Pta Minutes 090115 Jan09

‫דייסב‬

JFS Parent Teachers’ Association The Mall, Kenton, HA3 9TE. Tel: 020 8206 3100 Fax: 020 8206 3101 Charity Registration Number 294872 President/Headteacher: Jonathan Miller Hon. Life Presidents: Dame Ruth Robins, DBE, B.A., TTHD Jo Wagerman, OBE.

MINUTES OF THE JFS PTA MEETING HELD ON Thursday 15th January, 2009 IN the boardroom, JFS, Kenton. Present: Gary Lipman (Chairman), Simone Abecassis (Treasurer), Diana Bronson (Hon Sec.), Rachel Lipman, Chris Setz, Mr. Harris (JFS), Ray Lipton, Lawrence Blaston, Garry Harris, Amanda Pressburg, Brian Solomons and Nick Sonenfield Apologies: Claudia Moss, Louise Howard, Anne Braverman Shelley Lubert and Mr. Miller Minute taker: Diana Bronson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There being a quorum, the meeting was called to order by the chair at 8pm. 1. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING These were read out by Diana and approved by the committee. 2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Gary Lipman (Chairman), Simone Abecassis (Treasurer) and Diana Bronson (Hon Sec) all agreed to stand again for the forthcoming year. There being no opposition to this and no other nominations for the posts they were all duly re-elected. Chris Setz was the only nomination for the post of Vice Chair and so he was unanimously voted into the post. 3. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Gary Lipman read out his report which is given below. "In December 2007, the Obama verses McCain campaign captured the world. One exception was in Kenton, where the subject of who will Chair the JFS PTA was headline news! Never before had so many parents attended an Annual General Meeting! Well, thanks to so much support, the new executive committee was duly elected for the ensuing year and I was voted in as Chairman. I thank you for your confidence. January also heralded a new era for JFS when Jonathan Miller became Head Teacher. The new committee have had, what can only be described as a challenging year! Sadly, our Vice-Chair, Dani was not able to participate due to ill health and has asked me to communicate to you all her best wishes and convey her disappointment that she could not be part of the team. We wish Dani a speedy recovery and a return to good health. Our Honorary Secretary Anne Braverman has had to step down due to an injury. We wish Anne a speedy recovery. In March, Diana Bronson stepped forward and was proposed and elected as our new Hon Secretary. Diana learned the ropes extremely fast and has been a tremendous asset to the committee. Any committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured in, and then quietly strangled. This committee adopted the mantra ‘If you keep doing what you have always done, you will always get what you get’. In other words, we challenged the dogma, and adopted the rallying cry of

Barack Obama ‘Yes We Can!’ I thank each and every member of the committee for their help, support and above all, wonderful camaraderie. Change happens in immeasurable units, not in grand gestures and each one of you has helped move us forward in some way. Chris has revolutionised our communications by establishing a new email system, and a secure online document access system that allows the appropriate committee members to view and update documents in real time. When I first attended PTA meetings I confess, I was disappointed that it was perceived that the PTA did not enjoy a close working relationship with the school, and I found that incredulous. That perception has disappeared and I must thank Jonathan Miller and David Harris for their outstanding support. David has attended every meeting and even turned up for one that was cancelled! Mr Miller has conducted our meetings in his office with candour and absolute support – thank you to you both. In December 2007 the PTA donated £9,000 to the school. Mr Harris, on behalf of the school, will use the £9,000 the PTA raised towards: 1. Identification badges for student officers 2. The framing of a Bar or Batmitzvah commemorative photograph of each student with the Headmaster, when they meet and talk with him in his office to mark this important event in their lives. 3. JFS now has a weather club organised by the Geography department. The PTA donation will pay towards some of the equipment needed such as a weather station, which would cost around £1,200. 4. A vegetable garden 5. A video mixer for the theatre Each year we spend some of the money raised, giving a Siddur to each Year 7 student. This administration has challenged that tradition and will work with the school to decide how best to use that money in the future. The Supper Quiz was, in my opinion an amazing success and represents the culmination of a blending of individual talents. I would like to thank Rachel and Debra for organising the catering, Chris for liaising with Jarvis and technical support, Diana for her administration, Lawrence for producing the brochure and Keith and Beverley, Simone and Garry Harris for their wonderful support too. We were overwhelmed with helpers on the day and everything, except the heating in the hall, went well. Ticket sales were the best ever and we received so much positive feedback afterwards. A big ‘Thank You’ to all the parents who contacted the PTA and submitted their details on the Talent and Time Register. This initiative is for any parent who would like to help on occasion, but, cannot commit to attending PTA meetings. As an example, the PTA provides refreshments at school evenings and parents have warmly welcomed the facility. This is a source of revenue for the PTA; however, we need to examine how we can improve this service to the school as I can see that it has put a lot of pressure on Rachel and Debra in particular. So, where do we go from here? In my opinion, we need to make some changes and introduce new fundraising initiatives.

