Dear Holly Park Volunteers
We are searching for volunteers to help out at the Spring Fair from 12pm Friday 24th March
We have (re)written a little tune for you all to sing out………… We hope it encourages you to come forward as you always do!!
Please do email if you are available to help, set up, run a stall and/or set down.
“Forget your troubles and just get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Sing Hallelujah, come on, get happy
Get ready for Holly Park Spring Fair Day…….
The sun is shining, come on, get happy
The Holly Park PTA is waiting to take your hand
Shout Hallelujah, come on, get happy
We’re going to all lend a hand
We’re heading ‘cross Bellevue Road
Wash your cares ‘way in the tide
It’s all so peaceful on the Holly Park side
Forget your troubles and just get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout Hallelujah, come on, get happy
Get ready for Holly Park Spring Fair Day”
On behalf of the PTA, thank you in advance for all your support
Disco time!
One of the highlights in the PTA calendar are the school discos. The children had a fantastic time.
PTA Christmas Fair
We had a marvellous International Christmas fair. It was a really lovely event with a lovely feeling to it – a great atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.
The food went down well. There seemed to be lots of cakes. The photo booth was a huge hit. Santa’s grotto was extremely popular and the grotto looked magical. The children from Year 5 and Year 6 loved doing their apprentice stalls – and they seemed very busy with their art and craft stalls – we wait to find out which class took the most money at their stall. The school seemed very full and very jolly! The hard work and effort of the organisers was very much appreciated. Without volunteers these events just don’t happen. The fair raised over £3,000 and it was certainly a great school community event.
The children wore Christmas jumpers to donate prizes for the tombola.
PTA shed repairs
Thanks to two parents who re-roofed the PTA shed to stop the rain coming in!
PTA Junior Quiz
The Junior Quiz was a great success and great fun, with all of our teams competing for the Junior Quiz Shield. The quiz was at times challenging and had a selection of questions ranging across general knowledge, history, maths & symbols! Thank you to all the Holly Park staff and Cristina Guidone-Charles, Amanda Glaser, Paul Silk and Clare Wischhusen for making the quiz possible.
The results are as follows:
| First | Griffin | 500 points |
| Second | Phoenix | 400 points |
| Third | Dragon | 300 points |
| Fourth | Hydra | 200 points |
| Fifth | Unicorn | 100 points |
PTA Reception Family Evening
The Reception Family Evening was a lovely event. Families got to meet each other. The children played together and the adults chatted. A lovely sociable event where everyone enjoyed tasty fish and chips and ended up playing in the infant playground. Thank you to the PTA for organising it.
Year 6 were determined to go out with a bang today with their last ever PTA cake sale! There were cakes aplenty including lots of home baked goodies for sale which raised a fantastic £184.75!
The new PTA committee have been actively seeking parent support to volunteer at various events across the school year and encouraging parents to get involved in whatever small way they feel they can. They have been working on the principle that – ‘Many hands make light work!’
New PTA team
The PTA has two new names – Amanda Glaser and Paul Silk have taken over the roles of both chairing the PTA and co-ordinating events.
A big Thank You
Angela Fletcher (PTA Secretary) and Cristina Guidone- Charles (Events co-ordinator) are both stepping back from their PTA roles at the end of this term due to their ever growing busy work lives. Both of these ladies have been fantastic supporters of the school and have put huge amounts of time, effort and energy into the work they have done for the PTA in attending meetings and coffee mornings, sending out letters, counting money, drumming up support for events, shopping, attending all of the events and organising quizzes, fairs, mother’s day, Christmas cards etc. I cannot thank them enough for everything they have done and for their huge support. Although both of them are stepping down from these posts, they are not leaving us completely and will be around as ‘Advisors’ to the PTA! Next term I will introduce you to our new team.
PTA Cake Sales 2015-2016
Well done to everybody who has baked cakes, brought in shop made cakes, sold cakes, bought cakes from our stalls and eaten cakes! Over the year we have made an astounding £1,129.60 from cake sales. This money will be divided into 3 and will be used to buy something for each of our three playgrounds. Well done everybody.
The breakdown was:
- Reception £ 174
- Year 1 £200
- Year 2 £145.62
- Year 3 £168.50
- Year 4 £130.11
- Year 5 £202.85
- Year 6 £108.52
PTA Summer Fair
The fair was another huge success and luckily the weather stayed mainly fine and dry. There was much fun to be had with tombolas, tin can alley, lucky dips, fairground rounds, trampoline jumping, beat the goalie etc. The cake stall was delicious and the BBQ food and the Pimms was divine!
PTA Reception Film Night
We had an exciting first ever event during the summer term – a children’s film night organised by the PTA. Reception children came along after school to watch ‘Rio’ on the big screen in the hall. They enjoyed popcorn, fruit kebabs and drinks while they watched the film. Thank you to Amanda Glaser and everyone who helped at the event.
