw Ridge (FOSR) exists to provide closer links between home and school and it is an excellent way to bring staff, parents and friends together socially in support of the school, working towards a common goal. It’s fun too - just ask any of the committee members or volunteers.
All parents and members of the school community are encouraged to get involved, even if they only have a small amount of time available. All families are automatically members of FOSR when their child joins our school.
How we raise money:
Like most PTFAs, the majority of our funds are raised through the events that we run. Some of our most popular events are: Spring, Summer & Christmas Fair’s along with School Disco’s.
Donations from parents are extremely important. You can donate time, money, items for sale, raffle prizes or offers of services and skills. FOSR are also part of the following fundraising schemes;
- Purchase uniform name labels from Stikins.com and the school receives 30% commission from very order. (using fundraising number 17763)
- By shopping for free via easyfundraising.org.uk the school receives free donations from retailers.
- Playing our school Lottery each week
How we spend the money we raise
The FOSR Committee are responsible for deciding how our funds are spent. The School Leadership Team provide a ‘wish list’ of items that the school would like us to consider funding. We also invite input from parents too, so if you have an idea of something that would benefit all the students in the school, please do share it with the Committee. We can discuss it at a meeting and feedback.
Funds are typically spent on the ‘extras’ that are not provided by the school’s budget, thus making our children’s learning experiences so much more fulfilling and exciting. Funds are not generally spent on improving the fabric of the school building, as this is the responsibility of the school. Our Constitution commits the association to spending money on things that will benefit the children directly.
As a parent, carer or staff member of the school, you’re automatically considered to be a valuable member of the FOSR family here at Shaw Ridge. Your level of involvement is entirely up to you.
What do we need?
1/ Ideas – The ethos behind all our events is fun. We believe that getting local families and the community together should be our number one goal, any money raised from our shenanigans is a bonus.
2/ Organisation and Planning – Each event requires a great deal of work behind the scenes to put everything together, you might not be able to help on the day but there’s plenty to do in the lead up. For example: putting up posters, shopping for supplies, selling raffle tickets and many other little jobs.
3/ Volunteering at Events – There are always lots of small jobs during events and we always need plenty of assistance. Help doesn’t need to be just from parents, we welcome grandparents, aunts & uncles and anyone willing to lend a hand.
4/ Attending the Events - We work hard putting together each event but they’re no fun if people don’t come along and join in. You’ll be notified of each upcoming event via school newsletters and noticeboards but keep an eye on our dedicated Facebook page for up to the minute information.
5/ PTA Meetings - We always love to have new faces and new perspectives at our meetings and we feel it’s important for parents across the school to be represented when we gather to make decisions.
The committee formally meets at the school once a month along with other working meetings in between as required. Everyone is welcome, although we do realise that not everyone is able to attend evening meetings, so there is always continuous discussion via our closed Facebook group. Suggestions and comments made via these forums are placed on the agenda for discussion or taken into consideration when decisions are made within the main FOSR meeting.
6/ Donations are a really important part of our fundraising and it doesn’t necessarily involve parents paying out cold hard cash - here are a few ways you can help:
Matched Funding: An increasing number of large companies operate a match funding scheme whereby they “match” charity fundraising undertaken by their employees. Parents working for Asda have successfully match funded for us in the past, so please check it out with your employer and contact us if you’re able to help.
Raffle Prizes: We hold a raffle to coincide with our big Christmas, Easter and Summer events and we’re always in need of prizes. If you (or your employer) are able to offer up any kind of raffle prize, we’d love to hear from you.
Event Sponsorship: If you have contacts with any company that would be interested in advertising with us or sponsoring one of our events, then please let us know.
There are lots of ways to communicate with the FOSR and we love to hear your feedback and suggestions.
- Email: friendsofshawridge@gmail.com
- Enquire at the School Office
- Facebook @friendsofshawridgeprimaryschool