Paintballing 23rd March - Aylesbury Grammar School

PTA Newsletter
Paintballing
23rd March
March 2014
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
All about the PTA
2
Burns Night & Second
Hand Uniform
3
Summer Fete
4-5
The Giving Machine
6
Match Funding
7
Paintballing Form
8
This year's annual paintball day is at Sabotage Paintball
near Swanbourne, between Milton Keynes and Winslow
For details and map see - www.sabotage-paintball.co.uk/
The price is the same as last year (£35) for a full day. We
will have the whole site to ourselves so the organisers will
design the programme to suit us. We can take up to 100
participants - pupils, parents, teachers and friends.
The event is open to all year groups. Non-AGS guests
can participate as long as they are in Year 7 or above.
If you would like to attend, please complete the form on
page 8 and return along with your cheque for £35 per person made payable to ‘AGS PTA’ to the Finance Office. If
you have any questions regarding this event please contact Jeremy Webster at agspta@yahoo.com
AGS 500 Club
Congratulations to the
winners drawn from the
500 Club. Each first prize
is worth £100, second is
£50 and third £25
Quiz Night
Sold Out
1st L Benjamin
2nd D Sim
Dates for your Diary
3rd P Cragg
Quiz Night
8th March
Paintballing
23th March
Summer Fete / Raffle
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
28th June
About the PTA
PTA
c/o AGS
Walton Road,
Aylesbury,
Bucks,
HP21 7RP
The PTA is a lively, active group of parents, who organise events with
the support of the school to raise funds for those extras that education
budgets struggle to support. We meet regularly, usually in a sociable
environment, and have close ties with the Headmaster and staff. It’s
fun, and we organise a great programme of events.
Our events are always well supported, and provide lots of opportunity
to meet other parents and staff in relaxed, friendly settings.
Always on
the lookout
for more
helping
hands
The PTA can always use more hands and
we are always keen to meet many more
AGS parents and explore new ideas. The
more parents who become involved, the
more we can achieve, so please consider
contacting us. You will meet a wide range
of like-minded people and help develop
the community the school needs to grow.
Funds raised over the last few years include:
2008
£14,500 An Outdoor Seating Area
2009
£13,000 A Mini bus
2010
£15,000 A Digital Language Laboratory
2011
£20,000
£5,000 The PTA Science Laboratory
£15,000 The renovation of the Main Hall
2012
£25,000
Your support for PTA
events and other
fundraising
initiatives really does make
a difference to your sons'
lives at AGS.
£10,000 The PTA Science Laboratory.
£15,000 Main Hall renovation project
2013
£25,000
£10,000 The PTA Science Laboratory
£15,000 For the installation of the Multi Gym
In addition to these project totals, the PTA also funds various
bursaries and award schemes within the school, such as the
Headmaster's Reward Scheme.
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
This year the PTA are aiming
to raising £28,000: £25,000 of
this is for a new minibus. In
addition to this we will also be
funding the Student Rewards
Scheme and Staff Requests
BURNS NIGHT CELEBRATIONS
Over 140 parents and staff joined together to celebrate the “Life & Works of Robert Burns”.
The Foundation Hall was decked with Clan badges, tartan and flags organised by the Burns
Night committee under the expert guidance of Elizabeth Newell.
Celebrations started with a selection of Burns songs from Julie
Isherwood, followed by “The Selkirk Grace” from Stephen Lehec and traditional Scottish fare, provided by Winslow Catering,
made even more enjoyable with a rousing “Address to the Haggis” from Rob Warner. After dinner speeches from Peter Larkham with the “Immortal Memory” and Richard and Helen Williams toasting the “Lassies” and replying on behalf of the
“Laddies”. Lighting and sound was provided by year 11 students, Jonny Gate and Tom Critchlow, with many other students on hand to help behind the scenes throughout the evening.
Ian Robertson, (an AGS OA) & His Scottish Dance Band provided live music for traditional
Scottish dancing and the Gerrards Cross Scottish Country Dance Club showed us all how it
is done, before guests were given the opportunity to join in with the help of Jane Rose to
guide us through the dances. No floor space could be seen for the next hour and a half!
The event included a Raffle & Thistle Flurry where everyone could enjoy a chocolate thistle
lollipop. A wonderful evening was enjoyed by all and over £2,800 was raised towards the
financing of a new mini bus.
Thank you to everyone who helped organise or joined us on making this another fantastic
evening for the PTA – we are looking for more helpers for the next Burns Night in
2016.............please contact agspta@ags.bucks.sch.uk if you are interested!
2ND HAND UNIFORM SHOP
Does your son lose sports clothes?
Do blazers go missing?
Can’t get the rugby tops/shorts clean in time for the next fixture?
Come and get your spares!
We'll be at the parent consultation evenings this term so please come along and get your
spare kit.
All proceeds go to the PTA.
Open by appointment
Please contact Caroline Darling at caroline.darling@ntlworld.com
Or Cathy Winman at: cathywinman@sky.com
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
It’s February and it’s raining – so it must be time to start thinking about the Summer Fete.
The school field might have dried out by then – mind you we’ll probably be in the middle of
a drought by the end of June!
