The PTA

How We Raise Money

As in most schools, the majority of our funds are raised through the events that we run. Some of our most popular events are the Bonfire Night, Summer Fun Day, Christmas Bazaar, Leavers BBQ, Quiz Nights and Discos. There is always something going on! We always try and respond to the children’s requests for events and it is great to see them having fun at the events or enjoying using a piece of new equipment that the PTA has donated.

We are fortunate however to have other opportunities open to us to raise money.

Donations are extremely important. These can be time, money, items for sale, donations for raffles or offers of services and skills etc.

As our PTA is a Registered Charity, we are able to raise money through Gift Aid and Charity Matching Schemes.

Gift Aid

Gift Aid can boost our funds considerably. It is tax claimed back from the Inland Revenue from donations made to us out of your earned income.

If you are employed and pay income tax, we are able to claim 28p in every pound that you donate to our PTA. The procedure for this is very simple. We ask our parents to sign the enclosed declaration form (this only has to be done once whilst you are at school) to confirm their employment and the declaration can be cancelled at any time. Following this, every time the signatory supports the child with a cash/cheque donation or if a sponsored event is supported, the PTA can claim the Gift Aid on the contribution.

There is nothing further for you to do and we need no other information from you. The issue of Gift Aid is taken on trust and you can support more than one charity in this way. We do not, and are not required to, divulge any personal information to the Inland Revenue from your completed forms.

Please do sign the declaration form at the back of this booklet if you are able. If both parents are taxpayers, please request another gift aid form from our PTA Treasurer. As a PTA we are very conscious that with a small school community, the demands are often not as widely spread as in larger schools, and because of this, we try to raise our funds from as many different sources as possible.

Charity Matched Giving

Charity matching is a very simple practice. Companies or businesses pledge to donate to a charity such as ourselves an amount of money relating to the amount that an employee(s) donates or fundraises for us. There are several benefits to both ourselves and the company involved.

• Employees’ morale is boosted by having their efforts supported by their employer.
• The company benefits from having charitable donations written off against taxable profits.
• The company can endeavour to get publicity for their giving.

If you think that your employer has a matched giving scheme already in operation, or if you would like some more information about charity matching or setting up a scheme in your workplace, please talk to one of the PTA officers, or ask in the school office.

How We Spend The Money We Raise

Very quickly!

Once money is raised from events the funds are banked straight away. It is at our PTA Committee Meetings that the decisions on how to spend the money are taken. If there is a need for funds between meetings, you can request an expenditure request form to be completed.

Usually, Mrs Farthing will have a ‘wish list’ of items that the school would like to purchase. Sometimes this will be as a result of the children asking for something, such as the School Council asking for games for the playground. At other times it will be for resources to improve a particular area of the curriculum or school environment. In the main the PTA funds are for the ‘extras’ not provided by the school budget, that make our children’s learning experiences so much more fulfilling and exciting.

PTA funds are not generally spent on improving the fabric of the school building as this is the responsibility of the school Governing Body and we always endeavour to spend our funds in ways that will benefit all our children across all areas of the school and curriculum. The money we raise is usually spent fairly quickly. That way, you can be sure that in supporting our school, your and everybody’s child will feel the benefit.

Of course there are times when we have a big project underway that we need to save money for. In the past, we have had ‘special projects’ to provide such as the new Junior Classroom and the games court. However, whilst saving for these, we have tried also to find funds for smaller items such as digital cameras and new computer software.

The PTA do have ongoing commitments every year, spending around £2,500 on things like the Quantock field trip, festival for schools, leavers gifts and Christmas. This amounts to about £30 per child per year on average.

At the back of this booklet is a list of items donated to the school during the past couple of years and the amounts raised at various events – we think you will be impressed. The “wish list” for this year is on the PTA notice board, but at the moment we are working on a list of “10 things inside and 10 things outside”.