Ratcliffe College Parent’s Association

Minutes from the Annual General Meeting

Held on Tuesday 19 June 2007

Present

Mr Peter Farrar	Mrs Pat Clayfield	Mrs Anne Taylor
Mrs Sarah Pole	Mrs Becky Page	Mr Michael Tolond
Mrs Bindi Desai	Mrs Lucy Patterson	Mrs Amalia McGrath
Mr Keith Croysdale	Mrs Alison Etty	Ms Polly Phillipson
Mrs Caroline Rigby	Mrs Nicki Howard	Mrs Sam Pole
Mrs Sheila Alcock	Mr David Nightingale

Apologies

Apologies were received from Mr Darryl Wideman and Mr David Robson.  David welcomed everyone to the meeting especially Mr Keith Croysdale, a new member.

Adoption of Minutes from Last Meeting

David asked if there were any comments or amendments with regards to last year’s minutes, none were noted.  It was agreed to sign and adopt last years minutes.  This was proposed by Caroline Rigby and seconded by Lucy Patterson.  David signed last year’s minutes.

David asked if there were any matters arising, there were none.

Chairperson’s Report

David gave his Report.  The adoption of the Report was nominated by Amalia McGrath and seconded by Sarah Pole.

Mr Farrar thanked David for his leadership this year; he thanked the members for a good year and said that the school appreciated all the Parents’ Association did for it.  He said the school would continue to appreciate the positive contributions the Parents’ Association made to school life and was looking forward to working the Parents’ Association next year.

Treasurer’s Report

Becky handed out a printed copy of the accounts.  Becky ran through the accounts detailing income and expenditure. The Parent’s Association has made considerable donations throughout the year to school departments, school charities and outside charities.

The Parent’s Association is in a good position again this year with a balance of £8,251.27.  Becky asked if there were any questions, Amalia McGrath asked if the payments made to Richard Brown were for this year,  it was pointed out that they were for last year.

Michael Tolond asked why the interest figures for the account were so low.  Becky replied that whilst the accounts used to be with HSBC the Parents’ Association only received in the region of £20/£30 interest per year.  Since Becky took over the Parents’ Association has moved the account to Barclays and opened a Community Account.  There is no interest paid on this type of account but there are also no bank charges.  It is possible to open an interest earning account to run along side the Community Account but it would still earn a very small amount of interest and create more work for the Treasurer.

Mr Farrar thanked Becky for doing a good job throughout the year and also thanked her for the clear and well kept Accounts.  He thanked the Parents’ Association for their help in raising so many funds for the school and charity and said it was good to be going into the next school year with such a healthy balance.

The adoption of the Treasurer’s Report was proposed by Anne Taylor and seconded by Bindi Desai.

Resignations during the year

Sadly there have been some resignations this year.

First Colin Brandish left the Parents’ Association earlier this year due to increased work commitments.  Alison Stokes also resigned due to increased work commitments and finally Caroline Rigby has resigned as she is to become the Head of Junior Department in the new school year.

All these members will be missed and the Committee thanked them for all their hard work over the last year.

Elections of Officers and Committee Members for the coming year

There were three positions that needed to be filled this time, they were:-

Nursery Rep, Junior Rep and Secretary.  Everyone else was happy to remain in their current positions.

Nursery Rep is to be left open until September when we may have new parents who could be interested.  Junior Rep is to be filled by Sarah Pole as her daughter is leaving Nursery and joining the Junior Department, thank you Sarah.

The Secretary position is up for renewal as Sam Pole has completed three years as Secretary and in accordance with the constitution she has to stand down.  This is going to be filled by Michael Tolond, thank you Michael.

Nominations:

Position of Secretary – Michael Tolond was proposed by Sam Pole and this was seconded by Nicki Howard.

Position of Junior Rep – Sarah Pole was proposed by Becky Page and seconded by Alison Etty.

New Committee Members – Sophie Neuberg was proposed by Becky Page and seconded by Sarah Pole and Keith Croysdale was proposed by David Nightingale and seconded by Becky Page.

