1. RYARSH PTFA Parent Teachers and Friends Association Issue 142nd Nov 2015 NEWSLETTER Bazaar Donations 6th November - Kids Tombola (new kids toys and games) 13th November - No PTFA Donations as School Council Charity Day 20th November - Hamper Items & Unwanted Gift Packs (luxury food items, chocolate, toiletries and gifts etc.) 27th November - Bottle Tombola (new bottles of alcohol, soft drinks, toiletries etc.) 4th December - Homemade Cakes & 2nd Hand Books, DVDs and Toys (including soft toys in good condition) 11th December (Non Uniform)- Secret Santa Items (items for parents that can be bought by the children for £1 or £2) Thank you in advance for you generosity! Thank you very much! Thanks to all parents, staff and friends, we had another fantastic year of fundraising in 2015. Our amazing total net income was £13,764.90! We climbed walls, made Christmas cards and Fathers' Day mugs, had 2 new headteachers for the day, sold refreshments, had a pamper evening, ran the 100 club, organised the summer fete and Christmas bazaar, had 3 school discos, 1 quiz night, received some corporate funding, easyfundraised, gave out gingerbread men and leavers T-shirts, donated Christmas crackers and Easter eggs, bought a lovely wooden gazebo and outside learning decorations....and a partridge in a pear tree! :-) We really couldn't hold all the events and raise such a wonderful amount for the school without your help. Christmas Bazaar We desperately need raffle prizes or donations to buy prizes. Don't forget we are a registered charity so maybe you could get your business to support us?! Contact Julia Smith on 07943 831490 if you can help. We will of course be looking for volunteers to help us run the Bazaar. If you are able to help, even if only for a short while, please contact Julie Casburn on 07951 251402. This year for Santa's Grotto we have decided to allow parents to take their own photos. You will now be able to pre-book slots for the grotto on donation Fridays in the run up to the Bazaar.

2. This Year - Making More Space! As our pupil numbers have grown, the size of our buildings has become an ongoing issue for the school. Phase 1 of our buildings work is our hall extension, which the Local Authority has agreed to fund and is due for completion by 2016. This will ensure that our hall space is large enough for assemblies, lunchtimes and PE lessons, but will result in the loss of the current bookbase. In the short term, this is fantastic news, but in the longer term, this leaves us with a clear fundraising focus for Phase 2 of our building works. This will involve the building of one or two new classrooms, probably in the area between the main corridor and the air raid shelter. This would allow the bookbase to move into one of the smaller classrooms (currently Lion and Koala class) and the other smaller classroom to be used as additional teaching space. We do have a developer contribution from the Ryarsh Brickworks development which will pay in part for Phase 2. PTFA fundraising is likely to be crucial in making this building project a real success in order that our school buildings are finally fit for purpose for a school of over 200 pupils. Next Important Calendar Dates 2015/2016 6th Nov: Kids Tombola Donations 20th Nov: Hamper Donations 20th Nov: Quiz Night 27th Nov: Bottle Tombola Donations 4th Dec: Cake & 2nd Hand Donations 5th Dec: Christmas Bazaar 11th Dec: Secret Santa Donations (non uniform) 15th Dec: Secret Santa 5th Feb: School Disco TBA: Pamper Night 13th May: Summer Fete Donations 20th May: Summer Fete Donations 27th May Summer Fete Donations 10th Jun: Summer Fete Donations 11th Jun: Summer Fete 15th Jul: Leavers Disco Get Involved We are desperately looking for more people to help out with the PTFA. If you have a flair for communication, would like to manage donations for the bazaar or fete, run the 100 club or could maybe be a representative for your class, please do get in touch. If you are interested in helping, you can contact us by email at ptfa@ryarsh.kent.sch.uk, text or phone Julia on 07943 831490 or speak to one of us in the playground. Last Year's Year 6 Poems