PTA

PTA UPDATE JULY 2026

Hello everyone!

It’s been a busy summer term for all of us.

We have been so lucky with gloriously sunny days for both our Summer Fayre and the Colour Run.

The Summer Fayre was a popular and well-attended event and we raised £2,672, of which £1,091.50 has been donated directly back to the class teachers. Huge thanks to the Class Reps and parent volunteers who got everything out and set up by 11 for the 11:30 start. We had great support from a raft of volunteers on stalls and events – and massive thanks to those who stayed on to help with the clear-up. We were packed away and all home by 2pm – amazing!

A few weeks later we held our Colour Run at Underhill Park. Our grateful thanks to Rachel Axford and her team of Year 2 mums for their organisation of the event. Again, everyone had a great time with fun-filled family engagement. We had great support from Class Reps, parents and volunteers who manned the stalls and paint stations. Thanks also to Underhill Hub who stepped in last minute to run a BBQ from which we received a great donation of £65 which added to our overall total amount raised now stands at £1,270.

The PTA AGM was held on 1st July. The Committee for 2026/27 is:

• Jan Kingston – Chair
• Samantha Brewer – Treasurer
• Sarah Curley – Secretary
• Neda Richards – Co-Secretary
• Helen Fulton – Grants Officer

Samantha will be a new parent in September and new to the area. Welcome Samantha! We said goodbye and thank you to Emma Williams- Hill, our previous Treasurer, who has had to step down due to work commitments.

Last year, we were a small committee of 4 and I’ve proposed a larger Committee membership for the coming year to ensure a wider parent representation.
This Committee comprises; Ella Hackett -Yr 5, Mia Prosser – Yr 4 (who will also be acting as Vice Chair), Catrin Kingston- Yr 3, Sarah Saunders -Yr 2, plus Grace Williams as school representation.

We have planned the usual PTA activities for next year – plus some possible new ideas. Every parent is part of the PTA and we hope to send out a survey early in September to ascertain your views on our events and fundraising.

As I reported in my May Newsletter, we have a new focus for the fundraising money raised to date for supporting our school. The sums raised in both 2024/25 and 2025/26 towards the now redundant ‘Sensory Room’ project means that we have a good source of funds available to put into immediate use for some substantial improvements across the school for the benefit of all pupils.

A quick summary – the PTA of 2024/25 had pledged a sum of £10K to the original project. We continued the fundraising and as the Treasurer’s Report outlined, we added a further £5,000 to that pot. I have added a pictorial overview (thank you Mia!) of income and expenditure as a quick overview as to how we raise funds and where that money is directed.

As outlined previously, the school is:

• Improving the present Cove provision
• Improving the present Lighthouse provision
• Adapting and upgrading a former storage area to a calm and private area to enable one-to-one support and counselling from external agencies. This work is already underway and Mrs Morgan is keeping a pictorial record of before and after photos to share next term.

The provisions above have come in at £10,000 and the remaining £5,000 will be put towards Phase 1 of improving the school playground. The committee has agreed to help fund the following improvements:

Phase 1 – Replace the damaged astro turf in the Mumbles Beaches Playground and replace and upgrade the playground markings and to provide Mumbles beaches with moveable goals. For the Gower Beaches playground, we will be purchasing outdoor games, and outdoor construction sets. We aim to have Phase 1 completed by October half term.

Phase 2 – is the consideration of purchasing and installing a Trim Trail for the playground. This will be discussed further at the first Open PTA meeting of 2026/27 academic year.

We continue to support the new books and reading materials across the school. Again huge thanks to Mia Prosser who has worked hard with Mrs Morgan to get the first tranche of new books into school with more to follow. It is great seeing how engaged the children are with the new books and how the interest in reading has already increased across the entire school! We hope to continue to support the school each year around World Book day by ensuring damaged books are replaced and number of books purchased to ensure the books on offer stay relevant and continue to inspire children to read.

We honestly try to make engagement and fundraising as easy as we can. So we have introduced some changes next year. Firstly, all non-uniform days now follow the half term discos. (Bar any INSET)
This means no more tired children having late evening baths to frantically remove face paint or sparkly hair … and when faced with a tired breakfast meltdown because “I want to wear my Frozen costume again!”… next year it’s easy! Pop them into bed as they are and send them off to school just as they were the next day. You’ve got half term to get them clean again!

Plus we are aware how suddenly our events seem to spring up, throwing plans for after school clubs into chaos – so I’ve created a PTA Calendar of all our events and meetings for the year which is linked to the School Calendar so no more surprises. All events are there from September! Just small changes but we hope they help!

We cannot emphasise how we rely on parents and how grateful we are for your engagement. Please remember that there are lots of ways for families to engage in fundraising with the PTA and support our children.

We have the new PTA Lottery. There is a monthly draw of £50 and a Bonus Christmas Draw of £100. Any family member is eligible and there is no restriction on the number of tickets purchased. If you are interested, please set up a £5 standing order per ticket for the 1st of each month to;
Oystermouth Primary School Parent Teacher Association (long but you only have to type it in once)
Barclays Bank
Sort code: 20-84-41
Account: 70679267
Reference: YourName100

Sign up to easyfundraising using the link below. If you shop online with M&S, Amazon, Mountain Warehouse or Next, we receive a cash back donation at no extra cost to you.
https://join.easyfundraising.org.uk/oystermouthpta/

I’ll end here by reiterating all our grateful thanks to everyone who supports the PTA and the school and wishing every family a fabulous, sunny and relaxing summer break.

Jan Kingston PTA Chair.