The PTA
The school is fortunate to have a very active School Association (a registered charity but commonly referred to as the “Parent Teachers Association” or “PTA”) led by volunteer parents. Our PTA has two short meetings a year (9 to 10am before Christmas and Summer Fairs), as well as an evening Annual General Meeting (AGM) to agree priorities and decide how money is spent.
The PTA primarily organizes 4 social/fund-raising events for the school/community; a School Disco, Winter Fair and family BINGO Night with a big annual Summer Festival. Our 2021 Summer Fair raised over £8000 and overall our PTA aims to raise up to £25,000 per academic year to support the school and help make it extra special. In the past the PTA has funded a fantastic island play area, ipads, contributed to the schools amazing solar panels (which now generate money for school!) and science lab garden.
There is scope for the PTA to do more to support the school if parents are willing to volunteer time/skills – all contributions big or small are valued. If you want to make yourself known to the current Co- Chairs or PTA Secretary, the school staff can point you in the right direction.
Parents and carers also often join a class WhatsApp group (not organised by the school) to stay connected. Please follow our guidance on participation in class whatsapp.
Supporting trips
Eleanor Palmer has an amazing number of school trips every year which enrich and support the curriculum. This cannot happen without parent volunteers – parents are informed in advance of each visit both in the school and class newsletters (also detailed on the school calendar). Please feel confident to volunteer your services – many parents find its worth taking time off work/getting childcare for younger siblings if possible to support at least one trip a year, as nothing demonstrates the importance of learning more than parents contributing to school life in this way. Class Teachers try to ensure all parent volunteers to have a turn, prioritizing those parents who haven’t been before.
Off Site Visits 2021
Cake Sales
Each week, classes, in turn, host a cake sale after school on a Friday. Parents are asked to contribute cakes and biscuits (ideally homemade/low sugar) and to sell on the day. These sales are very popular and consistently raise over £70-£100.
Raising Money
Finally, if you’re doing shopping online, please remember the Easy Fundraising Scheme , selecting Eleanor Palmer. It doesn’t cost you extra and there’s no catch – the website takes you to normal online shops including Amazon etc. and then credits the school for any purchases you make. Small amounts, which quickly add up. It’s so easy to sign up – you just need to remember to use it! Sign up HERE
Once you are registered, use the links on the easy fundraising site to go to your favourite online shops and shop in the usual way.
Please encourage your friends and family to sign up too and raise even more money for Eleanor Palmer!
Handy Hint: You can even set up an icon on your desktop to take you straight to the easyfundraising site.
For those of you who use Amazon for shopping, if you shop through Amazon Smile they will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price of eligible products to a charity of your choice. It’s just the same as Amazon, just you shop through their Smile site and add Eleanor Palmer as your default charity.
Sponsors
A huge thank you to our 2017-2022 sponsors Marsh&Parsons.
We also wish to thank Sainsburys Fortess Road, the Junction Tavern, MEAT, Franco Manca, B PR, Coop Fortess Road, Bear + Wolf and MAP for their generous donations in recent years, as well as all the wonderful parents who contribute multiple times a year.
If you have any contacts that could support our school, sponsor events or provide prizes, please contact the PTA Chairs via the school office.