Beaudesert Lower School PTA

NEW NOTICEBOARD BANNER

We have just updated our logo in order to be able to print in large and we are now in the process of ordering a new Noticeboard banner from Bannerbuzz to promote our events! Watch this space! Bannerbuzz is giving a FREE banner to all charities, which is amazing and we are very grateful! Here’s the link to all the information in case anyone is interested for another charity.

MY CHILD’S ART

My child’s Art 10% discount has now expired but you can still place an order and we will get 20% commssion from all sales. Order by the 13th of December for guaranteed Christmas delivery! We have earned £208 so far and are incredibly grateful, thank you to everyone that has contributed so far!

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Access code: baha9snf

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

We have 34 prizes and counting!!

We are collecting prizes for our Christmas raffle and have had a few great prizes confirmed, such as a Family ticket (2 adults 2 children) for Peter Pan Panto at Milton Keynes theatre, a £200 John Lewis gift card donated by Ridgeways, a Family season ticket for Bletchley Park or a 1 child 1 adult ticket for Beckonscot model village.

Other prizes include 1 month membership for Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre and Energie Fitness, A baby and child first aid class voucher by Mini First Aid, 3x family portrait sessions with a framed image by Oakley studios, a £20 voucher for King Sushi, a painting worth £30 and a gift bottle by Red Poppies Studios, a term of Art after school club at Beaudesert by Artventurers, a £12 KFC voucher, a family ticket to watch an MKL game, 3 issues of Whizz Pop Bang magazine, a family ticket for ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, a family ticket for Woodside Animal farm, a free valet by Headturners detailing, a new vinyl flooring for a bathroom/washroom by Criterion flooring, a Express facial worth £30 by GeLaura Nails & Beauty, a £10 voucher for Adrienne’s flowers, a £20 voucher for The Anchor in Tilsworth, a voucher for 4x 500ml ice cream tubs from Clipstone Dairy, 2x £10 vouchers for DJ’s playzone soft play in Hemel Hamstead, a £30 gift voucher for Thrift Farm, a Stamp and an ink pad from Stamptastic, a 1 child entry voucher for Climbquest, 2x 1 adult 2 children game vouchers for GoBowling Dunstable, a day pass for 360 MK softplay, a small hamper from Tesco Vimy Road, 1 adult 1 child ticket for Mead Open farm, 2 entrance tickets for Gulliver’s Land, a kids digital camera donated by the Chair of Governors and a sticky notes folder book.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SPONSORS!!!

GROTTO TICKETS

Bookings for the Grotto Experience at the Christmas Fair will be open from the 15th of November. Click here to see all info and book your slot.

BOOK HERE

ELFRIDGES

This year we will be doing Elfridges separate from the Christmas Fair, to give all children the chance to buy a gift for their family members at pocket money prices. All gift prices will range from 50p to £2 and the gifts will be available for them to purchase during the school day (the teachers will bring one class at a time) on the 25th and 26th of November. The children will also be able to wrap their gifts and put a name tag before taking them home on the day. More info coming soon!

BAKE OFF COMPETITION!

Don’t forget we will be having a Bake Off competition again! Most children love to get messy in the kitchen and bake cakes and biscuits so what better excuse than a Christmas themed competition that will also give us the opportunity to raise money for the school? All bakes will need to be brought into school on the 29th November before 9am and will be sold at the Christmas Fair in the afternoon. There are 1 adult and 3 junior prizes up for grabs! Please remember NO NUTS!

GIVE A JUMPER A NEW HOME THIS CHRISTMAS!

We are collecting preloved children’s and adults’ Christmas jumpers/tops/dresses to sell at the Christmas Fair on 29th November (in time for School Christmas Jumper Day on 18th December).

Please drop your jumpers in our special collection bin outside the school office any time from 13th November! THANK YOU!

My Nametags

We have teamed up with My Nametags so every time you order from this link or quote our School ID 35735 when ordering, we will be given 24% cashback.

