Avonmore Does India Tickets ON SALE

Hello!

Please bring your £20 for two tickets to Avonmore Does India.  A night of dance, food and fun!

Thanks!

Melina

Bouncy Castles Booked for the 09 July 2011 Summer Fair

It isn't a summer fair without bouncy castles for the kids.  This year we will have two fabulous castles; one castle will be for the under-five crowd (you know how rowdy they can be) and the other castle will be for the older kids.  How much older?  Well, it can even handle the over 18 crowd!  Yes!  We adults will have access to a bouncy castle too!


So start saving your pennies and plan on spending a fantastic day at Marcus Garvey Park and the W14 for all sorts of fun!


Thanks to Andy for providing another year of excellent customer service!


http://www.jump-a-lot.co.uk/

Minutes of the March FOA Meeting

Good Afternoon,

Thanks to all the parents who attended this morning's meeting.  

1. CONFIDENTIAL

2.  Class Representatives:

A.  You were asked to attend the class sharing assembly, introduce themselves to parents, provide any leaflets or flyers and make any necessary announcements.  If you are a Class Rep and are unable to attend the sharing assembly, please let Melanie and I know as soon as possible so we can make arrangements to fill-in for you.  Melanie and I will provide all the necessary flyers for you to distribute before the assembly.  It is best to put the flyer on every seat and then the parents can read it when they leave the event.  ALSO, be sure to collect any flyers after the assembly and return them to us--we will re-use those flyers at the next assembly.  

B.  Communication:  Remember, you are a great ambassador to the FOA.  Chat up what we do, encourage parents to join us and recruit for our upcoming events.  

C.  First Friday Fundraiser: Beginning in May, we will continue to build on our Friday Fundraiser--sometimes ice cream, sometimes fruit, sometimes a morning coffee.  It is a small fundraising event and a great opportunity for us to fine-tune our selling skills before the summer fair!  We learnt that  just two parents doing an ice cream sale does not work!  We definitely need 4 parents to ensure that all the kids get their fair share.  So, save the date of the FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH and help out from 3-4pm.

3.  Tea Party:  You will all be getting reminders on 8 April of what to make for this event.  Earl will be out of town--WE NEED PARENTS TO HELP SET UP AND CLEAN UP ON THE DAY!  Let me know.

We are still waiting to hear exactly how many of the products Tesco will supply.  Kudos to Roula for collecting £40 of vouchers from the Warwick Tesco!

Remember, the Mayor will be there--so let's have a great turn-out for the press!

4.  Avonmore Does India:  If you signed up to help with this event but haven't contacted me, please do so.  We must sell a minimum of 50 tickets to make this a successful furndraiser.  The money we raise is for new plants and equipment for our student's gardens throughout the school.  Please help us sell tickets to this event!  Invite your friends and family.  A ticket is only £10 and includes the show, catered dinner, drinks and entry into the raffle for a door prize. 

 Prizes are: Pashmina, dinner for two people, a dance lesson.  

That is a HUGE bargain of an evening!

5.  SUMMER FAIR:  Yes, we have a plan, reservations on bouncy castles and we need to get some sponsors!  This year's event will be quite different from previous years.  Please attend a meeting to learn about everything we are offering!  Melanie and I simply cannot do it on our own. We have one party committed to the "Strawberry and Cream" stand and to selling "photograph frames" and we have the bouncy castles reserved and one parent from Reception is in a band--and will be performing.  Please email me and tell me exactly what you want to do for the summer fair.  

6.  BARONS COURT LIBRARY:  We had some questions regarding this hot topic.  I have emailed the Board of Governors with our interest in having the library as part of Avonmore School.  I have emailed the Councillor for Avonmore--who is also a parent of a Reception year student--Councillor Joe Carlebach.  I am every hopeful that Avonmore will get the library space and we can move forward with accessing a great space for our students.

7.  LONG-TERM Goals of FOA:  This question was asked of Melanie and I, "What are the long-term goals of FOA?"  We want to increase our fundraising so that we can offer a greater selection of in-school and/or afterschool programmes to our students.  That is a broad statement--and we need the input of all of you, the staff and the board of governors to make it happen.  

