Join us for a flavour of the Caribbean at this Summer's PTA BBQ!
Friday 19 July 5.30-8.30pm we would love to celebrate the end of the school year with you all.
There will be jerk chicken, meat and vegan burgers, slaw and the usual bar with ice lollies. We have a live steel drums band, face painting, a chance to sponge the teacher, balloons, calm space and a bouncy castle.
Entry - £3 for children / £2 for adults (pre-schoolers go free)
Pre-order your BBQ feast when buying your entry ticket
Food - £4 for children / £6 for adults (£8 to go large)
50% off with the code 50DISCOUNT for families eligible for pupil premium
Call for BBQ volunteers
We need people to char the chicken, and grill the burgers on the school BBQs.
Please put yourself forward on PTA events when you purchase your tickets, or email Hornimanprimarypta@gmail.com to volunteer.
Horniman Primary Camping
It was a chilled and sunny camping weekend this year. Parents reported how lovely it was to see kids playing outside in the sun, and it was a great chance for parents to catch up and meet new people from across the school. Thanks to Caroline and Alice for helping out at short notice, and to Tessa for the campfire music on Friday night.
We do not have a lead for the camp weekend next year, so if you are a keen camper please consider coming forward to take this event on.
PTA funded in Summer term …
Coaches for trips outside of London
Duckling hatching kit
New iPads
Workshops
Shakespeare for Schools
£1.9k raised at May Fair 2024
Thank you to everyone for supporting the May Fair. The sun shone, and it felt like the whole of Forest Hill turned out to celebrate our little school!
Together, we raised a whopping £1.9k!
Produce Competition, by Kirsty & Slaney
Big thanks to everyone who entered the Produce Competition. It was a delight to see all that hard work and creativity on display. The judges certainly had a tough time coming to their decisions! Every single entry was wonderful and we hope you're inspired to take part next year.
Big shout out to the 1st prize winners: Victoria, Francis, Beatrice, Ettan, Hana, Esme, Luna, Freddie, Nell, Olive, Dulcie and Heidi.
A special mention goes to Ms Bowler for winning the best staff entry, yes please to a stall selling your creations at Christmas, and Sarah Ferrier for her inspired celebrity portrait of our very own chair of governors "Celery" Satchwell.
For the second year running, Red House took the trophy for most entries across all categories. Well done! The trophy will be engraved and back in reception.
The Walrus Forest Rangers T-shirts team raise £1100 for Outdoor Learning
Thank you to the project team who created and produced these fabulous T-shirts to celebrate the school's focus on using green spaces to bring learning to life. T-shirts were designed by renowned local illustrator James Graham (https://www.firstnamejames.com), with support from Kota Kobayashi. Thank you to Mulberry mums Momo Kobayashi and Kristen Malone for doing everything else!
Outdoor Learning is beneficial to all learners: it fosters connection between students, deepens engagement with curriculum topics, and improves mental and physical wellbeing.
A community garden with raised bed allotments for each class was launched earlier this term. Every student helped plant a seed, transplant their seedlings, and has been watching them grow. Funds raised through the sale of these T-shirts will help buy materials to build raised beds, soil, seeds, and ongoing supplies (possibly a greenhouse), and enable staff to further grow the scope of the project.
“Take One Picture” artwork from Horniman Pupils on display at Havelock Walk Open Studios
Artwork by Horniman pupils went on display at the Open Studios event in Havelock Walk in May. It was great to see how positively people within the broader Forest Hill community responded to the art, and to the efforts of the school (and the PTA). It was a fantastic way to highlight how the school utilises creativity within learning. We even sold a few more cook books! Thank you to Karen and Donal for organising this.
Horniman 3 Peaks Challenge raises £2.2k!
Our annual orienteering challenge - this time with fancy dress - was a huge hit with all ages.
