FROGS End of Term Newsletter

The winter term is coming to a close after a few busy weeks here at Grasmere! As the dust settles from all the performances and parties, we wanted to gratefully share the incredible fun and success our Grasmere family created together, along with a look ahead to what’s coming this spring.

FROGS Meetings

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the FROGS meeting on 19 November. It was a really productive evening, and we’re grateful to all who took the time to attend, share ideas, and help shape what we fund and support for the school. If you’d like to catch up, the meeting minutes are available to read here.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, 15 January at 9:00 am in the school hall. Everyone is welcome, whether you’re keen to get involved, curious about what we do, or just want to listen in. Hope to see you there!

Year Four Bake Sale

A huge thank you to our Year 4 families for making the bake sale such a success. With so many delicious homemade treats and lots of enthusiastic shoppers, the sale raised £162.90 for the school! We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who baked, bought, and helped support the event.

FROGS 40th Anniversary

A very special thank you to everyone who celebrated FROGS’ 40th anniversary with us at International Night. It was a beautiful evening full of colour, music, incredible food, and togetherness. It felt like the perfect way to mark four decades of FROGS supporting our school, and we’re so grateful to everyone who helped make it such a memorable night.

New Merchandise Update

Great news from our FROGS merch sales. So far, we’ve raised an incredible £1,098.54 in profit for the school. We still have a range of items available to order online, but some designs and sizes are almost sold out. Any new orders placed from now on will be available for collection after the start of next term, so if you’ve had your eye on something, now’s the time to snap it up. You can shop the remaining merch here.

Reading Room Walls Makeover

We’re delighted to share that the new wallpaper has been installed in the Reading Room on the first floor. This project began two years ago, funded by money raised through the FROGS Art Club, and it’s wonderful to finally see it completed. Huge thanks to Lea for getting the idea off the ground and to Mike for generously giving his time and skill to install it. The space already feels brighter, calmer, and even more inviting for young readers.

The Winter Fair

The Winter Fair was a fantastic success and helped us all get into the festive spirit! It took a huge team effort to pull together all of the stalls including Santa’s House of Socks (with special thanks to our year 6 class volunteers), teddy and bottle tombolas, hotdogs and raclette, bar, winter crafts, snowman ball toss, find the snowman’s nose, knock the elf off the shelf, gingerbread decorating, bonfire and marshmallows, plus an excellent raffle.  A special shout out goes to the Grasmere Carol Singers for adding an extra dose of Christmas cheer once again.

Of course the star attraction was our amazing Santa’s Grotto, so a huge thank you to Santa and his Elf for taking the time to stop off at Grasmere - there were lots of very happy children! 

Thanks to all your support, hard work, and enthusiasm (and the generosity of local businesses*), we raised an incredible £2,800 for the school. This is in addition to funds raised through Christmas tree sales and merchandise, so it’s a really great result. A perfect way to close out the Winter Term!

*A big shout-out to all the local businesses who kindly donated prizes for the raffle:

Canto 73 - Jolene - Primeur - Escocesa – Stokey’s Delicatessen – Whole Foods - De Beauvoir Deli – Creative Mash – Simon’s Sports Camp - On the Ball Sports Camp - Yield N16 - Cadet - Rowan’s Tenpin Bowling - Saltine – Corrochios - Buller & Rice – Brags & Brams - Franco Manca – Gail’s Bakery - Push Cycles - Discover Children’s Story Centre - Hackney Peddler – Prep Cookshop - Search and Rescue - Flip Out Canary Wharf - Sapid Coffee - Shine – Know & Love – Nook - Stoke Newington Bookshop - Shrine on the Vine - Kitchen Provisions - Oeno Maris - Voodoo Ray’s, Dalston – Spence Bakery – Belle Époque – Nando’s - Acoustic Garden - Evergreen and Outrageous - Earlybird Designs - Coffee Klatch - No. 60 Brasserie

Christmas Shopping to Raise Funds

As you head into the festive shopping season, a little reminder that you can support FROGS while ticking off your Christmas list:

  • Shop online through Easyfundraising, and retailers will donate to FROGS at no extra cost to you. See flyer below for details.

  • Shop locally at Yield N16, and they’ll donate a portion of your purchase when you mention Grasmere at checkout. Supporting local businesses and the school at the same time is a real win-win!

Finally, we’d like to wish all our families a restful, joyful holiday break. We can’t wait to see everyone back in the new year, with lots of exciting FROGS events planned for the spring term, including Cinema Night, Pub Trivia, a Jumble Sale, and the ever-popular Easter Egg Hunt.

Thank you again for being such a supportive and generous community. See you in the spring term for more FROGS fun.

Thank you and take care,


The FROGS Team

Winter Greetings from FROGS

We hope you’re all easing into the cosy season. Here’s a quick round-up of what’s been happening and what’s coming up.

A huge thank you for an amazing Disco Night
Friday’s school disco was a hit! The kids danced their hearts out, roasted marshmallows by the fire pit, and raised £447.97 for the school. A big shout-out to DJ Ben and all the volunteers who made it such a brilliant evening.

TONIGHT: FROGS Meeting at The Shakespeare
Our next FROGS meeting will take place this Wednesday, 19 November at 8 pm at The Shakespeare— and everyone is warmly invited. You can find the agenda here.

Come along, have a chat, hear what’s happening, and help us make another brilliant year for the kids. Everyone is welcome — the more voices, the better!

New School Merchandise

Our school merch shop is now live, with a fresh range of blue hoodies, long-sleeve tops, T-shirts, tote bags, and PE bags — perfect for everyday use or holiday gifting. You can browse and order everything here.

This year, we’re offering two designs, available in deep navy blue and bright royal blue, both celebrating the creativity and spirit of our school community.

“We Are Grasmere” – our new design
This brand-new artwork takes its cue from the much-loved Rude Studio style, using a handwritten multicoloured font that reflects the welcoming spirit of our school community. Many thanks to Liza, a Reception mum, for her hard work on the design!

Rude Studio – the classic favourite
Rude Studio’s original bright, bold design is back! Inspired by our beautiful bespoke school mural, it celebrates Grasmere’s creative spirit and the special memories our families helped create during its making.

All profits go straight back into funding school projects, so every purchase makes a difference.

New School Merchandise: Pay It Forward

When shopping for school merch, you will also see an option for “Pay It Forward”. At Grasmere, everyone should feel included and welcomed. Wearing school-branded clothing is a way we show we’re all part of the same community, and we want everyone in the community to have the option of wearing the merch.

We would welcome donations to “pay it forward” and help cover the cost of a piece of Grasmere swag that will quietly go to a child who might not otherwise receive one. All the funds will be put towards merch to be distributed discreetly and with care by the school.

Thank you for helping make sure every child feels included!

The Winter Fair is Coming!
We've been working hard behind the scenes to bring you another great Winter Fair. Somehow it's now only 2 weeks on Friday! This year’s star attractions include the return of Santa and his (giant) elf, Year 6’s “Lucky Christmas Socks”, Year 5’s “hot dog raclette” stall, and Grasmere’s very own carol singers.  We’ve also got some genuinely excellent raffle prizes lined up. 

