Car Boot Sale - Vide Grenier - 18.05.2008

Welcome

Our PTA is very active and provides many opportunities throughout the school year, helping parents find new friends, connections, and resources so that their life in France – whether they are here temporarily or permanently – is as rich as they would like it to be. Through the PTA there are many different ways that parents can be involved in school life:

Social Events:

• Faces to Names Picnic – your first opportunity to meet the PTA members and other school families. A fun event for everyone – bring a picnic and some outdoor toys and join the fun. More information will follow soon on this upcoming event!
• Coffee Mornings – Monthly - either in the cafeteria or in a nice coffee bar around the school. Now and then a guest speaker helps provide a conversation topic and the coffee is great.
• Wine Tasting – an evening to savour good wines, good food and good company. Normally held two to three times a year.
• Culture Club – regularly events to introduce you to the rich culture and heritage of this region. We visit galleries, museums and gardens (often stopping for lunch on the way) and return to school in time to collect your children.
• PTA Meetings – monthly committee meetings are held to decide on future events, dates and projects. Everyone is invited to attend. Meetings are either in the morning or the evening to allow the teacher representatives to attend.
  

In addition the PTA sponsors and organises events with the purpose to FUNdraise in a social setting. Although these events are fundraisers, they are tremendous fun for all. The money raised is used to purchase those exceptional items that fall outside the normal scope of school funding and activities. The PTA committee considers suggestions from Parents, Teaching staff and Students for those "extra" items that can further enhance the facilities available to our children. A vote is taken on which of these projects the PTA will support.

International schools and their budgets are mostly the same all around the world - but they differ in the loyalty and the friendship of their members. Thanks to the loyal and extremely generous support of our parents and teachers, our projects in past years have ranged from: additional software for learning support; computers, software and books for the library; garden benches; playground equipment; a sound system; a state of the art projection system; a school bus; equipment for the art studios; staging, lights and curtains for the Performing Arts department, etc.

If you have any ideas of projects or social events that might be appropriate for the future, we would love to hear from you. Come along to one of the committee meetings and talk to us about it.

Fundraising Events:

• Book Club – you will find the second hand book club once a month on a Friday afternoon outside the Hall (weather permitting) where you can buy second hand books and videos for yourself or the children.
• Car Boot Sale – a great opportunity to clear out your cellar or loft and make someone else happy.
• Children’s Christmas Fair – held towards the end of December to allow the lower school children to purchase surprise gifts for their parents, brothers and sisters. We even wrap their gifts for them. (Again, donations for this event are welcome.)
• Gala Evening – held every three years in spring time. It is THE fundraising event which helps us to fund major projects at the school.
• End of Year BBQ and Summer Fair – held in late June (usually the last Saturday before Graduation) to close the school year and wish our friends a happy Summer holiday. A great family afternoon with lots of games, bouncy castle and prizes for the younger children and live music, bar and lots of food in the evening for everyone.
  

Class Mums are organised through the PTA so that each Form has two parents assigned to assist the teachers in planning class parties and events and accompanying class outings especially for the lower forms, when required. They also organise mums to volunteer in the lower forms for extra help with the students, e.g. extra reading with ESL students… These mums also are part of the school communication chain should the need arise to contact parents via telephone (i.e. exceptional closure of school due to snow…). We would highly encourage class mums to attend the monthly PTA meetings.

The PTA provides a monthly newsletter with important information of the school and the PTA.
Please read the newsletter carefully as it is the platform of communication between the school and the families. You have the opportunity to advertise in the Classified Advertising Section, an increasingly popular means of communication.

Every parent and teacher is a member of the Mougins School PTA and is welcome to attend the monthly committee meetings. We hope everyone will take advantage of some part of our PTA and join us in friendship at the meetings or the many events throughout the year! Please let us know if you are willing to volunteer. Many hands make the work easy and fun for everyone.

Nicole Schauer
Past PTA President