Hello,
Thank you to everyone who has ordered Grasmere tops, Christmas trees and Christmas cards through our last fundraisers. The tops and cards should all arrive at the beginning of December, before the winter fair, and the trees will be delivered on 8 December in the morning.
Thank you also to everyone who attended last week’s online Frogs meeting – you can read the minutes of the meeting here.
Please read on to learn more about our latest fundraisers and projects, and how you can help at our last event this term, the Winter Fair.
SPRING BULBS
To help green up the school and make sure that it looks its best come spring time, we have bought soil and bulbs (as well as wheelbarrow!) for the children to each plant bulbs in the various containers around the school. Each year group should have done this by now, here is Year 5 in action:
We are also in the process of ordering play bark and will be asking for volunteer to spread it around the garden to make it less muddy and more fun for the kids.
CAKES SALES
Well done to Year 4 who raised just over £200 with their cake sale, and to all our parent volunteers who helped raise £234 for the Red Cross’ Israel & Occupied Palestine appeal – thank you all!
Winter Fair
Our last event this term will be the Winter Fair, after school on Friday 8 December. As ever we need lots of volunteers to make this a really fun event for the kids, please sign up here if you can. If we do not have enough volunteers we’ll have to cancel some stalls and that would be a real shame!
There’s also lots of other ways to help. You could donate:
- mulled wine and homemade cakes for the kitchen stall
- second-hand soft toys, wintery books and games for the tombola stall
- homemade gifts such as knitted gifts, jam, cards etc to see in the shop
- second-hand Christmas jumpers & decorations to sell in the shop
- duplicate/unwanted Pokémon cards for the lucky dip stall
- temporary tattoos and nail varnish for the nail bar
- unopened, unwanted gifts for the Guess how many baubles prizes
(Please note we cannot accept any other second-hand items/jumble as we do not have space to store it and it creates a lot more work for our already stretched volunteers, thank you)
We will also have a Santa’s Grotto where children will be able to meet Santa and his wonderful elves and receive a little gift – you can buy your ticket here, or on the day. We will be selling stamp cards & tickets on the 8th in the morning if you want to skip the queue, and reception will hand out stamp cards and tickets to those who need them as usual.
Thank you in advance – the fair is a big fundraiser and the children all really love it!
HandyMen & BUIlDERS WANTED!
We are currently working on getting more quotes for our Woodland play area for the garden. We will be meeting soon to discuss the various options and costs. We are hoping to have a more detailed plan after Christmas, organise some fundraisers for this in the spring, and have it installed as soon as we reach our target. We think we could have something great for around £20,000, including some nice climbing and balancing elements.
We could potentially save money by revamping the mud kitchen area ourselves. If you are a keen carpenter/builder etc and think you could help fit some sturdy play ovens, fridges, sinks, countertops and tables, or build a planter for the mud/soil, then please get in touch. This work could be done at the weekends, or whenever convenient for the volunteers.
We will also need painters later on: in the spring we will also be repairing our existing murals and painting the toilet block in KS2 to match the climbing wall mural.
Also, we are hoping to apply for a grant to decorate the metal fence just in front of the reception door – if you know a local blacksmith who could help please get in touch!
SEASON of giving
We are collecting money to give all Grasmere staff a little something this Christmas. The money will be split equally between them, and is from all of us parents and carers. Please add your donation here – (even if you can’t donate, you’re welcome to just add a message).
And finally, like every winter we are supporting the Winter Toy Appeal, who distribute toys to all children who need them in the borough and beyond (including some children at Grasmere) and who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. If you can, you could also help by replenishing our food bank shelves in the covered walkway, donating money or time to the Hackney Food Bank, and baby or children clothes and small toys to the Hackney Baby Bank.
Thank you and take care,
FROGS
PS: We’ve also come across this campaign, Turn On the Subtitles – did you know turning on the subtitles when your children are watching TV can really help with literacy?