Can you help out?
Kids can get involved too.
• Bake or donate a cake, cookies etc. (no nuts please)
• Help sell & serve refreshments once you’ve completed the course (3 to 4.30ish)
• Join tidy up crew (4.30 to 5ish)
Sign up to volunteer via PTA Events, drop us an email, or let one of the 3 Peaks Crew know you plan to turn up with a cake on the day.
Horniman 3 Peaks Challenge
Saturday 27 April 2-4pm
Our annual orienteering challenge is back - this time with fancy dress! Dressing up is optional but encouraged!
To complete the challenge, children and their families will solve tricky clues as they navigate the 3km course around the highest peaks of SE23. This year, they'll also need to keep an eye out for our special mystery guest - who has a bonus clue for them!
You can buy tickets in advance or pay at the gate by cash or card.
If you would like a hot dog to await you at the finish line, you will need to pre-order it online beforehand - orders close 6pm on Friday 26th.
What? Horniman Three Peaks Challenge
When? Saturday 11th May 2pm - 4pm (last start 3:45)
Where? Start and finish at Horniman Primary Main Gate
Help us raise money!
We encourage children and their families to raise funds through sponsorship. You can use the sponsorship form sent home via email and in book bags this week, or set up your own page by clicking on the orange ‘Start Fundraising’ button to ask friends, neighbours and family to support you for this challenge.
This year we are raising funds to improve the school's outdoor environment, including a new sandpit for summer learning and play.
3 Peaks Crew:
Adam Jones (Elder)
Rob
Marek
Mary Moreton (Sycamore & Willow)
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 2023/24
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 usually held once per month 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 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.
