06 December 2018 Bi-termly Meeting
Minutes
Present
MC (non-committee member), SG, JP (Secretary), Simon Pickett (Head), KS (Chair), MS, VS, AV (Treasurer)
Agenda item 1: Apologies for absence and resignations
AG (apologies), MT (apologies)
Agenda item 2: Maters arising from the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held Monday 24 September 2018 not covered elsewhere on the Agenda
There were no matters arising.
Agenda item 3: Ball update (MT)
Band transport In MT absence VS commented that she'd been trying to make contact with someone at School to book a minibus or van to transport the Soul Band's equipment to the venue October 2019 so there wasn't a repeat of 2018 .The Band had to hire a minibus because the change of weekend for the Ball meant the School's transport was already booked and the PTFA paid the bill. Simon briefly left the Meeting and spoke to a member of staff on duty in the Lower Foyer and reserved transport.
Ball deposit: AV has paid the deposit for October 2019.
Agenda item 4: Treasurer update (Treasurer team)
Ball As the Ball didn't make a profit this year, we haven't had the usual injection of money to funds.
Balances There's £320 in the Current Account and just over £4,000 in the Savings account.
Gold Card VS reported that as of 10 November there was £4,410 in the Gold Card account. Keeping £2,000 in the Gold Card account covers the annual prize money and £100 per year for the license. VS and AV will arrange for £2,100 to be transferred to the PTFA's current account.
How the PTFA pay for school-ordered items. The Finance Team of the School prefer the process to be: School places and order and receive and invoice. The School pays the invoice, then invoices the PTFA and we reimburse the School.
Agenda item 5: Gold Club Card tickets and administration
Gold Card forms were photocopied and put on the dinner tables at the Ball and two people joined the scheme.
VS has now taken over Gold Card administration from MS (who will still offer help).
5.1 October draw (VS)
The October draw wasn't made at the Ball (minuted as a suggestion: Minutes 24 September 2018 Agenda item 4 'Tasks at the Ball'). Instead, the draw was made at today's meeting. October winner: £60.00 - L Owen
November draw (VS) £60 - A Wilson
5.1 December draw (VS)
£450.00 - SB Bramford
VS used a random number generator instead of the bag of numbered cards to make these three draws. This method has the benefit of decreasing the amount of work involved in reassigning numbers when people leave the scheme.
Agenda item 6: Second-hand uniform update (Shop team)
SG said she still didn't have access to the PTFA email address to which uniform requests were made.
Post-meeting action: AV created an email address for her at ChocFest. It is ptfauniform@gmail.com
Action: JP to update PTFA pages on School website
Agenda item 7: Funding requests
During this section the Committee discussed voting on funding requests by email.
We decided that requests for 'small' amounts of money could be voted on by email. The request will be successful if a majority vote 'yes' without the need to wait for everyone to respond.
A 'majority' with the current Committee will be six 'yes' votes.
For requests for 'larger' amounts (£500 and above) we decided we would give everyone the opportunity to have their say. In practical terms this probably means having the discussion over a longer timescale and at a committee meeting or meetings.
Regardless of whether the amount requested is large or small, we also need to consider whether the funding is potentially for all the boys, rather than just some and whether it will add 'fun' to the boys' experience of school.
Headmaster's School Council request
The School Council have been informed that they have money to spend, and that it should be spent on something the School shouldn't spend money on.
Kerry Milligan: School Book Club
JP has offered to meet Kerry but a date hasn't been arranged. Further to this, on 7 December Kerry emailed JP and said: J Snee has set up a book club in the library so I don't want to do anything which would take pupils away from her so I will leave it for the time being. It is something we could potentially revisit in the summer ready for next September.
Linguascope
Agreement to fund this made via email (£300 + VAT). Nine of the Committee voted in favor.
