Welcome back!
We hope that you have had a restful festive break and are ready for the Spring term at our amazing school. We are looking forward to getting stuck into the biggest and most exciting project to date! More about that in a moment.
Last term, thanks to your support and generosity, we raised over £4,200! This is an incredible amount, particularly given the current climate, and we are so very grateful for your continued support. Your donations, no matter how big or small, have enabled us to purchase new laptops, class games & books, microphones and Forest School resources, items that the school’s limited budget could not cover.
So, your support really does make a difference to our kids day to day school experience – thank you.
Uniform, New T-Shirts and More
We plan to re-open our Pre-loved Uniform Shop on Monday 15th January at 3.15pm, and to be open at least once a week.
We can’t do this, though, without help from parent volunteers. Lending a hand at the shop is a great way to help the school community by committing to just one or two hours per month – the shop opens from 2.45pm to 3.45, one or two days each week.
Without volunteers, we can’t open. If you might be able to help, please check out our calendar and rota here.
New PE T-shirts now available!
As promised, we now have a limited stock of BRAND NEW Coopers Lane PE t-shirts in all sizes and colours. T-shirts will be available once the shop re-opens and will cost £6.50 each.
Varsity jackets – still available!
We still have Year 6 varsity jackets in stock, so if you would like a spare or haven’t had the chance to purchase one yet, please pop by the shop. Jackets cost £18, are available in three sizes, and we accept cash or card.
Our first meeting of 2024 will be our Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Please make a note in your diary: we will be hosting our first meeting of the year on Weds 21 February @ 7.30pm. We will be hosting the meeting at Grove Park Community Centre (previously known as Grove Park Library) and there will be drinks & snacks available.
As per our constitution, we will be disbanding the current committee and re-electing all roles. This meeting requires around 15 people present, and is vital to maintain our status as a charity so please do join us if you can.
The committee roles that will be re-elected are:
- Chair
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Trustees (x4)
Our current secretary will be stepping down, so we are particularly looking to fill this role as well as adding another 1 or 2 trustees, so we can ensure representation across the whole school community, especially from KS1 parents.
If might be interested in joining the committee and would like to discuss what’s involved, please drop us a line and we’ll be happy to chat – info-pta@cooperslane.org.
Our Project for Spring: The Peace Garden
This year the school has asked us to help rebuild and refresh the Peace Garden (above). Created several years ago as a quiet space for pupils and staff to enjoy, this garden has become quite worn out and most of it needs significant refurbishment or replacement. The space is currently too dangerous to be used, which is such a shame.
This is a big project and as well as funding it will require a lot of time and effort from the school, the committee and our community. The project is likely to involve:
- Removal of the current garden furniture – flower beds, woodchip area, and decking
- Designing and planning a new garden space
- Purchasing the required materials
- Building and installing the new garden
- Installing a new rainwater collection system and solar lightning
We are currently working on a project plan with school and the Green Team, which we will share shortly.
Can you help with any of the above? Are you, or do you know, a landscape or garden designer? Are you a builder or a carpenter? Do you run a garden shop or hardware store? Are you a whizz with plants and trees? Can you help us dig out and remove the old garden – most likely on a weekend – or build the new one?
It will take a big community effort to get this project completed – but the result should be a fantastic resource for the school. We are aiming to reopen the garden at the Summer Fair in June, so we only have a short period of time to get the project completed.
There’s more information here, or if you think you might be able to help in any way, please drop us a line here. Thank you!
