Parent Teacher Association

The Friends of Whitehills (FOWS) are a dedicated team of people who volunteer to raise money for the benefit of the children of Whitehills Primary School.  Some might like to refer to us as the PTA (Parent Teacher Association).  Most of our members are currently parents of children attending the school, together with some members of staff.

We are a friendly group who meet up four to five times a year to plan and organise fundraising opportunities for the school – and sometimes our whole community – to enjoy. On a couple of occasions, we celebrated a hugely successful fundraising event when we invited the Happy Circus onto our school playing field.  A great family night out was enjoyed by all!

Historically, our fundraising has included many events for children and their families to attend, such as Fashion Shows, Christmas Fayres (a traditional favourite), Race Nights, Quiz Evenings.   As well as events intended specifically for our children, like Film Night and our regular discos – a firm favourite with our children where they can have fun with their school friends – we sometimes send home activities for children to create, such as a Christmas card, which raises a little money too.  Funds are also raised through people’s online shopping habits via the Easy Fundraising App.

The money raised from these events benefits every child in our school in the following ways:

• We purchase an annual subscription for an educational App for all pupils called DoodleMaths and DoodleEnglish for children to use in a fun and interactive way. Both are used in connection with our homework policy.
• To promote a love of reading, each child receives a book on their birthday. They choose the book from a large selection carefully ordered for their age group by one of our volunteers.
• Every Christmas, each class receives a special visit from Santa and we provide the gifts for this exciting event.
• We endeavour to subsidise at least one school trip per year, per child, taking some of the financial pressure off parents.

In addition to our fundraising activities, we offer support to the school in a variety of ways, for example, by providing refreshments at parents’ meetings.

We are always keen to hear what parents would like us to spend the money on for their children, so if you have any particular ideas you would like us to consider, then, please do get in touch with one of our members.  If you feel that you can spare some time to help us in our future fundraising endeavours, please do get in touch.  Even if you can only spare an hour or two every 6 months, it really does help and would be much appreciated.  Contact Liz Hurr: Whitehillsfows@gmail.com