Other entertainment on the day includes:

Reception and nursery: Find the snowman’s nose / gingerbread decorating
Year 1: Bar / Christmas shop
Year 2: Snowman ball toss / Santa’s grotto
Year 3: Knock the elf off the shelf
Year 4: Bonfire and marshmallows / winter crafts
Year 5: Hot dog raclette / Christmas carols
Year 6: Lucky Christmas socks / teddy and bottle tombola

This is one of FROGS’ biggest fundraisers of the year and a great opportunity to get into the festive spirit, so we really do need your help to make it a success.  Please sign up here to volunteer if you can - we will need lots of help!  You can volunteer with your children (apart from the kitchen and bar) and it’s very easy!  

We are also looking for your help with:

  • Tombola prizes: like last year, we’ll be running a bottle tombola (for adults) and a teddy tombola (for the kids), so please look out for those bottles and soft toys!  We’d love a range of bottles to keep things interesting - think anything from bubbly to bubble bath! 

  • Homemade treats and crafts: we’re looking for items to sell in our Christmas shop, so we would love contributions of homemade crafts or treats (cards, decorations, fudge, chutney, etc.).

  • Small prizes: unwanted party bag toys or small gifts (to be used as prizes) would be gratefully received.

  • Christmas socks: Year 6 are looking for (clean!) second-hand Christmas socks for their “Lucky Christmas Socks” stall.

  • Christmas books and jumpers: please dig out any good-quality second-hand books and jumpers for us to sell in the Christmas shop.  No other jumble, please, as we have nowhere to store it!

  • Baking and snacks: as usual, we’ll be selling hot chocolate and other yummy treats in the kitchen.

We’ll send more details via class reps nearer the time.  Thank you all so much in advance! 

Christmas Trees – Order now
We’re selling beautiful Christmas trees again this year. They come in five sizes, starting from £30. Orders close on 26 November, and collection will be on Friday, 5 December at school. Full details above.

Shop local and support FROGS

Local wine shop, deli & bar, Yield N16 is raising funds for our school again this year, starting now until 2 January 2026. When shopping at the deli or going for a glass of wine, beer, charcuterie & cheese, just mention Grasmere School and Yield N16 will donate 10% of the total bill back to the school in January. The shop is open daily from 10 am to 10 pm.

Easyfundraising – the simplest way to support the school
If you haven’t tried Easyfundraising yet, it’s an incredibly simple way to help FROGS raise money...without spending anything extra!


When you shop online, participating retailers make a small donation to FROGS at no cost to you. It takes two minutes to set up, and those tiny wins add up fast.

You can register here using our referral link. If you do one thing for FROGs today, let it be this one — it genuinely makes a difference.

Thanks as always for your support and enthusiasm. It keeps these events running and helps fund the extras that make Grasmere special.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

FROGS in Full Swing

Hello Team Grasmere!

What a fantastic start to the new school year. The energy around Grasmere has been amazing, and it already feels like the year is off to a flying start. A huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered, donated, baked, organised, or turned up to support the school.

Below you’ll find a look at what FROGS has been up to so far, along with some exciting events and updates ahead. As always, we’d love to hear from you, whether you have questions, feedback, or new ideas for how FROGS can continue to support our community.

 

Kapla Workshop

This past week got off to an exciting start with the much-anticipated Kapla Workshop, where each class transformed the hall into a world of towers, bridges, and creatures made entirely from wooden Kapla planks. The children worked brilliantly together, showing creativity, patience, and impressive teamwork as their constructions took shape.

A big thank you to Jennifer from Kapla Clubs UK, who did a fantastic job running the workshops, and to the parent volunteers who helped make the day possible.

As always, the cleanup proved to be just as much fun as the building!

AGM Recap & Minutes

Thank you to everyone who attended the FROGS AGM on Friday 19 September. The AGM is our chance each year to review what’s been achieved, agree priorities for the year ahead, and elect the committee that helps make it all happen.

This year’s meeting included updates on last year’s fundraising and spending, the election of the new FROGS committee, and a vote to adopt an updated constitution to align with the Parentkind model. We also discussed upcoming events and fundraising projects for the year ahead, from the Jumble Sale and Christmas Fair to new ideas for outdoor play and garden improvements!

A huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered, contributed ideas, or offered support —FROGS truly runs on community effort. You can read the full minutes here.

Jumble sale - Saturday 11 Oct

We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone to the Jumble Sale this Saturday! The Grasmere Jumble Sale has been a much-loved school tradition for more than twenty years, bringing our community together in support of the school. It’s a chance to give pre-loved items a new life, hunt for not-so-hidden gems, and enjoy a morning full of good vibes.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who make it happen, including the students who help run stalls and keep the day buzzing! If you’d like to lend a hand, please sign up here. We can also always use a few more homemade contributions, so if you’re able to bring a soup, cake, or other treat, it will be very gratefully received.

Come along, have a browse, and be part of one of Grasmere’s best-loved traditions.

Farewell from Our Chair, Léa

It’s no exaggeration to say that every child and parent at Grasmere Primary has benefited from the work of Léa. During her time as Chair of FROGS, Léa has shown remarkable dedication to improving every aspect of school life. The role is a mammoth undertaking, overseeing every FROGS initiative, event, and fundraising effort, and Léa has handled it all with exceptional care and perseverance. Her leadership has brought new extracurricular opportunities, enhanced facilities and grounds, and—perhaps most importantly—strengthened the sense of community that makes Grasmere so special.

As Léa steps down from her role, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for the extraordinary contributions she has made and the care she has brought to them. Below, she shares a few reflections on her time as Chair and her hopes for our community moving forward:

Dear FROGS,

Now that my term as FROGS Chair has come to a close, I wanted to thank you all for your support and collaboration to make FROGS such an amazing PTA and Grasmere such a strong school community. 

Thank you so much for all your generosity (of both time and money), crazy ideas, wonderful fundraisers and so much more. Despite plenty of ups and downs, from the pandemic to the many changes of school leadership, it’s been a truly rewarding experience. 

Over the past five years, we’ve built on the amazing projects by the parents before us, such as the library and KS1 climbing frame, continuing long-running Grasmere traditions such as the jumble sales and Easter Eggs hunts, and adding lots of new events to the mix, from the Chess contest to the Pub Quiz. None of this would have been possible without you all.

I’m proud to have helped set up the FROGS website, started afterschool enrichment clubs, introduced the fun Kapla workshops and Enterprise fair, produced a couple of community cookbooks and tea towels, launched free stamp cards for families who need them, and organised so many events. Of course, as a committee member for the next couple of years, I’ll continue to help – and bake – when I can. 

I’m excited to welcome a whole bunch of new FROGS, including Jay and Firuze, our new co-chairs; Kathy, our secretary; and Marlies our comms and website expert. Along with Magnus, our treasurer, I’m sure they will lead FROGS with vision and heart, continuing the work of building a strong, inclusive, and fun community.

Please remember that the real community doesn’t live in online chats, but in the real world, in our events and daily shared experiences. Help them continue FROGS’ good work by volunteering your time or your skills; our community will be all the stronger for it. You just have to volunteer once to see the smiles on the children’s faces, and you’ll be hooked…

See you at the jumble sale!

