Who are we?
The Friends’ Association is a registered charity made up of parents and teachers with the main aim of raising additional funds for the school.
The current committee for 2017/18 are:
Co-Chair – Luan Shevlin chair@gcfassociation.co.uk
Luan has a daughter in year 6 and another daughter in Year 2. Luan also works as a TA at the school. This is Luan’s third year as Chair.
Co-Chair – Christina Saunders chair@gcfassociation.co.uk
Christina has a daughter in year 2 and a younger son. This is Christina’s second year as Chair.
Treasurer – Salud Murphy treasurer@gcfassociation.co.uk
Salud has a daughter in Year 4 and an older son at secondary school. This is Salud’s first year as Treasurer.
Secretary – Natasha Pemble and Michelle Noakes
President – Mrs Pang
Trustees – Michelle Noakes (Parent), Gemma Rump (Parent), Mrs Pang (Staff), Mrs High (Staff)
Meetings are held regularly to plan upcoming events. Everyone is welcome to these meetings.
The committee is elected at the AGM which is held in September.
What we do
The biggest fundraising events of the year are the Fireworks Display and Summer Fete. It takes a huge team of people to put on these events as we are known for going all out and having loads of stalls!
Each year the Friends also organise a Leavers’ Party for the Year 6 leavers which the children love. They come dressed in their smart clothes and dance the night away without teachers to watch over them!
We also sell 2nd Hand Uniform which you can request via reception.
We need your help!
We need as many people as possible to make these events run smoothly.
Can you spare a couple of hours on the morning of the fete to help set up? (Or at the end of the day to pack away?)
Are you happy to stuff envelopes with raffle tickets to go home in book bags?
Can you help put posters up?
Are you able to run a stall for an hour?
Can you help sorting out donations the day before the fete?
Can you ask your employer for a raffle prize?
Do you mind ringing companies to ask for raffle donations?
Are you a whiz at face painting?
Do you run a small business and can offer us a voucher as a prize?
Even if you can only spare an hour every little helps and it then makes the workload lighter for everyone. Please do drop us an email on chair@gcfassociation.co.uk if you can help in any way. We would love to hear from you.
What have the funds raised been spent on?
We have recently updated the Keystage 1 playground
In February 2015 we purchased 4 large gazebos for the school in the house colours.
These will be used by the school in the summer to help protect the children from the sun on sports days etc. They will also be available for us to use at our events.
In 2014 we bought over £400 worth of wet weather games from a gift aid repayment we were able to claim thanks to all those people who returned their gift aid declarations.
£200 was given to the breakfast club after Mrs Bispham won the Bushtucker trials at the 2014 fete.
Last year we donated £9,432 to the school this has been used to enhance the outdoor play areas including the Outdoor classroom.
Other ways to help
The Friends’ association is signed up to The Giving Machine. If you ever shop online you can earn cash for the school by first visiting TGM and then clicking through to Amazon, Next, Tesco etc etc (most major retailers are listed). If you’re familiar with cashback sites like Topcashback it works in the same way except the charity get the donations. Good eh! You can help us raise money without lifting a finger!
We also earn cashback through some other sites:
Got a crafter in the family? www.yellowmoon.org.uk sell loads of children’s crafting materials. Just quote source code SGR1523 at checkout.
Like gardening? Then buy your supplies at www.littlegreensprouts.co.uk/greatchart and we will earn points towards gardening items we can use at the school.
If you swap your search engine to http://greatchartsingleton.easysearch.org.uk/ you will earn a few pence EVERY time you do a search, think how this could add up!
How to contact us
Email: chair@gcfassociation.co.uk or treasurer@gcfassociation.co.uk