Children and their families navigated either the blue (clockwise) or red (anti-clockwise) route of the 3km course around the highest peaks of SE23.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who took part, volunteered and sponsored the event. Thanks to you all, we managed to raise an incredible total of £2,200.
Special shout outs to the 3 Peaks crew - Adam Jones, Rob Freeman and Marek Zaremba-Pike; Mary Moreton for her tireless logistics work; Lisa Stickley and the budding artists in Illustration Club for producing the joyful posters and supportive messages; and to Nancy D for single-handedly raising £140 in sponsorship.
Wine Tasting Raises £1200!
Horniman parents, carers and staff enjoyed a fabulous evening in the school hall - a grape time was had by all!
We swirled, sniffed and sipped wines from around the world, before battling it out in the quiz. There was trivia, there was music, there was mystery wine and lots of laughter (and washing up).
Not only was it a fun way to socialise with our school community, but all those glasses will help our classes to the tune of £1200! The money raised will pay for the Willow domes in the KS1 playground to be renovated, and contribute to new class iPads.
Thanks to everyone who helped before, during and after to make the night go so smoothly. Three cheers to Frog for this successful event.
Tea Towels On Sale
Tea towels featuring self-portraits of children across the school years - from Reception to Year 6 - are available!
If you have pre-ordered tea-towels, please collect them from the school office now. You can still purchase online too: https://shorturl.at/ACKNO.
PTA’s 2024 AGM
You can view the minutes from the meeting here, plus reflections from the past 12 months and plans for the rest of the school year here.
At this meeting - attended by Mr Pickering - we said goodbye to some long-standing committee and voted in new members. Both Co-Chairs - Karolina Szarmach and Helen Donald - stepped down at the end of the Spring term. Mary Moreton has agreed to be interim Chair, as well as leading on events; Melanie Flowers will now be Secretary alongside comms duties; and Mia Agoumi takes on the role of Treasurer (alongside Karo in a support and mentoring role).
Pre-loved Children’s Book Sale Raises £143
Thank you to Leo and everyone who donated, bought and sold books as part of our World Book Day celebrations!
Teachers were given first refusal for their class libraries, and many books were sold or gifted to children in the school. Unsold books have been donated to Book Aid International, where they will be distributed to refugee camps in Palestine.
World Book Day workshops run in the school by Fiona Woodcock for KS1 and Angry Dan for KS2 were fully funded by the PTA.
Donate Your Plants To Our New Eco Zone At May Fair This Spring
We are planning on doing an "eco zone" at this year’s May Fair. If you are a keen gardener, please consider donating a few plants to be sold at the May Fair.
Winter Wonderland* takes fundraising to £4.7k
Together, we raised an impressive £4.7k in profit through the event, wreath-making workshop, Pedder sponsorship boards, Christmas cards, art exhibition calendars, and raffle.
Thank you once again to everyone who got involved in this year’s Winter Wonderland and helped to make it a great success! Almost 400 guests graced the school halls, with parents, pupils, teachers and governors enjoying a mostly indoor setting this year.
We had carol singing, a snowy bouncy castle, crafts, wreath-making Santa’s grotto, stalls, games and fairy lights galore!
Make & Do: Parents darning workshop
Our inaugural make & do workshop took place at The Signal in late Nov. The lovely Molly from Willow class did a fantastic job of teaching us how to mend those pesky knee holes. And the Signal kindly let us have their upstairs space at no charge. We are hoping to return with more crafty action in the New Year.
Parents and carers book club
We met on Thursday 30 Nov to discuss On Connection, by Kae Tempest. New members to book club are very welcome. Join the Whatsapp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EVfATzlKkqDGmh9XCMx09g or email Hornimanbookclub@gmail.com.
Spooky Disco raises £2.1k profit!
Cobwebs, skeletons, and ghostly apparitions set the stage for a monster party last night. Attendees young and old embraced the theme, with vampires, zombies, clowns, wizards and, er, horses, manifesting in every corner of the school.