Léa

“Please remember that the real community doesn’t live in online chats, but in the real world, in our events and daily shared experiences. Help them continue FROGS’ good work by volunteering your time or your skills; our community will be all the stronger for it. You just have to volunteer once to see the smiles on the children’s faces, and you’ll be hooked.
”
— FROGS Chair, Léa

Grateful Thanks to Caroline

We’d also like to say a big thank you to Caroline, who is stepping down as FROGS Secretary after years of dedicated service. Her calm efficiency and attention to detail have been an enormous asset to the committee, from keeping our records in order to ensuring every meeting ran smoothly and every idea was captured.

Grasmere is lucky to have such dedicated parents and carers, and Caroline’s thoughtful support has been so appreciated!

Goodbye & Thank you, Angela!

Lastly, we’d also like to sincerely thank Angela, our beloved Lollipop Lady, who will be leaving her post at the end of next week. Beyond keeping our children safe on their way to and from school, Angela has been a constant source of warmth and positivity for parents, pupils, and teachers alike—rain or shine. Her kindness has brightened many mornings, and she’ll be deeply missed in her lollipop post. We wish her all the very best in her new adventure and are delighted we’ll still see her around as a Grasmere parent.

Our children will have the chance to say thank you and goodbye to Angela in next Friday’s assembly, where she is being given a proper send-off. Contributions to her farewell gift can be made here.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £522 for FROGS with only 25 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

Welcome back!

Hello,

First of all, huge thanks to all parents and carers, volunteers, donors and sponsors: last year our charity raised just under £25,000 for Grasmere Primary School. What a brilliant result for such a small school! And for any new parents joining us this year, here’s a Welcome Letter just for you.

Please read on to find out more about our upcoming AGM, why you should volunteer, and our events this term.

FROGS’ 2025 AGM

Our AGM is coming up and we’re looking for new committee members. We’d love the committee to reflect the whole school community, with all backgrounds, voices and experiences welcome.

You don’t need lots of free time or previous experience, just an interest in shaping the school environment for our children. You’ll be added to a WhatsApp chat where these conversations and decisions are made. Even small contributions or sharing your perspective makes a big difference.

If you’d like to join the committee but can’t make it to the AGM, or if you’d like help organise an event, or send suggestions and ideas, please email frogs.grasmere@gmail.com or get in touch with your class rep.

Please find the draft meeting agenda here.

Here is our current constitution, and here is the proposed new FROGS constitution.

If you’re not sure this is for you, start by getting involved in events, helping at a stall or baking a cake and see what you think! Here are 10 reasons to become an active member of our charity:

OUR NEXT EVENTS

We look forward to a great year ahead! And if you are a former FROGS reading this, save the date: Thursday 27 November is our 40th anniversary party, please come and celebrate with us!

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

Have a great summer break!

Hello,

Here’s the final FROGS newsletter of the year. We’re finishing on a high note with some really lovely school events, including the fantastic Grasmere Summer Fair, with which we raised a whopping £3,939 for the school! A truly amazing result. Thank you to again to organisers Megan and Sally, and all the contributors, helpers and fairgoers!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the end-of-year staff present, we raised £2,720, which means each Grasmere staff member has received a £80 voucher (and a FROGS tea towel!).

Also huge thanks to those who donated a total of £1,011 to the Save the Children Gaza fundraiser organised by some parents. Missed it? You can donate here to the general Save the Children fundraiser.

We’re also deeply grateful to the anonymous donor who gave FROGS £1,000 recently.

And last but not least, huge thanks to our wonderful Year 6 FROGS who are leaving the school this year! Especially Megan, Bobby, Sarah, Chog, Lindsey and Georgie – thank you for all your help and donations throughout the years, we will miss you all!

MR BUBBLES

We hope your children enjoyed Mr Bubbles’ visit to celebrate the last day of school. Massive thanks to Mada & Darren for their hard work, as well as helpers Jay and Firuze!

FROGS AGM

Before we wish you a great summer break, here’s some early information on our AGM, which will take place on 19th September at 9am at the school. As a registered charity we have to organise one AGM every year, at which we elect or re-elect the various committee members.

Léa will be standing down as a chair but will continue to be part of the committee, helping with poster design and communications. Caroline is also standing down as a secretary.

Which means next year we will need: 2 new co-chairs; 1 secretary, 1 Communications Officer, and a Stores Managers. If you are interested in helping FROGS in this way, please take a look at this document which explains the roles in more details.

At the AGM we will be voting on electing these new members (and any new committee member that would like to join – everyone is welcome!), and also updating our constitution. You can take a look at our proposed new constitution here, and let us know if you have any amendments.

Any queries or questions on all of this please email frogs.grasmere@gmail.com.

We’re also planning a party for FROGS’ 40th anniversary, which will be held sometime in September – if you’re a former FROGS reading this, please join us to celebrate this milestone!

Here are our suggested events and dates for the next school year. As usual, we will need help from lots of volunteers to make these happen!

  • Friday 19 September: AGM, 9am
    + FROGS’ 40th anniversary garden party, from 3.30pm Date TBC

  • Friday 26 September: Year 6 Cake Sale

  • Saturday 4 October: Jumble Sale (Jay & TBC)

  • Monday 6- Tuesday 7 October: Kapla workshop for the whole school, schooltime

  • Friday 17 October: Year 5 Cake sale

  • Friday 7 November: Autumn Disco (Jenny)

  • Friday 21 November: Year 4 Cake sale

  • Friday 5 December: Winter Fair (Kathy & Elspeth)

  • Friday 23 January: Cinema Night (Caroline)

  • Friday 6 February: Year 3 Cake Sale

  • TBC 9th-15th February: Children's Mental Health Week yoga workshops, schooltime

  • Wednesday 11th February: Pub Quiz (Paddy & TBC)

  • Thursday 5 March: World Book Day writer’s workshops for the whole school, schooltime

  • Saturday 14 March: Jumble Sale (Jay & TBC)

  • Friday 20 March: Year 2 Cake Sale

  • Thursday 26 March: Easter Egg Hunt, schooltime (TBC)

  • Friday 17 April: Year 1 Cake Sale

  • Friday 1 May: Nursery & Reception Cake Sale

  • Friday 8 or 15 May: Chess contest (Ruth & Julie, TBC)

  • Friday 12 June: Enterprise Fair (TBC)

  • Friday 3 July: Year 6 Ice lolly Sale

  • Saturday 11 July: Summer Fair (TBC)

  • Last day of school TBC: Mr Bubbles or similar, schooltime

Thank you and have a great summer,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £276 for FROGS with only 26 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

Grasmere’s amazing Summer fair

Hello,

Here’s a report on our Summer Fair, plus some info on the end-of-year staff gifts.

STAFF GIFTs

We’re raising money for the end-of-year staff gift, to thank all Grasmere staff, from the office to the kitchen, from the teachers to the teaching assistants, for their work this year.

If you haven’t done so already, please donate here if you can, thank you! At the moment we only have about £30 each for 25 staff (number to be confirmed by school asap), so it would be great if we could raise more – we’ve only got a couple of days to do so.

