Round up of Autumn Term 2020

WOW!!  

What a term it has been.  

 

A HUGE thank you to all of the teachers and school staff, the parents and of course the children for their support this year. Despite the year we have had, the engagement has been fantastic and we couldn’t be happier or more grateful.  

 

 

 

As a little round up of the term, we wanted to share with you what we’ve been up to and how we’ve adapted the way that we have worked in order to ensure our efforts could still make vital funds, albeit it a very different way, and how you can continue to support us in the coming school year.  

  

 

How we’ve adapted:  

 

 

 

Like many, we have spent more time in front of laptops instead of in school halls or at events! Via social media we have joined lots of other school communities online to help inspire new ideas and better ways of enriching the school experience for the children in the school. We are using Social platforms much more to get greater reach, whilst also promoting and sharing ideas, events etc. on WhatsApp.  

 

Our Facebook Page is kept up to date with an events schedule and we are regularly posting about what we are up to and how you can be a part of it.  

 

In the coming 6-12 months we will be using digital much more. We are likely to continue to use PayPal for things like donations as it’s proven really effective and helped keep everyone safe by not using any cash.  

 

 

So, what have the PTA been up to this term to support the children and the school?   

 

Rainbow Day!  

As you know, we encouraged all the children to dress in brightly coloured clothes and enjoy lots of fun activities to promote positive well-being. Thank you to everyone that took part and donated.   

 

 

Ho Ho Ho! Getting in the Christmas spirit, during the time that we’d usually put on a Christmas Fayre at the school, we made a few adjustments… 

 

• We had a very special visitor, the big man himself shared a personal message via video, with every class in the school, and he even left them some presents to share and enjoy during those wet play times.  

 

• Christmas photos - the children had a brilliant time in the hall posing and playing with all of the festive props and the pictures look great too.  

• As many of you know, we have also done our first ever Virtual Christmas Fayre, which has been huge in supporting local businesses, whilst also raising essential funds for the school. This has been a great success; it’s given local businesses a great opportunity to remain supported and shoppers have been able to buy goods from the safety of their own home.  

• In addition to the Fayre, we did the Christmas Raffle. The donations from children, parents and local businesses were overwhelming and we sold so many tickets and had so many fantastic prizes that we had to close and draw the raffle earlier than expected!  

• Christmas Cards and Gift Tags like we did last year, and this time round it has been especially important; a personal sentiment that could be sent to family and friends far and wide.  

 

Ways that you can continue to support the PTA  

 

Apart from the usual events and activities throughout the year, there are various other way that you can support the school.  

 

School Lottery – This is an opportunity for you not only support the PTA and enrich the well-being and education of the children at Penygawsi, but also to win some great cash prizes; there are weekly local draws every Saturday at 8pm, and if you match all 6 numbers, there is a jackpot cash prize of up to £25,000! The numbers are 0-9, so you have a pretty good chance too!  

  

It costs only £1 per ticket, and you don’t have to be a parent to take part- you can forward it on to friends and family too! For every 100 tickets purchased per week, for the year, it will raise £2080 for the school.  

 

  

 

  

Easy Fundraising - This acts like a TopCashback account, but instead if the funds going directly back to you, they go to the PTA to support the education and well-being of the children. You can shop on hundreds of different sites via PC/laptop or the mobile app including; fashion, food, insurance, travel and lots more, but see here for a comprehensive view of how to set up an account and start donating.  

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon Smile - AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support a charity of your choice every time you shop, at no cost to you. To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.co.uk on your web browser or activate AmazonSmile on your Amazon Shopping app on your iOS or Android phone (found under ‘settings’ on your app).You then search for the school and select it as your chosen charity, and then whenever you shop through the app, you could be donating to the school!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Bags - The Dragon bags scheme is designed to develop students’ awareness of textile recycling and become more environmentally responsible.  It also provides us with a platform to generate much needed funds for our school whilst reducing the amount of textiles that reach landfill within the UK.    

 

Once collected the clothes will be distributed to provide affordable clothing to people who need it the most. We now have a clothing bank on school grounds and are keen to get our families and community involved. We ask for your help by bringing in any of the clothing/textiles listed below.  
 

These donations can be either left in the school reception or with your class teacher.  
 

We welcome any donations from friends and families if you are happy to collect and bring in on their behalf.  

 

 

The PTA would like to say a big thank you for all of the continued support. 

 

If you are interested in getting involved in the PTA, you can message us on Facebook or send an email to pta25@hwbcymru.net.