ORDER HERE

Thank you for your continuos support. Remember, you can support us from home, keep reading:

We met on Monday 4th November to discuss ongoing events and things plus the Christmas Fair logistics. Here are the minutes for anyone who would like to see what we talked about and a few dates for your calendar:

8th November – Krispy Kreme doughnuts BIG sale at 2:45pm

10% Discount code (BeaudesertX24) for My Child’s Art ends today 8th November too (you can still order after this date, at full price) – Use these login details:
Username: Beaudesert
Access code: baha9snf

15th November – Non Uniform Day – Bring some chocolate for the Christmas Fair tombola (it is also Children in Need day so you might want to dress in spots as your non uniform)

22nd November – Non Uniform Day – Bring a bottle for the Christmas Fair tombola

25th November 1pm – Grotto setup in the school library

26th-27th November – Elfridges in the library (Tuesday 10-12pm and 1-3pm and Wednesday 10-12pm)

29th November 15:15-17:00– Christmas Fair (setup from 1pm)

5th December – Christmas Carols Concert (with alcohol free punch provided by the PTA)

And this is what we will be fundraising for this term:

Scooter track outside of running track – the school has requested this as the running track is not good enough for scooters.

Park gym – We are looking to add children’s outdoor exercise machines to the playground

Outdoor wicker den and box of dressing up masks and accessories for play time

Revamp the library – We are looking to re-organise the library, paint and get new shelves to make a better use of the space and hide the IT equipment.

Buddy bench – We are looking to replace the buddy bench as it is in poor condition

Butterfly kit – We would like to offer the children the opportunity to see the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies and release them afterwards.

It was great to meet many of the new families at the Welcome Event! It was great despite the last minute cancellation due to the weather and everyone seemed to be enjoying the evening! So thank you all for coming!

Yesterday we had our first PTA meeting of the year, where we welcomed a few new faces! Thank you all for showing up, it is great to have new people contributing! Here are the minutes for anyone who would like to see what we talked about. Here are a few dates for your calendar:

21st October – Meeting at The Clay Pipe at 6:45pm to discuss Christmas Fair organisation

25th October – Rainbow Day (bring £1) and Krispy Kreme sale after school

4th November – PTA meeting at school at 6:30pm

15th November – Non Uniform Day – Bring some chocolate for the Christmas Fair tombola

22nd November – Non Uniform Day – Bring a bottle for the Christmas Fair tombola

29th November – Christmas Fair

5th December – Christmas Carols Concert (with mulled wine provided by the PTA)

And this is what we will be fundraising for this term:

Scooter track outside of running track – the school has requested this as the running track is not good enough for scooters.

Park gym – We are looking to add children’s outdoor exercise machines to the playground

Revamp the library – We are looking to re-organise the library, paint and get new shelves to make a better use of the space and hide the IT equipment.

Buddy bench – We are looking to replace the buddy bench as it is in poor condition

Butterfly kit – We would like to offer the children the opportunity to see the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies and release them afterwards.

Welcome to all the new parents whose children are starting at Beaudesert Lower School this year and welcome back to the rest! I hope everyone has enjoyed the summer holidays and is ready for new routines and new adventures!

To celebrate the start we are planning a welcome evening on Monday 23rd Spetember 17:30 – 19:30, it will be an opportunity to meet fellow families, find out more about what we do and enjoy one last summer evening outdoors while the children play and have fun!. We hope to see you there! If you are coming, please RSVP so we can gauge how much food and drinks we need to provide. https://forms.gle/WvQGdgwNstGrF3mo8

And just like that, another school year has ended! here’s a summary of the money raised this year, thank you to everyone who has contributed, one way or another, from volunteering to donating, we couldn’t have made it without your support! We will share a similar infographic with where the money goes details in September. Have a great summer!