This gift is instead of any chocolates, wine, best teacher’s mugs etc, and will be from all of us, to all of the school staff. We will hand out gift vouchers (plus Grasmere tea towels) to each member of staff using the money raised, but it would be great if your children could write them handmade cards too of course!

Summer Fair

Thank you to everyone who volunteered and attended the 2025 Grasmere Summer Fair!

What an amazing event. Massive thanks to our wonderful organisers Megan and Sally, and all their helpers, as well as the various stall holders which ranged from the magical Yellow Bus and orange Triumph car to the well-stocked bar, delicious burgers and veggie food…

A message from the organisers, Megan and Sally:

“Thanks to everyone who contributed to the fair in so many varied wonderful and very generous ways - big shout to Jenny too for making it most beautiful fair ever. The funshine bus, the car, the mangoes, the beer barrel – all the new unexpected things that also make it so special and different each year. I did drink most of the Pimms but I do love Grasmere!” Sally

“It was a really special summer fair, and my last event ever at Grasmere! Thank you to everyone who contributed. All the stalls were just brilliant and a real testament to people power! Also, just an extra shout out to the clean up crew, a lot of whom also put in a stall shift. Thank you so much for your help getting everything ship shape ready for school on Monday!” Megan

Thank you also to the former Grasmere pupils who came to help:

Huge thanks to The Clarence Tavern, who generously sponsored the stilt-walking juggler, and also to Mome, who had a stall at the fair and are giving all Grasmere families a 20% discount! (See special code in group WhatsApps).

Heartfelt thanks of course to our dazzling Fortune tellers, who came with their Yellow Sunshine Bus, psychic sneeze, Djembe drums, magic crab, crystal ball and Peacock chakra:

and to the tireless Human Fruit Machine crew…

And the steel pan musician too!

And finally, many thanks to all the companies big and small, from Stokey to further afield, who donated fantastic prizes for our Summer Raffle!

They were:

The Unicorn Theatre – Sparks Film School – Creative Mash – Push Cycles – Jolene – Primeur – Delta Force Paintball – Little Angel Theatre – Islington Assembly Hall – Sourdough Sofia – Discover Children’s Centre – Rowan’s Bowling Alley – Yield – Saltine – Cadet – Oxygen Trampoline Park – Active Reality VR Experience – Shine on the Green – Stokey’s Deli – Nook N16 – Stoke Newington Bookshop – Earlybird – Prep Cookshop – Cowshed – Whole Foods – Spence Bakery – and Mome

IN OTHER NEWS…

A group of Grasmere parents will be fundraising for the Save the Children “Help Children in Gaza and Worldwide” appeal, as suggested by the school, at the school’s BBQ on Tuesday.

Our next and final FROGS event of the year will be Mr Bubbles on Friday morning. We hope your children enjoy it!

We will send one last newsletter on Friday, with some pictures of the event, as well as some information on next year, our AGM in September, and FROGS volunteers needed.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

Summer Fair

Hello,

Here’s some information about our next event: the Grasmere Summer Fair on Saturday 12 July! Plus some images of the Year 6 show, and some information on the last FROGS meeting.

Grasmere staff end-of-year present

We’re raising money for presents (vouchers) to give each Grasmere staff, from the office to the kitchen, from the teachers to the teaching assistants, instead of individual gifts. Please donate here if you can, thank you!

SUMMER FAIR

Huge thanks to The Clarence Tavern who are sponsoring a stilt-walking juggler to join us at the fair! There will also be steel pans and a visit from the Yellow Funshine Bus, lots of fun activities for the whole family, plus tasty food and delicious drinks!

But it’s not only a fun event, it’s a key way to raise money for the school and profits will benefit all the children at Grasmere. In the past year for example, we spent £12,000 on a new audio-visual system for the hall – and that wouldn’t have been possible without the funds raised by events such as the Summer Fair or the Jumble sale.

It takes a lot of parent power to make this happen, and we still need help: please sign up here if you can spare an hour or two that day. Helping on a stall truly is another lovely way to enjoy the fair. Thank you!

Our Summer fair organisers Megan and Sally have also been busy collecting some amazing raffle prizes, including vouchers, classes, theatre tickets and hampers:

Raffle tickets will be on sale at the fair only, but Megan and Sally will be selling stamp cards at drop off next week to avoid queues on the day. Pupil premium families, please collect your free stamp cards from the office next week. Thank you!

Year 6 End-of-Year Performance

Year 6 said goodbye to their primary school years with an excellent performance of The Jungle Book. Thank you everyone who has lent some props and costumes, and who supported the two Year 6 fundraisers, the pancake and ice lolly sales. And huge thanks to the Year 6 parents who have helped FROGS throughout the year – we will miss you all!

FROGS UPDATE

Thank you to everyone who’s attended our meeting on Friday morning – here are the minutes. Our AGM will take place on 19 September.

To ensure we don’t waste any money on short-term projects, we are now waiting for a whole-school, long-term plan to continue our work in the garden and with the front entrance – this should be ready in September. In the meantime, we will be raising as much money as we can to make sure that we can help transform and future-proof the school without further delays.

That doesn’t mean nothing will be happening in the next few months: the school is continuing to work towards the Let’s Go Zero goal, to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. Works will be taking place over the summer to install heat pumps, and over October half-term to replace all the classroom lights and update the toilets.

Our final event of the year will be a visit from Mr Bubbles, on the last day of school. We hope your children enjoy it!

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

All the fun of the FROGS fairs

Hello,

In this newsletter you will find a recap of our Enterprise Fair, plus all the info you need on our last event of the year, the Summer Fair!

ENTERPRISE FAIR

Thank you to everyone who set up their stalls and shopped at our Enterprise Fair last Friday. We sold 22 tickets for the stalls and about £50 of merchandise. Huge thanks to Felix & his family – the young artist matched funded his profit £20 to give to FROGs. So all in all, we raised around £165 for our charity. As for the young entrepreneurs, everyone went home with bags of coins – some teams made over £100!!

We had a chocolate fountain, a self published book, personalised photos and prints, plants, a buzzer game, second-hand toys and books, drawings, ice creams, slushies, decorated pebbles, fortune cookies, jewellery – plus lots of cakes!

Summer FAIR

It's full steam ahead on the Summer Fair, our last event of the year! Please see below a message from our volunteer organisers:

Hello,

Thank you all for choosing which stalls your year could help with so quickly; your positivity is so appreciated! Please see the volunteer sign up sheet below, and sign up if you can.

https://volunteersignup.org/PPCTH

Those of you with smaller kids who are wondering if manning a stall is doable, Sally and I can say from experience, it is very doable! The only stalls where you can't are the bar and the kitchen. The rest is easy!

Summer Fair raffle: we have already secured some brilliant prizes for the raffle! If anyone has anything they can offer, please get in touch with us. We are particularly after tickets for theatre, dance, music, football; experiences such as yoga classes, PT sessions; hampers etc

It's people power that makes all the difference with these events, so thank you all in advance for your time, donations, ideas and efforts!

