Hello and welcome! We’re a group of parents and carers who have fun organising activities and social events for the children and their parents and carers to enjoy, whilst also raising much-needed funds for school.
Our aim is to raise money to fund resources and experiences that enrich the children’s education as well as helping to improve the quality of parents’ interaction with school.
Each year, we work closely with school to make sure we raise money for the things they most need. These have often been specifically chosen by the Junior Leadership Team. These items get voted on by each class so every child in school takes part in the decision-making process. We love that!
On an annual basis, we provide items such as Year 6 leavers’ hoodies and Year 6 medals, as well as helping out with other items required, such as resources needed for the KS2 production, food for Christmas parties, musical instruments and other items requested.
Our main fundraising priority at the moment is a new initiative introduced in Spring 2023 – St James’ Woods – our own Forest School on school grounds. This amazing outdoor experience enables each and every child in school to have the opportunity to connect to nature through a series of Forest School sessions, ran by professional Forest School Leaders from Born of the Forest in Follifoot. Each session helps to promote self-esteem, creativity, confidence and independence as well as enabling supported risk-taking, child-centred learning, exploration and play, which is important for children of all ages and stages. We’re very happy and proud that we can help to provide this invaluable way of learning to all at St James’ and we hope to be able to continue to do so through our events and fundraisers in the coming years.
Check out more details of events held, money raised and money spent so far in our annual report:
Contact us if you’d like to help out – even if it’s just an idea for a future fundraising event: stjames.ptateam@outlook.com
PTA events
We work hard to run a full calendar of events throughout the year, providing fun activities and events for the children and their adults each half term, including movie nights, discos, and bake and book sales.
The biggest event in the calendar is the Summer Fair. At this event, we’ve stalls and games to play, as well as selling goods and refreshments for everyone. It’s always a fun day enjoyed by both children and adults alike. We have to admit we all get a real buzz out of running it too, so we’re always extremely happy to see everyone enjoying themselves. And we raise a good amount of money for school – it’s a win-win for everyone!
Other ways to fundraise
Please spread the word among your family and friends about these ways to raise money for PTA, so we can benefit our school in as many ways possible. Your help is appreciated.
Your School Lottery
We launched Your School Lottery in 2022 and it’s a great initiative that we’re pleased to be a part of. A member and supporter of our community wins a cash prize every single week and each month there’s a fantastic prize on offer – from a £500 Lego voucher to a Nintendo Switch Bundle, the prizes are brilliant. There’s also a £25,000 jackpot up for grabs each week (one of us will win it one day, we feel sure of it!).
The more tickets we sell the more money goes to our school. Get your ticket!
Look out for monthly communications to tell you about the current monthly prize. Good luck!
Easyfundraising
We joined easyfundraising in 2023, where your online shopping can help to raise free money for school. It’s completely free for parents. If enough people use it, we’ll make some completely free money for school.
Over 7,000 brands will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself! All you need to do is sign up and remember to use easyfundraising whenever you shop online. Did we mention it’s easy and completely free?!
These donations really mount up, so please sign up to support us!
Pre-loved uniform
We all know how quickly kids grow out of their uniform, so our dedicated Uniform Fairies collect donations and then twirl their magic wands to make the items ready for their next owner. Ta dahh!
This is a service aimed at helping people, rather than making money, so items are not priced. Instead it’s a pay-as-you-feel system (minimum £1). If you need any items at any point in the year, please email us on the email address below or speak to one of us in the playground.
Join us
We’re only a small team of working parents, so we do what we can in the time we have spare.
We’re always very happy to welcome new volunteers, so if you’ve an idea for a new event, or if you just want to help out a little, please grab one of us in the playground or email us.
Every helping hand is so valuable in helping us to put on these events and we would love to hear from you. However much or little time you have to spare, you’ll be very welcome – it’s a really great way to be part of school life!
Contact: stjames.ptateam@outlook.com