Minutes of CF Committee Meeting – 3 June 2020

Present via Zoom: Elizabeth Mackie, Fran Iannaccone, Georgia Norton, Lorraine Gerrard, Melanie Solomou, Sarah Wiley, Leon Choueke, Alan Midgely, Joanna Shakhmin, Marielle Drier, Ayla Us, Louise Foulkes

Finances

We currently have £128k in the bank. £8k is set aside as a financial buffer. There are further earmarked funds for the MUGA  surface replacement (£10k), the unspent amount set aside for the playgrounds (£17K), the remainder of the Clean Air Coleridge fund (£2k) and monies for the LEF (made up of regular donations of £150 a month plus occasional one off donations and associated Gift Aid). We also need to leave a sufficient balance in the account to run any potential events and finance any necessary urgent school requests – EM suggested £20k for this minimum. This leaves c. £60k to spend now.

Missing funds from events unlikely to run in their usual format (Gig Night/Summer Fair/Scummy Mummies/ Fireworks) are estimated conservatively at £30K.

Events

Lots of discussion about potential events which families could participate in remotely. Lots and lots of ideas but realistically we only have 6 weeks left of this term so one event is likely to be the maximum.  Next step is to go out to the reps to get ideas and hopefully enthusiasm to manage one or other of these suggestions.

Potential Projects

• Leavers playground – this is an area at the back of the school by Y5/6 (backing on to car park).
• Y3/4 loo blocks – this is now the school’s top priority as the loos are now becoming unsafe and certainly aren’t hygiene compliant in the age of COVID so getting these down is imperative to getting more children back to school on the West side. It is estimated to cost around £80k The workshop idea no longer needs funding as Paul is making it himself whilst he is unable to work in school.
• New CF website  – Sarah has started on this and will approach the web designer who did the school website who thinks he can provide a good value site following the look and feel of the school website for a quote.  This is something we hope to get up and running to ease transition for the new parents arriving in Reception in September as the usual welcome events very unlikely to be possible.
• Green wall on East – the ivy still needs attention. Debs is in discussion with the providers so they can replace/ remove/ move plants around to improve what’s there. As Andy set out in an earlier email the area will benefit
• IT – school to look at potential IT needs eg spare laptops for lending out to teachers or families  in case lockdown returns.

Approved Expenditures

• Leavers’ garden – £2k initially from Playgrounds funds but to await further costing details from Matt Skrein and Kirsty Edge (Y6 teachers)
• Y3/4 loo block – to await further costings but assume we will use available funds up to the running costs buffer and will need to fundraise further. Likely first donation to this will be c.£40k
• Green Wall – release £1k for low level shrub plants and compost to improve growth  – again can come from CAC funds or playground fund.
• IT  – to await details from Sarah and also school.

Fundraising Approach

We need to be sensitive to families who might be in particular difficulties having been furloughed or lost their jobs but we also know that some families are still able to give in quite large amounts. Focus will be on the loo block project and the significant funding gap we will face until events can be run.  We will make it as easy as possible to donate with one click links etc (for eg through https://www.givey.com and we will check out Swiftaid as well. If anyone has good loo based graphics we could use that would be good!

Reps Role

There was some discussion about the reps role and what, if anything, could be expected from them in the way of pastoral care and/or being links with the school. The role for many was predominantly  organising events and volunteers and doing class socials etc.  If more is expected then it may be a different set of people need to be engaged.  No conclusions were reached but its certainly something to consider as we go into the next school year.

Succession

Andy will chair a sub-group to discuss. Volunteers for the group to let EM know.

Elizabeth Mackie June 2020