PTFA Update – 01 July 2021 – St Joseph's Catholic School Takapuna

My name is Camille Coom and I am the new PTFA Chair. I have two children at St Joseph’s – Austin in Y6 and Will in Y4.

Early last year, I decided to step down from a senior leadership role within a global Medical & Healthcare Staffing company. Since then, I volunteer some of my time to several community organisations – one of these being the St Joseph’s PTFA. Recently, I have assumed the position of Chair, taking over from Chloe Davidson. I am supported by Annabella D’Lima (Treasurer) and Ange Cocks (Secretary) as well as many Mums and Dads who attend our meetings on a regular basis.

As a committee who are passionate about our children and our school, we take our responsibilities for fundraising seriously and therefore want to be transparent with our community regarding what we do and how we do it.

What is the PTFA (Parent-Teacher-Friends Association)?

The PTFA is a group of Parents, Teachers and Friends whose children are students at St Joseph’s Catholic School. We provide our time to run/ help out with building a sense of community and fundraising for the school.

Each year the PTFA organises events such as; School Disco, Quiz Night, Sausage Sizzles, School Picnic, Fun Runs and much more. The money we raise throughout the year is gifted back to the school to help out with funding for “nice to have’s” like playground improvements, technology, school sports uniforms, our outdoor learning environment etc.

The PTFA meet on the 2nd and 6th Monday of every term, at 7:15pm in the staffroom at school. Meetings are to discuss upcoming events and how previous events went. A staff Representative and a Board Member give us a report on up to date information regarding the school (if required). It’s a great way to keep involved and up to date in your children’s school life!

If you are a parent, whanau member, or caregiver of a St Joseph’s Catholic School student, you are welcome to come along and join the team – in whatever way, big or small, you can help.

Or, if you are happy to help out at events, but don’t want to commit to the committee, sign-up to be a PTFA volunteer by emailing PTA@sj.school.nz or keep an eye on the PTFA Facebook page. We will be putting together a list of people that we can reach out to when we need further ‘man power’ as well as putting out the call on Facebook or via a PTFA Volunteer Whatsapp Group.

What has the PTFA achieved in 2021, so far?

Term 1:

Whittaker’s Chocolate Sales
2^nd Hand Uniform Sale
School Disco (donation to Parish of 350 non-perishable food
‘Go Live’ of the PTFA (closed) FB page
Purchased ANZAC Wreath for St Joe’s Students walking in the Takapuna ANZAC Parade
Provided personalised Hand Sanitisers for the whole Student Body

Term 2:

Jester’s Pie Day
Helped support the school’s strategic planning process and Whanau breakfast
Purchased new BBQ and cover
Entertainment Book sales
Knowledge-a-thon (to support the inclusion of NZ History in the 2021 curriculum) – watch out for the learning list coming home next week, for study & fundraise over the holidays!

“Fundraising Buckets”

Recently we have set-up “fundraising buckets” to support short, mid and long term goals for the school. These goals have been set by the PTFA committee and the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

For every dollar fundraised via PTFA initiatives, 35c will go to short-term goals, 35c to mid-term goals and 30c to long-term goals. You will therefore see money being spent each year by the PTFA as we attain the short term goals, but we will have continued focus on fundraising for the mid to long term goals, which will implemented as we hit our fundraising targets. A special fund has also been set-up to support pastoral care initiatives within our school.

Short Term Bucket – New targets set and actioned within the school year

Target: Circa. $10k+

Current Total: $4.2k (42% of total)

- Repaint Ground Murals. These were painted approx. 3 years ago and are due for a re-paint. We are talking with the company who recently painted Milford School’s ground murals and used a paint with sand/ grit incorporated which is longer-lasting and reduces slips. (Play & Beautification – circa. $6k)
- Paint Pedestrian Zones. Currently the pedestrian zones in the carpark and front of school, are not clearly marked. We are looking at getting these painted in panels of school colours (think zebra crossing, to ensure children know where they can safely walk and parents know where they can safely drive. (Safety & Functional Improvements – $TBC))
- Replace Planters. Currently there are plastic planters around the school, some mark out hazards (poles, sharp corners etc). These plastic planters have degraded and are starting to split and crack. Replacing these with ceramic planters (and new plants) will continue to mark hazards but will be easier on the eye. (Safety & Beautification – circa. $2.5k)
- Guinea Pig Hut. Currently our two Guinea Pigs – “Nibbles” & “Squeak” – are housed in a rickety hutch and needs replacement ASAP. (Animal Welfare – circa. $500)
- BBQ Consumables. We have recently replaced the PTFA BBQ that is used for School Discos, Breakfasts, Sausage Sizzles and other events. However, we don’t have BBQ tools or cleaning items for it which we will need prior to the next event. (Food Safety & Usability – circa. $100)

Friendship Chair. St Joe’s teachers would like a dedicated Friendship Zone for our children. The basic premise of the friendship chair, is that if a child loses their friend at lunchtime or doesn’t have someone to play with, children can go to the friendship chair and find a friend. Our school leaders will keep an eye on children attending the chair and will also step in to help the juniors find their friends again. (Friendship & Community – circa. $500)

