Supporting your school

Thinking about taking on some outdoor projects but need inspiration ? Stacey Larkin , Treasurer at High Halstow Primary School PTA , spoke to us about how her committee helped to transform their school ’ s outside space into a haven for fun and learning

We have four elected committee members – a Chair , Vice Chair , Treasurer and Secretary . We probably have about six regular members who come along to meetings and two members of staff . I still class myself as a parent , although I am staff as well , so I wear both hats .

What sort of fundraising events does your PTA hold ?

There are a few events that work well for us and are easy to put on . One of the main ones is the Krispy Kreme Charity Fundraising Doughnuts scheme . We take preorders , as that generates the most profit , and it also means we won ’ t get hundreds of doughnuts left over afterwards .

On a PTA Facebook group we saw some people were doing pizza kits . We found a local pizza parlour that agreed to supply some kits for us and that ’ s now become a regular event for us .

Our discos usually raise about £ 750 per disco . We like to do at least two of those a year , and I think that ' s the event the children enjoy the most .

We also run two raffles a year with hampers . We used to ask businesses for prizes , but it became really difficult to get them to donate . A lot of them have moved on to only supporting their own , larger charities . Instead , we ask the children to bring in something for the hamper , which normally raises about £ 800 for us for very little effort .

Have there been any fundraising events that haven ’ t been as profitable ?

We had the circus come one year , which wasn ’ t a great money-maker for us . We just about broke even . It was timing really , as one of the local children ’ s football clubs had their presentation event on the same day , so I think we lost about a quarter of the kids to that . It was unfortunate , given that it was almost two years

26 PARENTKIND . ORG SUMMER 2024