Megan & Sally

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £223.92 for FROGS with only 20 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

June news

Hello,

Please read this week’s newsletter for the latest FROGS news, and information on this week’s Enterprise fair – this Friday from 3.30. Please come support our budding entrepreneurs!

Congratulations to Nursery and Reception who raised £285.20 with their cake sale!

And huge thanks to our team of volunteers – including chess champion Ruth – who organised last week’s chess tournament. It was such a lovely event, and we were very glad to welcome chess players from schools including Shacklewell and Gayhurst. We raised £406 for the school with this event.

And also a big thank you to everyone taking part in the summer fair estate agent sign campaign, we’ve 29 volunteers, so should raise £290 for the school with this fundraiser.

Congratulations to the Grasmere DOGS who won their match on Sunday 6-3!

And finally, please join us this Friday for Grasmere’s annual Enterprise fair!

With… homemade treats and cookies; drawings and book launch; ice cups; bracelets and fortune cookies; plant cuttings; coke floats and ice lollies; buzzer game; keyrings; mystery bags; pre-loved toys, lemonade, chocolate fountain and much more!

Cash only – Please bring lots of small change. Everyone welcome!

Frogs tea towels will also be on sale (card payments accepted).

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

FROGS’ Summer term events

Hello,

Well done to Year 1 who raised £267 with their cake sale – an amazing result!

Thank you to everyone who attended our last meeting. Please find the minutes here, and the latest financial update here. This week the FROGS committee agreed to spend up to £1,000 on a new sign in metal letters for the front entrance. This was based on a request from the school, who will also be replacing and updating the existing, smaller signs. Our next – and final meeting of the year – will be on Friday 4th July at 9am at school.

We have lots of events planned for this term, please see below for more details and how you can help! Coming up just after half-term are our Chess Event and Enterprise Fair…

CHESS TOURNAMENT

Our chess tournament is back, thanks to International Chess Master and Grasmere parent Ruth Sheldon, who will be battling against up to 12 players at once. This event is open to all chess players, young and old, from Grasmere and beyond, so please spread the word. They can play on their own or form teams, and tickets costs £5 – buy them in our online shop now.

As well as the chess tournament there will be cakes and drinks on sale, as well as fun activities and games for everyone. New for this year: our Fancy Dress Competition! Kids can dress up in their best black-and-white creations; there will be prizes for the best chess-themed costumes.

As ever our events rely on the work of our volunteers. Please sign up here if you can help on the day, or bake something for the event! Thank you.

EntErprise Fair

Also coming up is our Enterprise Fair, where the children can put on their business hats and come up with a stall idea, to raise money for themselves or their favourite charity. Places are limited so book your £5 stall now from our online shop.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £223.92 for FROGS with only 20 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

Happy Easter Holidays!

Hello,

First of all congratulations to Year 2 whose cake sale raised £182 for their class treat. Many thanks to the parents and children who supported the cake sale!

Please read on for images of our Easter Egg Hunt and dates for next term.

EASTER EGG HUNT

And huge thanks to everyone who donated eggs – we collected around 3,300 this year! And thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with the Easter Egg Hunt in the school garden, in the lovely Spring sunshine.

And special thanks to Waitrose Holloway for their generation donation of chocolate eggs!

NEXT TERM

Our events for next term are as follow, please save the dates!

  • Friday 9 May 9am: FROGS Meeting

  • Friday 9 May: Y1 Cake sale

  • Friday 16 May: Chess tournament (Julie & Ruth)

  • Friday 6 June: Reception & Nursery Cake sale

  • Friday 20 June: Enterprise Fair (We need a volunteer for this, it’s a simple as being there from about 2.30, making sure everyone has the table they booked, and selling FROGS tea towels, and then checking that everything is tidied up at the end. Let us know if you can help - dad volunteers very welcome!)

  • Friday 4 July: Year 6 Ice lolly sale

  • Saturday 12 July: Summer Fair (Megan & Sally)

  • Last week of school: Mr Bubbles (We need a volunteer for this, someone to be there on the day to assist/manage Mr Bubbles and the other volunteers)

Thank you and have a lovely break,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £223.92 for FROGS with only 20 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

From Jumble Sale to Easter Egg Hunt

Hello,

Don't miss the Year 2 cake sale this Friday after school and please see below for the latest volunteer opportunities, the results of our spring Jumble Sale, and our upcoming Easter Egg Hunt.

Also this Friday 21 March, we are looking for a few volunteers to help transfer the FROGS resources from the cellar to our new storage space. Please sign up here if you can help from 2pm. We’re still looking for super strong helpers – just think of it as a free workout! If you can help, even for 30 minutes, please get in touch! Thank you.

JUMBLE SALE

Well done to everyone who helped and shopped at the Jumble last Saturday – we raised £1,540 for the school (plus between £50-100 due to come in from the leftover books sold online.)

Here’s a message from organisers Jay and Firuze:

We would like to say a *huge thank you* to everyone who volunteered & supported to make the jumble sale such a busy and positive event again.

Massive thanks to everyone who donated jumble, helped to set up, ran the stalls, and to everyone who came along and found some bargains. Thanks too to the amazing bakers and soupmaker. And lastly to the clean up crew (a wonderful egalitarian pool of Grasmere mums and dads!). It wasn't as packed out busy as last October but it was a good turn out and we have a lot less leftover than last time.

Thanks also to all those who couldn't volunteer this time but shared their positive vibes and well wishes, they were received!

Highlights of the jumble this year included a pogo stick, a Dusty Knuckle cookbook, a floor-length red dress ‘perfect for playing the harp on stage’, a pair of delicate vintage mugs that got snapped up as soon as they went on display, a brand new Twister game, and the cutest little Pokemon soft toy – with most items costing 50p or £1. The next jumble will be in October.

EASTER EGG HUNT

The Frogs' annual chocolate Easter egg hunt will be on Thursday 3rd April, during school time. Each class, Nursery - Year 6, enjoy their own hunt in the garden, one class at a time.

To run the Easter egg hunt we need hundreds and hundreds of chocolate Easter eggs (no nuts) to be donated please. Burcu will kindly help us to receive and store the eggs from next Monday 24th March if you drop them off to her in the office.

We also need help to divide all the eggs between classes (on Weds 2nd a.m), and then to hide the eggs for each class (on Thurs 3rd a.m.). If you can help Julie and Jay with this, please sign up here.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand). In a few months we’ve raised £223.92 for FROGS with only 20 supporters.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

March news

Hello,

Here's the latest on this term’s FROGS events, including the Pub Quiz, pancake sale, football game and upcoming Jumble sale and Easter egg hunt…

Our recent spends include paying for authors’ visits for World Book Day (around £550). We hope your kids enjoyed the workshops of Joshua Seigal and Ricky Baxter!

This term so far we’ve doubled our fundraising from events including the cinema night, pub quiz and pancake sales thanks to matched funding – if you work with a big company please check if they offer this and, if so, get in touch with our treasurer Magnus who will explain how it works!

