Have you some skills we can utilise?

Last week I was impressed with the power of the school newsletter. Only minutes after Mark sent out the newsletter in email form with our notice - we had a new project manager.

Lizena Gray who is an experienced project manager from Telecom is coming on board to the Committee to help us with the playground project. This will be a great help in breaking down what seems like a major undertaking into bite sized chunks.

We are still on the look out for,

A marketing person...

With the start of our fundraising for the new playground we need help keeping everyone updated and the momentum rolling. If you have an interest in or prior experience in marketing you could be part of a small team around the playground initiative.
An auditor... 
This is a once a year opportunity to give back to the school at no monetary cost to yourself. The PHSC is a registered Charity but inorder to apply for significant grants for the school playground we need to get our accounts audited. Our financial statements will be completed up to the year ended 31st December 2013. 

If you have some skills that you think could help out the playground project, please let us know. It all helps at the end of the day and it is great for getting to know more about the school where our children spend a lot of their time, not to mention all the other parents.

Movie Night Blue Jasmine

Many thanks for all the parents and friends of the school who supported the movie night.
We raised $782 for the movie and raffles on the night. 
Thanks also to our sponsors, SHOTTs drinks, Butlers Café, Rebel Sport Porirua, EasiYo, Tupperware, Te Rauparaha Arena, Whittakers, Spoil Yourself Spa, O.P.I and Kenepuru Chemist.

  

A Possible Site for a New Playground

Mark Smith, Darren O'Leary and myself met with a playground stockist who has done refurbishments to our playground.
This was to get an idea of cost and a suitable site.
The possible site of Rimu block has been eliminated due to Ministry restrictions and lack of sun during winter. Below is a picture of a proposed site near the back of the hall and swimming pool.
Its a unused area that could look better with some planting, paths and play equipment. Infact you can still see the old abandoned maypole still there. It would be great to put in a flying fox, some tunnels and slides over this bank.

In ballpark figures we are talking about $80,000 for playground equipment without any site development ie retaining walls and landscaping. There is a lot of scoping that has to be done if we are going to apply for some grants funding.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events - Please keep the dates free

Friday 23 August, Afternoon Tea for Parents in the Staffroom, between 2 & 3pm. This is a chance for you to meet the committee and understand why we need a new playground. Then to

Tuesday 17 September: Movie fundraiser ‘Blue Jasmine’ at Lighthouse Cinema, Pauatahanui at 730pm Tickets $20. Email us for tickets homeandschool@papakowhai.school.nz or ring Lisa on 0275103973.

Friday 18th October: Papakowhai School ladies shopping night 7-930pm
Stallholders, craft demonstrations, silent auction and lots of fun. More details will follow.
 

Thursday 5th December End of Year BBQ Foodie night Parent and Student get together
Still under planning with some differences this year.

A New Playground - A new challenge

Its now official the Home and School, Board of Trustees, teachers and parents have a new fundraising mission of a new playground for the school.
With the growing number of students on the same playground space the time has come for a new playground.
This playground will be mainly targeted at 7-10 year olds but in no way limited to them.

A first estimate of cost is somewhere between $50,000 to $80,000 depending on specifics.  Unfortunately we do not have that kind of money sitting anywhere in a Home and School bank account to just buy it.  So we have started a round of fundraising up until Christmas that has been confirmed. Planning is continuing beyond this but obviously we need help. The Home and School Committee consists of less than ten parents. Please ask yourself what skills do you have that may help us to get to our fundraising goal quicker. It may be that you can offer us a voucher from your business for a raffle or you have baking skills and can help out with these at a function? It maybe that you can just give us some of your time at a fundraiser and that could make all the difference.

Please email us your ideas and thoughts on how we can get the money to fund the playground.

"I have tried raising money by asking for it, and by not asking for it. I always got more by asking for it." -Millard Fuller

What is happening to the Disco Money?

The Home and School Committee is currently working with the new Board of Trustees and the Principal to set a plan around what is the best priority for the school in terms of fundraising needs.

Every year  the Home and School Committees functions raise money for the leaver school books, piper and the school magazine. This will still continue but it is looking at other gaps in the school.  For example it has been suggested that the school needs another playground as with around 340 children currently and only two playgrounds overcrowding is a problem. There is currently no money in the School's budget from the Ministry for this.

Whatever the fundraising goal that is decided, the committee will look into ways to fundraise for this as well as applying for grants within the community. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see fundraised for at the school or how you think the home and school committee could fundraise, please email us.

Disco Night

What a great night it turned out to be. We had just over 265 kids attend the two sessions.
Lots of help from the parents, teachers, whanau leaders and committee members, made it all so well organised.  A big thank you to all of you. It was great to see the some of teachers attend and the Principal attend the whole function.
A thank you to Whittakers for their box of chocolate for prizes and Pak n' Save for the $50 voucher for use on purchases for the night.

We raised $1424 for the school. 

Here are just some of the photos....

The opening line for the disco

Inside the disco...

 Dancing Zombie and the backup dancer...