As Chair of the Bishop Wordsworth School Parents Association (BWSPA), I am in the very privileged position to be involved with such a dedicated team of likeminded volunteer parents in our roles to help raise additional school funds for vital equipment and welfare items for all our children to benefit from.
We have big but very achievable ambitions over the next three years; with your help we aspire to raise over £50,000.00 to be allocated to specific new welfare projects.
How have we helped our Children recently?
Thanks to the generosity of the student’s parents, BWPSA funds have provided lunchtime activity Table Tennis Tables, Basketball Hoops, a School Minibus, Lacrosse kit, essential repairs to the Britford Road facilities, new Library Software, Student Notice Boards, new DT equipment to name just a few items….
In the recent past we have also organised a Parent’s Summer Ball, Quiz Evenings - Christmas Fair both Virtual & Real, Fathers and Sons / Mothers and Sons events, Year 7 Skittles Evenings – all events to help bring parents together in a fun and engaging way and help raise vital funds to benefit the students and school.
What have we got planned for the year ahead?
As we look to come out fully from this pandemic and approach the year end, we have planned several exciting new activities, starting later this month with the 2021 Christmas Fair on the 20th November (combined with South Wilts Grammar School to make it bigger and more exciting than ever). There is an exclusive Champagne and Wine Tasting event in early December - a limited ticket event so please be quick! Looking forward to the New Year we will host a ‘Fish and Chip’ Quiz Night in February 2022 and are looking to arrange other unique events to include a ‘Muddy Runners’ Cross Country 10k event in April, Year 7 & Year 8 Rounders Tournament in May, and another Parents Summer Ball for June 2022. Best of all, after their smash hit this summer, we will bring you the Rain or Shine Theatre Company once again who will be putting on an ‘evening farce’ to be held on the Number 11 Lawn (Bring your picnics and raincoats just in case!)
Call to Action – committee members needed
We will be holding our AGM in the 6th Form Study Room on 25th November 2021 where there will be election of officers to replace parents that are stepping down or moving on from the school. I will miss those members terribly and thank them for all their dedication and the success they have brought.
However, we will thereby be left with a handful of active members and with the plans and ambitions above, this will not be sustainable or achievable without your support as we now need new parents to join the “BWSPA” to help us and provide renewed energy, a new direction and some new ideas. Please come and join us!
How can you help?
Each member of the BWSPA committee has skills that can be beneficial to a specific project or role; maybe you are financially minded and can take on the assistant treasurer role looking to take full responsibility for the following year. We have a vacant role of communications secretary - where you will be involved with the communication of events and the liaison with school parents and committee.
Importantly, it might be that you simply have a great idea for fundraising and can bring a group of like-minded parents together to help bring this together, and this is the limit of your involvement. We’d love to hear from you! It would be great have an ambassador group of parents in each year group – currently we’d especially like to hear from parents of year groups 7,8,9 10 or even those of children now in 6th form who have benefited from the work the BWSPA has done.
We have recently been successful thanks to one new parent member, whose employer enabled a donation to support Health and Wellbeing projects - this has raised £500 to which we the BWSPA will add a further £500 and allow us to buy several ‘Head Space Apps’ for the students. Maybe you are able to activate similar fundraising at work?
The Future
If at all sounds very grand and you fear getting involved may be onerous on your time, it isn’t! We have face to face or ‘zoom’ meetings twice a term as well as the AGM. It’s a great opportunity to socialise with fellow parents, hear from the Head or the Bursar how the school is performing, and really understand and get involved in future projects for the children's’ benefit.
I look forward to meeting you in due course and please step forward to give a little time for this worthy cause in whatever way you can - as a committee member or simply helping raise funds for the BWSPA.
Please encourage your fellow parents to come too and do join us on the 25th November for a 7.00pm start to find out more!
Rob Jones
Chairman, BWSPA