GRASMERE PUB QUIZ

Thank you to everyone who attended our Pub Quiz last week! Huge thanks to our quiz master Paddy, to our hosts Jana and Richard at the Shakespeare, and to our crew of cooks and waiters, Lindsey, Nicky, Firuze, Mada and Darryn. And the winners are:

1. The Magnificent 7, with 43 points
2. The Reception Outcasts, with 38 points
3. The Sun Bears, with 37 points

Congratulations to The Magnificent 7, our winning team, with an outstanding performance of 10/10 on the Name the Band round!

With tickets and food sales we raised £482, and we’ve doubled that amount to £964 thanks to a parent’s matched funding.

PANCAKE SALE

Thank you everyone who bought a pancake or two. Year 6 made £156 on the day, and thanks to a parent’s matched funding, they now have £312 to spend on their end-of-year party.

THE DOGS WIN aGAIN

Well done to the Dads of Grasmere School – aka the DOGS – who won 6-2 against Grazebrook last Sunday. The next game is on Sunday 30 March at 4pm at Stoke Newington School.

JUMBLE SALE

Thank you to everyone who has already volunteered to help at the Jumble Sale – you’re amazing! We still need help, please sign up here if you can spare an hour or bake a cake!

EASTER EGG HUNT

Our last event this term will be the Easter Egg Hunt on 3 April during schooltime. For this we will be collecting chocolate egg donations (no nuts!) from Monday 24 March. Please leave with Burcu at reception.

We need lots of small eggs – we usually collect around 3,000 eggs. We also treat the teachers to a bigger chocolate egg – if their class can find the Golden Bunny hidden in the garden that is! Our volunteers will split them equally between all year groups; any leftovers will be given to staff and to pupil premium families.

We’ll also need Easter bunnies to help hide the eggs in the garden throughout the morning of 3 April, so please look out for the sign up sheet.

If your child has a food allergy: The school will share a list of allergies with us and we will make sure there are treats for everyone. If you would like to donate some eggs specially for a child with an allergy please leave them clearly labelled with their name and year group. The children will all hunt for standard chocolate eggs in the garden and then our volunteers will swap them for those that they can eat.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

SIGN UP TO EASY FUNDRAISING

Easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand).

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

February News

Hello all,

It’s half-term already and it’s time for a little recap of FROGS’ events and how the money we have all raised together has been spent by the school. It’s also time to book your ticket for our upcoming Pub Quiz, on Wednesday 5 March at the Shakespeare. Please see the minutes of our last meeting here, and below for more information!


OUR LATEST EVENTS & SPENDS

In the past few weeks, we’ve organised a Cinema night for Grasmere families, which raised £1,274 (half of this amount came from our volunteer’s company matched funding scheme – if you work for a big company, you might be eligible too, so please check!).

We also organised and paid for yoga workshops for the children during school time, as part of the annual Children’s mental heath week (a cost of around £350):

Now you might be wondering what we do with all the money raised, so here’s an update on how we have spent our funds in the past few months:

  • £12,890 went to installing a brand new screen, projector and AV equipment for the hall

  • £1,056 was spent buying chess and board game picnic tables for the KS2 playground

  • £1,000 raised by the Tesco blue token grant was used to buy outdoor play equipment including footballs and basketballs, giant four in a row, table tennis bats, giant tumble blocks, skipping ropes, hoola hoops, football goals and basketball hoop and stand…

  • £892 for some new storage sheds for outdoor learning resources in the garden

  • £649 for an easel set and various outdoor storage for Nursery/Reception

  • £600 was spent supporting Year 6 families to send their children on the residential trip

  • £200 per class – a total of £1,600 – was spent on Class treats (using the money raised by cake sales throughout the year). These included board games and jigsaws, play sand, role play costumes, building blocks, balls, counters and giant dominos, as well as items such as beanbags for the class reading corners.

We collaborated with the school on all of these projects, and they chose the items that they needed the most at the moment.

We will also be paying for a writer’s visit to celebrate World Book Day in March, and the Nursery/ Reception team has a further £850 to spend on items to transform their space.

PUB QUIZ

Our next event is the Pub Quiz on Wednesday 5 March at the Shakespeare. You can buy your ticket (£5) here, we will be competing in teams of 6 and we’re aiming to have at least one team of 6 per year group. There will be homemade food on offer too. Join us for a fun evening, and help raise money for the school and support a lovely local business.

The pub quiz (for parents only) will be followed by other events including an after-school pancake sale to raise money for Year 6 hoodies and party (everyone welcome); our spring Jumble Sale (a favourite of the entire local community); and our annual Easter Egg Hunt (for the children during school time).

We will be asking for jumble donations, as well as chocolate egg donations very soon, so keep an eye out for any Easter bargains and start sorting your clothes, books, toys and bric-à-brac!

EASY FUNDRAISING

We have raised £174 in just a couple of months of using Easyfundraising, a company who partners with over 8,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. You can sign up here and help us whenever your shop online (it won’t cost you any extra; the cost is covered by the brand).

LEAP CONSULTATION

Finally, just a reminder regarding school news: there is currently a consultation for the school to become part of the LEAP federation. All the information is on here, and there will be consultation drop in sessions for parents and carers on 7, 12 and 27 March.

Thank you and have great half-term everyone!

FROGS

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

January News

Hello,

Here are the latest FROGS news, including our next meeting, our events for this term, and some images of our latest event, the Cinema night, which saw the launch of the school’s amazing new AV system. A request from the school who said it was their No 1 priority, this new projector, screen etc cost over £11,000 and was funded entirely by FROGS. Thank you all for making this happen!

Our next meeting is this Friday 31 January at 9am at school. Everyone welcome! We will be discussing our next events, latest spends and upcoming projects. Please find the agenda here.

Our events this term include a Quiz night, for which we need more volunteer organisers – please get in touch with your rep or Paddy if you can help!

Please look out for more information on these events, and the usual volunteer sign up sheets, in our next newsletters.


CINEMA NIGHT

A big thank you to our organiser Caroline and all the volunteers who helped run this lovely event. We had two screenings, some amazing snacks, and a great atmosphere. We hope you and your children enjoyed it, and were happy with the new AV system too!

And finally, big thanks to everyone who has signed up on Easyfundraising – we’ve raised just over £120 so far. And please don’t forget our next events: the FROGS meeting this Friday, and the Year 3 Cake sale on Friday 7 February!

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

A wonderful Winter fair

Hello,

We hope you all enjoyed our Winter Fair! If your child has missed their little gift from Santa please pick up from the office this week (you can also pick up online shop orders there). See below for more information on the amazing Winter Fair, as well as the Grasmere football team win; how to shop and raise money for FROGS; and also how you can help other parents.

FROGS CHRISTMAS SHOP

If you are looking for one-of-a-kind Christmas presents, there are still a few cookbooks, as well as Christmas cards and tea towels left. We will be selling them this Friday after school (cash or card). Or please order online and we will leave your items with the school office to collect asap. You can also now download the cookbook as a PDF (£4). And if you’d like to pay it forward and give a tea towel to a Grasmere family, please see below in How to help.

And a big thank you to everyone who ordered a Christmas tree – we raised just over £325 for the school with this scheme!

