BACK CHAT – Inspiring stories
Party in the Playground
‘For at least fi ve years, our “party in the playground” has been welcoming our new cohort to our school community. It’s held at the start of September, and the whole school is invited, including family and friends. During my fi rst year as chair, two years ago, we charged £5 per family, which included a bouncy castle for the children. Last year we did a much bigger event to celebrate the school’s 35th anniversary. Entry was free, with profi t being made through a bar and barbecue, and the party was
opened up to the whole community. As it’s a low-scale event, planning
is relatively easy. We select a date and advertise it before the end of the summer term, letting new families know about it at their induction evening. Our committee has a WhatsApp group that we use for communication, so planning during the summer holidays is fairly straightforward. Once we have a mobile disco booked, the rest can be left until much closer to the time. It’s always a well-attended event.
Worth sharing
How these PTAs celebrate the beginning and end of the school year
Fun in the Fields
‘Instead of a summer fair, our PTFA wanted to hold a community event on our school fi eld to celebrate the end of the academic year. We didn’t want to lose money, but our main objective was to provide a day to
58 SUMMER 2020
pta.co.uk
remember rather than make a big profi t. We began planning in March and, after reading about ‘Party in the Playground’ (above) on Facebook, decided to call our event Fun in the Fields. We chose a barn dance as the main attraction, and also planned a tug of war, egg-tossing competition, junior bake-off, raffl e, bar and café. Instead of food stalls, we asked visitors to each bring along a dish to share so that we could all eat together. The PTFA provided basics such as bread, cheese and salad. To make our event more eco-friendly,
The children love the chance to run around with their new friends, and, equally, parents can socialise with existing friends or use it as an opportunity to make new ones.’ Leanne Palmer, PTA chair, Red Hill Field Primary School, Narborough, Leicester (300 pupils)
we asked parents to donate any surplus plates to the PTFA so that we could keep a stock for future events. We set up recycling areas and encouraged visitors to use them. We hired 20 hay bales for the
children to play on, and set up school tables and chairs outside. Three PTFA members offered to help with table decorations and we received an unexpected boost when a parent offered us 50m of cloth bunting and her horsebox bar for the day. We promoted Fun in the
Fields with fl yers, posters and Facebook posts. The school included our event in their weekly newsletter and emailed parents who were joining the school in September to invite them personally. On the day, the sun shone and the school fi eld was full of happy families. Children ran around in the fresh air, joined in with the barn dance and played with their friends without too many
requests for money! We had tried
to keep a tally of the kinds of food people were bringing by getting them to tick a box when they bought their tickets but hadn’t been very successful. However, we needn’t have worried about not having enough variety as we received a lovely selection of different dishes. The event made £700 but, more
importantly, our day in the fi elds was fun for everyone!’ Lise Burge, PTFA chair, Iford and Kingston CofE School, Lewes, East Sussex (200 pupils)
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