Hello and a warm welcome to all pupils, parents, staff and friends of St Ronan’s Primary & Nursery School.
This page has been designed to provide you with some useful information about our Parent, Teacher and Friends Association or “PTFA”.
What is a PTFA?
Like most Schools, we now have a PTFA. A PTFA is a voluntary organisation made up of parents, careers, staff, members of the local community and associated friends, such as individuals and local businesses, who together contribute and support the School by raising funds and awareness to benefit the pupils of St. Ronan’s Primary and Nursery School in a variety of ways.
Fundamentally, our PTFA was formed to encourage closer links between home, School and community. Money is raised to help enrich the School experience for our children whilst giving them the opportunity to enjoy fun events and activities with their friends. PTFAs are best known for their fundraising work however they also have a useful social function. Fundraising events provide an opportunity for parents, staff and pupils to come together as a whole School community.
The PTFA is extremely conscious of the ethos and diversity of our School and we try very hard when organising and planning events to respect them. Not all our events are run as fundraisers. For example, Christmas parties, Santa’s visit, the Easter bunny’s visit and end of year parties are organised with the aim of providing fun and enjoyment for all of our children.
How is the PTFA organised?
Parents/Carers of pupils and current staff all automatically have the opportunity to become members of the PTFA. An annual general meeting is held at the end of October each year. This meeting is open and members of the public may attend. At this meeting a committee is elected to run the PTFA over the course of the coming year.
The committee formed meets every six weeks on a Wednesday evening. The meetings are very informal. New ideas are discussed and smaller working groups are set up to plan and organise forthcoming events. We are always looking for new and enthusiastic members and volunteers. The more helpers there are, the less of a commitment it becomes and the easier it is to organise and run our events.
How is money raised?
Events are organised to raise money for the School. With constant budget cuts by Government, the funds raised by the PTFA provide a vital boost to the School budget. Past fundraising events include Summer & Christmas draws, celebration parties, ‘Make Your Own Choices Days’, “Guess the number of Easter eggs” competition and many more. These are all organised and run voluntarily by the PTFA and they would simply not happen without the commitment and generosity of all our helpers and supporters. We are always looking for new fundraising ideas and welcome new suggestions.
How is money spent?
During PTFA meetings decisions are made on how to spend the money that is raised. Decisions are based on various considerations including requests from the Principal and suggestions from parents. Principal requests are raised at the PTFA meetings so that all parents in attendance know and have a say on how the funds raised are spent.
We endeavour to spend all funds raised promptly and efficiently so that all of our children reap the benefit as quickly as possible. To date, monies have been spent to purchase equipment and to subsidise School events.
How can I volunteer to help the PTFA?
We would like to encourage all parents to get involved whatever the level of the commitment you can give. There are many ways you can help. Whatever time you can spare will make a huge difference to the School and to your children.
The PTFA is a friendly and socialable group. Joining the PTFA is a great way to get to know other parents and to become more involved in your child’s School and in the wider community. Whether you are interested in being part of the committee or would just like to help out at certain events, we would really love to hear from you.
We appreciate that we all lead busy lives and the demands on our time are already great. However, any help, support or encouragement that you can give will be very much welcomed and appreciated.
It is often easy to assume that “someone else will do it” but just a little help from everyone can make all the difference. It can also make the experience even more rewarding for our whole School community. The fun events our children enjoy only happen because of parents like you volunteering.
Dates for the diary:
Pumpkin Carving - Photos to be emailed by 23rd October
‘Make Your Own Choices Day’ – A new date for November will be set
For more information on how to get involve please email: StRonans.ptfa@gmail.com We would love to hear from you!
Interesting and free ways You can help raise funds for the School:
EasyFundraising:
The Easyfundraising website is an excellent way to raise money just through people doing their normal shopping online. www.easyfundraising.org.uk allows you to shop direct with retailers online as you normally would, but by using the links from the easyfundraising website first, each purchase you make will generate a cashback donation to the School. For example, every £1 spent on Amazon will donate 2.5p to the PTFA. Other retailers donate different amounts. Retailers include Amazon, M&S, Next, John Lewis, B&Q, Argos, Tesco and hundreds more.
It's easy to do:
- Log on to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stronanspsLis/
- Click on ‘Support us for free’.
- Set up your account
- Start shopping
Easy Search
One way to help the PTFA earn money for the School is by using Easy Search.
This is an internet search engine (similar to Google or Bing). When you start using it simple search for St Ronan’s Primary & Nursery School Lisnaskea in the cause search box. Every time you use the page to search, the School receives money and if you then purchase online after using the search engine the School receives a percentage. The amounts donated are not large but if everyone uses it, over the course of a School year the money raised can make a huge difference.
Personalised Name Labels
Are you looking for labels for your child's belongings to ensure they don't get lost at School? Follow the links below to view the fantastic range of personalised labels. By entering the unique promotional code when placing an order, our PTFA will receive cashback!!
www.stikins.co.uk – promotional code 21817
www.stamptastic.co.uk -promotional code BT92 0LA
Santa Letters Direct
Looking for some personalised Christmas products? Items available to purchase include; Santa letters, books, text messages and postcards. Why not earn your School 25% commission on all purchases by visiting: https://www.santaletterdirect.co.uk/MySchool/?TID=SD0690
