What we do

Our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) brings staff and families together to make our children’s time at primary school as rewarding as possible.

If you have a child at St. Joseph’s you’re automatically a member of our PTA. Perhaps your artistic flair can play a part when we need a face painter or help with setting up and decorating an event; you might be a star baker; great at getting people on board with supporting our school; or maybe you can keep your cool when hot food and drinks orders are coming in... Whatever your skills and talents, we would love you on board. And we don't want you to feel that by volunteering once, you're tied in for every event going. Whatever way you can lend a hand, and however often, makes a huge difference to us.

Please check to see what events are coming up to see if you can help. Thank you.

Meet the team

Our PTA team members are here if you’d like to share ideas or have a chat. Here are some faces to look out for.

Ruth’s main role is to chair and guide committee meetings and to liaise between the committee, staff and parents about PTA events and fundraising opportunities. “The most rewarding part of the job is agreeing how to spend the money we raise and then seeing the results of our fundraising being enjoyed by the children around the school. It's also really important to me that we have some fun together along the way!”

Homepage

Ruth Davies, Chair and Charity Trustee

As Secretary of our PTA, Helen sends out meeting agendas, takes minutes and distributes those to all relevant parties, along with assisting with any other administrative work required on an ad hoc basis. “It's great to be part of an amazing team who are so committed and work so hard to raise extra funds to enhance the learning experience of all the children at St. Joseph's.”

Homepage

Helen Woods, Secretary and Charity Trustee

As Treasurer, it is Jenny's role to prepare and present finance reports for each PTA meeting. The Treasurer also prepares annual statutory accounts and returns to the Charities Commission and reports annually at the AGM on all financial matters, as well as managing issues relating to insurance, cash matching and Gift Aid. “Being part of the PTA team is a great way to contribute to my children’s school life and a brilliant opportunity to meet other parents.”

Homepage

Jenny Congdon, Treasurer and Charity Trustee

As Bookkeeper, Kaye is part of the Treasury team with the specific responsibility of keeping records of all incomings and outgoings, preparing monthly bank reconciliations and refunding expenses. “This is a great team to be part of! It’s a lovely way to be involved in my children's school and I’m always amazed by the fabulous results.”

Homepage

Kaye Lee, Bookkeeper

As Vice Chair, Lorna supports Ruth in all aspects of her role including hosting meetings that Ruth is unable to attend and liaising with the committee and sub-committees that are organising events. "Being involved in the PTA is a great way to support the school community and meet other parents."

Homepage

Lorna Hayward, Vice Chair

Anne Coonan, Grants and Funding Co-ordinator

The focus of Anne's role is devising a fundraising strategy for our PTA which takes in all potential sources of grants and fundraising. Anne works closely with the rest of the PTA Committee to ensure that we maximise the use and effectiveness of all available schemes, such as cash matching, gift aid and reward schemes “This is a fantastic way to be involved in my children's school and I’ve also made some great new friends through it.”

Homepage

Anne Coonan

Other PTA co-ordinator posts

Events organisers
Bernadette Flynn	Laura Potter	Caroline Burns
Jenna Cassidy	Kathy Tarr-Graham	Emma Houston
Helen Woods	Katie Robson
Website manager	Newsletter editor	Weekly draw co-ordinator
Joanne Healy	Fiona Fogarty	Kaye Lee
Banker

More about our PTA

Our PTA is an integral part of the school community, and has been for many years – lots of previous committee members and staff who have had children at our school still help us out today. As parents and members of the school community you are warmly invited to get involved, even if you only have a small amount of time available.

Together, we raise thousands of pounds which is spent on improving equipment and resources to enhance our children's education and the facilities in school in general.

But our PTA is about much, much more than just fundraising. This lovely and close-knit community provides a bridge between home and school and is an excellent way of bringing staff, parents and friends together socially in support of St. Joseph’s. Not all of our events are run as fundraisers, either. Our children's discos and fun afternoons are run with the aim of giving the children a good time and as a way of thanking families for their continued support. We are extremely conscious of the ethos and morals of our school, and we try very hard when organising and planning events to respect this.

Why are we a Registered Charity?

The Charities Act 1993 requires organisations such as ours, with an annual income in excess of £1,000, to register with the Charity Commission.

As a Charity, we must abide by Charity Commission rules and regulations and we are bound by a constitution. Our constitution sets out rules about how we operate as a PTA and how we conduct ourselves. A full copy can be obtained from the PTA Treasurer.

Being a Registered Charity gives us many extra benefits:

we are able to apply for Gift Aid, which can earn us an extra 25p in every pound donated to the PTA, out of earned income;
we can raise funds more easily from grant-giving trusts, local businesses etc;
we can take advantage of charity-matched giving schemes.