I would like to develop the idea for a craft fair and combine it with the ‘Wedding and Bar Mitzvah’ fair proposed by Bev. This event could be held at the school in November 2009. I believe that we should change the Supper Quiz to a summer event rather than hold it December. So much of the expense goes on providing food, and as a summer event, we could well save money by providing a less expensive alternative. If we proceed with the Fair, the next Supper Quiz would be in the summer of 2010. We must move forward with the greeting cards that could be a revenue stream for the PTA. the JFS art department do not embrace the opportunity then we will need to organise the designs in a commercial way. However, I hope that Mr Rogers will realise the synergy and benefits to all concerned and expedite this initiative. I have noticed that, as in any committee, there are people who simply take on too much. We need to spread the load more and when required, possibly sub contract some tasks to a commercial organisation. Overall we need to raise the profile of the PTA and attract new members. Many parents do not seem to be even aware of the PTA and we must find ways of overcoming this and find ways of participating in PTA activities more welcoming. In conclusion, I believe we overcame challenging times in 2008 and I thank everyone connected with the PTA for their help and support. I look forward to your ongoing support in 2009 to help JFS continue its educational excellence." --------------------------------------------------------- ends -----------------------------------------------After Gary had read his report and received applause, Mr Harris added that the PTA had also paid for the Spelling Bee trophies. He thanked Gary for the calm way he chairs the meetings and added that both he and Mr. Miller really appreciated all that the PTA do. Mr. Harris thought this had been one of the most successful PTA Committees he could remember. 4. TREASURER'S REPORT Simone read out the following:

"I have prepared a statement of financial activities for the year to 31st December 2008. I haven't yet been able to produce a balance sheet as I need to put together the accounts for the last few years to get the correct opening balances for this year. I know from the bank statements that we started the year with £2579 and we have doubled our reserves this year, giving us total funds of £5158 at 31st December 2008. We did really well with the supper quiz this year with net proceeds of £4236 which is higher than the last two years. Lets see if we can beat that figure at the next one.

We have net proceeds of £728 from the sale of refreshments, which is a return of 53%. We have also very gratefully received donations from parents of £265. Once we set up the Gift Aid scheme, we will be able to receive an extra 25% on all donations received. I am liaising with the Charity Commission at the moment as we are trying to get our accounts up to date. Once this has all been tidied up, I will present the financial statements for this past year, along with a summary of the past few years.' --------------------------------------------------------- ends -----------------------------------------------Simone also mentioned that

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She wants us to push the greeting cards as that could be a reasonable revenue from a 'nonevent'

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She would like the PTA to work towards a target, rather than just raise money. (Mr Harris mentioned that Mr Appleman wants to ask us to help with some theatre equipment and would like around £20,000.)

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That she was disappointed with the lack of response to the table sponsoring for the supper quiz and suggested that we take a different approach to getting sponsors.

5. OTHER THINGS DISCUSSED Chris said that he would like to look at way of attracting more parents onto the PTA. He also wanted to know how much money we should keep in reserve. Claudia Moss, Year 7 parent and a Chartered Account is fine to review the PTA accounts. We don't need them audited though as our turnover is not high enough. Action: Gary to write to Harvey Rose, auditor to let him know that he is no longer needed. Barclays Bank - Diana should write letter to the bank saying that Ian Fenton is no longer the Treasurer for the PTA and to replace with Simone as the new signatory. 6. REVIEW OF SUPPER QUIZ Brian said that the food was the best he had had at a supper quiz. Rachel said that others complained. Garry Harris thought that cold meats and salads woud have been better. Gary said that costs for kosher food keep going up. Sami's have said they would like to do the catering next time and we will consider other caterers. Adam Goldstein, a JFS student was of enormous help on the night, and is to be given an HMV voucher. The silent auction raised £121 so was worth doing. It was suggested next time that this could be held on the website. Debra said we should send a letter to Osem who were extremely helpful. The heating was off for the 2nd year running - this was not acceptable.

The marathon round went on for too long and therefore took to long to mark, but otherwise the quiz itself was thought to be very successful. Gary thanked everyone for their effort. 7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS - TIKVA Mr. Harris wants to have a Tikva evening - to invite parents to a presentation from students who attended Odessa to raise awareness of the trip, the charity and the project. Parents should pay to go. The committee wondered how many parents would be interested in going to such an evening. It would be better to wait to the Spring Concert and hold it in aid of Tikva. Brian was very keen to ensure that there is not a conflict of interests. The PTA should be seen to raise money for the school only and not other charities. This point was agreed and accepted by the committee. 7a. STAMPS Brian suggested we shoud look into getting stamps designed around JFS which we could selll such as the Gutter Paris mint stamps. 7b. FUTURE DATES OF MEETINGS Gary has suggested these dates for meetings for the year ahead: Wednesday 18th March Wednesday 6th May Wednesday 17th June Thursday 16th July Wednesday 9th September Wednesday 14th October Wednesday 4th November Thursday 14th January 2010 (AGM) NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY 5TH FEBRUARY AT 8 PM Executive Committee - Chairman: Gary Lipman [email protected], Vice

Chair: Chris Setz [email protected], Hon. Secretary: Diana Bronson [email protected], Treasurer: Simone Abecassis [email protected]