Friends of Wendell Park - 2016/2017 Annual General Meeting Minutes Wednesday 29 November 2017, 7pm Attendees:

Rachel Herve Emma Blijdenstein Lisia Bassett Elena Hough Hala Reis

Jonny Sokal Nada Grkinic Karen Baylis Tony Stonehouse

Apologies:

Julie Howarth Abi Spurway Teresa Eavis

Susannah Woodgate Caroline Pang Rebekah Wilson

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Friends Officers Nominations Despite only 4 officer nominations this year, Friday Friends coffee mornings have been well attended with 15-16 people each time with lots of new faces joining this year Having not had a formal Chair since July 2015 when Susannah Woodgate stepped down, the proposed Officers for the charity going forward are: - Co Chairs – Rachel Herve and Emma Blijdenstein - Secretary – Lisia Bassett - Treasurer – Abi Spurway The appointments were proposed and agreed by all in attendance

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Charity Mission Confirmed as the statement per the PTA standard wording. The opportunity to revisit the suitability of the statement (to include development as well as education) was raised although it was agreed that it was generally fit for purpose

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Accounts 2016/2017 A summary of the accounts was presented for the period 2016/2017 showing a net balance of £6,277 This year was the second highest grossing year in the past 5 years with the Summer/Winter Fairs and Fun Run raising the most funds. There has also been a benefit from the receipt of Gift Aid from 2015/16 and 2016/17 £11,000 has been paid out to the school to cover Phase 2 of the playground development, mud kitchen and purchase of library resources

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2016/17 Event Review Summer Fair – Brought forward date in 2017/18 Sponsored Run - New manager for this year (Mounira – Reception parent) to replace Amanda Pye who ran previous runs. Rebecca Sokal is looking in to replacing the Givey donation website to find one that does not charge a fee for use. Need to encourage donors to add Gift Aid to sponsorship

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Winter Fair – Loss of Finlay Brewer sponsorship impacted revenue this year although Rebecca Sokal has negotiated a new deal with Haus, which has generated £1500 in return for estate agent boards, with additional support pledged for the W Factor event School Quiz - Ideas discussed to increase revenue from this popular event. A children’s cinema was suggested as a way to encourage parents to attend however it was decided that parents might probably prefer an adults only evening. - Opportunity to raise additional revenue from food and drink, potentially replacing the honesty bar system - The event is generally well attended but could be opened up to the local community as an option - Discussion whether offering alcohol at the event may discourage some families from attending however it was decided to ensure that there is are plenty of events throughout the year that would appeal to all (e.g. school disco) W Factor - Proposal to launch a “Wendell Choice” award potentially supported by a school sponsor Football Tournament - Nada Grkinic to manage the tournament in 2017/18 and there will be a focus on the FA code of conduct for both parents and children following some behavioural issues this year - Elena Hough stated that there needed to be a clear boundary as to whether this is a Friends or a school event as she felt that there was undue pressure on the teachers to manage the teams. Going forward it was proposed that the managers and tournament marshalls should be parents/carers - Options discussed included: 1. Possibility of securing an FA representative to open the tournament and set the expectations and values for the tournament 2. Guidelines for fair play and acceptable behaviour could be sent out in advance to participants along with parental consent forms 3. Potential opportunity to organise teams around the school Houses as an incentive for good behaviour 4. Managing the number of teams allowed to participate 5. Holding a Managers’ meeting ahead of the tournament to set rules and expectations 6. Creating a prize for Fair play - Despite some issues the event was hugely popular with the majority of the children and it engaged parents for some of whom this may have been their first opportunity to attend a school event this year School Disco - Good format and well attended, suggested whether it could be held more than once a year

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Options to respond to feedback received about parents needing to pay for entry included raising ticket price for children, making the event children only (with potential lower attendance), charging for refreshments rather than including in the ticket price Other feedback was to ensure that there is clearer transparency and communication as to what the event is raising money for and where the funds are being spent. This point was in relation to all donations and tickets for school events in general and not just to the school disco. In future, information could be printed on the tickets or other marketing materials.