Whether your thing is munching on a burger with a beer in your hand, winning first prize in
the raffle, bungee running or knocking coconuts into next week the Fete offers an opportunity for the whole school community to get together in a relaxed and informal way. So
please put the date in your diary and bring the whole family along.
There will be more news about the event in the next few PTA newsletters and, of course,
we will also be asking for some help nearer the time. There are, however, some things
that we need to get going on now:
PLANTS
We will once again be running our extremely popular Plant
Stall at the Fete.
Donations would be very much appreciated nearer the time.
Contact Lucy at orchard60@hotmail.co.uk if you can help
with “plant or vegetable cultivation”!
CALLING ALL ARTS &
CRAFTS PEOPLE
Do you make crafts, run a small retail business or
know someone that does?
How about having a stall at the Fete and selling your
wares?
Contact Helen at helenclarebrown@yahoo.co.uk if you
would like a spot.
SCAFFOLDERS
Do you run a scaffolding business? Could
you build us some stalls? If you can help,
please contact us.
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
Save the Date
AGS PTA Summer Fete 2013
Saturday 28th June 11am – 3pm
WANT TO BENEFIT FROM
ADVERTISING?
AGS
We're expecting up to 2,000 people to attend the event, so
whether your company takes a full or a half page advert in
the program, they will be advertising to the AGS catchment
area at very reasonable rates! The program will be printed in
full colour courtesy of Cartridge World, Aylesbury.
Contact Matthew at matt.hounsells5@btinternet.com if you
would like to advertise.
HAY BALES
Do you have access to hay bales that we could
borrow to use for extra seating? It would be
even better if you could deliver them and take
them away afterwards! If you can help, please
contact us.
PLEASE VOLUNTEER TO HELP
We need your help to ensure the smooth running of the Summer
Fete on the day.
If you can spare an hour or two on Friday 27th or Saturday 28th
June please contact us - any help will be gratefully received and
the Fete won’t happen without it!
If you can help or would like more information contact the AGS
PTA Summer Fete team via Cathy Winman at
cathywinman@sky.com
PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR REQUESTS FOR OTHER
DONATIONS NEXT TERM
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
To register:
Go to the website www.thegivingmachine.co.uk
Register as a new “giver” - when it asks what beneficiary to
support, click on Aylesbury Grammar School. You are now
registered to use the site.
To shop:
Log onto www.thegivingmachine.co.uk
Choose the retailer you want to shop with and shop as normal,
including any discounts you may have. We will earn commission
from your shopping (at no extra cost to you).
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
Employee Match
Funding
Support AGS fundraising with the help
of your employer
Many companies encourage their employees to become more involved in community and charitable activities by supporting their efforts through Employee Match Funding. This enables personal
donations, volunteer time or funds raised by employees to be doubled or even tripled through a
contribution from their employer.
Do you work for a company which offers employees ‘matched funding’? Check out your company
intranet site or ask HR. If so is there a way that you can access this initiative to help raise funds for
your son’s school?
You do not have to give huge amounts of time to helping AGS in order to access your company
scheme – just helping for an hour or so at the Summer Fete or Art & Craft Fair could result in us
doubling the profit made on your stall!
Some of the companies which are thought to do employee matched funding
3i
Cable & Wireless
IBM
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Procter & Gamble
ABN Amro
Capgemini
IDEO
Accenture
Capital International Research
Industrial Bank of Japan
Reuters
Alfred Dunhill
Celanese Canada Inc
Invensys
Robert Fleming & Co
Alliance & Leicester
Centrica
J P Morgan
Rolls Royce
Alliance Capital
Chase Manhattan Foundation
Johnson & Johnson
Royal & Sun Alliance
American Express
Citibank
Kingfisher
Andersen
Citigroup
KPMG
Royal Bank of Scotland
Group/Halifax
Anglian Water
Credit Suisse First Boston
Littlewoods
Argos
De La Rue
Lloyds TSB
ARM Holdings
Deloitte Consulting
Marks & Spencer
Asda
Deutsche Bank
Marsh & McLennan Companies inc.
Astra Zeneca
DHL
McKinsey & Co
AT Kearney
Diageo
Mercury Asset Management
AVIVA
Dixons
Merrill Lynch
BAA
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Microsoft
Bank of America
Eli Lily
Midlands Electricity
Bank of England
EMI
Misubishi Research Institute
Bank of Scotland
Energis
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
Ericsson Telecom
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Bankers Trust
Ernst & Young
National Power
Barclays Group
Exxon Mobil
NCR Corporation
BG Group
Fidelity Investments
NFC
Boston Consulting Group
First Bus
Northern Electric
BP
Ford Motor Company
Pearson
Bristol-Myers Squibb
GlaxoSmithKline Plc
Philip Morris
BT
Goldman Sachs
Philips
Camelot
HSBC
PPG Industries Foundation
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk
Santander
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
Schroders
Seaboard
Shell
Siemens Medical
Sigma Securities
Smithkline Beecham
Southern Electric
Stagecoach Holdings
Standard & Poor's
Sun Life of Canada
Swiss Bank Corporation
Tesco
Thames Water
United Airlines
Vodafone
Warner Music International
Yorkshire Water
Son’s Name :
E-mail address
I enclose a payment of
Tutor Group:
£
(cheques payable to ‘AGS
PTA’)
pta@ags.bucks.sch.uk