About Friends of Roundwood Primary
Friends are Roundwood Primary School’s Parent Teacher Association. Comprising a group of parents from across the school, our main aim is to raise vital funds for the school, and to bring staff, parents and children together socially in support of the school.
All parents are automatically members of Friends when your child joins our school. Thanks to the wonderful support of our committed parents and the local community over the years, Friends have successfully raised thousands of pounds for the school. This money has been invaluable in funding many projects that enhance the children’s education, and help to create the happy environment that makes Roundwood Primary such a special place.
The success of our goal of supporting the school both socially and financially depends entirely upon the support we give. Without the help of parents, our events simply cannot take place – so we urge our parents to please get involved! Not only is getting involved fun, and a great way to meet other parents, but your child will also enjoy participating in events and will enjoy the benefits of the funds we raise! By working together we can make a difference to our school.
The Friends Committee
We are a registered charity (charity number 295958) and we have a Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer and committee members. Sub-committees also organize the large events. The Friends Committee meets once or twice a term to discuss our event calendar and to set up working groups for each planned event (usually in an evening over a glass of wine…). New members are always welcome, so do please get in touch with us if you would like to come along to a meeting.
Class Reps
Class Reps are the link between parents and Friends and are vital in promoting and supporting our events. Each class usually has one or two class reps. As well as arranging regular class social events class, reps also help to organise a rota of volunteers for our parent stalls at the Christmas/Summer Fairs. Reps are warmly invited to join our committee meetings to share any feedback or thoughts, but it is not compulsory! Being a class rep is a great way to meet other parents and support the school.
Our events
We hold a number of events each year, of varying sizes. Over the last 12 months, we have organised:
- Christmas & Summer Fairs;
- Sponsored walk;
- Children’s discos;
- Children’s Movie Nights
- Children’s Christmas Lunch
- Parents’ Quiz Night
- Parents’ Disco
- Children’s Bingo evening
- Book Fair
- Second Hand Uniform Sale & Cake/Ice Cream sales; and
- The Summer ball (once every two years).
Access for all children to our events
Whilst one of our aims, when organising events such as the children’s discos, movie and bingo nights, is to raise money for our School, we also work hard to ensure that the children are offered access to events that they will enjoy and remember.
Children in receipt of Free School Meals will always be welcome to come to those events and will not be expected to pay to attend. Please liaise with the School Office if this applies to you, and we will ensure that your child(ren) receive(s) their ticket or event details in the same way as everyone else.
Second Hand Uniform
We aim to hold a second hand uniform sale every term, donations of good quality clothing or other school accessories (bags, trainers, etc.) are always welcomed. Please contact Claire McShee via friendsofroundwood@gmail.com to make a donation or if you are in urgent need of uniform outside of sale dates.
How much did we raise last year?
In the financial year ending 2018 we raised almost £37,000.
Where your money is going
The funds raised by Friends are used directly to benefit the children by providing equipment to support the children’s education and/or educational experiences that would not be funded elsewhere. We liaise closely with the school to ascertain what is needed and we also act on suggestions from parents. All expenditure is approved by the school governors. Just some examples of the items we helped to finance in the last year include:
- Interactive Whiteboards for the School classrooms;
- The new KS1 playground;
- A new inner porch for the School entrance (increasing security and the safety of children, staff and visitors); and
- Online learning tools such as Abacus.
Funds also go towards ongoing provisions such as:
- Our School librarian and library books;
- Music teachers;
- Vital upgrades to the School IT systems; and
- Classroom materials, stationery and resources
What can you do?
If you would like to help out – whether your interest is in joining the main committee, helping with a certain event, manning a stall, or if you have a particular skill that you would like to put to use, e.g. marketing, design, face-painting, then we would love to hear from you. Please speak to one of the Friends team or to your class rep, who can put you in touch with us.
Just an idea of some of the various jobs that go on behind the scenes of events include:
- Creating and putting up posters
- Contacting local businesses for sponsorship or raffle prizes
- Shopping – e.g. Food / drink / sweets / gifts
- Wrapping pressies / hampers
- Baking cakes
- Counting laps at the sponsored walk!
The Parent Fund
We are enormously grateful to everyone who contributes their time and also for your continued financial support, without which none of these projects would come to fruition. If you are unable to find the time either to help out at events or to attend them, then please consider signing up to the Parent Fund, which is a monthly direct debit donation scheme – all donations, no matter how small, are gratefully received.
Please contact Friends if you would like to further information about this.
Fund Matching Schemes
If you work for an organisation that has a fund matching policy, any money you raise for a registered charity (such as Friends of Roundwood Primary) could be matched by your employer.
Companies may match the fundraising total for an event, or match the proceeds from the stall that their employee is working on. Usually, the employee will either need to supply a letter from Friends detailing the date and nature of the event, together with the total raised, or complete an online form, depending on company procedures.
We understand that the high street and City banks, building societies, supermarkets and large corporations are likely to offer match funding. However, these schemes are not exclusive to the major corporate giants. If you work for an independent company, they may be interested in charitable giving through match funding too.
Please speak to Amy Farnhill or Kate Novak if your employer can help in this way.
Easy Fundraising
Friends is a registered beneficiary on easyfundraising.org.uk and we encourage all parent to register with this (very easy!) fundraising scheme.
Once registered, every time you shop online via the relevant link, our school receives a percentage of your spend from your chosen retailer. It costs you nothing. Most of the major retailers participate (ASOS, eBay, the supermarkets, travel agents, airlines, etc) and donations can be huge!
As at December 2019, we have 155 supporters and we have raised over £6,500 simply by clicking through easyfundraising and then shopping online as usual.
Friends Communication
News and information from Friends will be communicated:
- via our newsletters, which are sent by email from the School Office;
- on our Facebook Page (search for ‘Friends of Roundwood Primary’ in the Groups section of FB);
- on the Friends noticeboard on the entrance path into school.
We will keep you informed about forthcoming events, how much an event has raised, what the money is going towards in school and when our next committee meetings will take place.
Many thanks again for your support and we look forward to meeting some new faces!
Contact us
Email: friends@roundwoodprimary.herts.sch.uk
Chair – Kate Novak
Deputy Chair – Anna Hamilton-Watson
Secretary – Lanna Shaw
Treasurer – Amy Farnhill
Deputy Treasurer – Kym Aston-Wright
Committee Members – Lydia Baralt, Chris Woodhead, Liz McKillop-Paley, Michelle Bridge, Bal Oates, Teresa Pendlebury, Stephanie Jenkins, Helen Dawson, Hazel Williams, Gurjit Binning, Helen Roberts, Sanjeet Johal
Class Reps Co-ordinator – Floor Timmons
Second Hand Uniform – Claire McShee
