Art is the tool but not the outcome; the classes are not designed to create a generation of new artists (although all of the childrens’ drawing skills have improved dramatically!). The classes are there to foster community cohesion, create dialogues, encourage children to play and explore in a safe space, give them a sense of achievement, boost their confidence and most importantly just give them an opportunity to be a child. At Cool it Artwe don’t just teach them art - we listen, we ask how their day was and we encourage them to try. Through all this I believe we are helping children to be happier, find their voice and inject that extra bit of fun that we all so desperately need in our lives!


You can find out more about Cool it Art on the website www.coolitart.comand see what we get up to weekly on the facebook page www.facebook.com/CoolitArt


OC AmandaCallis(Class of 2004)


Parent Associations have the benefits of lots of features on Classlist too - event payments, PTA newsletters, and it's easier to get volunteers for fundraising events if communication is easy. Classlist is completely free - funded by high quality ads. Advertisers do not have to get access to the site or parent contact details. We are data protection registered.


Class List


I have 3 children, and I have now been a parent at 7 schools as we have moved around a great deal. The schools include 2 UK independent schools and 2 state primaries, an American school, an International School and a Brazilian school. So I have seen my fair share of parent contact lists, parent associations and methods of communication!


The first thing you want when you arrive somewhere new is for your children to settle in and to get to know other children, and for you yourself to meet other parents. But even something as basic as being able to find out contact details for the children in your child's class can be difficult!


When I moved to Oxford from Brazil I asked the school for a class contact list before the summer, as we didn't know anyone and wanted the children to make friends over the summer. The school wouldn't give out contact details, which was a real shame. Then I met another mother at the school who had had the same experience when arriving new. She had had the idea for Classlist.com and registered the web domain a few years earlier, but hadn't done anything about it. We realised there was a real need for parents to be able to share contact details themselves, so that they aren't reliant on either their school or a manual list of parent details. With Classlist, parents register themselves, and can update their details at any time. We have had a very positive response, and the site has grown so that now it provides a full communication tool for parents within a school - classlists, class and parent to parent messaging, events and parent classifieds.


There is also a School Run Map which parents can opt into, to find other families living nearby to share journeys with. Parents of teenagers are keen to be able to contact each other to check up on parties!


The Old Cornelian SUMMER 2016


The Data Protection laws in the UK mean that most schools won't provide parents with contact details for others, as they need to get permission for every piece of information shared, which is a big task. Sometimes parents will pull together lists of parent details manually, but these go out of date, and new people can be left out of messages and events if their details haven't made it onto the list.


When I was at Mayfield there weren't many opportunities for the parents to get together, and certainly nothing like Classlist! My mother used to lament that when she drove us back on a Sunday night she would have loved to have a coffee with the other parents before driving home again, but nothing was laid on.


WE REALISED THERE WAS A REAL NEED


FOR PARENTS TO BE ABLE TO SHARE


CONTACT DETAILS THEMSELVES...


“ ”


about me!


ClareWright(née Pritchett, Class of 1989) OC


Now I am a busy working mother. We are currently doing crowdfunding to help us expand Classlist and build a better mobile platform. Parents will always need to communicate so there is lots of of potential for Classlist to grow. We would be delighted to hear from any old girls who may want to introduce Classlist at their children's schools. www.Classlist.com


15


I loved Mayfield and still keep up with lots of friends, most of whom were in Raph's with me, a house I later became Head of. I enjoyed the experience of boarding with a mixture of year groups, it taught us to mix with all years. There wasn't much to do at weekends and the most important thing I learned was getting along with most people!


Something else I learned at Mayfield was to have an awareness of people less fortunate than ourselves. Knitting squares for blankets for Ethiopia sticks in my mind, and I remember a particular talk by a missionary nun about India and the poverty there, which really struck me. During my year off I went to India with Amanda Savage (néeNash) and we volunteered at Mother Teresa's in Calcutta. We met Mother Teresa on our first day there. Sometimes when my children complain about a meal or something I start on about how lucky they are in comparison to most of the world, and they groan


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