02 Oct Minutes of CF Committee Meeting – 1 October 2019
Present: Lorraine Gerrard, Elizabeth Mackie, Challe Hudson, Andi Voros, Fran Iannaccone, Georgia Norton, Melanie Solomou, Sarah Wiley, Leon Choueke, Ayla Us, Adele Corbello, Andy Day
Curriculum Coffee Mornings
- Leon thanked everyone for their help in getting tea, coffee, and pastries organised for these events, which have had good feedback.
Finances
- We have about £70k in available funds at the moment.
- The bank balance on the current account is £103k but we have some funds earmarked for Clean Air Coleridge and the MUGA fund plus our usual £8k minimum set aside (in the savings).
- Kit and Morinade are both looking to step back from cash-handling at events and we need some replacements. The more there are, the less any one person has to do.
Playground Repairs / Improvements
Leon reported that:
- the area where the allotments currently are is going to be repurposed. There will be some smaller allotments in the area behind Leon’s office.
- there is some snagging to be done on the last phase of work (eg firming up the fence and gate and surface edges). The builders need to complete that before moving on to anything else and before they are paid the balance of their fees.
- there are two possibilities for the next phase. One is to build the outdoor classroom, the other is to work on the bank and/or the ramp. We’re waiting to hear from Harringey Council about what they will be doing and when, as a good part of the works are their responsibility.
- children and careers are not leaving the school promptly at the end of the school day, with children playing or getting up to mischief unsupervised. It was agreed that the window of flexibility till 3.30pm wasn’t helping and that families need to understand that once the children are collected, they need to make their way out. The children aren’t safe and the playground gets damaged otherwise.
Sponsored Sign Boards
- The take-up for signboards was similar to last year (67).
- Various ways of encouraging more people to agree to it were discussed. In the next push we’ll emphasise the value of each board (those taking a board now are raising £60 per year, potentially £420 over 7 years).
- We could also try signing people up at parents evenings or other events where we are face to face with people.
Environmental Issues #1 – Plastic Free
Everyone was keen to look at ways of reducing plastic. Some parents (Kate Fielding and Jasmine Cockcroft)who are involved in Plastic Free Crouch End have come forward with some ideas they’d like to work on with CF and with the school including:
- An events policy aimed at reducing/eliminating plastic waste
- Continuing the coffee cup initiative at the school events
- Moving to reusable plates/cups at more events other than Summer Fair. PFCE have links with organisations that can assist on recycling
- Discouraging plastic or glow sticks etc at events
- Alternatives to milk cartons in school.
- It was pointed out that a lot of our better fund-raising stalls do use plastics (eg glow sticks). We need ideas for how to replace them with similarly popular items!
- Given that Kate has said she and Plastic Free Crouch End are willing to source alternatives there needs to be more communication on this, as the organisers of the events are happy to listen to alternatives but will need to assess their cost and suitability.
- Elizabeth agreed to put Kate and Jasmine in touch with Fran Kellett who had been driver of the resuable water bottles initiative and with the relevant Governors.
Environmental Issues #2 – Clean Air Coleridge & Green Wall
- Leon reported on progress with this project, further thought will need to go in to how to integrate it with other needs and considerations. (One example of the kind of thing that needs to be reviewed is the amount of water required to maintain it.)
- Leon emphasised that he was very grateful for the work done so far by the CAC team and excited to see the results once practical concerns have been ironed out.
- Georgia explained that she is meeting CAC next week to get to the bottom of everything that needs to be done so that the work can progress.
- It was noted that asthma and respiratory problems are caused by the journey to school more than the time in school. This might have implications for how we take this forward. (For example, some types of green wall, in some conditions, increase the fumes on the pavement in front, where in our case children wait to cross the road.)
Environmental Issues #3
- There are more ways in which air quality around the school and Crouch End Hill might be improved. These include planting vegetation along the roadside.
- Ways of reducing/redirecting traffic at drop-off and/or pick-up can also be pursued, with the council, bus services, and local groups.
Steve Howe Night – Thursday 12 March, 2020
- We now have an agreed date for the visit of Steve Howe. Steve Howe was the lead guitarist in Yes (13 million album sales in US alone) and has done all kinds of interesting side projects. He’s a very talented musician, grew up nearby in Holloway, and is Georgia’s Dad! He’ll be doing an assembly for the children and performing a one-off show in Coleridge’s hall on Thursday 12 March.
- We will be looking for people to help with this. More details to follow.
Cultures of Coleridge – Event Day
- In March, the school is planning a Cultures Of Coleridge week, where they celebrate the variety of cultures and backgrounds from which Coleridge families come. CF will be helping to organise a culminating event on the Friday. This is not a fund-raising activity but a way of bringing families together at the school without barriers of cost, language, tradition etc.
- The plan would be for a full week of in school events ending with a full school community event on the Friday afternoon. Groups of parents would work together to put on a stall that represents their home/family country. This could be food, language activities, traditional clothing or dance – anything they choose really! To encourage children and parents to visit as many stalls as possible, we would put on a treasure hunt/quiz type activity which would involve collecting answers from different stalls. CF’s role would be to help recruit ‘leaders’ of different stalls and then help parents to reach out to others to help them run the stalls. The school would be heavily involved in this too. CF may also help finance some of the stalls too (i.e. with ingredients for cooking).
- We will be looking for people who have ideas for this event and would like to help organise.
- The costs of this event should be fairly small, but details will follow
Comedy Night – Scummy Mummies
- No date yet, but potentially coming in March 2020! Here’s their website. http://www.scummymummies.com/
- They’re a two-woman comedy show and could be doing a gig at Coleridge next year. More details to follow.
New Members
- It was great to see Adele at the meeting – welcome!
- At the Reception coffee morning (attended by about 50) we talked to a couple more potential recruits.
Andrew Day 02.10.19