Positions that will continue into the new year:

Chairperson	David Nightingale
Vice Chairperson	Amalia McGrath
Treasurer	Becky Page
Vice-Treasurer	Lucy Patterson
Newsletter Editor	Alison Etty
Committee Members	Bindi Desai
	Denise Hughes
	Sam Pole
School Liaison Officers	Anne Taylor
	Polly Phillipson

There has been a good response from parents attending the Information Evenings for new Parents and hopefully September will bring an influx of new members.  According to the constitution we are allowed 16 members in total so we still have some positions available.

Sam Pole presented Caroline Rigby with a bouquet of flowers from all on the Parents’ Association.  David wished her luck in her new role as Head of Junior Department and thanked her for all her hard work over the past year.   Sarah Pole presented Sam Pole with a gift on behalf of the Parents’ Association for all her hard work during the last three years as Secretary.

David asked if there was any other business.  There was none.

David concluded the meeting.  Refreshments were served.

Chairperson’s Report

The Parents’ Association’s year really begins with the Cocktail Party.  The sub-committee worked very hard to make this event a big success.  The champagne cocktails were wonderful and it was a great finale to the school year.

The new school year began in September with the Headmaster’s Reception for new and current parents, which is co-hosted by the Parents’ Association, and we then moved straight into the Open Morning in October where we got to meet many prospective parents.  From these meetings we were lucky to find some new committee members.

Our first big event of the year was the Quiz and Curry night in November.  A sold out evening saw teams battle it out with mind-boggling questions from Mr Wideman.  Thanks to Lucy Patterson and the sub-committee for the fabulous planning. Everyone had a good evening. It was a very good atmosphere and this event is now a firm favourite in our social calendar.

The Christmas holidays were approaching and that meant decorating the church to celebrate the festivities.  With ivy and greenery harvested and donated by Amalia McGrath, Sam Pole and her team of volunteers set out to transform the Church with two of the biggest Christmas trees this side of Trafalgar Square. Lots of hard work and gold spray paint later, it was a wonderful sight! 

The annual Christmas Ball was headed by Sam Pole.  This year we had a lively disco and an excellent magician.  The evening included a beautiful sit down dinner and a very enjoyable time was had by all who attended.

At Ratcliffe for the Parents’ Association the spring term now means the Spring Fair and everyone did a magnificent job preparing for the event. Luckily we were blessed with dry, if a little cold, weather on the day.  The Mayor of Charnwood opened the event.   Almost 20 craft stalls filled the theatre with high class merchandise.  Amalia McGrath aided by Eleanor Waters managed to recruit and organise an army of volunteers as only she can.  A corner of the Sports Hall was home to the indoor games and a children’s craft paradise. Jolly Jingles entertained the children with Punch & Judy and the bouncy castle was a great attraction. Mrs Etty, Miss Phillipson and Alison Stokes served up refreshments and hog roast to all.  The cake stall tempted us and Caroline Rigby ran a massive Easter Egg Tombola.  Sarah Pole oversaw events in the sports hall and at the same time ran the tombola with her helpers.   Becky Page and Lucy Patterson kept track of the money and Becky ensured that the raffle was again a great success. 

It was a lovely day and people stayed well into the afternoon.  Best of all, we were able to raise nearly £5000 for our two charities, The Rehoboth Children’s Orphanage and The County Air Ambulance Trust.  Thank you to everyone who supported this event. Planning has already started for next year!!

The summer term has kept us on our toes as well, with refreshments at all the Senior School Drama productions and we have made presentations to new parents on the work of the Parents’ Association at all three of the Information Evenings.  At the time of going to press both the Senior School and Junior Department and Nursery School Sports Days were still to take place but a big thank you to all the parents who have offered to help at these events.

In addition to providing social activities, we have also supported the school with the following donations: Junior Department with a CD player, books for the Rosmini Sixth Form Centre, a camera for the Nursery School, and a donation towards a new lighting rig for the Drama department to mention but a few, and this is in addition to charities that we have supported alongside the school.

The Chair and Vice Chair have participated in the Ratcliffe College Advisory Group where we meet with representatives of the school in an informal way to tell them of our activities and the views of parents.

It has been an action packed year and I would like to thank everyone: committee members, staff and everyone who volunteered this year.

In the next term the Parents’ Association hopes to welcome many new members to the committee. We would like to encourage everyone to participate.  It takes a lot of work to make these events happen and there is room for many new faces. 

Thank you

David Nightingale

Chairperson

Ratcliffe College Parents’ Association