Both the Chair of the Board of Governors and Councillor Joe Carlebach welcome your comments!  Here are their email addresses:

Stephen Bucheron, Chair, Board of Governors:  sbashorun@msn.com

Councillor Joe Carlebach, LBHF: joe.carlebach@lbhf.gov.uk

Kindest regards,

Melina & Melanie

The Friends of Avonmore

Chair: Melina Paesler
Vice-Chair: Melanie Carlebach

Petting Farm for the Summer Fair!

The Avonmore Community Fair is shaping up to be the biggest event for the W14.  


We have booked a fantastic mini-farm for all of the community to enjoy!  


Did you want to see a pony? A cow? Goats? Sheep?  Well, you can see all that, and more come the 9th of July!


http://www.kidsrome.co.uk/


Special thanks to Craig and his 16+ years experience this promises to be a fantastic event for all ages!

Update to March Headteacher's Meeting Notes

Good evening everyone,

Sorry for the delay, yesterday I received an email from Mr. Hale with an update to some of the issues discussed at his meeting earlier this month.  Here are Mr. Hale's comment:

"Just a couple of points regarding the blog you have set up and feedback from the Headteacher’s meeting. 

Regarding the KS2 playground there are a couple of differences, the shed has moved from one side to the other to enable placement of a mini trampoline, the children elected not to have a climbing wall but preferred ‘Monkey Bars’ which has been an addition to the original plan, basket ball hoops are now being fitted above the football goals and chalk boards are being installed by the shaded area.

Regarding Extended Services, the funding will finish, however we have funds to extend the service at least until the end of this academic year and I expect that some of it will move us into the next academic year.  The cluster schools will be meeting to establish a way forward on this issue.  Where you state information was not provided to us is fair enough, however not that it was not provided, but more that there is no information to provide at this moment.

With reference to ‘outings’, the funds from school, Friends of Avonmore and contributions requested per ‘outing’ are for visits and/or visitors, e.g. Year 2 have had ‘Florence Nightingale’ and a ‘Victorian Toys Workshop’ come to visit.  I thought I did make it fairly clear that while we would like classes to go on a trip (I would certainly encourage it for KS1 and KS2 classes) out of school, classes do not have to."  --Mr. Hale

Reminder: Reception Class

The Reception Class has their sharing assembly today at 920.

Promotional Poster for the Avonmore Community Summer Fair

Fantastic Parent Turn-Out at Headteacher’s Meeting

Good Afternoon Everyone!

 

First, let me thank you for attending today's meeting. We had over 35 parents at the Headteacher's Meeting. That is absolutely great! Please tell all your Avonmore friends to join you for the next meeting.

Kudos to you for making the time to share your thoughts and concerns about the existing programmes and the future of Avonmore Primary School.

I am going to list the highlights of the meeting in this email and on our blog, if you have a question about this note, please email me or talk to me at school. It is always great to meet and talk with parents.

I am going to start with the conclusion of the meeting, which I know is unusual, but I think has the greatest value:

1. We have questions of Mr Hale and we prefer to ask those questions in a group setting that allows us to communicate collectively.

    A. At the end of the second hour, three parents, in addition to me, informed Mr Hale of our preference to finish our questions in another meeting.

    B. Why? For example, I asked only 1 of my 7 questions—because so many new topics came up after Frances' presentation regarding Extended Services.

 

2. The budget for Extended Services, for our children's afterschool programmes is being cut this month.

    A. We were not told what programmes will be offered next term.

    B. We do not know how much these programmes will cost.

    C. We do not know who will be making the decisions about the future of our afterschool programmes.

 

3. The first item Mr Hale shared with us was the update to the changes of the Upper Lot Play Area.

    A. Maps were provided for about 1/3 of the parents—ask Ms Collis if you would like your own copy.

    B. The improvements should take place over the Summer Break.

C. There appeared to be no deviation from the plans provided to us at the December 2010 Headteacher's Meeting.

4. Extended Services Update presented by Frances

A. AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMMES: We currently have 8 clubs at school with 129 students registered. Overall, attendance is very good, at 65-100%. The courses include cooking, homework, French, football, dance and jewellery making.

B. BUDGET/FUNDING MATTERS: Right now, students pay £10 per term and the school pays the other £10 for each student to attend a class. Effective this month, the school funding will no longer exist—the school will not be receiving those funds to pass on to us.

C. FAMILY LEARNING PROGRAMMES: This term two classes were offered, based on feedback from a survey conducted last spring. The First Aid course, while receiving very good feedback, had only 3 parents complete the course—effectively a money loser. The Arts & Crafts course has one more session, so the feedback is not yet available—but it did sell out, with 10 parents registered and 8 attending the classes—a much better financial result.

