To wrap up the year on a high note, we have two exciting events in December—our Winter Fair for the whole family and a Quiz Night just for the grown-ups! As the year comes to a close, let’s take a moment to celebrate our achievements and feel proud of all we've accomplished! Read on for all the details as we also share new updates abut the future of the PTA.
Don’t forget to follow us on social media! We've created a beautiful campaign to thank our supporters. Check it out at Instagram and Facebook.
Also, keep tracking your online shopping with EasyFundraising. Make sure to download the app and follow our cause. It's free and easy to take part; just sign up and join us on Easy Fundraising: LINK.
Winter Fair - Event for the whole family.
On 13/12 from 3:30PM, the PTA is excited to support the KS2 Carols Presentation with food trucks, a variety of stalls, and a beautiful decor and light display that will be generously installed by our amazing volunteer, Mark. We’ll also have a stand selling pastries kindly donated by Wenzel’s Bakery - Chingford Mount, along with hot drinks and mulled wine. We will have face painting, popcorn and cookies decoration. It will be a lot of fun!
Stallholders have donated a fee to the school, and all food trucks will contribute a percentage of their profits—so please show them your support! The event will run from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM.
On Winter Fair Day (13/12), it’s a non-uniform day! We suggest a £1 donation to support our fundraising efforts. Adults and children are warmly encouraged to join the fun by wearing your favourite Christmas jumper or your festive outfit.
If you would like to have a stall with us, please email committee@yardleypta.co.uk.
Winter Raffle
In early November, we distributed our Winter Raffle tickets. Please make sure to follow the instructions and return the envelopes with your payment and details by 09/12. The draw will take place on 13/12/24 at the Junior Playground, following the KS2 Carols Presentation. Funds raised will help us reach our goal to complete the Early Years Playground.
You can purchase extra tickets at the school office. We have incredible prizes, including:
£100 cash for the first prize
£100 voucher donated by Royal Forest Pub and Hotel by Heartwood Inns (new owners & refurbished)
One-day holiday club voucher from CRT KATE, and much more! For the full list of prizes, please check complete list of prizes LINK.
Quiz Night - Adults Only
Beth, a proud mum of two Yardley's students and the General Manager at The Royal Oak, invited the Yardley Community to a special Quiz Night to celebrate a fantastic year and support our school’s fundraising efforts!
She will be hiring a professional quiz master, and there will be some incredible prizes up for the winners, including bottles of wine, a £30 voucher, dinner for two, and more! You can book a table directly with her team via The Royal Oaks website or by giving them a call. Here are the details:
Date: Thursday 19th December
Time: from 7:30 PM (Adults Only)
Tickets: £3 each—The Royal Oak will donate 100% of ticket sales to our school! The more of us who show up, the more support we’ll raise for our school!
Location: The Royal Oaks (219 Kings Head Hl, London E4 7PP).
Book your table via their Website LINK or call on 020 8529 1492
New Hoodies for our Athletes.
Our young athletes are all smiles in their new hoodies, generously donated by the PTA! We hope they bring a little extra luck in their upcoming games and competitions!
We also bought Christmas crackers to bring some joy to the special Christmas school lunch. We hope they enjoy the little surprise.
FUNDRAISING EFFORTS UPDATE
We’re thrilled to announce that, thanks to your votes in local Tesco stores through the Tesco Stronger Starts scheme, our project came in second place.
We are waiting the results of Blue Sparks Grant (£5,000). We should know it by the end of January 2025. We still need to raise £4,500 to deliver a mud kitchen, trim trail, and tool workbench station and a sensory area. We hope to raise enough money during the winter fair and raffle.
In November, we applied for the Blue Sparks Foundation Grant (5,000) and expect to hear back in January. Meanwhile, please keep your fingers crossed for the Foyle Grant (£10,000)—we’re hoping for good news by the end of this month!
We raised around £90 with Asda School Cashpot (pending confirmation), and we raised £797.47 so far with Easy Fundraising. Thank you so much!
PTA New Members and Volunteers
As previously announced, we are looking for new members to join the PTA committee in 2025. Dilan, Roger, Heidi and I will continue to support as trustees, focusing on governance and administration for our charity. Forming a dedicated group to handle day-to-day operations and event planning will allow us to distribute responsibilities and help keep the workload manageable, even for working parents.
As previously announced, we are pleased to officially open the election process for PTA Chair, Secretary and Fundraisers. If you’d like to be considered, please send your name and a brief introduction by email. In the case of multiple candidates, we’ll hold a voting session in January 2025. We are also looking for people to manage the website, newsletters, social media, community engagement and support with the grants applications.
Please also check out all the volunteers opportunities on our website.
Event Coordination Subcommittee
I am pleased to announce that Amina, Ann and Devinia stepped in to help with the organisation of the events. They will work closer with volunteers in the events subcommittees groups to ensure all the tasks are delivered on time, on budget and all details are taking care of. Please help me to welcome them to the PTA as volunteers.
James, Madeleine and Danielle is joining Dilan and I with fundraising efforts with local business as we plan to raise £50,000 for our Outdoor Learning Classroom.
A year to remember!
We doubled the donations from last year and become a registered charity.
We achieved bronze level at Green School Awards.
We applied for 8 grants - won 2 and still waiting for the results of 5 (estimated £30,000).
We created passive income with Easyfundraising and Asda Reward. Raising almost £900!
We planted 15 new trees.
We created a pre-loved uniform shop supporting reducing the landfill in the UK.
We had a record of attendees on our Summer Fair 2024.
We host an emotional alumni reunion with Ms Margarete Harrison.
Our children enjoyed amazing events throughout the year - Family Day, Mother's Day, Summer Fair, Halloween Disco and Winter Fair.
Our social media is growing steadily.
WOW! We did it all and more!
Thank you
Our events wouldn’t be possible without the incredible volunteers and support of local businesses dedicated to helping our school. We’ve received some incredible prizes for our Winter Fair and would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the donors, stalls and food trucks. A full list of prizes and supporting businesses can be found here. Supporting local and small businesses helps create a wonderful cycle—they invest in and support our community in return!
A special thanks to Royal Forest Pub and Hotel by Heartwood Inns (new owners & refurbished) for their generous donation, Wenzel's Bakery - Chingford Mount for always being so kind in donating delicious pastries to our events. Kings Head Pub - Chingford, Royal Oak Pub - Chingford, The Plough Pub (McMullen's) - Chingford for their contributions.
Looking ahead to 2025, we’re excited to continue working together to create even more memorable experiences and meaningful projects for our children. Let’s make it another incredible year!
Happy holidays and prosperous 2025
Thank you.
Cristina Tosta
PTA Chair.
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