Russell Baker Airfix Club
Everyone agreed to giving the model making club £250. (See attached completed Request for Funding form with the costings)
Post meeting: The £250 from the PTFA to support the Model Club was paid to the school account on 14 December 2018, Alison Chesters-Thompson (Senior Finance Officer)
Mr Whales - electricity bill for Toy Shop
VS received an informal request from Mr Whales for the PTFA to pay the cost of electricity during the letting period of the premises used for the sixth form pre-Christmas toy shop. JP visited the Toy Shop and Mr Whales explained that in previous years the School hadn't been asked to pay for the electricity of the Toy Shop premises, but that this year he was anticipating being asked to pay the electricity.
KS pointed out that in 201 5, 2016 and 2017 the PTFA contributed £100 towards the Shop, but that a contribution hadn't been made in 2018.
The Committee agreed that the PTFA would pay the electricity bill up to £200 without further discussions. If the bill is more than £200 then there would be email discussions on paying a higher amount.
The School will pay the bill first and the PTFA will reimburse the School.
Any other funding requests?
Simon would like the School to display a memorial wall with the names of Old Boys who've died since 1945. Archivists as School will look through records to find the names.
Agenda item 8: DBS Checks and Volunteer Policy: is everyone up to date?
MC to contact Louise Wood to apply for a DBS and Safeguarding training.
Agenda item 9: Any other business
Receiving funding requests/ form to be completed
As the PTFA has seen an increase in the number of funding requests, Jo has created a Funding Request form which applicants will complete with as much information as possible. The completed forms should speed up the Committee's decision making because there shouldn't be a need to ask for further details about the request.
- The form also gives space for notes on the decision making of the Committee.
- Amendments to the Constitution (including Minuting the new 'quorate' figure)
Note: Amendments to the Constitution of the Association may be made subject to the approval of two-thirds majority of members present and voting at a Meeting.
JP was concerned that the PTFA Constitution states 'a quorum exists of 8 members'. The current PTFA Committee is 11 voting members, so 8 is a high percentage of the total Committee. After some discussion it was decided that a quorum would be 'half the number of the named Committee plus one person'.
Action: At the meeting to be held Thursday 7 March 2019 we need to agree the following amendment to the Constitution:
Section 5: Committee
Change: A quorum shall consist of 8 members.
To: A quorum shall consist of half the number of the Committee plus one person.
Simon asked at the meeting held 24 September 2018 whether he was a voting member of the Committee or not and JP looked at the Constitution to find out.
The Constitution doesn't specify that the Head is part of the Committee, just that:
Membership shall be open to all parents or guardians of present pupils of the School, all staff of the School and all friends (over 18 years old) of the School. (Section 4. Membership).
As such, the Head can be a member of the PTFA, but at this meeting the Committee decided the Head shall be an ex-officio member of the Committee with the right to vote, in recognition that the Head is the conduit between School and the PTFA.
Action At the meeting to be held Thursday 7 March 2019 we need to agree the following amendment:
Section 5: Committee
After the first sentence, add the following sentence:
The Head Master is an ex-officio member of the committee and has the right to vote.
The question was raised as to whether PTFA Minutes should be 'available on request'. The Committee agreed that Minutes could be available but that third party names would be redacted. A suggestion was made that abbreviated Minutes could be available. (No decision was made on this suggestion).
Simon asked when the AGM took place. He asked if this is a good time? Or is there a better time? Could the time be changed so more people might attend?
He suggested it could be before or after the Year 7 'Maths explained' meeting, as parents/guardians would already be coming to school. It might also be a way of interesting parents/guardians who may be new to the school to becoming involved in the PTFA. It was suggested an online poll could be created to ask parents/guardians when they would be more able to attend.
Action: Find out when the 'Maths Explained' meeting is.
Agenda item 10
ChocFest volunteers/ assign tasks MS & KS - raffle tickets (3 books in 3 different colours) AV - float
SG, JP - helpers
Agenda item 11: Dates of future meetings
- PTFA Committee Meeting 6 December 2018
- Thursday 7 March 2019 - 7.30pm Bishop Foxe Room
- Wednesday 3 April 2019 - 12:35-1 :20pm Easter ChocFest Tombola Thursday 4 July 2019 - 7.30pm Bishop Foxe Room