BBQ and Bingo
The PTA had another great family BBQ and Bingo. The whole event was very enjoyable, from the delicious BBQ food – hot dogs, burgers, salads etc to the very enjoyable bingo games which began with the human bingo, then the fruit bingo and finally down to some very competitive traditional bingo were prizes ranged from £5 for a line to £50 for a full house.
A big thank you to Cristina, Angela, Rachel and all of the bar helpers and our chef. A thank you also to Mrs Thomas our bingo caller!
Easter Fair
Everyone brought in teddies and Easter eggs for the Easter fair.
Cake sales
This year’s cake sales have got off to a flying start. Well done to each year group for taking part. Here are the totals raised so far:
Year 3 made £168.50 in their cake sale.
Year 4 made £130.11.
Year 5 made £202.85.
Year 6 made £108.52
Christmas fair 2015
The Christmas fair began the day before with Christmas jumper day. Staff and pupils got into the spirit with some marvellous attire! The day of the fair was full of festive cheer and there was a lovely community atmosphere and a steady stream of people visiting the fair all afternoon.
Well done to everyone who worked so hard to make a lovely event.
PTA Junior Quiz
The Junior Quiz was a great success and great fun, with all of our teams competing for the Junior Quiz Shield. The quiz was at times challenging and had a selection of questions ranging across everyday science, English, maths and Pixar movies!
Thank you to all the Holly Park staff and Cristina Guidone-Charles, Clare Wischhusen and Donna Chan for making the quiz possible. The results are as follows:
| Joint First | Griffin | 500 points |
| Joint First | Phoenix | 500 points |
| Second | Dragon | 400 points |
| Third | Hydra | 300 points |
| Fourth | Unicorn | 200 points |
Reception Family Fun Night
A few weeks into the academic year, the PTA held a family fun fish and chip night so that all of our Reception families could get to know each other in a relaxed social atmosphere. The evening was a huge success.
A Reception parent commented:
‘Just wanted to say a big thank you for organising the reception fish and chip evening for us all. It was a really good idea to have a ‘family evening’ that included all of us. I think the school and the PTA, in particular, is very creative in finding new ways of bring people together and this was another hit, so well done. Many thanks.’
Here’s another comment:
After a tumultuous two weeks of school for all the new starters in Reception, a night of family fun with a side of fish and chips is just what the doctor ordered!
As a novice ‘school mum’ dealing with the first day of school , settling in, drop off dramas … not to mention a few tears along the way, has all taken its toll.
Being a working mum, my time at the school gates is limited which is a real shame. But being able to join in the Family Fun Night gave me the opportunity to feel more involved and meet lots of children and their parents in a fun way, without feeling rushed.
Many thanks to everyone involved in organising the event. It was really great. Can’t wait for the next one!
Holly Park PTA Cake Sales
Well done to everybody who has baked cakes, brought in shop-made cakes, sold cakes, bought cakes from our stalls and eaten cakes!
Over the year we have made an astounding £1,291 from cake sales. This money will be divided into three and will be used to buy something for each of our three playgrounds. Well done everybody.
The breakdown was:
- Reception £206
- Year 1 £171
- Year 2 £280
- Year 3 £153
- Year 4 £203
- Year 5 £173
- Year 6 £105
Summer Fair 2015
The summer fair was a huge success again this year. We were lucky with the weather – the rain held off. The fair was well attended and families kept coming throughout the day.
There was plenty of food to buy, Pimms to drink, cakes to buy and lots of places to sit down and chat with friends. The band was great. There were lots of stalls including the lucky dip, the photo booth, play your cards right, tin can alley, buzz wire, super tombola, children’s tombola and stalls with sweets and jewellery to buy.
The After School Club ran their own stall which was filled with things they had made. Everyone had fun and there was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Thank you to everyone who came to support the event, thank you to people who ran the stalls and a massive thank you to the PTA committee who planned and organised the whole event.
BBQ and Bingo Night
The BBQ and Bingo night was a great success. A lovely sunny summer evening helped to make the atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable.
After burgers and hot dogs the evening continued with games of human bingo, fruit bingo and several rounds of number bingo. The top prize was £80. The hall was filled with great excitement and quite a competitive spirit! Fun was had by all.
Easter Fair
The PTA Easter fair was another success – enjoyed by everybody. Children enjoyed hunting for their Easter eggs in the playground and as usual the chocolate tombola was very popular.
School discos
The annual PTA discos for Reception, KS1 and KS2 were a great success. The music was great and everyone did their moves on the dance floor. The snow machine and the bubble machine were a great hit.