D. INFORMATION TO FAMILIES: Regular Monday Morning classes have been made available, including parenting workshops. There is also an Extended Services Newsletter which provides a great deal of information about programmes available over the half-term and during the term classes/events.

E. FUTURE OF EXTENDED SERVICES: The funding ends on 31 March 2011 and Frances' contract ends on August 2011.

F. COLLABORATION: Both Frances and Mr Hale said there were some great benefits to collaborating with the "cluster schools" in creating the programming, and it seems likely that some sort of collaboration would continue—but how that would be shaped was not provided to us.    

G. AFTERSCHOOL CARE—PRIVATE WALKING BUS: Even though only 1 child enrolled in this programme, Avonmore is still offering it. There is a free walking bus for children to attend afterschool care at Addison School.

5. New School Initiative Entitled, "Community Cohesion" was presented by Mr Hale

    A. The two new goals are: 1. UK Culture 2. Migration to the UK

        (Mr Hale stated that these two topics were picked based on some dialogue between the staff)

B. A Hand-out was provided with suggestions of this new initiative and what the staff can do to engage the students about these two topics.

6. UNIFORMS

A. At the mention of "community cohesion" many parents shared their views about the school uniform. These views ranged from, we should abolish school uniforms altogether (stated after 11am), to, we should have a much stricter uniform policy.

B. In the end, Mr Hale said he would put a reminder in the next newsletter reminding parents of the existing school uniform policy.

7. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM PARENTS:

    A. A need for better ventilation of school Hall. Mr Hale's response was to make better use of the existing windows.

    B. A need for more bicycle parking space to be included with the new upper lot improvements, Mr Hale's response was, "No."

    C. Multiple requests to have another meeting. Mr Hale said we could meet with him one-on-one.

D. A question about why the Reception Class had not had one single school outing. Mr Hale did not specifically answer this question, he did say, "Visitors to the school, like the Twinkle-Twonkle Play count as a school outing."

E. Questions about the school's swimming programme brought a great discussion about the effectiveness of the existing programme. Mr Hale stated that the existing programme offers one term of swim lessons at Fulham Pools for Years 3, 4 and 5.

He also confirmed that the goal of the programme was for each child to learn to swim—but he didn't have, on hand, the stats on how many students actually pass the swim test at the end of their term.

Both parents and staff agreed that because of the distance to travel to the pools that the time and expense are factors.

The meeting ended shortly thereafter.

 

 

    

Japan Disaster Appeal Bake Sale @Masbro Centre

 

Week of 21 March 2011

Good morning everyone!

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow morning is the Headteacher's Meeting with Mr. Clive Hale.

Bring all your comments, questions, concerns...better yet, write them all down today and tonight when they are fresh in your mind and then bring that list to the meeting tomorrow.  I have been working on my list, but I only see the workings of Nursery and Reception.

I am ever grateful for the opportunity, as a co-chair of Friends of Avonmore, to work with all of you!

See you later, see you tomorrow!

Best regards,

Melina

Improve Attendance, Improve Attitude, Improve Energy!

Yes, you can do all these things simply by joining the Friends of Avonmore!  Your volunteer time makes a huge impact on the students.  As we are all role models for the kids; when they see us working together we demonstrate how to cooperate, collaborate and achieve a community goal.  That is powerful!


Statistics prove that students with involved parents earn higher grades & test scores, have better attendance, get more homework done, and graduate at a higher rate. They are more likely to pursue education beyond high school and have more positive attitudes and behaviors!


It is just that simple.  


For further reading:
http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5C39FCD7-8075-40FD-9A08-06614F4FEB1D/14909/TheImpactofParentalInvolvementon365kb2.pdf

You Want Events? You Want to Raise Money? You Want to Create a Community?

We press on with the planning of the April Tea Party--Melanie and I hand delivered an "ask" letter to the local Tesco Manager, Geoff.  We were very grateful for a positive and welcoming reception to our request--of course he had not read the letter--so maybe the breadth of the ask will knock him over.  I am hopeful!

After the morning Tea Party Planning meeting I did all the Tasks the meeting generated.  Each parent should be getting a hard-copy of the invitation with the pay structure for the event.  We worked on the flyer.  I'll contact a staff member to ask if any of her students have a bit of art they would like to share for placement on our posters.

