St Michael’s Aldbourne PTA
All parents and guardians of children at St Michael’s are automatically members of the St Michael’s Aldbourne PTA. The PTA has an executive committee of 10 members responsible for legal oversight, as it operates as a charity. We actively encourage the participation of as many members as possible, through baking, helping at events, hosting coffee mornings, or contributing fundraising ideas. Formerly known as Friends of St Michael’s School, we changed our name in 2019 to St Michael’s Aldbourne PTA.
Your involvement makes these events possible and more enjoyable for everyone. We look forward to seeing you there!
What’s Next?
It’s been a busy year at St Michael’s so far and, as always, we’re busy planning events for the new school year.
Past Events
In 2023/24 we hosted events and fundraising activities throughout the year, including:
- – School Disco – lots of fun and dancing, neon face paints and snacks, for KS1 & KS2.
- – Bag2School – giving the school community an opportunity to declutter, sort out and bag up ‘good quality’ clothing, shoes, and more to raise funds for the school.
- – The annual, Autumn Welly Walk – a sponsored walk in wellies on the field with hot chocolate afterwards. Reception walk around 15 laps, KS1 children 20 laps and KS2 up to 30 laps.
- – Aldbourne Safari Supper – a fun evening for the school and community to come together and enjoy a full 3-course meal in homes around the village.
- – Festive Wreath Making Evening – a fabulously festive evening with friends, making and creating christmas wreaths, garlands and decorations.
- – Christmas Fair – an afternoon of family fun, with craft activities, games to play, children’s musical performances, plus festive food and drink.
- – Refreshments at the School Nativity in St Michael’s Church – we welcome the school community for the annual Nativity performance.
- – Elfridges – children visited the Elf’s Christmas shop, to buy their grown-ups some surprise Christmas presents.
- – Sports Day Cafe – a pop up cafe, serving hot and cold drinks, and tasty treats donated by the community.
- – Summer Fair – a fun family event on the school field, including games, craft activities, an obstacle course a bar and bbq.
- – Refreshments at the School Summer Play – a yearly fun event for the children and parents alike.
What are we raising money for?
Despite government and Church of England funding there will always be a financial shortfall and if our children are to get the education they deserve then we are going to need to help raise money. The school will always have outgoings that need extra funds and this is where the fundraising comes in.
This fundraising has been spent on building works, coaches to theatre trips, chocolate eggs, ice lollies and hot chocolate at events for the children as well as amazing new reading books and iPads for the classrooms. Everything should help towards our children learning and enjoying their school experience as much as possible.
If you would like to be involved in any of these events, buy a ticket or have some wonderful fundraising ideas of your own then please email aldbournepta@gmail.com or better still come along to the next meeting or come to any of the coffee mornings to find out more.
Easy Fundraising
Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for St Michael’s Aldbourne PTA with easyfundraising?
There are over 7,000 brands on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.
All you need to do is:
1. Go to easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/st-michaels-aldbourne-pta and join for free.
2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
3. After you’ve checked out, the brand will make a donation to St Michael’s Aldbourne PTA at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
There are no catches or hidden charges. Thank you for your support.
Match Funding
Does your employer offer match funding? Do you work for Nationwide? Vodafone?
We wanted to take this opportunity to remind you about the Match Funding scheme and how a little bit of your time could raise double the funds.
If you work for an organisation that has a match funding policy, any money you raise could be matched by your employer. Companies may match the fundraising total for an event, or for the stall that their employee is working on. Usually, the employee will need to supply them with a letter from the PTA detailing the date and nature of the event, together with the total raised.
We understand that the high street banks, building societies, supermarkets and large corporations are likely to do match funding. But these schemes are not exclusive to the major corporate giants. If you work for an independent company, they may be interested in charitable giving through match funding too.
We would be grateful if you could see if your employer has a match funding scheme, or if they are willing to match fund any of our events. If you can’t help out this time, but you know the company you work for has a match funding policy, please let us know. This could be a really large source of income for the Friends and help us raise money for our school.
If you are able to help us this way, please let us know and we can discuss your companies’ requirements.