Drinks and biscuits were consumed hurriedly as the children worked up a thirst. The tattoos and the glow bands were as always very popular. Thank you to all of the PTA helpers and a big thank you to Muneera for all of her enthusiasm and energy in creating a party atmosphere.
Christmas Fair
The Holly Park Christmas Fair was a lovely afternoon full of fun, snowboarding and crackers.
Sing-a-long a Grease Movie Night
There was a great atmosphere at the PTA Grease Movie night. We all got into the mood with some music from Grease and a Grease trivia quiz.
Then the lights were turned down low, the comfy chairs were out, the popcorn, the nachos and the chocolate were in abundance.
Everyone got into the mood and sung along with enthusiasm.
Junior Quiz – October 2014
The PTA ran an after school quiz for children in the Juniors this week. After enjoying a snack and a drink; children worked in house teams to answer questions on science, London, literature, nursery rhymes and ‘know your numbers’.
Points from each round were added together and the eventual winners were Unicorns with 97 points.
Congratulations to all the children who came along for their enthusiasm, knowledge and good behaviour.
Here is the latest edition of the PTA News October 2014
The latest cake sale challenge is under way
Year 6 held the first cake sale of 2014-15. They raised £105. The challenge is on now to beat that total.
Reception Family Fun Night
At the end of September the school and PTA together held a family fun night so that all of our Reception families whether they were from our morning nursery, our afternoon nursery or have just joined Holly Park could get to know each other in a relaxed social atmosphere.
The evening was a huge success. Mrs Pelham introduced several members of staff and Angela Fletcher from the PTA. Angela spoke about the PTA. The families played a human bingo game in order to meet new people, the children then played with hoops, cars, lego and wild animals while the parents chatted.
The fish and chip suppers arrived and everyone agreed they were delicious. After eating and a bit more playing the families went outside to play in the infant playground which is where Reception play at lunchtime. The parents were very complimentary about the play facilities.
Cake sale challenge
The last cake sale was run by Reception parents and carers and raised £266.50 – the highest of any year group.
Each year has held a sale after school throughout the year and it has been a really popular event.
The total raised from the sales is nearly £1530!
Summer Fair – rain didn’t stop play!
Torrential rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of helpers and visitors to the summer fair this year.
Luckily the organisers paid attention to the weather forecast and decided to have most of the attractions inside – except the football tournament of course!
There was lots of delicious food, cakes and BBQ and Pimm’s. And heaps of prizes to be won. This was the first time the PTA had used tokens at the summer fair and everyone got the hang of it quickly.
The fair raised £2,700 for the school.
Here are some pictures from the event.
Football crazy
The new school football kits have been sponsored by Brignalls Balderston and Warren Solicitors (BBW) who have actively sponsored the school summer fair before. (this is something that any one of our parents can do, if you own your own business or as in this case, you are part of a much bigger organisation. Please contact the Friends of Holly Park PTA for more information.)
Murder Mystery Night
On 16th May, the parents were all invited to a garden party in the grounds of Chizzlepoke Hall to mark the state visit of Prince Zegobian, ruler of the island of Shebulibar in the Indian Ocean. But there was something fishy going on…….. MURDER!!!
We were all greeted with a pre dinner drink of Pimms. There were canapés and also a traditional British Buffet. We sat back and watched the Holly Park staff act out the murder as the mystery unravelled. The audience came dressed for a summer soiree.
The hall was transformed into the grounds of an English country home with green drapes and delightful paper flowers. The tables were decorated with tablecloths and fresh cut flowers.
A great evening of fun was had by all. Huge thanks to the Holly Park staff for entertaining us all and to the PTA Events Committee for all of their hard work in organising, setting up and running such a lovely evening. Also thanks to the staff and parents who came to support the event.
Easter Fair
The Easter Fair was an egg-stravagant affair with lots of chocolate eggs and teddy bears and everyone in the party mood.
Mother’s Day
During the week before Mother’s Day, the PTA ran a gift stall for children to buy a present for their mum. The idea was that they brought in £3 and took home a pre-wrapped gift that would be a surprise for their mum on Mothering Sunday.
There many attractive gifts such as bracelets, brooches, mirrors, pens, notepads and umbrellas. We hope that all the Holly Park mums who received one were thrilled with their present. Look out for this next year!
Here is the latest PTA Magazine with all the news about your PTA.
Disco time
The annual school discos are always popular and this year we had three separate events for reception, infants and juniors. Muneera took to the stage for all three discos while PTA volunteers served drinks and biscuits, did tattoos and sold glow bands.
Here are some of the infants:
And here are the hip hop juniors (reception pictures are here)
Christmas cheer!
The Christmas fair was a great success. There were lots of new attractions and some old favourites. The fair and other activities around Christmas raised £4,800. Well done everyone who helped.
Here are some of the pictures of the day.