We have started collecting prizes for our summer fair raffle. Our raffles are very popular and we have managed to collect incredible prizes in the past, which means we are more likely to sell more tickets, and therefore, raise more money. If you work for a company that may be able to donate a prize for our raffle, from an entrance ticket, a voucher for a service or a discount, a gift card or an item, anything would be greatly appreciated! The more prizes we have, the more winners there’ll be! You can download our headed letter from here or email us at ptabeaudesert@gmail.com. Our summer fair this year is on the 14th of June so we will need to collect all prizes before this date. Thank you!!

We would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way (as volunteer or taking part in the event) to raising money last term! Together we raised almost £400! Thank you!!

We had a meeting on Monday where we discussed great new events and projects! Here are the Meeting Minutes if you would like to have a read through. Here’s a summary:

EVENTS

Bunny Hop Disco (21st March) – Buy tickets now on our event page or cash at the door.

Easter Egg Hunt – The children will have an Easter Egg hunt organised by the PTA in collaboration with the class teachers where they will have to find a bunny with their teacher’s face on to get a chocolate egg (all dietary requirements and allergies have been accounted for).

Summer Fair – We have booked the 14th of June (3-5pm) as the date for our Summer Fair and we’ll start organising it after Easter. This is a very big event that requires lots of organising and volunteers so we would love for anyone could can help in anyway to come to the next meeting (22nd April) or message us before.

Beaudesert Olympic challenge – Sponsorship challenge with £5k target over the summer
term with olympic related workshops at school. The main challenge will be to collectively match up the distance from Athens to LB then to Paris by walking to school, walking on the track, etc. and tracking it in a website. More details after Easter.

Olympics opening ceremony + AGM – Monday 8th July 5pm – Bring your own picnic event and enjoy the start of the summer. We may hire Future games to entertain the children.

Come have tea with us and meet the PTA and other Early Years parents – 23rd September 5:30pm

OTHER FUNDRAISING

Your School Lottery – The more people sign up, the more we earn as PTA and the bigger the weekly prize is! One of our players will win a cash prize every week, maybe even the £25k jackpot! Tickets cost just £1 per week and the proceeds are donated to Beaudesert Lower School. Every Saturday at 8pm the numbers are drawn and posted online. Winners are notified by email and winnings paid into the account of your choice. The easiest way to join our lottery is online at YourSchoolLottery by direct debit or debit card.

WHERE WE SPEND THE MONEY

Garden equipment requested by Mrs Pearce – Wickes has a community grant scheme and we might be able to get the shed for free. Items required by the school will be ordered before Easter so the children can do some gardening during break time.

Scooter track outside of running track – school to give us a quote when they have it.

Incubator – Project for next school year. We will provide one per year group and it will go in
the quiet rooms. School to provide us with some dates.

Outdoor library – Wooden shed outside 3J that costs around £400 + some outdoor bean bags and/or
mats to go in the stand. Cost approved. School will provide invoice to pay.

Mini bus – Best option is leasing but still costs a minimum of £750 a month. PTA could pay the down upfront payment of £2.2k. We could look into sharing it with another school. Otherwise we could give out an Experience Grant to each year group to use next year on a trip.

Thank you once again to everyone that has contributed in any way this term!! We are over the moon with the money raised as you can see in the infographic!

With the run up to Christmas, the first term of the school year is the biggest money raiser, when we put together a few events such as the Christmas fair, the raffle, rainbow day, My child’s art or the clothes recycling collection. This year we have managed to raise over £2k in the first term! 

After our January meeting there were a few suggestions to spend money on:

• Outdoor Activity board 
• Outdoor learning area (in Forest school area)
• Build a scooter track outside of running track
• Mini bus 
• Incubator for a week so the children can see chicks hatching
• Gardening and pond dipping equipment 

We will post an update in the ‘Reach More Parents’ school app after our meeting so you can see where the money goes! You are also welcome to send us suggestions or come to our next meeting on the 4th of March 2024!