The Friends of The Grey House

The Friends of the Grey House is a registered charity of which all parents of pupils at the school are automatically members. It has been in existence for over 25 years.

The formal object of The Friends is to help advance the education of the pupils at the school by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities for education, and in support of this objective to promote more extended relationships between school and the families and engage in activities which support the school and advance the children's education.

In short we organise events for the benefit of children and their families, the aim of which is to have fun, foster the family ethos of the school and hopefully raise some money as well! Photographs of our events are on display around the school - and generally the children do look as if they are enjoying themselves!

The money we raise is used to provide additional facilities and resources from which the children will benefit and to fund a number of our 'not for profit' events. These include the Christmas Parties, Easter Egg Hunt, the school's entry to the annual Hartley Wintney Festival and the Leavers' Outing.

The Friends have been able to provide a great deal of sports equipment for the sports hall, organised a puzzle day, subsidised cycling proficiency training, bought some gardening equipment for the children to use in the vegetable patch, staging for the school hall and a new football kit comprising of shirts - embroidered with the school logo, shorts and socks - all with the funds we have raised!

The Friends are not a PTA therefore if you have issues about academic matters, uniform or school run events, please raise them directly with Mrs Allen or your child's teacher. The School has a Nearly New Uniform shop run by the parents, it is run independently to The Friends, so again if you have any questions please contact Mrs Allen.

The Committee

Although all parents are "members" of The Friends, it is run by a Committee which by our constitution is limited in number to 25. Mrs Allen is our President. In addition, The Friends has 3 "officers" - a Chairperson/people, a Secretary and a Treasurer - all elected from the Committee and usually serving a term of 2 years.

Now for the really important bit, the Form Rep. These wonderful people, act as a liaison between The Friends and parents. They will keep you advised of all the events we run - some of which are listed below - but these only happen with the help of everyone. So when they smile sweetly and asks you for a raffle prize, to bake a cake or man a stall at the Christmas Bazaar, we would ask you to smile back and give your time generously! Your Form Rep will also be busy organising the class Christmas and end of year meals, teachers' presents, contact lists and the odd coffee morning! As you can see a very important job, so please give them your support.

Events

The Friends annually run the following events:

Christmas Bazaar - Lots of games for the children and outside stalls for grown-up present buying.

Children's Christmas Parties - The Friends host Christmas Parties for the children, they play games, dance, eat, drink (squash!) and make lots of noise and go home tired, emotional and with a present!

Bingo Night - This usually takes place in late February/early March and is hugely popular with parents and children alike.

Easter Egg Hunt - The Spring Term brings the Easter Egg Hunt with Easter games for all the children at the end of which each child goes home with an egg (or appropriate substitute if necessary) brought by the "Easter Bunny".

May Fayre - A big fundraiser for us and hugely popular with the children who flock to play skittles, wang the welly, beat the goalie, win a coconut or play one of the many other games we provide.

The school and The Friends are keen to foster good relationships between the school and the village and to be a part of the village community. So every second Saturday in June, our children participate in the Hartley Wintney Festival Procession. Although lots of hard work, this is a great family event and much loved by the children - whether we win or not!

The last two events of the year are the FOGH Summer Evening which takes place on the evening of Prize Giving in July and is a lovely way to wind down at the end of term - the children love having the freedom to run round with their friends whilst parents relax, eat and have a glass or two. Finally in the last week of the academic year The Friends host a Leavers' Outing for form VI.

We are constantly looking for new events so if you have any fundraising ideas or can suggest something for a family social, let one of the committee know - we always welcome your input.

Each year at Prize Giving, The Friends present three cups - we think of these as 'Citizenship Cups'. Each is awarded to a child (selected by the school) whose conduct; manners, attitude etc reflect the ethos of the school and the values it espouses.

There is a Friends' Notice Board, situated on the wall just past the kitchen - keep checking it for information of forthcoming events and also the school Newsletter which comes out fortnightly.

Naming Uniform - with every order placed at easy2name (label company) the school receives 20% 'cash back'. When placing an order please select the fundraising code during the checkout process in the designated field.

Fundraising code: The Grey House School RG27

Web: www.easy2name.com

Easyfundraising - Raising money for the FOGH the simple way - Every time you want to shop on line simply go to www.easyfundraising.org.uk first and search for The Friends of the Grey House - Hartley Wintney. Every time you shop at one of your favourite stores through easyfundraising you raise money for the Friends. It does not cost you anything and your shopping is no more expensive.

If you would like any more information about the Friends or would like to get involved please come along to the Open Committee Meeting, which is held shortly after we start in September and most importantly to our AGM which is held in October. Please check the School Newsletter for dates and times.

The Friends of the Grey House.