On Friday November 22 we all wore our Christmas Jumpers to school and brought in gifts of new books and toys for the children’s tombola stall. The children loved wearing their Christmas jumpers.
The staff donated £2 each in exchange for wearing Jeans and a Christmas jumper. The £2 donations will go to buying a delicious hamper as a staff donation to the raffle. Come along to the fair on Saturday and visit all of the lovely stalls.
Here is a calendar of PTA events being organised by the PTA.
* The PTA has a new magazine. Here it is in case you missed it.
Mexican Quiz Night
The PTA Mexican Quiz night was a great evening supported by many parents and staff which raised £450.
Five rounds of thought provoking and varied questions, a Mr Men picture round and bowls of tasty chilli for supper. The hall was decorated with cacti and many moustaches and sombreros were worn.
The winning team was a team of the over 30’s Holly Park staff – The winning team of staff – Mr French, Mr Bourne, Miss Noble, Mr Noble, Mrs Bawcombe & Miss McKeen
Many thanks go to the Holly Park events team for arranging such a great evening of entertainment.
Here are some more pictures of the event.
Junior Quiz
Dragons won the annual Junior Quiz organised by the PTA.
Where does the money go?
The PTA raises thousands of pounds every year and all the money goes into things that benefit the children – things that they may not normally get at school because of limited budgets.
Here are some of the things the PTA has paid for from your contributions recently:
- £5,000 towards outdoor table tennis tables
- £8,000 towards outdoor play equipment including the Amazon climber, infant play equipment and the ball area.
- £16,000 for lap tops
in the laptop trolleys over three years
- £150 every year for Y6 SATs breakfasts
- A nursery entertainer for the end of year party
- £220 for football kits for the children from Y1 – 3
- Each class to buy wet play equipment
- £500 to the allotment
Class reps
The first meeting of the new PTA reps took place on 17th October and was well attended with parents representing classes from nursery to Y6.
Class reps will be generally telling other parents what events are coming up;
- Supporting at the junior quiz
- Getting tables for the parents social/quiz in November
- Getting parents to run a stall at the Christmas fair
- Promoting raffle tickets
- Supporting the Friday feast/cake bake for their year – getting parents/kids on board.
The PTA events group and the Class reps rep (Lisa Smith) will ensure that they are kept up to date with what the PTA are doing .
The plan is to gather in e-mail addresses so that a lot of the contacting can be done electronically
- PTA reps are welcome to attend PTA meetings
- PTA reps can organise socials for parents – either coffee mornings or nights out
- Gather ideas about possible fundraising events and what to fund raise for
- Feedback ideas and suggestions from parents to the school
Everyone felt very positive about the future of the PTA.
Here are the minutes of the PTA Minutes held in September.
Fish supper and fun night
Mrs Pelham and the Friends of Holly Park held a fish supper and family fun night for Reception class families in September.
Seaside Special 2013
This year’s summer fair was held on a scorchingly hot Saturday and was the biggest event of the year for the Friends of Holly Park School.
The event raised over £3,700 all of which goes towards things for the children. The money raised this year has gone towards playground improvements, new equipment and games for the Breakfast Club and lunchtime activities.
A fantastic team of parents, carers and staff worked incredibly hard to make sure the event was a success. Many thanks to all of them.
Raising money for the school
Does your company run a Matched Giving or Volunteer Involvement Programme? If so you may be able to earn some money for Holly Park School’s PTA.
Matched Giving appears to be a well kept secret. Did you know there are hundreds of organisations throughout the UK, that offer their employees the chance to boost their individual fundraising efforts by ‘matching’ the money they raise for their chosen charity?
So if you volunteer at our PTA planning and functions or as a governor for the school your time and effort might earn the school money. As the PTA are set up as a registered charity we could earn money for the children at the school.
One parent has raised £500 a year for the last four years from their company for the PTA – that’s £2,000!
It’s not complicated to organise and will cost you nothing – just some time to talk to your employer. Here is a list of Matched Giving Companies that we know offer this scheme but you should be able to find out yourself if your company is not on this list. It might just be a matter of asking them.
If you do find out that your company does support staff volunteering and would like to apply for match funding please contact the PTA.
Contact us
There are several ways to contact the Friends of Holly Park School:
Come along to a meeting.
Talk to a committee member.
Email: ptahollypark@yahoo.co.uk
Check our facebook page Holly Park PTA
Put a note in the blue PTA drawer in the school foyer.
Easter Eggstavaganza update
Our first ever Easter Egg Hunt was a big smash and raised over £1000.
Thank you to everyone who helped out – even though you would prefer to be out hunting eggs with your own children you gave up your time to ensure everyone had a great time. Thank you.
For more information on the Friends of Holly Park read our parent pack: PTA Parent Booklet
Holly Park Primary School 