A Wonderful Winter Fair

Well done Kathy and Elspeth and the Winter Fair team for organising such a wonderful event! With stalls including teddy and bottle tombolas, winter crafts, snowman toss, find the snowman’s nose, knock the elves off the shelves, gingerbread decorating and lucky dip, plus a great raffle, and the bar, kitchen and veggie food, we took in £3,500 (including grotto tickets, tea towels, cards and cookbook sales, and before expenses). An excellent result – bravo!

And of course huge thanks to Santa and his Elf for making time in their busy schedule to stop at Grasmere – the kids were over the moon to meet them both.

Special thanks to the Grasmere carol singers, who made the event feel extra Christmassy!

Here’s a message from the organisers:

“A massive thank you to all of the volunteers who helped out at the Winter Fair on Friday – from those involved with prep behind the scenes, to the many volunteers on the day (and of course the wonderful carol singers!). We really couldn’t have done it without you all! A big thank you also to everyone who came along and supported.”

Kathy and Elspeth

And finally, huge thanks to all the local businesses who kindly donated prizes for the raffle:

Escocesa – Stokey’s Delicatessen – De Beauvoir Deli – Jolene – Primeur – Creative Mash – Oi Vita – Buller & Rice – Brags & Brams – Hackney Peddler – Shine – Know & Love – Oeno Maris – What Mother Made – The Ark – Sophie Macbain – Made in Little France – Spence Bakery – Belle Époque – Lizzy’s on the Green – Yogahome – Cod & Brew – Lily’s – Bless – Nando’s

Remember to shop local this Christmas if you can!

Who let the DOGS out??!?

Congratulations to the Dads of Grasmere School AKA the Dogs, who won 6-4 against Betty Layward on Saturday, and raised over £300 for the school! Well done DOGS!

We all look forward to the next game against another local school very soon. And if you’d like to join the pack, please get in touch with your class rep, with Mark R, or any of the players above!

Shop and support FROGS

Local wine shop, deli & bar Yield N16 is raising funds for our school again this year starting now until 3 January 2025. When shopping at the deli or going for glass of wine, beer, charcuterie & cheese, just mention Grasmere School and Yield N16 will donate 10% of the total bill back to the school on 20 January. The shop is open daily 10am-10pm.

You could also sign up to Easyfundraising and donate as you shop. We’ve already raised £20 in a week with this. It’s very quick and easy to sign up! Plus you can decide which websites you would like to include in the donation reminder app on your browser. There’s over 8,100 shops and brands, including all the big supermarkets.

STAFF collection Pots

Apologies for having so many pots at this time of the year! Please donate if you can.

We are collecting money for the Staff Christmas present, to be divided between all 35 staff. You can donate here – at the moment we’re at £28 per staff member – let’s try to get to £50!

We are collecting money for Sharon’s retirement gift – please donate here if you can.

We are collecting money to Shannen’s leaving gift – please donate here if you can.

The deadline for these pots is Sunday evening, to let the organisers buy presents/distribute to staff.

HELPING EACH OTHER

If you can help restock the food bank shelves in the hallway with rice, pasta, sauces etc, and Christmas items then please do – these are being used and stock is low.

If you can donate a tea towel or a cookbook for one of our Pupil Premium families, please order it from the online shop and email us to let us know – we will then give it to the office to distribute. We’d need about 30 tea towels.

If you can donate to the Winter Toy Appeal, you’ll help make sure every child in the area gets at least one new toy for Christmas.

Thank you and take care,

FROGS

The winter fair is coming!

Hello,

Thank you everyone who attended our online meeting last week, please find the minutes here. At the school’s request, we are using just over £11,000 from our existing funds to buy a new AV system for the hall. It should be installed in time for next term, when we will launch it with our annual cinema night. We are also planning a parents’ pub quiz, yoga workshops for the children, and the traditional Easter Egg hunt for next term. Watch this space!

Congratulations to Year 4 who raised £241.90 with their cake sale. We’re looking forward to see what the different classes decide to buy with their class treat money.

We’re also organising a Christmas Present collection pot for all the staff at Grasmere, which will be shared equally between them, including teachers, teaching assistants, office staff and kitchen team. You can donate here.

Christmas Trees Deadline

A little reminder to please order your Christmas tree before tomorrow evening (Saturday 30 November). You can also pre-order the Grasmere Cookbook, tea towels or cards from the online shop. All these will be ready to pick up on the 6 December.


WINTER FAIR

A message from the Winter Fair organisers:

It’s not long now until the Winter Fair, which is happening after school on Friday 6 December. We still need lots of volunteers to make this a really fun event for the kids, so please sign up here to volunteer if you can. If we don’t have enough volunteers we’ll have to cancel some stalls, which would be a real shame!  

There’s also lots of other ways to help. You could donate:

  • teddies and bottles for the tombola (bottles can be anything from alcohol to bubble bath!)

  • second-hand Christmas books, decorations and jumpers to sell in the shop

  • homemade treats and crafts (such as chutney, jam or knitted gifts) to sell in the shop

  • unwanted Pokemon cards and small toys for the lucky dip stall

  • bottles of mulled wine for the bar

  • homemade cakes for the kitchen stall

We will have a Santa’s Grotto where children will be able to meet Santa and his wonderful elves and receive a little gift – you can buy your ticket here, or on the day. We will be selling stamp cards & grotto tickets on the 8th in the morning if you want to skip the queue, and reception will hand out stamp cards and tickets to those who need them as usual. 

We are also holding a winter raffle and have lots of amazing prizes lined up! More information on prizes will follow next week via reps, and tickets will be on sale in the Christmas shop at the fair.  

Thank you in advance – it should be a great event and will hopefully get everyone in the festive spirit! 

Kathy and Elspeth

FOOTBALL GAME

The Grasmere Dads' football team will be playing against Betty Layward on Saturday, 7th December, at 3.30 pm on the Stoke Newington School pitch, to raise money for both primary schools. Please come and support them, and donate on this JustGiving page!

EASYFUNDRAISING & ASDA Cashpot

FROGS is now set up on Easyfundraising, which means over 8,000 retailers will donate to us for free every time you use easyfundraising to shop with them. If you are shopping online for Christmas presents, please sign up here to support us – it’s free and doesn’t take long.

We’re also signed up for the Asda Cashpot for Schools, so if you shop there, select Friends of Grasmere School on the Rewards app and the supermarket will donate a percentage of your shop to us each time you shop and scan.

WINTER TOY APPEAL

For the 11th year running the Winter Toy Appeal is collecting new toys for children experiencing extreme hardship in North and East London. Without this appeal, many wouldn't receive a gift at Christmas. They’ll be distributed via schools (including Grasmere!), children’s centres, councils and more to children in most need. (We will be donating any leftover Santa’s grotto gift to the appeal).

Thank you all for your support in helping raising money for our school!

FROGS

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.

November News

Hello,

The next FROGS meeting will be on Wednesday 20 November, 8pm, online (meeting agenda & details to follow via the class WhatsApp groups); and the last cake sale this term will be the Year 4 Cake sale on Friday 22 November.

In this newsletter you will learn all about the Autumn Disco, the FROGS Christmas Shop, where you can order trees and gifts such as the Grasmere Cookbook and tea towels, as well as our last event of the term: the Winter Fair on Friday 6 December after school.