Plastic Containers. Due to the success of the Term 2 Uniform Sale and the number of books (new or 2nd hand) donated via the office, we would like to provide Julie & Lizzie with dedicated plastic boxes to collect these items. (Organisation – circa. $30)

Mid-Term Bucket (to fund projects with a 1-3 year horizon)

Target: Circa. $35k+

Current Total: $4.2k (12% of total)

Library Decking. The new library is proving very popular and we would like to enhance the environment further by adding a new deck for the children to enjoy in the warmer months. (Functional Improvements – circa. $20k)

Digital Learning curriculum resources. These include Lego Education programme, SPHERO Education Programme and a 3-D printer (with consumables subscription). (Education – circa. $15k)

Long Term Bucket (to fund projects with a 3-years + horizon)

Target: $120k+

Current Total: $3.6k (3% of total)

Replacement of the Junior Playground. Our Junior playground is ageing and will need replacement in the near future. (Safety & Play – $120k+)

Tiaki/ Pastoral Care Bucket

Current Total: $1.2k

The Tiaki/ Pastoral Care “Bucket”, is to support Pastoral Care initiatives at the school. We will be discussing this more at upcoming meetings to provide a service to our community. All money donated through the selling of donated items (i.e. uniform sale) will go to the Tiaki/ Care bucket in full. Ideas so far include:

Purchase a Freezer. The freezer would store food that is made and donated by our community for those less fortunate or requiring care, to make life a little easier one meal at a time.

“Historic Buckets”

Over the last couple of years, efforts have been made to fundraise for specific goals, but the delivery of the goals has been delayed. We therefore have two buckets with allocated money.

Music Bucket

Total Raised: $28.8k

The 2019 Christmas Concert, where we were fortunate to have Simon O’Neill and the ASO perform for us, raised a whopping $29k for the St Joe’s Community. This money was raised to support Music within the school. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 (and the school delivering the annual curriculum in 32 weeks, rather than 40 weeks), the Music programme delivery was delayed until Term 2 of 2021. Over the past term, the school body has enjoyed the Jelly Beans Programme and will continue to do so into 2022.

The money has been allocated as follows:

Jelly Beans Music Programme 2021 – $9.8k
Jelly Beans Music Programme 2022 – $9.8k
Musical Instrument Purchases – $5k
Currently unallocated – $4.2k

At the next PTFA meeting we will get an understanding as to whether the unallocated funds will go towards further musical instruments or whether the SLT has an appetite to run the Jelly Beans Programme for a further year (i.e. 2023).

In addition to the money the PTFA fundraised for Music, the School has had to pay for storage of all the new Music Instruments to ensure we optimise the life of the instruments (approx. $4k). Recorders (& cleaning consumables) were to be an initial part of the instrument purchase, however due to COVID-19 and health & safety considerations, it is now best practice that recorders should only be used by one individual, not multiple. The cost for recorders was therefore moved to parents/ guardians ($5 per student to purchase the instrument). Moving forward, recorders will more than likely appear on the stationary list for new students from 2022.

Slide Bucket

Total Raised: $12k

Over recent years, money was raised for the Senior Playground which is wonderful and well used by the school body. There was a proportion of that fundraising, $12k, which was to be used to erect a slide down the bank (behind the courts). Numerous quotes and designs were obtained and one supplier was happy to build it, however when it came to the execution of the slide, the costs quadrupled, there were health & safety issues (height of slide etc) and the supplier subsequently pulled out (thankfully returning our deposit!).

We now have $12k that has been fundraised, and need to decide where we spend it ensuring that it is spent in the nature it was fundraised for. We have therefore suggested it is used as 1) Seed money for the replacement of the Junior Playground (Long Term Bucket), 2) a new piece of playground equipment for the Senior Playground or 3) for a sandpit (with cover). We will be deciding on this at the next meeting.

What is there to look forward to?

Term 3:

Jump! or Movie Afternoon For Teachers Only day – 10th August (TBC)
Adult Quiz Night – 17th September
Family Movie Night – TBC
Frozen Cookie Dough Sales – TBC
Providing Ula Lole’s for 2021 Sacramental Programme Children

Term 4:

School Disco – TBC
End of Year School Fair/ Fun Run – TBC

How can you support the school and PTFA?

Support the PTFA initiatives. We appreciate that you can’t do everything, all of the time. But if and when you can, please support our initiatives. We try to have as many different initiatives and events, to suit everyone.
Have specialist skill or contacts that could help deliver our buckets? As you will have seen, a number of items will require designers, builders, building supplies, paints etc. We are keen to support businesses from the School Community where we can, so please get in touch.
AirPoints or FlyBuys expiring soon? One way to support the school without outlaying money is to exchange AirPoints or FlyBuys for Gift Vouchers and donate them to the PTFA (i.e. Mitre10 (Paint/ Wood/ Sandpaper/ BBQ Consummables etc), New World (Tiaki/ Pastoral Care initiatives))
What else would you like to see at the school? Join us at a meeting or email us at pta@sj.school.nz and give us feedback on what we could add to our “fundraising buckets”.
Donate food or frozen meals to the Tiaki/ Care initiatives. Once up and running, we will require donations of non-perishable snack items and frozen meals (i.e. lasagne, Mac & Cheese, Bolognaise etc) – from our community to support Tiaki/ Care. “Make two – eat one, donate one”