The Friends of Amesbury

A child joining Amesbury in Nursery and leaving in Year 8 will spend nearly a decade with us; so too will their parents. When making the choice for their children, parents are making a choice for themselves. The friendships that develop between parents are of no less importance than those between children.

The primary purpose of ‘The Friends of Amesbury’ is primarily to welcome new families to the school and to organise social events involving the Amesbury community. Recent this has included Quiz, Jazz, Race, and Wine Tasting Nights, and Summer Dances, in additional to other formal and informal gatherings.

Parents help to enrich the curriculum in a variety of ways. A group of parents (trained artists) run a highly successful Art Club open to the oldest pupils in the school. Other parents give workshops to children connected to their area of professional expertise. Parents accompany the pupils and support the teachers on trips, ranging from local ones to Radford Park in Liphook (for Geography), to the USA, Sweden and Italy (when accompanying the School Choir). Our annual school ski-trip is made up of pupils, teachers and parents.

THE FRIENDS OF AMESBURY

Aims

The aims of the FOA (in order of priority) are as follows:

1. To welcome new families to Amesbury through a process of formal and informal induction.
2. To organise, and/or oversee, and support social events for parents and their friends.
3. To give the headmaster feedback on general issues relating to the school.
4. To communicate to parents how their involvement in the school can enrich the educational experience of the children.
5. To raise funds in order to enhance and enrich the educational experience of all children at Amesbury.

General Organisation

1. All parents or guardians of children become members of the FOA at the date of entry of their child(ren) to the school and relinquish membership when their last child leaves. Although members of Common Room are not members of the FOA (unless they have children at the school) they are welcome to attend all events. No membership fee is levied.
2. There are no formal elections and so each Year Group Representative (there are two per year group) is asked to ‘groom’ a successor during their year in office, by identifying prospective parents as they work with them.
3. The term of office is one year. Reps inform parents in September/October that they will be standing down at the end of the Michaelmas term. This allows a new committee to be in place for the start of the Lent term.
4. The headmaster invites a current parent (who already has children in the school) and who has a child joining the Nursery to take on the role.
5. In Year 7 the Reps term of office runs for five terms until the end of Year 8.

Structure and Meeting Schedule

1. The FOA operates as a single committee representing the whole school (from Nursery to Year 8). Ideally there are two representatives per year group. The headmaster acts as chair, supported by the School Office Manager Mrs Sandie Wild who acts as Secretary and main point of contact between reps and school. Mrs Wild is responsible for the agenda and minutes. The FOA committee elect a Treasurer.
2. Meetings take place in the school dining room (one either side of half-term) and last for approximately one hour (9.00-10.00am). They are highlighted in the annual meeting calendar (as the 2nd Thursday of term and after half term).
3. Representatives are expected to attend these meetings. If a representative is unable to attend, they are asked to nominate a stand in.
4. Items for the agenda should be given/emailed to Mrs Wild at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.
5. It is not the role of Representatives to act as intermediaries between home and school on contentious issues relating to specific children, or curriculum issues. Nor is it appropriate for a representative to use their role to articulate personal grievances. If parents raise an issue of concern with a representative they should be urged to speak immediately to the relevant Form Teacher/Tutor in order that the matter might be resolved speedily.

Fund Raising

1. There is a clear distinction between the financial management of the FOA and of the School. They have united goals but separate resourcing and accountability.
2. The FOA maintains a separate bank account. Cheques are signed for on behalf of the Friends by the Treasurer or Secretary, countersigned by the headmaster.
3. Fund raising projects/events that the FOA undertake are designed to minimise financial exposure and/or significant demand on the school administration.
4. The headmaster makes recommendations on how funds might be allocated in order to benefit the school. However members are free to make alternative recommendations. The final decision is made by a vote of at least two thirds of the full committee.
5. When making decisions on the allocation of funds, the following principles are applied.
   • Funds should be allocated to items that would not necessarily come from fee income.
   • The project should be transparent and have a clear time frame (around twelve months) in order to enable the committee and parents to celebrate the success of a particular project and avoid the activities of future committees being constrained by earlier commitments.
   • Since funds are raised from across the year groups so in general they should be applied across the year groups. The motto should be ‘for the benefit of the many not the few’.