Hello all and welcome to the new joiners at Goodrich, we are thrilled to have you here! For those new to the school this is the Friends of Goodrich (FoG) PTA newsletter It contains updates on all FoG events and activities. It comes out at least once a month and/or wherever we can squeeze it in!
About FoG
Friends of Goodrich (FoG) is the Parent-Teacher-Association for Goodrich. We are a charity and raise money to enrich the experience of children at Goodrich, in the process bringing the school community together and running events and activities which create great memories for the kids from their time at Goodrich. There are 9 formal trustees of the charity – all parent volunteers – but all Goodrich parents, carers and staff belong to FoG. The acting co-Chairs are Nas Hussain and Alexia Weeple. All of our events are run by parents who have volunteered their time, energy and skills – new people always welcome to get involved, and you can do as little or as much as you want – more on this below.
Diary dates
It’s been a really busy start to the term and we’ve been working behind the scenes to plan ahead for the term and the rest of the year.
Some confirmed dates for your diaries (more to follow – watch this space):
Friday 13th October, Lower Hall 9am – FoG coffee morning – come along to meet other parents and a chance to chat to our trustees about FoG and the school
November (date tbc), Lower Hall – FoG open evening and AGM – Trustees will present about FoG, what we’ve done over the past year, and will formally present the accounts. There will also be a vote for the trustees and chair positions
Sat 2nd December, Winter Fair – our first since 2019 – this is one of our big events for the school community so get the date in your diary now!
Opportunities to get involved
We’re on the lookout for people who could help run some of our events and fundraising activities – some of the people doing these roles have left the school, and we’d love to get more people involved so we can do more. It’s a really nice way to feel part of the school community and contribute to school life. Please drop an email to friendsofgoodrich@gmail.com if you’re interested or would like more information, email the person indicated, or come and chat to us at one of our events. Many of the roles are behind the scenes – so can be done whenever suits you and don’t need you to be at the school gates every day. You won’t be thrown in at the deep end; we can help by giving a teach-in on what’s involved and advise on liaising with the school and getting messages out to the school through the FoG newsletter. If you’ve got a great idea for a new event which you’d like to run then do come and speak to us – we’d love to support and can help get them off the ground.
Scavenger hunt – This is an easy one – we have some templates to use as a starting point, and the main job is then promoting the hunt, and organising to collect entries, judge them, and then announce prizewinners. We’d like to run this over October half term.
Christmas / festive season cards – This is a great fundraiser and also fun for the kids. The role involves liaising between the school and the company producing the cards to make sure that all the kids have the opportunity to design a card, which parents can then buy. You don’t need to be at school, except to hand over orders. Please contact Rachel Jones via the FoG email address above for more info.
Winter Fair hampers – This involves giving each class a theme (from a list), and then liaising with class reps for parents/carers to bring in items for a hamper. You will then make up the hampers so that they look appealing to be displayed and auctioned at the fair (fun to do with friends)
Business sponsorship – This involves liaising with local businesses to get their support for FoG. We have established relationships with local estate agents, who support us by sponsoring boards promoting school events, for which FoG receives some money per board, so you would be liaising with them and parents/carers happy to host a board (we have a list). It’s also great to get offers of sponsorship or prizes we can raffle off or use as prizes for competitions. Please contact Alexia Weeple at alexia.weeple@gmail.com
Winter Fair – One of the big events. We have a small team of people who will get together from time to time (usually in the evening in a local pub) in the run up to the fair to plan the day and share out jobs – but would love to have a couple more as that will expand what we can do. If you prefer to be part of a team then this is the role for you. Please contact Alexia Weeple at alexia.weeple@gmail.com
Cake/bake sales – This would ideally be someone who can be available at school on Fridays just before each holiday. It involves setting up and clearing up at cake/bake sales, and liaising with the FoG treasurers to manage the payments. Ability to bake not essential since sales rely on contributions from parents! Would suit someone who can get a few people involved to help on the day.
Fundraising 2022-23
All money raised at FoG events is spent on a range of things to enrich the experience of kids at Goodrich, which are agreed with the school. Last school year these included:
- £11.5k towards the cost of school trips for all year groups
- £5k to fund swimming lessons for children in Years 3, 4 and 5
- £2.3k to purchase iPads for early years staff
- £3k on reading books for early years
- £3.2k on musical instruments
- £3.5k on bursaries to enable all children to join residential trips
- along with a number of other items e.g. games for wet play
- We have also earmarked £20k to spend on playground improvements, pending more detailed proposals from the school
Thanks for reading 😊