Friends Welcome Letter 

Dear Parents / Carers, 

The Friends of St Lawrence Primary School is a group of parents/carers with children at the school which organises the social and fundraising activities and aims to bring together the school community in many different ways. As a parent/carer of a child at St Lawrence you are automatically a member of the Friends and are welcome to join any meetings, fundraising events and social evenings.

Each year in September, the Friends have an Annual General Meeting (AGM). A Committee is elected by parents/carers to organise and run events for the academic year. The Committee comprises Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, two representatives per class, a staff representative plus other interested parties.

Currently these positions are held by: 

• Chair – Emma King
• Treasurer – Emma Weare
• Secretary – Hedeel Munden
• Committee member - Lorna Ryan 

Fundraising has obviously been limited since March 2020 but we have still managed to assist in funding a number of projects. In 2020-2021, the Friends funded the purchase of new reading books allowing each class to have their own set of reading books and to increase the children’s variety of text. In 2019-2020, the school identified a project to improve the outdoor space including a sensory garden and well-being area which the Friends were able to part-fund alongside a grant. The building of this outdoor area was completed in April 2021 and is being enjoyed by all the children to enhance their learning during lesson time and to have a quiet/reflective area. As you can see the list is extensive and we are incredibly proud of all that we have been able to support the school with and the difference we have made to the children’s school experience. 

We are always looking for new ideas to raise money and events to keep the children entertained and we always need help in organising and running the various events throughout the year.

The Friends normally meets every half term with the meeting typically lasting up to 1.5 to 2 hours, during which time we review past activities, discuss upcoming events, discuss expenditure requests and brainstorm new fundraising ideas.

In addition to our meetings, The Friends publish a half-termly newsletter which is sent to you via school email and can also be found on the school’s website. We also have a Facebook page where we regularly post about up and coming events. This is open for current parents and carers only and is a closed group. If you wish to join the Facebook group in September, then please do find us by searching for 'Friends of St Lawrence Primary school' and requesting to join.  

How can you support the Friends?

You can support the Friends in many ways including:

• Volunteering to become a class representative
• Supporting your class reps by participating in class rotas to ‘man’ stalls at our Christmas, Easter and Summer fairs; and volunteering for Apple week
• Donating gifts for raffles/auction prizes
• Encouraging your company to become a sponsor for one of our events or asking them to match fund
• By offering your skills to us i.e. face painting, cooking, etc. or
• By simply coming along to our events.

A couple of times a year the Friends hold a second-hand uniform sale. If parents urgently require any items of uniform before the start of term in September, please email Hedeel on hedeela@yahoo.co.uk for an up-to-date stock list and to arrange collection. Please can parents also place any unwanted school uniform in the blue box in the office lobby area.

We welcome any ideas you may have for fundraising and very much look forward to seeing you at one of the many events we hold throughout the year.

Finally, we have a weekly school lottery that you can take part in if you wish. Visit www.yourschoolottery.co.uk and search for St Lawrence Primary school. By using Amazon Smile you can also contribute towards our fundraising where every purchase generates a small percentage for our school and also via Give as you Live, another shopping website/app which donates a small percentage for St Lawrence (search for The Friends of St Lawrence Primary School). Alternatively, (or as well as!), you can make a monthly donation to the Friends.  There is a separate ‘monthly donation’ letter for details of how to set this up.

Please do support us with our future fundraising, every little bit of help can make a huge difference.  

Kind regards

The Friends of St Lawrence Primary School Committee

Registered Charity No: 1082733                                                                                        thefriendsofstlawrence@gmail.com