FrOGS PTA

Friends of Greentrees School (FrOGS) is the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and plays a key role in the life of Greentrees School. You are automatically a Member of the PTA if you are a parent, guardian, teacher, or member of staff. We hold events throughout the year to raise funds for the school, but also to provide fun and social activities for the children and their parents/guardians.

OUR CHAIR ROLE IS CURRENTLY VACANT – IF THIS IS SOMETHING YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN STEPPING INTO, PLEASE DROP US A LINE AT frogspta@hotmail.co.uk

Who are we?

FrOGS is a charitable organisation (Registered Charity Number 1096506). We have a number of Committee roles to run the PTA including Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. We currently have a small Committee of around 10 other parents / staff. We aim to hold friendly half-termly meetings to plan and organise fundraising and community events.

We hold our FrOGS Annual General Meeting at the start of the Autumn Term to review the past year’s events and activities, look forward to the year ahead and elect the new Committee for the year. We welcome as many parents/guardians as possible to attend the AGM to listen to future plans and whilst there is no obligation to join the committee, you are most welcome to do so. Parent committee members come from all walks of life. You don’t need to possess any specific qualifications! If you don’t want to join the committee, but would still like to get involved on a more informal basis, we would very much like to develop a list of committed helpers / volunteers we can draw upon for support – this is really important to enable big events such as the Winter Fayre to go ahead!

Why have a PTA?

FrOGS benefits the whole school in a range of ways:

Providing additional funding outside the school budget to improve the education experience for children at our school e.g. play trail equipment, the pond and copse, music workshops, the Christmas panto and other Christmas treats, new equipment, or even providing subsidised travel for trips.
The opportunity to meet new people, form friendships and socialise.
FrOGS provides an additional link between staff, parents and pupils and adds to the whole school community.

What have we achieved so far?

Since the PTA was set up in September 2002, FrOGS have raised in excess of £75,000. We have been involved in a wide range of fundraising events; from the ever popular FrOGS Quiz Night and the seasonal Summer and Winter Fayres, to Bingo and school discos. We would love to be able to increase the variety and number of events organised throughout the year and welcome suggestions from the school community to be able to achieve this.

FrOGS run a community Lottery for parents to join and the Easy Fundraising facility which earns the school commission when you shop on-line. In recent years, we have organised Bags2School clothing / textile collections and raised over £2500 with over 4500kgs of clothes donated.

As a result of our fundraising efforts, we have been able to fund a number of projects to benefit the school. In recent years, this has included £15,000 for the outdoor fitness/play trail at the junior site, £4,000 to replace all the school reading books, and £1,700 to replace the wheeled play vehicles, as well as a number of smaller projects. We also funded the play boat at the Infant site and pay for the annual Christmas pantomime visit to school. Our current main project is to provide a sensory garden area at each school site.

Sustainability

FrOGS is now supporting the school on a multi-year plan to embed a deeper understanding of the environment, sustainability, and how the students and their families can improve their impact on the planet. This has resulted in a significant change in the way FrOGS events are run. For example, reducing the use of plastic and disposable items. We will be working closely with the school’s Eco-Council to come up with further ways we can reduce, re-use and recycle.

FrOGS run a second hand uniform shop. This is a great way of providing sustainable choices for families and reducing cost impacts for our school community. We aim to hold sales at least a couple of times throughout the year.

How can you help?

You can help FrOGS in three main ways:

Become a committee member – an excellent way to get a feel for what FrOGS does, an opportunity to have an input into events that are held and decide how to use funds. Plus, volunteering makes you feel good!
Volunteer to help out – this can range from giving 30 minutes of your time to serve drinks at the school disco, helping to set-up or clear-up at one of our bigger events, baking cakes for a cake sale, being at the school gate to collect tombola donations, sorting through second hand uniform donations, or attending a Committee Meeting.
Attend the events that we hold – come along and have some fun whilst raising money for your children!

For further information on joining or becoming a supporter/volunteer of FrOGS, please email us frogspta@hotmail.co.uk, join our Facebook page (search for FrOGS), ask at reception, or speak to parents in the playground to be directed to a friendly committee member.