How Do We Raise Money?

The PTA raise funds via our second hand uniform shop and by running and selling tickets to social events & raffles.


The Uniform Shop has been steadily growing in popularity, as have our events, which often sell out in days or in some cases even hours!  Although we try to maximise the capacity for our events to ensure there are as many tickets as possible available, licence, logistic and venue constraints can mean there are times when tickets have to be limited.  The raffles we run are a fundamental source of fund raising for us and we are grateful for the contributions we receive towards these from the Town Close and wider community. 


We would like to thank everyone who supports our events, raffles and shop.  The PTA would not be successful or sustainable without the parents who do this.


What Do We Spend PTA Funds On?

PTA funds can go towards any initiative or item that is seen to enhance the school community or provisions.

 

In close consultation with the school, we aim to fund items that benefit a wide range of pupils.  Ideas can come from teachers, management, pupils, and parents. All ideas go through a consultation process involving both the school’s senior management team, PTA Trustees & wider PTA team. 

 

Over recent years the PTA has purchased items such as a 3D printer, grand piano, woodland walk play equipment, specially commissioned outdoor story telling chair, educational play equipment, and play car roadway, PA system, as well as £4.5k of additional resources for the library amongst many other items. 


We are especially proud of our pupil led initiative scheme and were thrilled to purchase new composting bins for the Eco Council.  The pupils delivered a terrific pitch for the funding that really added value and giddy excitement to proceedings!


Alongside this we invest in Town Close community initiatives, which are not associated to fundraising. You can find out more about these in PTA Non-Fundraising Initiatives. 

How can you request PTA funds?

Funding Request

  • Who can submit an idea for funding?

    Anyone who is part of the school community can submit a proposal for funding.  We welcome any ideas that you believe will have a positive impact, no matter how big or small you perceive them to be. 


  • How are decisions for funding made?

    There is no exact formula for funding decisions, however, there are a number of things we take into consideration when making a funding decision.


    1. Benefit to the school community: 


    Essentially,  as long as the school and PTA see benefits which are in line with the costs i.e. they see an appropriate return on investment from the idea, then it will be considered.  Return on investment in this sense does not mean a direct monetary return but the value from the inestment for the school community.


    2. Benefit reach:


    Ideally funded initiatives will have as wide reach as possible i.e. it benefits the whole school community or a substantial pecentage of it.  Of course, not all initiatives will have a school wide benefit so we look to balance out our investments, as much as possible.  For example, if one investment largely benefits the Pre Prep over Prep or vice versa, we would look to balance this out with a future investment decision, where possible.


    3. Type of benefit: 


    Alongside the above we look at both long and short term returns and larger and smaller investments, to ensure, as best we can a flow of quicker and smaller investments (quick wins) vs. larger invetsments, when these arise.  


    4. Availability of funds:


    In making our decisions we have to balance all the above against available funds, ensuring we continually invest whilst retaining some money for potentially larger items and keeping enough of a 'float' to run events and maintain the shop etc.


    5. Prority:


    On the basis we need to balance all of the above, we often have to make priority calls on valid and worthy funding requests.  If an idea is not initially prioritised, it does not necessarily mean it will never be considered but it may not be something that can be invested in at the current time.


  • What do I do if I have an idea for funding?

    As a Teacher:


    Please feed your idea through to the Senior Managment Team for discussion at an SMT meeting.  They will then bring any appropriate ideas to the PTA via the PTA and school meeting.   The full PTA committee will provide final approval.


    As a Parent or Pupil:


    If you have an idea that you think may merit the use of PTA funds, please complete our online form with your propoal.  We welcome all ideas.


    We will then review this as a PTA and if approved from a PTA perspective the trustees will share these with the school via our regular PTA trustee and school meetings. 


    Alternatively, as a pupil, you can feed your idea through to a teacher for them to share with us via the Senior Management Team, as above.


  • Preparing your idea for submission

    When submitting an idea for funding, ideally you should have a good idea about the costs, timescales and benefits of your proposal as this can significantly speed up the review and approval process.


    We understand the ideas can come through at different stages however, and you may just be looking to share a conceptual idea initially, and this is of course ok and still welcomed.


    If we need further information about your idea, you may be asked to come along to one of our meetings to share more.  Equally you are more than welcome to make a request to do this.

  • What is the process and timescale for approval?

    Process:


    Funding ideas will generally go through 3 approvals.

    • The PTA Committee
    • The PTA & School Meeting
    • The School Senior Management Team (SMT)

    Depending on where the idea is initiated (be that via the PTA Committe or via the Senior Management Team ) will depend on the order it goes through these approvals, albeit the PTA and School Meeting will always be at the mid-point of the process. 


    If it is a substantial request, it may also be presented to the governers, although this would be rare for PTA funding requests and would most likely be led by the school and thus would happen before it was presented to the PTA.


    Timescales:


    It is difficult to provide timescales as ideas can vary significantly.  Some may be approved relatively quickly (e.g. within a month) and others may take longer to go through the process and or may require further information before a decision can be made.


    If an idea has been submitted via the website, i.e. straight to the PTA, this will be discussed at the next available Committee Meeting.  The Committe meets monthly (see the Calendar for our Meeting Schedule) and you will be kept up to date regarding the progress of your idea.

PTA Non Fundraising Gestures

Not everything we do is about raising money. We also like to do things purely to raise a smile and or spread some joy. As with our fundraising/social events, these can vary from year-to-year.  You can find our more about some of our recent non fund raising gestures below.

Easter Hunt & Easter Creation Competition 2023

There have been various Easter events managed over the years around Easter and of course they often involve chocolate or some sort of sweet treat. 


In 2023 we organised an optional creative Easter competition and a fun Easter hunt challenge for all year groups across the school.


We had some wonderful and very creative Easter Competition entries including original song scores, bakes, hats and festival recreations, to name a few.   Alongside this all the children seemed to have a great time running around the school and solving puzzles during the Easter Hunt.  You can see more pictures on this in our gallery.

Easter Event Gallery

COVID 'Send a Smile' Boxes 2021 and 2022

During the pandemic we couldn’t ignore the disruption, upset and isolation the children endured as they missed friends, teachers and just simply being at school. As a little wellbeing initiative, we developed the “Send a Smile Box”.


The boxes were sent to children who were isolating at home with Covid and included age-appropriate activities, some sweet treats and even a note from teachers. It truly was a whole school undertaking that involved teaching staff, administrators, and our wonderful PTA volunteers. The best thing about the boxes was that they were a total surprise and really did send a smile when it was most needed.


As we are now “Living with Covid”, we no longer send the boxes out but if we can, we may continue to support children who may need to isolate for medical treatment or unforeseen absences such as bereavement.


We are incredibly grateful for the kind words, photos, and letters we have received from parents and children across the school and thank you all for keeping it a special surprise.

'For the Heart Day' 2022

In 2022 the school celebrated ‘For the Heart Day’ which included various activities. The PTA paid a little nod to Norfolk’s very own Jack Valentine delivering a little sweet surprise for to every pupil, teacher, and member of staff at Town Close School (3 edible hearts to share each).  


We are not sure how many of them made it home to be shared, but it seemed to go down very well with those who did receive them.

Informal Coffee Mornings

We often hold ad hoc coffee mornings as a chance for people to get to chat to and get to know the PTA or just as a chance to socialise with pthers from the school community.