Welcome Back to the New School Year!

emmafoulerton
Sep 8
4 min read

Updated: Sep 20

Hello everyone, and welcome back to what promises to be another fantastic year at Claverdon! Whether you're settling into the rhythm of a new term or adjusting to life with a child at school for the first time, we hope you've all had a wonderful summer break.

A Special Welcome to Our New Reception Families

A particularly warm welcome to all our new Reception parents and families joining our school community this year. Starting school is such an exciting milestone, and we're delighted to have you as part of the Friends of Claverdon family.

Best Wishes to Our Year 6 Graduates

We'd also like to send our very best wishes to all the Year 6 children who have now moved on to their secondary schools. We hope you're settling in brilliantly and making the most of all the new opportunities ahead of you. Don’t forget you are most welcome at the Fun Run – take the opportunity to pop in for a reunion!

Your Go-To Resource: Our Website

Please do bookmark our website at friendsofclaverdon.org - it's your one-stop shop for all Friends of Claverdon information. You'll find everything from upcoming events to ongoing fundraising opportunities.

Particularly useful right now: our ongoing fundraisers page which includes those essential sticky labels for uniform, lunchboxes, water bottles and more. Getting organised early in the term will save you hours of hunting for lost property later! Whilst you're there, do have a look at joining our 100 Club - it's a brilliant way to support the school with the chance of winning prizes each month.

Meeting Dates for This Year

We're mixing things up with our meeting schedule this year to accommodate different family commitments. Meetings will alternate between:

Friday afternoons at 1:30pm at the school
Wednesday evenings at a local pub

These are the more formal meeting dates where we will discuss things like any requests school have for funding or volunteers and also planning for the coming year. All welcome! In between these dates there are additional times to meet to discuss the minutiae of event planning - which usually just involves the specific people running the event or project.

Friday 10th October (1:30pm school) - AGM
Wednesday 15th October (7pm pub)
Friday 23rd January (1:30pm school)
Wednesday 4th March (7pm pub)
Friday 8th May (1:30pm school)
Wednesday 1st July (7pm pub)

We'd love to welcome lots of new faces to the team!

All our parents and carers of children at Claverdon Primary School are automatically members of Friends of Claverdon. There are a few who over the years have been able to commit to more leadership roles such as Chair, Treasurer, Comms lead etc... and many who have run events or projects. Many of our current active volunteers are parents of Year 5 and 6 children, so we're keen to bring in fresh energy to ensure the charity continues to thrive for years to come. If you are interested in being involved please get in touch. Now is a great time just before our AGM! Contact Emma directly at pta-claverdonschool@outlook.com even if its just for a cuppa and catch up :) For our AGM this year, we are particularly looking for Expressions of Interest for:

Communications lead
Chair
Secretary
100 club

Just because we've done things a certain way doesn't mean we have to stick to it - we're absolutely open to new ideas and different approaches! There are templates for successful events if you want to build on what's worked, but we're equally excited about completely fresh initiatives. Whether you fancy planning a one-off event, running our 100 Club, or taking on one of the many behind-the-scenes roles, there are lots of ways to get involved. Keep an eye out for more information about current roles and opportunities in case any spark your interest. Also - if you have a particular passion or an idea for an event you'd like to run, do drop us a line pta-claverdonschool@outlook.com or chat with your class rep.

Free Webinars for Parents

ParentKind (the national charity that supports school charities) is offering a series of free webinars throughout the year on topics that might be helpful for parents. These aren't specifically about fundraising matters, but cover various school and parenting-related topics that many of you might find valuable.

You can find out more and book onto any that interest you at: parentkind.org.uk/your-pta-expert/parent-webinars

Our annual Fun Run is fast approaching on Saturday, 28th September, and we're already getting excited! This is one of our most popular events, bringing together the whole school community for a morning of fun, fitness, and fundraising.

Important deadline: If you'd like to order a Fun Run t-shirt, the deadline is Sunday, 14th September.

Full details about the event, including how to order t-shirts, can be found at: friendsofclaverdon.org/claverdonfunrun2025

Coming up this term...

w/c 22nd Sep Cauliflower cards designing begins! See the link for more details. https://www.friendsofclaverdon.org/ongoing-fundraisers
School Disco * Date Change TBC *
Thursday 4th Dec wreath making (School Hall) Planning underway. Details to follow.
TBC Christmas Gift shop

Preliminary discussions were held last term about the potential for running a Summer Ball in 2026. There is a lot of experience and enthusiasm and a small team willing to help - but we need a team or individual to lead and bring it all together. This could be a fantastic evening for our school community, but without someone to coordinate the efforts, we won't be able to make it happen. If you're interested in running with this or would like to know more about what's involved, please get in touch.