Hello,
Ever wondered what we do with all the money we raise? Well, in the last few weeks we have spent:
- over £3,500 on ordering new curtains for the hall
- around £400 on buying two new mud kitchens
- around £350 on yoga workshops before half-term
- £400 on author Jeanne Willis’ visit for World Book Day
- £600 on science week workshops next week
- and around £900 for a whole school treat in April which will involve each year group building a giant city out of Kapla.
This year we’re also planning to spend thousands on a new AV system for the school hall (item requested by the school as part of their technology fundraiser); some fun climbing elements for the garden; and to create a welcoming Reading room on the first floor.
The various cake sales held on Fridays throughout the year are also helping raise money for class treats, and a whole school trip to the seaside at the end of the year. Well done to Year 2 who raised £200 with their cake sale on Friday!
All of this wouldn’t be possible without your help, so thank you to everyone who volunteers at our events. Talking of which, the next one is the Jumble sale on 16 March, and we need all hands on deck to raise money (we’re hoping to beat the £1,700 we raised in October). Please see below for more info on how you can help or volunteer.
If you would like to find out more about how we work, and how to get involved, you can join us at our next meeting on Wednesday 13 March at 8pm online. We’re all volunteers with full time jobs and we do as much or as little as we can – everyone is welcome. Here is the meeting agenda and meeting details will be shared on the class Whatsapp groups next week.
HACKNEY SCHOOL STARS
In other news, Hackney School Stars is a chance for members of the community to nominate any member of schools or early years staff for a special award.
Patsy is celebrating 30 years working at Grasmere this year so please take some time to nominate her for a Lifetime Achievement award! Other longstanding staff members include Billy (19 years), Julie (18 years) Debbie (17 years) and Carmen (15 years) as well as Sharon of course! You can just put the school’s phone number and general email when you nominate them.
PUB QUIZ
Thank you to everyone who took part and helped organise the pub quiz at The Shakespeare: we raised just over £850 with this event: £165 tickets + £120 food sale + £300 donation from The Shakespeare + £300 matched giving donation (please get in touch if you work for a big company who is part of this scheme, you could help us double our fundraising by helping out at an event!). Congratulations to the winning team – two years in a row… Can they ever be beaten?
Big thanks to our wonderful quiz masters (rounds included Cheese or Motorway Stations, celebrity names in emoji and pictures of local hotspots, all great fun!) and of course to the Shakespeare team – please support your local pub! (Fun fact: it’s the oldest pub building in Stokey.)
JUMBLE SALE
We will need lots of help on the Friday 15 to sort out the jumble, even if you can only help for an hour that would make a big difference. Please sign up here if you can - we also need help with the books and toys stalls! Dads/male carers are welcome to help: so far there’s only one (?!) dad out of 41 volunteers and we need at least ten more helpers.
And of course, please donate your jumble – nothing broken or dirty please. Books, toys, bric-à-brac, homeware, small furniture, clothes (adult and children), shoes and accessories. We need enough to fill the entire floor of the blue container! Any leftovers will be donated to the British Heart Foundation and the Hackney Baby Bank.
EASTER EGG HUNT
Also coming up is one of the children’s favourite events, FROGS’ Easter Egg Hunt, which has been held in the school garden for over 20 years! Please sign up here if you can volunteer to be one of our Easter Bunnies (ie hide the eggs in the garden for each year group). We’ll also need your chocolate egg donations so keep an eye out for any bargains (check that there are no nuts please).
You can leave your donations with Patsy and Burcu from Monday 18 March, thank you!
GARDEN PROJECT
We kickstarted our Garden project by getting two new mud kitchens, and some colourful trugs. Thank you so much for your donations of pots and pans, they have already been put to good use.
If you have any old metal camping cups or mugs that you would like donate please leave them in the garden on the kitchen shelves, thank you!
Thank you to all the children who have voted for their favourite climbing elements. We have two clear first choice winners, the Monkey Bars (21 votes) and the zig zag balance logs (14 votes):
Also top of the wish list are the Hercules Hoops, Traveller Ropes, and Scramble net:
And finally the Stepping logs with posts, and Hop up logs:
We will do our best to incorporate as many of these elements as we can into the garden to make it a fun play area for the kids, and we will be going back to the companies we have selected to get more precise quotes for this project.
We will soon need some volunteers to do a spot of gardening and lots of painting.
We’re also looking for a jet wash to clean the garden classroom’s canvas roof, so if you can help with this please let us know.
NEXT TERM
Please take a look at the meeting agenda to see what is coming up next term. We are looking for a volunteer to organise the Enterprise Fair in June, please get in touch if you can help!
Thank you and take care,
FROGS