This afternoon we had another meeting with EveryNation Church of London.  We are collaborating with them for the Summer Fair.  It looks like we have our budgets--meager as they are--in place.  Now we are going to cost everything out.  And see just how far apart the two are.

We do have some things booked for the event--the mounted police will be there.  We have a strawberries & cream stand, a frame-for-sale stand and some tentative YES responses from local artisans to book one of our vendor stalls.

We need a sponsor to donate sausages for the food, and a couple sponsors to cover the lemonade stands, candy floss stand and we can move on!

March Meetings:

8th 14:00 Tea Party Planning

15^th
09:00 Indian Dance Planning

22^nd
09:00 Headteacher's Meeting

29th 09:00 FOA Monthly Meeting

 

Tea Party Planning Meeting

Tuesday

8 March 2011

 

Tea Party Planning Meeting

09:00

Melina's Home

RSVP for address

It is OK to bring your babes to the meeting.

Email as a Form of Communication

We are here to re-brand the FOA.  To bring life, a new life and a new energy to the community of parents at Avonmore Primary School.  It is my hope that through our positive energy we can create a positive place for our children!

The majority of our communication is done via email.  I find that email is rarely effective in team-building because the reader often puts the wrong tone into the communication.  If the reader is busy, flustered or worse, that energy clouds the information she is reading.

In a perfect world, we would read an email and believe the best in and of the writer.  Give the writer the benefit of the doubt--particularly in a setting where we are all working together to create a positive place for our children.

February 2011 Meeting Agenda

DATE:     17 February 2011

TO:        Parents, Staff

FROM:     Friends of Avonmore

RE:         Agenda, Meeting at Cumberland Arms Pub, 18:00

 

 

1. Welcome & Updates
   
   1. Volunteer Sign-up sheets Distributed/Collected
      
      1. Cut-off date for Ice Cream Party is 18 Feb 2011, party on 4 Mar 2011
         
   2. Charity & Banking Status
      
   3. Existing FOA Supplies
      

      
       

2. Class Representatives
   
   1. Committed:
      

       

      1. Nursery: Melina
         
      2. Reception: Patsy
         
      3. Year One: Katerina
         
      4. Year Two: Holly & Euan
         
      5. Year Three: Cecilia
         
      6. Year Four: Isabelle & Sengϋl
         
      7. Year Five: Daisy Donovan
         
      8. Year Six: Jasna & Rana(?)
         

 

 

1. Tea Party—handout provided—details discussed at TBA meeting
   
   1. Date: 12 April 2011, 13:00-17:00
      
   2. Student Participation    
      
      1. Year Two preparing scones
         
      2. Year Five preparing biscuits
         
      3. Year Six preparing sandwiches
         
   3. Volunteers Needed
      
      1. Year One Parents to make two dozen scones
         
      2. Year Three Parents to make two dozen Biscuits
         
      3. Year Four Parents to make two dozen Sandwiches
         

   d) Submittal of in-kind donation from Tesco
   

   
    

2. Cultural Dance Celebration—Hand-out provided—details provided at TBA meeting
   
   1. Date: 18 May 2011, 16:00-23:00
      
   2. Hand-Out of Timetable
      
   3. Fundraising Target £200.00
      

   
    

3. Summer Fair 2011—Hand-out provided—details provided at TBA meeting
   
   1. 09 July 2011, 10:00-15:00
      
   2. Sign-Up Volunteers
      
   3. Planning Meeting
      
   4. Possible collaboration w/ EveryNation
      

Reasons for Sponsorship of the 2011 Avonmore Community Summer Fair

Reasons for Sponsorship

2011 Avonmore Community Summer Fair

 

BEFORE THE EVENT:

• Your company name and logo featured on all marketing material relating to the event (website address included)
  
• Your company name and logo featured on the Friends of Avonmore Facebook Page two weeks prior to the event.
  
• Your company name and logo displayed on Friends of Avonmore Facebook Page
  
• Best endeavors to provide publicity in local media
  
• Best endeavors to provide advertorial in local media
  

AT THE EVENT:

• Two banner stands to be on view
  
• For company marketing materials to be made available to all delegates
  
• For a representative from your organisation to give a five minute introduction as the main sponsor
  

AFTER THE EVENT

• Best endeavors to provide editorial in local media
  
• Event details posted on the 'past events' section of the Friends of Avonmore Facebook Page with company logo