PTA

All staff, parents and carers are members of the St James Primary PTA, which is a registered charity and the committee meets monthly with an annual AGM in October.

How to contact us

You can contact the PTA in three different ways:

By email at st.james.elstead.pta@gmail.com
Via your class reps
On WhatsApp – we have dedicated class WhatsApp groups and a WhatsApp community for anyone wishing to be involved
On Facebook at PTA at St James | Facebook

What the PTA do

The PTA performs two important functions:

We develop and foster a positive team spirit and strong school community that benefits everyone involved with the school. By organising fun child, adult and family events each term
We support the school by raising funds which are all spent on valuable resources that add so much to the children’s enjoyment, development and learning.

Fundraising Events

The PTA encourages everyone associated with the school community to come along and enjoy the events that we organise.

The aim each term is to provide an adult-only evening event including Ministry of Elstead, Stars In Their Eyes and more.

We also aim each term to provide an inclusive child-centred event such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs and the school disco to name a few. These events are provided for free or at a low cost so that all children can take part.

Furthermore, we also have smaller events throughout the year designed both for fundraising and/or to foster community spirit such Bag2School, DIY Days at the school, ice-cream sales, drink and snack sales before the school’s performances, and many more.

To donate to the PTA, please follow this link https://www.paypal.com/GB/fundraiser/charity/3177335

A really easy way to raise money for the PTA is to simply sign up to

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/. This means you can raise FREE donations for us every time you shop online! Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ to shop with them – at no extra cost to you!

Shop - Second-hand Uniform and Summer Fun Splash Bookings

PTA OF ST JAMES PRIMARY SCHOOL (pta-events.co.uk)

The PTA sell second-hand uniform at great discounted prices. The uniform shop is available online. Once you've created an account, the uniform is under 'Shop'. Please consider purchasing from the second-hand uniform shop before buying new. The PTA have lots of good-quality items, including summer dresses and shorts.

All proceeds from Shop go to the St James Primary PTA, and you'll be making a positive contribution to the environment by reusing clothes which might otherwise end up in landfill. Please contact Danielle Sleightholme for any specific requests. Her email address is available through the school office.

It is also possible to book the Summer Fun Splash sessions at the St James School Pool using the same webpage and clicking on “Events”. These sessions are open to everyone, so anyone registering without a child at St James can leave that field blank.

Also available at St James Costumes (ptacostumes.wixsite.com) (password stjames) are second-hand fancy dress costumes, great for events such as World Book Day!

Recently funded items

New and fabulous adventure play area
Changing rooms for the swimming pool
Continued upkeep and all running costs of the swimming pool
Funding for the gardening projects
Music lessons and resources

Forthcoming spending

Music funding for all students
Funding for Key Stage 2 production
Annual donation to each class
IT equipment
Swimming pool cover

How are we organised?

The PTA is a registered charity which has a committee of volunteer parents and staff who manage activities on behalf of all PTA members. We keep everyone informed and involved through the PTA News on the school website and the PTA noticeboard in the school playground. We also communicate via the class WhatsApp groups and have a dedicated PTA WhatsApp community that anyone can join. We would also like to invite any carer to join our Facebook group (PTA at St James | Facebook). Finally, the PTA also has an e-mail address at st.james.elstead.pta@gmail.com.

All members are free to attend the informal committee meetings throughout the year. Committee members are elected at our Annual General Meeting in the Autumn Term, which are also open to everyone.

PTA Second-hand uniform

All proceeds go to the St James Primary PTA, and you'll be making a positive contribution to the environment by reusing clothes which might otherwise end up in landfill. Please contact Gemma Hitchen or Danielle Sleightholme for any specific requests. Their email addresses are available through the school office.

Current committee members

Carl Rogers (Chair)

Guy Jones (Treasurer)

Eleanor Stobbs (Secretary)

Orla Tooley (Staff/Head representative)

Valerie Elliott (Executive Headteacher)

Each class has two dedicated representatives - class reps - who help with coordinating and encouraging involvement of parents with their class activities such as walking on the common days and PTA events.

How can you get involved?

We are always delighted to receive offers of help – whether as a one-off or a regular commitment. Just contact any committee member or speak to one of your class representatives to find out what you can do or to make your suggestions. Mums, dads, carers, grandparents, and friends can get involved at many levels:

– come along to events
– contribute to an event (bake a cake, buy a raffle ticket...)
– help out at an event
– come into school to help out in class
– join the committee or sub-committees for organising events

Thank you for reading

Carl Rogers (Chair of PTA)

Guy Jones (Treasurer of PTA)

Eleanor Stobbs (Secretary of PTA)

Orla Tooley (Staff/Head representative)

Valerie Elliott (Executive Headteacher)