EVENTS – Christmas roundup
‘Year 6?
You’re hired!’ Every Christmas, we hold an Apprentice-style competition we call Year 6 Games, where we ask pupils to create stalls and games for our Christmas event. They form teams of up to six members, select a leader and submit a business plan. When I became the chair of
Lucy with PFA vice-chair Lou Allen and treasurer Richard Kendall-Smith
At our Festive Fun event last year, a talented mum made an impressive Christmas background that wowed us all. Her company, Shindigs and Dos, specialises in renting out sequined backdrops and providing balloon decorations. A local photographer took pictures of families and we charged £4 per photo, splitting the profits with him. Each customer received a link to access their photograph, and they could buy as many as they wanted. The children told us it looked truly magical and had a great time posing for photos with the inflatable nutcracker soldier.
Lucy Harrington, chair, Swalecliffe Primary School PFA, Whitstable (600 pupils) ‘We ran a festive square grid game’
Our family’s upcoming trip to Lapland inspired a festive 100-square grid game and a chance to do some research for our holiday. We thought the game would be a great addition to the PTA’s Winter Wonderland fair. I work as a cartographer and
also volunteer for the British Cartographic Society. I created the map using Adobe Illustrator with the MAPublisher plugin – it was a fun way to test the new AI graphics technology by doing something that wasn’t part of my more serious transport consultancy work! With the AI tool, I made a bespoke Santa with binoculars, elves and a flying sleigh. Lots of children
and parents joined
in the game. They could buy a square for £1 and guess where Santa had dropped all his presents. At the end of the fair, we used a random number generator to determine the winner. The winner received a prize of £20,
and the PTA made a profit of £80. Clare Seldon, social media lead, Oakwood Primary PTA, St Albans (315 pupils)
DOWNLOAD a map template. Go to the files section of the PTA Ideas and Advice Network Facebook group
the Parents’ Association, I noticed there was no youth enterprise scheme on offer, so I decided to revive an old idea that the teachers thought was a thorn in their side and turn it into a project we could manage. My job in recruitment means I understand the significance of entrepreneurial education. Once we approve their plans, we give each team £10 to design and create games and stalls and buy prizes. The group that earns the most money is declared the winner. Teams can choose their own theme, rules and prizes. They market their ideas using approaches such as posters and space in the weekly newsletter. The children love this activity and learn a lot from it, including product and concept planning, finance, sales and marketing, and cost versus profit. Year 6 Games is a big money spinner, too. In fact, it’s the biggest contributor to our Christmas event, raising over £750 last year. Around a third of this money came from a game called Santa’s Snowballs, which was created by the winning team, The Christmas G.O.A.T.S. Our local Cineworld donated their prize, some movie tickets. Santa’s Snowballs was so popular that we have bought the game and plan to use it as an independent stall this year. Chloe Gardner, chair, St John’s Primary School Parents’ Association, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire (200 pupils)
School Fundraising AUTUMN 2024 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
