What we do

Parents and Friends of Emmanuel School, also known as the PFE, is the school’s PTA-equivalent. The PFE is a registered charity (1172507) that aims to:

• raise funds for the school to supplement the school’s main budget,
• encourage a sense of community amongst Emmanuel staff, parents, carers and friends.

The PFE organises lots of activities and fundraising projects throughout the year. The proceeds enable us to fund school initiatives that enhance our children’s learning experiences such as field trips, IT equipment, new books, Year 5 & 6 brass musical instrument hire and lessons, rainy day play toys and the end of school year disco.

 The 2022-23 school year was another very successful year of fundraising for the PFE at Emmanuel. With the support of parents, carers, staff and our generous local community, we were able to raise more than £30,000!

How we’re run

The PFE is run by Emmanuel parents and carers who generously volunteer their time, networks and skills. We organise ourselves through trustees, a committee and parent representatives (“class reps”) from each class.

Co-chairs

Joseph Macdonald and Lynsey Rismani

Treasurer

Stacey Geary

Class reps

Reception - Joanna Vo-Ta and Valentina Karoleva
Yr 1 - Nina Mendy-Scott and Jess Fordham 
Yr 2 - Rhian Lois Macdonald and Lovina Uittenbroek
Yr 3 - Anna Balursdottir
Yr 4 - Dani O'Donnell and Anna Halford McGhee
Yr 5 - Tina Young
Yr 6 - Joanna Vo-Ta and Jilly Morris

There is currently a vacancy for a Nursery class rep.  If you're interested in performing this role, please let Ms Rees know!

PFE meetings are generally held every term. These meetings allow parents and carers to get together to organise events and to share ideas for future activities. The meetings also provide an opportunity to hear and decide upon which school ventures and projects should be funded by the PFE.

Even if you cannot commit to a Committee role or to leading an event, we are always eager to have new members. If you can help in any capacity, please let us know.

 

How you can help

Attend events

By far and away the most important thing you can do to support your PFE is to attend events. These are always relaxed and fun, and a good opportunity to meet up with other parents and most times the staff in a fun and light-hearted environment. Be the community you would like to have!

Volunteer at events

The next most helpful thing you can do is to volunteer your time! If you can help in any way—before, during or after an event—even if it is just for one hour, we greatly appreciate it. The events are much easier to manage with lots of volunteers, so there are never enough!

Join the committee

The PFE committee is a fantastic way to join a team of dedicated people who like organising events and helping each other. It’s lots of fun, and a rewarding way to help the school and our children.

Become a trustee

As a registered charity, the PFE is required to have Trustees, and we are always looking for the next generation of Trustees to come and make a real, tangible difference to the school. There’s no particular skill set needed and there is lots of support and help available, so don’t hesitate to make yourselves known.

Help the PFE to fundraise

Regular giving

The PFE has launched a Regular Giving Program that allows Parent and Friends to donate on a regular (monthly) basis. As a charity, the PFE can claim Gift Aid on any donations, making this a very convenient way of maximising support.

One off donations

The PFE uses the Charities Action Foundation to manage one-off donations, including claiming Gift Aid. Please contact the PFE for further details.

Matched/Payroll giving

Many companies run schemes to support employees who are raising money for a charitable cause. As the PFE is a registered charity, monies raised for the school through the PFE’s efforts are eligible for such programs. A simple query to your company’s HR department about whether there is a matched funding programme in place could be enormously helpful to our fundraising efforts. Please read this PDF for more information.

Local Businesses

Our local business have been incredibly supportive over the years, and it's always really helpful if our families engage with them to explore the ways in which they might be able to help. 

For our Christmas Fair raffle we are thrilled to have received a donation of scooter accessories from Micro Scooters. Micro Scooters are renowned for revolutionising the school run, Micro Scooters make getting from A-B quicker, cleaner, greener, healthier, and more fun.

How we communicate

The PFE keeps in touch with parents and carers in a number of ways:

• Classlist, a parent-to-parent private social network (app and web-based),
• Messages included in the School’s official weekly email newsletter and
• PFE meetings (and minutes of meetings circulated thereafter).

A word about the General Data Protection Regulation

The PFE is required to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Classlist system that we use to communicate with parents offers high levels of security and privacy and is designed to comply fully with GDPR. The relevant documentation (including their privacy notice, terms & conditions, data protection agreement, FAQs and notes on their approach to data processing) can be found on Classlist’s website. By registering with Classlist, parents retain full control over the personal data they wish to share. Only the parent’s name and email and the child’s name are required to utilise the network. Parents wishing to keep their email address private to others within the school community can still register to use Classlist and receive announcements and parent posts.

The PFE holds some personal information on committee members, class reps, volunteers and auction and raffle prize winners. Should you have any questions about how GDPR affects you and the information the PFE holds, please contact info@pfe.org.uk.