Creepy crowd pleasers emanated from the dimly lit dance floor. Children let their creativity run wild in the craft zone. Pumpkin-shaped bakes, ghoulish cakes and witches' fingers adorned the cake stand. Some brave souls delved into the slime to win prizes in the gloomy room of the deathly dip. It truly was a night of spooky delight.
You brilliant lot helped us raise £2.1k in profit for the school. This will go towards our annual commitments, which include philosophy lessons, ground maintenance and subsidising residential trips. Thank you all for making it such a fabulous halloween treat for all the children.
Making volunteering more rewarding … starting with the Spooky Disco
On Weds 20 September we had our first PTA meeting of the school year. Attendees had their say on how we can improve the volunteering experience going into this term’s events calendar. As a result, we will be looking to do the following at future events:
Designate a volunteers’ coordinator for each event so that those giving their time feel supported, informed and still able to participate in the event
Provide specific, clearly defined tasks/job descriptions in advance
Allocate tasks appropriately for the age group (e.g. tidying up after events is not easy for parents in the youngest years)
Hold a briefing before the start of the event to ensure everyone is clear and prepared
The Spooky Disco is a fun party for the children in the school to celebrate Halloween.
If you would like to get involved in planning for future events, please contact our Events Coordinator Mary (Sycamore & Willow) - 07738 003844.
Summer BBQ raises over £3000!
Thank you so much to all of you who helped to make the Summer BBQ happen this year, and to everyone who turned up to party despite the wet weather!
The money raised will buy sets of texts for each class, new titles to improve the diversity of the library, and new shelving to put them all on.
Too many people pitched in to this event to thank you all, but a few shout outs go to: Donal & Karen for the last-minute provision of three marquees to keep the raffle, tin can alley and treasure map dry; Debbie and Frog for heroically staying in post all evening; Mr Pickering, Ms Hashmi and Ms Bowler for letting us throw wet sponges at their faces; and finally Mary who pretty much single-handedly organised the whole shebang - creating tin can alley, sourcing the Bollywood dancing, roping in her father-in-law to marinade the chicken, cleaning the BBQs and a whole lot more besides.
Pre-loved uniform sale raises £100
Thank you to all who donated or purchased pre-loved uniform - not only did you raise £100 but you also contributed to reducing waste through reuse.
How to get involved:
PTA Core Committee March / July 2024
Chair and Events Lead: Mary Patel
Co-Treasurers: Mia Agoumi and Karolina Szarmach
Secretary & Communications Officer: Melanie Flowers
Communications Designer: Nicola Matic
PTA Core Committee Sept 2023/ March 2024
Co- Chairs: Karolina Szarmach and Helen Donald
Treasurer: Gemma Driver
Secretary: Olga Voronkova
Events Coordinator: Mary Patel
Sustainability Officer: Ralitsa Stancheva
Communications Officer: Melanie Flowers
Communications Designer: Nicola Matic
Class reps 2023/24
Each year group has Class Representatives whose role is to encourage engagement and inclusion, and communicate between the Core PTA Committee and parents/carers.
Ash: Mia & Nina
Willow: Frog & Ross
Mulberry: Kristen, Kris & Momo
Sycamore: Josie, Luke & Linn
Apple: Vikram & Emma
Hawthorn: Kirstin & Siobhan
Elder: Gemma & Leo
How to stay in touch:
PTA meetings
PTA meetings are held approximately once per term and everyone is welcome. The meetings are to discuss upcoming fundraising events as well as to give participants the opportunity to provide suggestions, share ideas and - at the AGM in March - hear from the Headteacher on what help is needed.
Email: hornimanprimarypta@gmail.com
Super Saturday raises £4.3k for Horniman Primary!
3 Peaks challengers smash target
Thank you and well done to all the brave hikers who took on the challenge of the 3 highest peaks in SE23 last Saturday.
