St Mary's Associates of School and Home

S.M.A.S.H
Dear Parents / Carers We are hoping that you will be able to support our efforts in raising money for our school. We currently need more pairs of hands to help out at our events, more ideas to help with our fund raising etc. We have provided the previous newsletters to help you understand what we are all about , and would love to see new faces at our next meeting on Tuesday 13th November. The SMASH Committee

S.M.A.S.H NEWSLETTER
Formerly HSA

WELCOME To Our New Newsletter and the New Year 2012

Firstly we want to wish a Happy New Year ( a bit belated sorry!!) to all children and families of Gomersal St Marys School. As this is our first newsletter we would like to introduce ourselves and explain a little about who we are and what we are trying to achieve. We are a group of parents, carers and teachers of children attending our school, who come together and plan events or ideas focusing on raising money for the school. The money raised is solely for the HSA to decide where they would like the money to be used and is not just handed to the school . All decisions made about the use of the raised money is discussed at HSA meetings and thus has to be approved by the parents, carers and teachers within the group. HSA meetings take place in the local pubThe Bulls Head Gomersal, and last no more than an hour, although some of us do tend to stay after the meeting is closed!!! Come and join us at our next meeting! If you cant make it to the meetings there are other ways you can help: Suggest fundraising ideas by emailing us on smash.gomersal@yahoo. co.uk Would you like to make a difference to your childs education? Would you like to ensure that they have the facilities and equipment to achieve their full potential in each subject area? Send us your details so we can contact you when we are looking for helpers at our events Give a little of your time and make a big difference!!!!

Spring Term 2012

Special points of interest: Welcome Fundraising Awards Ceremony Events Help needed

Inside this issue:

Award Winners Book Bags Member Focus Events CalenFundraising 2 2 2 2 2

Home School Association Awards

Christmas was an exciting time in school at the end of last term and also it was a time to celebrate the achievement of our children. It had been decided by the Committee to give something back to the children for all their hard work throughout the autumn term. Class teachers were asked to acknowledge one child in their class who they felt had contributed the most to class and school life. Trophies were purchased by the HSA and presented to the individual children by Mrs Scott and members of our committee in front of the whole school. See school website for presentation photos and page 2 for winners It has been decided that this will continue every term.

S.M.A.S.H Formerly HSA

Events Calendar
Thursday 22nd March - School Disco 2.50 / Ticket Wednesday 28th March - Bag2school Collection Friday 18th May - Race Night Gomersal Cricket Club (Adults Only)

Fundraising
The Xmas Fayre was a huge success with 252 raised thanks to your support, next year we hope to be selling Xmas cards and wrapping paper along with the toy stall. As above we will be holding a clothes/shoes collection, all items will be weighed by the company and a cheque sent to the school, please save all your unwanted clothes, shoes, duvets covers etc for that date. More information will be sent out in the next couple of weeks. The Annual race night is our biggest fund raising event and last year we raised just over 1000, we hope more people will attend this year, as this makes the prize money increase too!! PE/Kit bags are still available 2.00 leave your request and money with Mrs Earnshaw

HSAAward Winners
Reception Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Bobby Crowther Sebi Fairclough Leona Windle Holmes Luke Ellwood Millie Fewster Sarah Firth

What is the money used for?

Money raised in the past has been used to fund a shed in the school grounds. We have also purchased 6 digital cameras more recently to help the children with their school projects. We are currently saving towards purchasing ICT equipment, as modern technology is a must in our classrooms and our children will hopefully be up to date in our fast moving world of technology.

Committee Member Focus

I joined the HSA in December 2009 becoming the Chairperson the following year. I have two daughters in school - Amy now in Year 2 & Ella in Nursery both are thriving in the supportive & positive learning environment., this is why I wanted to be able to give something back to the school & help raise vital funds. I enjoy socialising - which the HSA also helps with!!!! I am a teacher at a local secondary school & have been at this school now for 10years. We would always love fresh faces & ideas so feel free to join us at any time!

S.M.A.S.H NEWSLETTER
WELCOME
If you did not receive the last newsletter we would like to introduce ourselves. We are a group of parents, carers and teachers of children attending our school, who come together and plan events or ideas focusing on raising money for the school. The money raised is solely for SMASH to decide where they would like the money to be used and is not just handed to the school . All decisions made about the use of the raised money is discussed at SMASH meetings and thus has to be approved by the parents, carers and teachers within the group. SMASH meetings take place in the local pubThe Bulls Head Gomersal, and last no more than an hour, although some of us do tend to stay after the meeting is closed!!! Come and join us at our next meeting the schools text message service will inform you of the next one in September

Summer Term

S.M.A.S.H Awards
It was decided by the Committee to give something back to the children for all their hard work Class teachers were asked to acknowledge one child in their class who they felt had contributed the most to class and school life. We are now into our third term for the children to receive these trophies, and to see the joy on their faces when they receive their trophies is a lovely thing. See the school website for presentation photos and below for this and last terms winners. It was decided at the last meeting that parents / carers will be informed if their child has been nominated so that they can attend the presentation if they wish to do so.

Please dont throw old uniform items away, save them for the next bag2school collection

Events Planner
Friday 28th September 2012 - Bag2school Collection Thursday 25th April 2013 - Bag2school Collection

Fundraising

The Easter Disco was a huge success with 110 raised thanks to your support, we will again next year be running an Easter Bonnet competition as this was really successful and the parade of hats at the disco was fantastic. The Bags2school collection was a brilliant joint effort from children, parents and carers, foraging in their cupboards and lofts with the collection raising 430 The Annual race Night which was held on Friday 18th May and was again a huge success, we raised 780 With many new faces in attendance and the added support from local businesses with their kind donations

SMASHAward Winners
Easter 2012
Reception Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Zack Chaplin Lauren McWilliams Luke Hanson Gabrielle Howe Joey Wilby Sana Mehdipour

Summer 2012
Lauren Poutney Jack Grey Freya Thornton Jaydon Morris Tecian Dransfield Phoebe Sutcliffe

Committee Member Focus _

Jo Senior

I currently work at the Sure Start Children's Centre and have been in my role for nearly 2 Years, I joined the HSA (SMASH) in 2009 and became treasurer in 2010. I have a son Jack who is just about to enter Class 2 and I have an older daughter Emily who starts at Whitcliffe Mount School in September. As I have now been stood in the various playgrounds for around 9 years I felt it would be nice to get more involved and help to raise money for the school to show my support and appreciation for what the school has done for my children and helped them to achieve. The HSA (SMASH) has been a great way to meet and socialise with other parents- so please feel free to join us!