Supporting your school
Photography : Elaine Hill
The FOSPA committee celebrating their fantastic win
“ We ' ve revived the community spirit ”
Friends of St Patrick ' s Aghacommon ( FOSPA )
Based in : County Armagh Winners of : Champion PTA Award , Northern Ireland PTA of the Year Award
The Friends of St Patrick ' s Aghacommon brought the spirit back to their area with a free community festival . Julie McAlinden , FOSPA Secretary , says :
" As a small primary school in a rural area , we have always struggled to attract committee members – but after improving our communications over the past year , we have increased our members to 12 on the committee and 11 event volunteers .
We also moved our AGM to May , so we could have our members confirmed and ready to go when school started again in September . These initiatives meant we saw better results from our fundraising events within the school , and we decided we wanted to involve the local community more . Without a community hall or any inclusive organised events , there was a lack of community spirit .
We organised a meeting with the local football , camogie and youth clubs and proposed a festival day for everyone . We decided there would be a parade with music and floats ,
24 PARENTKIND . ORG AUTUMN 2023