BHSA Autumn Term 2024 Meeting

Minutes

Monday 9th September 2024, 8pm

1.     Welcome

• The Meeting began with a welcome from the two co-chairs Richard Myers (RM) and Jarlath Pratt (JP).

• Mrs Comerford (LC) then welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed her belief that a strong parent teacher organisation is very important for a school.

2.     Approval of minutes from the last meeting and confirmation of BHSA Committee Members

• JP noted that the minutes from the last meeting had been made available to everyone.

• JP then introduced the new BHSA committee:

  1. Co-Chairs - Richard Myers and Jarlath Pratt

  2. Vice Chairs – Asha Ngai and Arpita Rodrigues

  3. Treasurer – Jitka Edrova

  4. Honorary Secretary – Amy Garden

• The minutes of the previous meeting and the new committee members were duly approved.

3.     Brief introduction to the BHSA

• RM introduced the BHSA. RM noted that the BHSA has two fundamental purposes – to build the parent community (and the relations between all those associated with the school) and to fundraise so we can provide new facilities and items for the girls.

4.     Review of activities during 2023/24

• JP ran through a review of last year’s activities:

  • Fireworks night

  • Christmas Trees and Christmas Wreath Decorating

  • BHSA Quiz Night

  • Mothers Day Gifting

  • Fathers Day Gifting

  • Summer Fete

  • A rain-affected Mini Festival / Camp Night

  • Summer Party – Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich

5.     Financial update

• The previous year’s treasurer, Louise Robinson (LR), gave an update on the financial position of the BHSA.

• LR noted that:

  • the current balance in the accounts is £53,818.20

  • the BHSA customarily maintains a reserve of £10,000

  • the working balance is therefore £43,818.20 of which £42,059.99 has been pledged to school projects

  • LR noted that she would be handing over to Jitka Edrova shortly.

6.     Class Rep update

• JP noted that the BHSA aims to have two class reps for every year and that sufficient volunteers had already stepped forward save that a class rep was still being sought for Nursery (NB).

• JP thanked all those parents who had volunteered so far.

7.     Future events

• JP listed the events in the calendar so far and requested volunteers:

  1. Wednesday 11 September – Welcome Drinks

  2. Friday 8 November – Fireworks Night (Early Session & Late Session)

  3. Thursday 5 December – Christmas Wreath Decorating

  4. Saturday 7 December – Christmas Tree Collection

  5. Friday 7 February – BHSA Quiz Night

  6. Friday 28 March – Mother’s Day Gifting

  7. Friday 13 June – Father’s Day Gifting

  8. Sunday 18 May – Summer Fete

  9. Saturday 14 June – Juniors Mini Festival & Camp Night

  10. Saturday 5 July – Summer Party

• Jade Caffour spoke to request new volunteers to assist with running the Summer Fete to join the ‘core team’ of predominantly Yr 4 and Yr 5 parents.

• JP noted that the BHSA was always open to suggestions for new events and encouraged people to step forward with suggestions.

8.     Coffee shop

• Karen Soliano (KS) described the operation of the parent run coffee shop. She encouraged people to volunteer as a way to meet other parents across year groups.

• KS noted that Rosario (from the school kitchen staff) would hopefully be attending one coffee morning to evidence some of the food that is provided.

• RM thanked Karen for all her work and noted that the BHSA was looking at ways to bring more people to the coffee shop such as having Rob Wraight attend to answer IT queries, Laura Comerford attending and the Coffee Shop perhaps becoming a place where uniform donations can be dropped off.

9.     New website & Pre-loved uniform shop

• RM discussed the new website and online portal that had been built over the Summer and was now live (with the same domain name).

• JP asked for volunteers for the pre-loved uniform.

• RM asked for people’s patience with any ‘teething problems’ as the uniform shop comes online.

10.  Any Other Business

• Natalie Argile thanked the new BHSA Committee for their work over the Summer and welcomed new parents, encouraging them to get involved in the BHSA and school community.

• Wing Chan asked about Tooled Up and access issues (including a request for a new PIN). Laura Comerford recommended that she contact the junior school office and Natalie Argile said that communications would be sent out to new parents to assist them .

• Natalie Argile responded to a query about a swimming pool at the sports field. She noted that the school was keen to spend more funds developing the sports offering and this was potentially a long term ambition but it would take some time (particularly with potential new funding challenges such as VAT on fees).

• RM noted that he had seen some feedback via the online Zoom chat that not all parents had received an invitation to the meeting. RM and JP noted they would endeavour to make sure all parents received an invitation to the next meeting,

11.  Meeting Closed

• JP and RM closed the meeting with a further invitation to parents to volunteer and involve themselves with the BHSA.