Friends of Banwell Association

Who are we? 

The Friends of Banwell are the Parent Teachers Association made up of all parents, carers, teachers and staff from the school………YOU!!!  The Friends is a registered charity run by an elected committee of trustees. 

 What do we do?   

We raise funds to provide the ‘nice to haves’ that help to make the school a great place to be.  These are things the school cannot afford from its own annual budget.

Typical fundraising events are quiz and curry nights, the Christmas Fayre, cake sales, an Easter Raffle and school discos.  We are always open to new ideas and are very keen to try something different.

 Some of the things the Friends have funded over the past few years are:

  • The Sun Shelter on the playing field £10,000
  • Fold-away Staging for theatre productions £5,000
  • Refurbishment of a room to create a new Learning Support Assistant’s room £3,850
  • New equipment and re-fit to the Community Centre  kitchen making it user friendly for the children £1,700
  • The Tyre Park on the playing field £2,500
  • A ‘Real Time’ CD Recorder  £570

We are also committed year-on-year to provide funding for regular activities:

  • Arts and Craft sessions                                          £    50.00
  • Class Christmas parties                                          £  175.00
  • Head teacher’s Scroll of Honour Parties                 £  150.00
  • TV Licence                                                              £  145.50
  • Musician of the Year Awards                                  £  120.00
  • PTA Indemnity Insurance                                       £    96.00
  • Gambling Licence (to run raffles etc.)                    £    20.00
  • Year 6 Leavers’ Gifts                                              £  240.00

                                                                                      £  996.50

As you can see, none of the above activities would happen unless the Friends raise £1,000 every year!!  

How do we function?

The Friends cannot function legally without a minimum of two people on the committee.  Ideally this is Chairman and a Treasurer with one other person being co-opted to be Secretary. If we do not fill these posts every year then the Friends would cease to exist and the above activities would not be supported. We also have a Voucher Co-ordinator who sorts out all the Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s vouchers.  This is a very important behind the scenes role from which the school benefits greatly. We also encourage each class to have two parents to act as Class Reps.  Their role is to help sell tickets for events and to inform other parents and carers of our up and coming events.

Our Annual General Meeting is usually held in early October.  This meeting is open to everyone.  It gives us a chance to review the year’s activities and successes and to vote in our new committee members.  

Normal meetings are held approximately once a month but generally on an ad-hoc basis particularly when we are close to a major event.  These are OPEN meetings, not just for the committee.  Anyone can attend.  We advertise the dates and times in the weekly school newsletter and by email. 

We cannot hold fund-raising events without the help and support of the Friends, teachers, LSA’s, and the pupils and their families and we are always looking for new volunteers to come on board to help.  It does not matter how much or how little you have to offer; many hands make light work!  You may have a special talent that could be of use.  One of our fantastic mums gives of her time by designing our fundraising posters and tickets.  So if you think you would be able to help, please feel free to join any of our meetings, or just come and have a chat with one of us.