2017/18 Objectives Ideas for projects to fund have been canvassed through school trips, Friends coffee mornings and parent surveys Initiatives that can be funded are: - High Visibility vests for school trips to ensure there are enough for at least 1 year group at a time. Suggested that a non-yellow colour to ensure that the children can be easily identified from other schools using yellow vests. Having the school’s name and phone number printed on the vests was deemed a worthwhile investment. Greg Barton has researched and costed out the options - There is a definite need for new School Football Kits - Funding for Creative/Arts trips is a priority for the school this year - Elena Hough confirmed that the school supports the initiatives presented A schedule of initiatives from the recent parents’ survey was presented. It was agreed that there was a need for a structured discussion to determining which initiatives are to be supported by Friends, whether this is during a coffee morning or a separate meeting. It was agreed that the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT) probably has best visibility of what is actually required by the school and would work with the Friends Trustees to identify which initiatives should be taken forward for consideration. A Cost/value analysis for each initiative to be carried out. For the Arts activities there is a need to set out the details of what is to be funded during the year. As the benefits of supporting the Arts is less tangible than new playground equipment or a new library, strong communication will be necessary to help engage parents to support fund raising activities Emma Blijdenstein raised the idea of purchasing microphones for the school halls as it can be difficult to hear assemblies and performances (e.g. International Day). Ben Wilmoth is to look in to options and provide a proposed costing that can be used to evaluate the initiative FOWP 2017/18 Calendar Schedule of events for the year was presented. All events to be run by a lead and a deputy Options discussed for the Arts Week event in July:

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Secret Artist event – similar to an event hosted by another local school where parents could bid for artwork by children or local artists Tony Stonehouse suggested purchasing a screen-printing apparatus to teach pupils the skills to print their own bags, T-shirts etc which they could take ownership for selling at the school Holding a higher profile launch event for the Art Gallery (perhaps a Private View?) to make it more of an occasion and offer opportunities to sell artwork or have a competitive element between the Houses to it Tony also suggested that classes could produce a class “quilt” which could be displayed and sold

Class Reps Emma Blijdenstein presented an update on the initiative to establish a class rep system Nominations received for all classes except for Aqua (year 1), Turquoise (Year 5) and Amethyst (Year 6) It was agreed to go ahead with the representatives and have 1 joint class rep for Years 1, 5 and 6 It was noted that the school cannot formally endorse the class rep system and that parents would be given the option to “opt in” to receiving updates and communications from the nominated class rep. Paper slips from Friends will be given out in school bags to parents Informal guidelines will also be prepared for class reps setting out what could be covered as part of the role, although it is expected that the role will naturally evolve over time Discussion continued around how to engage and reach out to families for which English is not their first language. Elena Hough is hosting a coffee morning for Early Years bi-lingual families as a means of increasing engagement. Hala Reis offered to facilitate sharing messages with the Arabic speaking families and suggested other bi-lingual parents who could potentially play a role in this Trustees Existing Trustees: Julie Howarth, Jonny Sokal, Abi Spurway confirmed as continuing. Retired Trustees: Julie Francis, Rachel Jerrome, Clare Holland and Rachel Stewart Proposed trustees: Rachel Herve, Emma Blidjenstein and Lisia Bassett were proposed by Karen Baylis and their appointment agreed by all Friends Organisational Structure 3 pillars of Event Management, Communication and Finances/Admin presented Suggestion to add Community Engagement under Communications Need for creative assistance with Communications and potentially redesign of Friends Logo – Louis Fowler (Reception parent) suggested Need to tidy up admin and processes which the Trustees will be reviewing going forward 4

Friends of Wendell Park - 2016/2017 Annual General Meeting Minutes 10. A.O.B.  Hala Reis raised the issue of the automatic translation of the School website not being effective when translated in to Arabic. It was agreed to look in to reasons for this. A suggestion was made to ensure that certain key areas of the website are properly translated. This has since been raised to Susannah Woodgate who has agreed to pick this up with the supplier on behalf of Friends  The issue of how to raise engagement and levels of interaction with non-English speaking families at the school was raised. Again it was suggested that hosting coffee mornings with attendance from parents who could act as a conduit for translating and sharing communication between the school and these families  It was agreed that increasing engagement with the non-English speaking population of the school would be added a priority for Friends this year  With no other business raised the meeting ended and closed

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