Parents, Staff & Friends Association

Who are we?
We are volunteer Parents, Staff and Friends of Christ Church and St Peter’s C.E.
Primary School, Mountsorrel, with the shared aim of raising money to provide
experiences and resources for all the school children and their families - we want to
help bring the school community together, and have some fun.

We will always aim to adapt to new circumstances. This could include replacing face
to face meetings with online meetings and finding new ways to fundraise.

Committee structure
The key elements of the structure of the association are the:
• Constitution (governing document)
• Members
• Committee
• Trustees

Constitution
Our PSFA has adopted without change the ParentKind model constitution - England
and Wales. The constitution sets out the rules and procedures by which committee
members govern the association.

Working with a constitution is the best way of ensuring that there is a shared
understanding of how the association should be governed. It will determine whether
or not the association has made decisions correctly and is the means by which any
disagreements within the association can be resolved.

The constitution establishes the fundamental rules by which the association is
governed and describes:

• the aims of the association and its powers
• its membership
• the size of the committee and how members are elected
• the need for an annual audit/independent examination as best practice and
general meeting

Members
• P for Parents - members are parents, carers and guardians of pupils currently at
the school
• S for Staff - members are the teaching and non-teaching staff currently employed
by the school
• F for Friends - the members may be any persons over the age of 18 wishing to
offer appropriate support or help to the school/association who is deemed suitable as a member by the Committee e.g. grandparents, parents of past
pupils, members of the local community
• A for Association
Members are not legally responsible for the actions of the association. It is the
elected committee members who are legally responsible for the management of the
association.

Committee
Our committee is a team of volunteers who are elected at the association's Annual
General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to manage the
association on behalf of the members. The committee can co-opt new members in.
There are two types of committee member, Officer and Ordinary member. Officers
have specific roles such as Chair, Treasurer or Secretary. Ordinary Committee
Members play a vital role working alongside and supporting the Officers. All
committee members have equal voting rights, with the exception of the Chair, who
has an additional casting vote, should this be needed.
Committee members can lead other members in teams (for events etc).
These elected committee members are legally accountable and responsible for the
running of the association and will become the charity trustees, as and when the
PSFA is in a position to register as a charity.

Volunteers
In addition to the elected committee, we have a valuable list of volunteers/helpers,
who are willing to support the work of the committee. Volunteers/helpers are
welcome to attend open PSFA meetings and being a volunteer can be a gentle
introduction to the PSFA, many volunteers go on to being elected committee
members.

Trustees
As and when the PSFA becomes a registered charity all the elected committee
members (Officers and Ordinary) automatically become Trustees of the association
(charity) and have a legal duty to ensure that the association (charity) acts lawfully and is managed properly.
Whilst Trustees have a legal duty it is important to remember that all decisions should be made collectively by the committee. No one individual should take sole responsibility for a committee decision or activity.

Bank Account
The PSFA has their own bank account for the safekeeping and management of the
money raised. It is the responsibility of all committee members to manage and
control the funds the association raises. Legally the school and the PSFA are two
completely separate entities.
 

Our Aims
‣ To provide experiences for ALL children that school doesn’t usually fund
‣ To fund/help provide resources for our children that school doesn’t usually
provide
‣ To bring the school community together
‣ To support the school in achieving larger scale projects
‣ To be role models for our children
‣ To create opportunities of responsibility, respect and independence for our children
‣ To have fun (ALL)
‣ To have a sense of achievement

Our Core Principles
‣ Every member’s views are important and WILL be listened to.
‣ ALL members are equally important; nobody is more important than anybody else; nobody is too important to get stuck in.
‣ There are clear lines of communication. We know things in good time.
Messages are clear. Messages are at an appropriate time of day. We know who to ask for help.
‣ There is trust between members. Everything is clear, open and transparent.
‣ We treat and speak to each other as we wish to be treated and spoken to. We use respectful language (nothing is personal).
‣ We are inclusive; we care about others and we think about others. We always greet new members at a meeting.
‣ We reflect the values of the school.
‣ We will encourage new members and we WILL OFFER help and support to all members.
‣ We respect how the school functions and work collaboratively with the school.

Our meetings
• Our aim is to have one open meeting per half a term, plus an AGM – so 7 in total across a year (face to face, or via an online option if required)
• To vary the day and time of the meetings to accommodate all
• If you are a committee member, you will be expected to attend at least 4 of the 7
meetings (missing 3 in a row would cause concern)
• All members are welcome at the meetings – they would run as open meetings rather than committee meetings
• The quorate is 50% of the committee members for a vote. All other members can
vote to show feedback and provide input as good practice, but it’s the committee who cast the final vote.
• Meeting records include minutes taken, attendance, apologies, votes cast, registers of interest
• Meeting agendas to go out a week in advance, to give people an opportunity to
comment/input if they can’t attend

How we communicate
• WhatsApp groups – used for communication to the committee, members and sub-groups.
• Email – used for communication with volunteers, with school, and to send out official information and documents to everyone.
• Face to face – to communicate with the Senior Leadership Team for main information. And obviously a great way to communicate with each other.
• Facebook page – used for communication with the wider community and our members and volunteers, to inform them of what’s going on.
• Advertising – posters, banners, noticeboards, the A frame board – all great platforms to let people know information. The new parents meeting for Foundation intake is a perfect introduction to the PSFA.

Key events the PSFA help with throughout the year
• School Discos
• Summer Fayre/Event
• Christmas Fayre/Event
• Mother’s Day Sales
• Father’s Day Sales
• Nativity Performances
• Easter Performance
• May Day
• Sports Days
• New Parents afternoons and welcome evenings
• Music nights
❖ The PSFA have high visibility vests that they wear at key events to be visible and to be part of the team

What can you do?

• Join our on-line shopping portal; purchases you make through the mobile app or on the computer earn us commission at no added cost to you. http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/foccspps
• Take part in our events
• Join the committee
• Buy and sell raffle tickets
• Send in Tombola prizes, Bric-a-brac, ‘Bag 2 School’ and other items (when requested)
• Donate a raffle prize
• Donate plants for the grounds
• ‘Like’ PSFA Mountsorrel on Facebook and share our status updates
• Encourage others to join in too.

Get in touch

Email   psfamountsorrel@gmail.com

find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/psfamountsorrel

or leave a message at the school office.