PTA UPDATE
The PTA held its first meeting of the new academic year on Tuesday 29th September and it was lovely to welcome some new faces to the meeting as well as catch up with some of the old familiar faces!
Our treasurer reported that we have been able to raise almost £8500 in the last academic year from the Quiz and Curry night and from donations made via the GoFundMe page. This is great news and I would like to thank everyone that helped in this fundraising effort.
As a reminder, the PTA was raising funds in order to support two key aspects of school life:
- to increase the provision of outdoor furniture and ‘awnings’ to provide increased shelter for students in anticipation of an increased use of outdoor space over the coming year.
- to help fund further enhancement of the student mental health/wellbeing support that is already provided, in anticipation of an expected increase in demand over the coming months.
The PTA therefore approved a spend of £5000 on benches and awnings, which we are hoping will be installed in the school grounds over the next few weeks.
With respect to student mental health and wellbeing, as many of you will be aware, IGS already commits significant funds to this aspect of school life, in particular with the provision of the counselling and student support service Place2Be. In addition, IGS has recently appointed Mr N. Adams to the new role of ‘Mental Health Champion’ and he has already led staff training and will be working with staff and students in this area. However, there is always more that can be done and the PTA is currently looking at potential initiatives in order to ensure that its funds are best utilised in support of student mental health and wellbeing.
In the meantime, we continue to welcome all donations, no matter how small, that parents and carers feel able to make so that we have a good pot of money available once we have found the right initiative to pursue. If you wish to make a donation, the link to the GoFundMe page can be accessed here.
In other news, following the success of the decorating initiative during the Summer, Mr Gutch is hoping to organise another similar working party to do more painting of the school buildings. This is likely to take place during October half term, assuming any current Covid restrictions will allow it. Watch this space for further information on this, but if you are interested in getting involved, please email the PTA at: PTA@ilkleygs.co.uk
Finally, the PTA plans to continue to hold meetings via Zoom – our next meeting is also our AGM – 7.30pm on 16th November 2020. If you would like to attend this or any of our meetings, please email us at: PTA@ilkleygs.co.uk
Or, if you have any other queries about the PTA or simply would like to get in touch, please do so at the same e-mail address.
Jane Wearing - PTA Chair
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