Christmas Puddings Now On Sale

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Our delicious Christmas puddings are back for another year. This year we have the traditional Christmas pudding in large (£12.50) and small (£6.50) sizes and the ever-popular sticky toffee pudding (£6.50). All are made from the finest ingredients by the Freshfield Bakery in Knowsley and will provide the perfect finish to your Christmas Day meal. The sale of each pudding raises funds for our school, so there’s never been a better reason to treat yourself this Christmas. Purchase your pudding today on School Money.

A New Look For The Library

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The school library has been given a makeover thanks to the hard work of Katie Harrison and her team of helpers. I’m sure you’ll agree they’ve done an excellent job. As well as the lovely new décor, all the books have been sorted and catalogued and there is now a new app for recording the books out on loan.

PTA funds have paid for new bookcases and artwork, while paint was kindly donated by B&Q.

Closure of the 100 Club

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Following the introduction of new banking charges and a reduction in new members, we have taken the decision to close the 100 Club on 31st August 2022. The final draw will be for the month of August and winners will be notified in the usual manner. If you have a regular standing order set up to pay for your numbers, please could ask your bank to stop payments after your August subscription has been paid.

Thanks to all those who have supported the 100 Club over the years and to Lindsey Brady for all her hard work in managing it.

Fundraising Round-Up 2021/22

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Our first school year back after COVID disruptions has been a phenomenal one for PTA fund raising. We have currently raised over £15,000 with takings from some events still to be counted.

It’s been great to be able to hold events for everyone again and we hope the children enjoyed the Movie night, Readings Events, competitions and Discos. Particularly notable was a fun packed and very stormy night at the Christmas Bazaar which raised over £3,000 for the first time on record! The Christmas shop and Christmas card sales also added a further £3,000. The weekly ice cream and doughnut sales added a further £2,000. Lastly, our Wild West themed Summer Fair raised almost £5,000, another record breaking figure!

Some of this money has already been put to good use paying for the Bug Club, Pantomime coaches, Life Education caravan, Diversity books, Young Shakespeare performances, First Aid Courses and the library refurb, but there is plenty left to start off the next year with.

Educational visits and Bug Club funded by the PTA

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We’ve been putting the funds raised so far this year to good use by renewing the annual subscription to Bug Club (£1,487) and funding educational visits from the Owl Man, an educational rap artist, and Story Explorer (£1,580 in total). We have also continued our commitment to funding the coaches for the school panto trip in December (£1,120) and provided the rewards and stickers used throughout the school (£350).

Funding News

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This year we are aiming to enrich the children’s education by focusing our spending on topical events and visitors. We hope that hands on activities, performances and speakers will inspire and fuel the children’s imaginations. We want to ensure that every child benefits from this so are offering funding to each year group for these activities. We have already kick-started the year with a hugely popular visit from the Owls and will keep you updated on future bookings.

The Grand Total!

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We’ve had another amazing year at Great Meols Primary School!  The efforts of all our volunteers have been incredible, providing a wide range of social opportunities for pupils and families alike, as well as raising an outstanding total of over £13,000!  Each and every person who has volunteered in some way, can be very proud of the contribution that they have made to both the enjoyment of the various events and the money raised.

The money is again being used to fund extra-curricular activities such as the life education caravan, bug club, coaches for the Christmas panto trip and rewards and stickers used throughout the school.  We’ve also been able to fund a few new things this year, such as a first aid course for all year 5 pupils and the tile wall which is now in place in the main corridor.  Next term we have a spoken word artist coming to enhance the children’s engagement with poetry, which is very exciting!

We are busy planning events for the year ahead but are also really keen to get more people involved.  We would love to hear your ideas of social events and/or fundraisers. Please do grab one of us at the school gate or drop us a message if you would like to share ideas or get more involved.

Have a great summer!

Fantastic Summer Fair Fundraising

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The summer fair is always a highlight of the year and this year’s was no exception. Thanks to all those who came along and joined in the jungle-themed fun and helped raise a phenomenal £4,257! That’s up over 25% on last year’s takings. This couldn’t have been achieved without your generous donations and support.  A big thank you to all those who were involved in the organisation and the many who helped out on the day – great job all round.

First Aid training for Year 5

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After recent successful events such as the first ‘Double Bill’ movie night which raised a fabulous £567, we have been able to make a new commitment to annually fund basic first aid training for all year 5 children. This will take place within school in the summer term with the course provided by Mini First Aid. We couldn’t do any of this without the support of all the Great Meols families and friends, so a big thank-you to you all.

The Big Tile Art Project

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This term we have been putting the money raised to good use funding the Big Tile art project during last month’s Arts Week. A team from The Potting Shed in Hoylake were on site every day for a week to help the children paint their nature-inspired designs on individual wall tiles. The tiles have now all gone to be fired and will soon return to create an impressive permanent wall display in the main school corridor. We can’t wait to see the finished work, judging by the individual tiles it will be amazing.  Thanks to Jeanette at the Potting Shed for working with us to make this possible.

Christmas Presents and Cards

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Thanks very much to Claire Ward for overseeing this year’s Christmas card project and to Emma Hodgson, Lucy West and their team of parent elves for making the Christmas pop-up shop happen. We hope you  loved your presents and cards as much as the children enjoyed all the designing and shopping. Together these Christmas activities have raised a fantastic £1,800 for the school.

Christmas Bazaar 2018

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Many thanks to everyone who came along to this year’s Christmas Bazaar, especially Father Christmas who flew in on his sleigh to say hello to the children. It was a lovely fun start to all the Christmas festivities and together we raised a marvellous £2,240. A big thank-you to all the people who contributed to its success, be it donating your time or your wine. It was an amazing effort by everyone.

Match Funding: Can you help?

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Did you know that many big companies such as HSBC, Tesco and M&S offer a match funding scheme to their employees? Under these schemes, employers pledge a sum of money to an employee’s chosen charity based on the amount they have raised. In the past match funding has contributed an extra £2000 to our annual total, but our last parent using the scheme is leaving this year. She assures us that the scheme is a win-win for everyone involved, with the school benefiting from the funds and the charity work looked on favourably in annual appraisals. If you or your partner work for such a company why not find out if they offer the scheme, it really could make a big difference. Please get in touch for more details.