What is the PTA?
The Parent Teacher Association at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School is known as FOSP (Friends of Scholes Primary).
FOSP is a charity registered in England and Wales (registered charity number: 1030922) and our aim is to advance the education and experience of pupils in the school by organising activities or providing facilities or equipment which support the school.
While all parents / carers and staff are considered members of FOSP, the FOSP committee is a group of parents and staff who give their time on a voluntary basis to organise and run fundraising activities for those in our school community. FOSP meet approximately every six weeks (once a half term). We welcome all parents and carers at the school to join in.
The funds we raise provide ‘extras’ for the school. Each year, the school gives us a ‘wish list’ of items they feel would be of benefit. For example, we’ve contributed towards the refurbishment of the swimming pool, iPads for each class as well as musical instruments and outdoor play equipment. Our target for this year is to raise £3,000 for the ‘reading for pleasure’ library.
For more information, or if you’d like to join in with PTA in some way, contact the school office.
FOSP Events
Our main fundraising events are four school discos – Hallowe’en, Christmas, Easter and Summer. We also hold events for parents and the wider community such as quiz nights, copper contests, drawing competitions and Bags4School (clothing recycling). If you have ideas for any other events, please speak to the FOSP Chair, leave a message at the school office or on our Facebook page, ‘Friends of Scholes Primary’, or come along to our next meeting!
Other ways to fundraise
Please spread the word among your family and friends about these ways to raise money for FOSP, so we can benefit our school!
We welcome donations of any amount to help achieve our aim of advancing the education of pupils at the school. One-off or regular donations can be made – thank you for your support.
Matched funding
Many organisations offer matched funding schemes where money raised for charity by employees is matched by the organisation (usually up to a certain amount). If you work for such an organisation and are willing to help out at one of the FOSP events, we can double the amount we raise. If you can help with matched funding, please email matchedfundingFOSP@gmail.com
Amazon Smile
Did you know that FOSP (Friends of Scholes Primary) are set up as a charity on Amazon Smile? This means that for EVERY order made on Amazon, Amazon donates money to FOSP (which will used to benefit school).
All you need to do is use Amazon Smile (rather than usual Amazon site) by using smile.amazon.co.uk. Alternatively, you can set FOSP as your selected charity in your Amazon App, which will use Amazon Smile in future.
The FIRST time you use it, you just need to search for “Friends of Scholes Primary” as your chosen charity and select us, and that’s it!
Ordering through this site can generate many donations – it would be a huge boost to raise money for school. Please help us by always using Amazon Smile, and set smile.amazon.co.uk as your Amazon bookmark, or add us in the Amazon app.
easyfundraising
Do you shop online? Did you know that every time you shop you could be raising money for FOSP? Shop with any of over 3000 well-known retailers listed on easyfundraising.org.uk and a percentage of what you spend is passed to Friends of Scholes Primary. Retailers include Amazon, M&S, Vodafone, eBay, Tesco, Boden, Waitrose, House of Fraser, Viking and many more. It’s like nectar but instead of earning points, each purchase generates a donation. So, instead of going directly to a retailer’s website, go to easyfundraising first and choose the retailer you want to shop with – then everything you spend with that retailer earns a free donation for FOSP. It’s free to use and your shopping won’t cost you a penny more. On average, each retailer will donate 5% of the cost of your shopping – and those donations soon mount up. Please register to support us when you shop online!
Supermarket vouchers
We always collect supermarket vouchers, such as those from Sainsbury’s Active Kids, Tesco Schools and Clubs and Morrisons Let’s Grow (and tokens like Nestle Box Tops from cereal packets, too!). The school uses vouchers like these to buy new equipment for the playgrounds at lunchtime – a new parachute, some skipping ropes, new balancing equipment…
Scooters for Schools
Are you planning on buying a scooter for your child? You could earn money or scooters for our school at the same time!
Shop at www.micro-scooters.co.uk and enter our school’s URN code (107813) so we can receive money or scooters.
Join in
If you’d like to find out more about what we do, or become involved in FOSP, either as a committee member or volunteer at events, you’re welcome to come along to one of the meetings. You’d be very welcome and it’s a great way to be part of school life!