Parents Teachers Association

We started our Parents Teachers Association (PTA) soon after the school started and it has become an integral part of the school community. The PTA has raised nearly £50,000 since it’s inception, which has been spent on equipment and resources to enhance our children’s education experience and the school’s facilities on the temporary site as well as saving towards larger equipment when we move the permanent site in 2021.

However, our PTA is about much more than simply fundraising. The PTA exists to provide closer links between home and school and it is an excellent way to bring staff, parents and friends together socially in support of the school, working towards a common goal. It is fun as well – just ask any of the Committee members or PTA helpers (or the children!).

All parents and members of the school community are encouraged to get involved, even if they only have a small amount of time available. All families are automatically members of the Deer Park School PTA when their child joins our school.

In our first five years we have created some regular activities: 200 Club, Quiz Nights (adults), Movie Nights (kids), Cake sales, Summer Fairs in Richmond and St Margaret’s. We are still a small school but a growing school so there is plenty of opportunity to do new things and the PTA is keen to hear your ideas (and seek your support). Our Nativity Drinks has already turned into a Christmas Fair!

Role of the Committee 

Our PTA committee currently consists of 8 roles: Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Ordinary Members (3), Ordinary Member (Digital Comms), Ordinary Member (Newsletter)

As a growing school we will seek to increase this as required and there will be an opportunity to put your name forward for any positions at the AGM. The Committee meet on a regular basis usually once every half term.

Read the  PTA Handbook .

Social Activities

Sadly our social activities are on hold at the moment, but we have previously enjoyed both summer and Christmas parties for parents and guardians as well as more informal drinks in the pub. We hope this strong community will continue to help the PTA to thrive and help enhance the experience of all the families at Deer Park.

Community Links

We have continued to build links with the local community. We have been working with The Property Partnership on building an ongoing sponsorship relationship after they approached us in early 2018. They are a small local estate agent and feeling their way in the fundraising/sponsorship arena. We had extremely positive feedback from the St Margaret’s Fair committee after running two successful Silent Auctions at their fairs in July.

One of our goals for the coming year will be to continue to forge relationships with organisation and businesses in the local community to benefit our fundraising efforts.

Fundraising

In the last two academic years we have raised £14,000 and then £18,000. Each year a strong calendar of events and fundraising initiatives is undertaken, with a view to organically growing and expanding, without running before we can walk. The 100 Club (now the 200 Club) has been an extremely successful introduction by Sally Prickett and alongside the donation from the St Margaret’s Fair is our biggest fundraiser. These sit alongside bake sales, movie nights, Bags2Shool, Christmas Cards, the Richmond Fair, the Staff Auction, Easy fundraising and many others. We even try and get the children involved in fundraising, over May half terms they collected money in milk bottles in exchange for completing extra jobs for family and friends.

Organising

After a busy year, one major change for 2019/20 was to ask individual classes to take on responsibility for some of the smaller regular events, to allow to committee to concentrate of bigger events and coming up with new ideas and initiatives to continue to grow the PTA fundraising capabilities. These included bake sales as well as Movie Nights Crib notes are provided and the committee will of course be on hand to offer help and guidance when needed.

School requests for money

The temporary site has provided some limitations in terms of funding requests, but in 2019/20 we have still continued to direct funds to enhance the children’s learning experience. We have funded playground renovations particularly in the new reception area, as well as extra equipment to benefit the rest of the school. Our support also allowed the school to hold a music day and purchase a PA system. Some other donations were refunded due to cancellations because of coronavirus.

The PTA hopes to make a large donation towards facilities at the new site in 2021.  Overall we feel that we’ve continued to establish the PTA within the school and have steadily grown our fundraising goal each year. We recognise how important it is to engage with all the parents, and will work very hard to bring the new group of parents on board.

Donate to the PTA here:

The PTA raises funds at lots of events throughout the year which we appreciate can cost time, effort and money. However, if you would like to make a one off, or regular donation to the PTA, you can do this using paypal – just click the buttons below.

(Also – did you know if you fill in a gift aid form and return it to the school office your donation can be increased by up to 25%!) The PTA app (My School App) also contains information on different ways you can support the school through the year, keep an eye on the news section for updates.

PAYPAL