Special shout outs to Jasmine (Hawthorn) & Sylvie who raised almost £200, and to Chris Webbe (Sycamore & Willow) whose sponsored run of around 12km up 12 punishing hills raised more than half of our £1500 Justgiving target. In Chris’ words the challenge was “ ... fun until the last gruelling lap almost had me! A beer at the May Fair afterwards revitalised me!”.
Thank you to the 75 people who completed the challenge, walking thousands of steps of fresh air with family and friends. And of course, a huge thank you to the organising crew - Adam (Elder), Marek (Hawthorn) and Rob (Apple).
Horniman Primary PTA is a registered charity. Do you like a challenge? Why not attempt one to raise money for the school? Or perhaps you are already planning to take part in an event and haven’t yet decided on which charity to raise funds for. Please consider choosing Horniman Primary School PTA!
All the fun of May Fair
Debbie donated her skills as a balloon twisting magician, teaching the kids to make flowers, dogs, butterflies and pirate swords. Workshop attendees caused a stir around the Fair, flaunting their balloon creations. There's a clear demand for Debbie’s balloons to be on sale at next year’s May Fair.
The children had a blast being free to spend their token money however they chose, providing an early lesson in the sad-but-true adage ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it”. Parents tried their luck on the Bottle Hoopla to win shampoo, chocolate spread and gin. Someone fell in the Hook-a-Duck pool and had to go home to change, before returning to the festivities. There were stalls run entirely by pupils, face painting, a Bounce Zone and a bar.
We had music from Sam Wilkinson - winner of The Voice Kids in 2019. Sam has performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, the Royal Albert Hall and now the Horniman Primary playground. Party animals were rewarded for staying ‘til the end with a ceremonial folk dance around the May Pole. And judging by the weather this week, the Fair may have been a little later than May Day, but it does seem to have signalled the arrival of Summer.
Thank you to everyone who submitted entries to the first ever May Fair Produce Competition. It was a joy to see children and adults alike bring along their creations and admire one another’s efforts.
The May Fair Cup for highest number of entries went to Red House.
Our 1st prize winners were:
Gingerbread people/animals – Rudy Thomas-Mar (Willow) and Ivor Donald (Apple)
Decorated pebbles – Lev Maksimenko (Mulberry) and Ettan Patel (Sycamore)
Vegetable creatures – Oscar Rakhimov (Willow)
Decorated egg – Max Manners (Sycamore)
Six cupcakes – Lucas Subiela (Hawthorn)
Handicraft – Dulcie Jones (Elder) and Romy Manners (Family member)
Garden on a plate – Luna Olmos (Hawthorn)
Homegrown vegetable – Simon Donald (Family member)
Sweet baked treat - Lena Thomas (Family member)
Savoury pastry – Kirsty Kidd (Family member)
Bread in the shape of an animal – Cate Priestman (Family member)
Celebrity portrait made out of vegetables – The Jones Family
Special mention for Best Staff Entry goes to Sarah Ferrier.
Thank you to Slaney & Kristin (Hawthorn) for the Produce Competition - a real highlight and hopefully a regular addition to the Fair; Debbie (Apple) for her sold-out Balloon Modelling workshops; Jim (Mulberry) for expert crafting of the Smack the Rat and Coconut Shy in the village games area; and last but not least to all the Class Reps, and to Mary (Sycamore & Willow), Helen (Apple & Willow) and Karo (Apple) from the PTA Committee.
Favourite Recipe Book is a sell out
Thank you to everyone who submitted recipes, drew pictures and to everyone who bought a copy of the book. We have sold out the first print run of 100 books!
Thank you to Lisa Stickley (Hawthorn & Sycamore) for all her incredible work on the editing, setting and printing of the cook book, but also organising the children to create the artwork during the illustration sessions she ran at school as part of WBD celebrations. We may have sold out of the first print run, but if you missed out and would like a copy please visit the PTA Events page to pre-order a copy.
