Farringtons School - Senior - Academic Programme - Farringtons Parents' Association

Did you know that "Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving" - how true! I have tried to bear this in mind over the past year in my role as Chairperson of the FPA, however, some may say that I have not always been that gentle!!

I would like to begin by offering my sincere thanks and congratulations to everyone on the FPA Committee, for making my first year as Chairperson such fun and for making it such a successful year of fundraising. I would like to send special thanks to Sarah de Vanney, our FPA Secretary. I have worked closely with Sarah this year and she has always been very supportive. She always manages to bring me back down to earth when I come up with some of my more wackier ideas!

On a personal note I have thoroughly enjoyed being the Chairperson this year. One of the most rewarding things about being part of the FPA is the opportunity it allows us to be involved in many different aspects of the School and so reinforces one of the FPA aims, of providing a vital link between the School and the Parents.

The primary aim of the FPA is raising money for the School, which will benefit our Children during their school life at Farringtons. This year we committed ourselves to raise funds for the Swimming Pool Project and we have pulled out all the stops to raise as much money as possible, thus achieving more that 50% of our planned contribution. Every event we held was well attended and always profitable.

To achieve our fundraising targets one of the FPAs first priorities at the start of this academic year was to re-organise and restructure ourselves. We introduced several sub-committees one for each of our key fundraising events; Social Events, May Ball, Christmas Market, Nearly New Uniform Shop and Fun Day. Each one has its own instantly recognisable identity and logo and is headed up by an FPA member, who is supported in their role by fellow FPA members and Parents alike. I believe that the sub committees have been instrumental in us achieving such wonderful results this year.

I would now like to take a journey through the academic year and highlight just some of the FPA successes:

We started the year off with our Pamper Night in October, once again this was a great evening, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their pampering. A big thanks to Liz and her team for the Pamper Night and maybe next year, Liz, we could have male pamper section for David and I to enjoy!!

Christmas came early to Farringtons School, with our Christmas Market. Santa came along supported by Hal & Rudi and I think everyone had a fantastic afternoon. It raised a tremendous amount of money, exceeding the previous years total. Once again a big thank you to Liz and her team of Elves for getting the festive season started!

We kicked off 2008 with our Quiz Night, this tested everyone's general knowledge and brought out their competitive side!! The Quiz night also tested the FPAs adaptability and teamwork as the attendance far exceeded our expectations, which meant a last minute change of venue to accommodate everyone! Thanks to Sue and her team of quizmasters: David, Avent and Tracy for making the quiz night so enjoyable for everyone.

A new event in the FPA calendar was the Fashion Show, in April. Attendees of the Fashion Show were able to purchase high street fashions at discounted prices. Parents and Teachers were asked to model the clothes that were for sale. As it was all Ladies Fashions, I was unable to take to the Catwalk, however I did offer my services to help dress the models, but sadly the offer was declined! David, however, did strike a pose on the Catwalk… all I can say is David please don’t give up your day job!

In May we held the black and white May Ball, this was a roaring success. During the evening we held an auction with some exceptional prizes: A dancing lesson with the stars, Ice Skating lessons from a celebrity, VIP tickets for Kylie concert to name but a few of the outstanding items that people could bid for. A big thanks to Claire and her team for organising the Ball, they all did a fantastic job.

We finished the fundraising year with the Fun Day. This is a big event and would not have been such a success without the generous help and support of the Committee, the Parents, the Class Reps and the Teachers. A big thank you to everyone for giving your time, your donations and for all your support in making this popular event so special.

The Nearly New Uniform Shop has done extremely well with takings up on last year and all this in spite of having a rather nasty encounter with a Tree in the early part of the year. I was delighted that Valerie and her team still managed to open the shop the morning after high winds had caused a large tree to fall onto the roof of the Shop! The extended opening hours have proved popular and will so continue. I would like to say a big thanks to Valerie and Linda for their valued commitment to the Shop.

The thanks for this year’s successes would not be complete without thanking Mrs James and her team, who have always been very supportive of the FPA. A very special thanks to the Green Men and the School Catering staff who always help us to find solutions to some of our more tricky dilemmas!!

David, as part of his Treasurer’s report will supply the facts and figures for each event.

Sadly this year we are losing some truly valued members of our FPA team: Tracey Ratcliffe, Valerie Adams, Avent Bezeuidenhoult, Jonathan Fenton, Claire Moore, Linda Finch & Sue Harvey, they have all been an integral part of our success this year and I would like to thank them for all their hard work and commitment during their time as part of the FPA.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new FPA members to the team. I really look forward to working with you all in the next academic year. Next year we have again many more fantastic events planned, the old favourites including the Fun Day, the Ball and the Christmas Market along with some exciting new ones! I am sure there will be challenges too but that just adds to the fun! Details of all the events will be distributed in September.

The FPA has had a fantastic year; we’ve made lots of money and had a lot of fun along the way. As I always say if you believe in what you are doing and enjoy doing it then you will always succeed.

So here’s to next year, I am sure it will be just as good!!

Treasurers Report AGM 1st July 2008

The Report and Financial Statement for the year ended 1st July 2007, which have previously been filed and approved by the committee are submitted to the AGM for final approval.

As the financial year ends today, I am unable to present draft Financial Statements for approval today.

However, I am able to present to the AGM draft income report from all activities this year, as compared to last financial year. These figures must be regarded as draft as the Fun Day figure is subject to change due to expenses still outstanding, which have been estimated to obtain this figure. It must also be taken into consideration that whilst a figure is attributed to Fun Day 2007 these funds were held by the School as, the event was run by the Association on behalf of the School last year.

There has been an increase in profit from fundraising activities this year from £9417 excluding the Fun Day (£17,932 including Fun Day) in 2007 to £31,845.

All events have shown an increase in profit, most notably the May Ball, Christmas Market, Fun Day and Uniform Shop. We have also seen the introduction of the Fashion Show with tremendous success.

Other income has shown a fall due to leavers or people declining to pay the subscription amount.

At the last AGM we approved the part financing of the Pool cover to the order of £42000 and as the project has grown we have agreed to double this amount to £84000. This commitment will include monies raised at last years Fun Day as previously agreed.

It is intended to show the full parent membership of the School how much has been raised so far by presenting a cheque for £50,000 to the Head at both the junior and senior presentation events.

No other capital projects have been financed by the Association.

As at the end of the year we have approximately £64,000 in our accounts.

I would ask the members to approve the appointment of Mrs Fiona Grandison to carry out the Independent examination of the accounts when the Report and Financial statement has been finalised.