CHAIRS REPORT - AGM 24th June 2026

Another year as Chair of Owlsmoor PTA. Reflecting on the past year, it has been another incredible fundraising year. Thank you to Mr Cope for his unwavering support and embracing our event ideas. This year also saw Mr Smith, the new Deputy Headteacher, join Owlsmoor. We would like to publicly extend our warmest welcome to Mr Smith, who is also a keen supporter of the PTA.

Our purpose is to raise funds that benefit and improve the educational journey of pupils at our school. We have run a number of events this year and our current total, when we haven’t yet finished the year, stands at £27,425.49. We still have our balloon race, class tea towels, another break the rules day and the final school disco of the year.

This year, as several of the committee are due to leave at the end of 2027, the committee voted to commit to one large fundraising project, as opposed to many small ones. The reason for this is that large amounts of funds are hard to raise, and with some money left in the account at the end of last year, we decided to try and fundraise for a big project. We have still paid for the school Christmas pantomime, gym mats, beanbags for the reading area, 16 tablets to improve learning for those with neurodiversity and an extensive array of Ryobi tools for our site controller, Andras, in order to assist him in maintaining the school.

As chair, I worked with Mr Cope, to collect quotes from companies to install a food technology kitchen. Understanding that this was not beyond our reach, the committee agreed to fundraise for this. We are excited that installation begins on 13^th July and is hoped to be completed within the first few weeks of the Autumn term. We haven’t quite raised all the monies required and the Trust have kindly offered to fund the difference with the PTA reimbursing as soon as possible. We, as a committee, genuinely believe that this is a Unique Selling Point for Owlsmoor Primary moving forward as no other local school has a food technology kitchen. It also provides an opportunity for the school to create revenue by potentially hiring it for classes after school, weekends and holiday clubs.

The other project we have committed to funding is a reading shed. By providing a facility where children can borrow, read, return and repeat, we hope to inspire children to love reading by being able to change books as regularly as they wish.

Special thanks go to the office staff Teresa and Natalia. Without their unwavering support, communication would be so difficult. We also need to thank the amazing Andras, who has supported us since he joined the school.

Thank you to everyone who has supported, attended or volunteered for an event. We cannot achieve any of this without your support, especially the volunteers.

On a final note, this will be my last year involved with the PTA. Since I have been Chair, we have, to-date, raised a staggering £158,761.64. The PTA takes up a considerable amount of my time each week. We need to start sharing the load to make the PTA sustainable when I leave. We have had no success in someone wishing to step up as a treasurer. In order to function as a registered charity, we need a Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. So, over the next year, we need to line up three people who wish to take on these roles. Laura Dilloway, our current treasurer, is happy to step up as Chair, but we will need to find a treasurer and a secretary or the PTA will need to fold at the end of the next academic year which would be a tragic loss for the children, which I am sure you will all agree. I just wanted to clarify that the role of the Chair is officially just required to chair meetings, be the conduit to school and ensure the running of the Charity in line with the rules of the Charity Commission. 

If you would like to join the team, please let us know.

Thank you for all your support.

Becky Sutton

Chair of Owlsmoor Primary PTA