Autumn Disco

We hope you all enjoyed the disco last Friday! Big thanks to organiser Jenny and her dream team of volunteers who made it such a fun event for the kids, whether they liked doing the Macarena or not!

Here are some images of the disco; thank you to Grasmere parent and photographer Henny of iCapturedThattt for taking some of the lovely portraits!

And there was lots happening outside the hall too:

This was planned as a fun social event rather than a fundraiser, but we even managed to raise £263 for the school after paying the DJ!

FROGS’ CHRISTMAS SHOP

Our Christmas shop is now open, you can now pre-order your Christmas Trees, the Grasmere Cookbook or a Grasmere Tea towel.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with the cookbook – it is currently at the printers, and should be delivered in time for the Winter Fair. It features 70 recipes from Grasmere families and friends, including 8 recipes by local businesses The Clarence Tavern, Lily’s Greengrocers, The Dusty Knuckle, Tranga, The Good Egg, Esters and Romeo y Giulietta.

Here’s a sneak peek to whet your appetite!

WINTER FAIR

Here’s a message from the fair organisers:

Our Winter Fair is just around the corner and we have a great line-up planned! Santa and his elves will be headlining, supported by Grasmere’s very own carol singers.  We’re also bringing back the raffle, which was such a success in the summer. Hopefully there will be some exciting prizes to be won! Other entertainment on the day includes the following stalls, each run by a different year group:

Reception and nursery: Find the snowman’s nose
Year 1: Snowman ball toss
Year 2: Knock the elf off the shelf
Year 3: Gingerbread decorating
Year 4: Bonfire and marshmallows + Christmas carols
Year 5: Winter crafts
Year 6: Bar + veggie food
TBC: Christmas shop, cake and hot drinks, teddy and bottle tombolas, lucky dip, raffle 

This is one of FROGS’ big fundraisers and a great opportunity to get into the festive spirit, so we really do need your help to make it a success. Please sign up here to volunteer if you can. You can volunteer with your children (apart from the kitchen) and it’s very easy! As we have a really short window to set up for after school events, each year group will need to be in charge of setting up their own stalls.  

We will also be looking for your help with:

  • Raffle prizes: if you’re a business owner and are able to donate a voucher or other prize, we would be so grateful!

  • Tombola prizes: this year, we’ll be running a bottle tombola (for adults) and a teddy tombola (for the kids), so please look out for those bottles and soft toys!  

  • Homemade treats and crafts: we’re looking for things to sell in our Christmas shop, so we would love contributions of homemade crafts or treats (fudge, chutney etc).

  • Small prizes: unwanted party bag toys or small gifts (to be used as prizes) would be gratefully received.

  • Baking and snacks to sell in the kitchen.

We’ll send more details via class reps soon. Thank you all so much in advance! 

Kathy and Elspeth

AND FINaLLY… NITS ALERT!

There seems to quite a problem with nits at the moment… According to the NHS and our local GPs, you don’t need to buy any special lotions to get rid of them: the only thing that works is using lots of conditioner on wet hair and leaving it for at least 10 minutes, and then using a good quality nit comb, on section by section of hair, before rinsing. You’ll also need lots of patience…

Good luck and take care,

FROGS

Happy half-term!

Hello,

The first six weeks of school have gone at lightning speed! To celebrate, don’t miss Year 5 cake sale this Friday. Please see below for our latest FROGS news, including jumble sale results, and what’s coming up after half-term, including the Autumn Disco!

LATEST EVENTS

In case you missed it, we raised £440 with the lovely garden party, and £2,327 with the October Jumble sale! A great result in only a few weeks of school.

A massive *thank you* to the more-than-50 amazing volunteers who worked together to bring the jumble sale to life over the weekend. We’d also like to thank those who brought along their jumble, and of course every individual who came and shopped and supported. None of this would’ve been possible without each and every one of you, we appreciate you all!
Firuze & Jay

AUTUMN DISCO

The amazing DJ Dancemasters are back with their great set that is guaranteed to make you dance – and perhaps even do the limbo! As ever we need lots of volunteers to make this event happen, so please sign up here if you can spare a bit of time.

To help pay for the DJ, please buy a £2 ticket on our online shop (tickets will also be available on the day, but you’ll have to queue). As usual, there will be free tickets/stamp cards at the office for those who need them.

There will be a short session for Reception and Nursery during school time as they might find dancing with the bigger kids a bit overwhelming. If not they can go back onto the dance floor of course! Everyone else is welcome on the dance floor from 3.30. Provided we have enough volunteers, the fire pit will also be on for those who prefer marshmallows to dancing.

If you are sharing the childcare with other families and taking their kids to the disco along with your own, please note there is a maximum 4 children per adult at the event.

Coming up

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a recipe for the cookbook, we are working on it and it’s looking great, with lots and lots of wonderful recipes. We will send more information on the cookbook, as well as our tea towel project, after half term. They will all be available to order from our online shop, along with the usual Christmas Tree fundraiser.

And finally, save the date for Friday 6 December, our Winter Fair. It’s going to be amazing – Santa is coming, and there will be carol singing and delicious mulled wine!

Happy half-term!

FROGS

October news

Hello,

Thank you to all the FROGS who helped organise and who attended the Garden Party on Friday, we hope everyone had a great time!

Please read this newsletter for some photos of the party, information on our Cookbook project, and on our next event, the Jumble sale.

THE GRASMERE COOKBOOK

The Grasmere Cookbook, 2024 edition, is hoping to bring together the recipes that mean the most to our community. Please find out more and send us your recipes using this link or, if you don’t have a gmail account, by emailing frogs.grasmere@gmail.com.

Thank you to those families who’ve already sent their recipes: we’ve a Palestinian dip, Austrian strudel, Swiss cheese tartlets and a delicious pancake recipe. Recipes just have to be family favourites, and the quicker you send us yours the more time we’ll have to take some nice photos to go with it. We’re also looking for some nice illustrations from your children, such as cute little ingredients and illustrated dishes – you can see the full book here for inspiration.

Here are three recipes from the first edition to whet your appetite:

We need your help to get the recipes in as soon as possible as we have a tight deadline to meet if we’d like to produce and sell the cookbook in time for Christmas – it will make such a great present! Ideally we’d love to collect at least 30 recipes from Grasmere families and staff members.

JUMBLE SALE

The Jumble Sale has been a hit at Grasmere for over 20 years! Help us reuse and recycle by donating your unwanted items and shopping for second-hand items. From brand new cookbooks to designer coats, there are always some real gems, and most items are 50p. It’s also a lot of fun for the children, who run around with their friends and play with the new toys bought with their pocket money.

We still need some help on manning the stalls, and preparing some soup and cakes to sell. Please sign up here if you can help!

Any leftovers will be donated to charity.

DONATE TO FROGS

Donations to FROGS are always welcome. Please take a look at our latest projects to see how your money might be used. You can also set up a monthly direct debit donation on Kindlink.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A KINDLINK DONATION

Find out more on how to help here, including more info about the matched funding and workplace giving schemes, which are available for employees of some large companies.