Ho! Ho! Ho! and Merry Christmas to you all!It’s been a busy term since landing back in September,when the sun was still shining! We’ve had our MKLightning event, lots of coffee afternoons, school discos,eyes down for our first ever Bingo night, Mulled wine andMince Pies at the Christmas Fayre and the ever popularSecret Santa - not to forget our AGM, phew!

It’s been great to see lots of new faces on the committeeand helping out at events. We couldn’t raise the moneywe do without the level of support the PTFA gets fromeveryone who helps out and joins in, so a very BIGthank you.

We also welcome your ideas and feedback. This hasbeen the reason behind the recent survey we’ve beencarrying out in order to gather ideas and suggestionsfrom both the children and their families. This will help usto make the best decisions on how to spend the fundswe raise, to enhance and support the children's learningas well as maximising the fun they have whilst at school!We've got an article on this later on in the newsletter soplease read on to find out what we plan to do next andhow you can continue to have your say.

As you will by now have seen, and as we go to press,the children are all off to the Pantomime at MiltonKeynes Theatre. We are delighted that all of the hardwork and support the PTFA has received over the lastyear has enabled us to provide this event for the school.It's such a treat for the children to enjoy this magicalexperience together. And the magic has been sprinkledon Busy Bees as well, who have been given a donationto bring an extra special treat to their last week beforethe Christmas break.

The date of our next meeting is 12 January 2017 and wewould love to see you there. We will be planning ourevents for the spring term and as always we can onlydeliver these if we have enough support, so everycontribution big or small really helps.

Finally, thank you all so very much for your continued

YOUR PTFAChair: Lisa Steel

Vice Chair:Fiona Cavanagh

Secretaries:Ali Gallacher& Sarah Drea

Treasurer: Claire Sim

Next meeting: Thursday 12th January2017, at The Dene, DeneClose, Woburn Sands,MK17 8NN

STAYING UP TODATE ON PTFAACTIVITYSwallowfield PTFA has its ownFacebook group page withinformation on all the comingsand goings, events andmeetings at the school. It’s agreat way of keeping up todate with what is going on withthe PTFA. Search forSwallowfield PTFA onFacebook and request to jointhe group, it really couldn’t beeasier!

DO WE HAVE YOUREMAIL?Help us use less paper bygiving us your email addressso that we can send you ournewsletters electronically.Simply email us atswallowfieldptfa@hotmail.co.uk and we’ll add you to our list.And remember to let thePTFA, and the school, know ofany changes to your details!Please note: these details arebeing collated by the PTFA -

support and involvement. We hope you have a fantasticChristmas & New Year and we look forward to seeingyou in 2017!

Lisa & Fiona

not the school - and will onlybe used to send youinformation regarding thePTFA.

OUR FUNDRAISING EVENTS THIS TERM

BINGO NIGHT‘EYES DOWN, LOOK IN’ was the cry from the returning host with the most Mr Ian White, on Friday 18thNovember for Swallowfield’s first ever Bingo Night!Over fifty people came along, dabbers at the ready, to play the six rounds of prize Bingo with winners fromeach round taking home a range of fantastic prizes. The table quiz came to a tight finish with two teamsgoing head to head in a tie breaker, the eventual winners being ‘The Young Ones”. The eveningculminated in the heavily contested ‘Cash Bingo’ round with entrants competing for the House Prize of£70! A fun evening enjoyed by all raising £702 for the PTFA, which for the first time of running an eventwas above our expectations. We’d like to say a big thank you to Ian for hosting, Louisa and Clare forrunning the bar, and everyone who attended. This event would not have gone ahead without the hardwork a dedication of Sarah Barnes who organised this great evening for the PTFA, thanks Sarah!

SECRET SANTA 2016Once again this lovely, festive, fun-filled, non-profit event was extremely popular.We had a staggering 945 gift orders and were busy buying up a storm in preparationfor the big day, which took place on the afternoon of Friday 9 December. Just over1000 gifts were available for the children to choose for their family and friends. Thechildren browsed the tables of gifts whilst listening to some Christmas songs andwere ably assisted by our Elf volunteers, on hand to act as personal shoppers! Thewrapping Elves did a sterling job working through so many gifts - all wrapped andlabelled ready for the children to give out Christmas morning.It was a fabulous afternoon, full of festive cheer! We really hope you enjoy your giftsas much as the children enjoyed choosing them for you. We'd like to take thisopportunity to thank all of our volunteers who helped the afternoon run smoothly, toAlison Holder for her kind donations and to give special thanks to Julia Murphy forbeing this year's chief (and indeed, only!) buyer - buying 1000 gifts is no easy task,so thank you very much. And thanks to Lisa Steel for organising the event. Lisa andJulia were holding the reins for Hayley O'Brien who is the official Mrs Claus but wasotherwise engaged this year with her new addition to her family. We look forward towelcoming Hayley back in 2017!

MK LIGHTNINGWe were very fortunate to be invited backby the MK Lightning Ice Hockey team to attendtheir match against Telford Tigers in October.This was under their School Enterprise Schemethat offers us family tickets at the discounted costof £10, and allows us to retain 50% of the ticketsales for the school.We had an incredible response for tickets, forwhat proved to be a close match that saw ourhome team win in the final moments. Most ofthose who came along took advantage of thepost-match ice-skating and was great to see somany of the children having fun on the ice.

The event raised £388.50 for the school and we are looking forward to confirming our next date for theNew Year. This was again organised by Niki Patel, whose organisational talents have helped raise a hugesum for the PTFA this term.

SCHOOL DISCOSNovember saw the children don their party clothes for the ever-popular discos in theschool hall. The children played party games, danced to their favourite songs andhad a great time with all their friends. A big thank you to the teachers and all of thePTFA helpers, we raised £428.75. Without the hard work of Niki Patel this would nothave been possible. Thanks Niki!

WOBURN SANDS CHRISTMAS FAYRE

The weather was on our side this year for the Woburn Sands Christmas Fayre andthe Swallowfield PTFA Mulled Wine stall. Dry and cold weather is what we neededand that’s what we got!

The fayre was busy this year and volunteers worked away in the kitchen cooking upthe secret PTFA recipe, whilst our able sellers started serving the steady flow ofcustomers, which grew into a queue by mid-afternoon. Our warm Mulled wine andtasty mince pies were just what people needed to refuel for more festive fun. We’dlike to say a great big thank you to everyone who helped from beginning to end,along with all those that donated mince pies and wine, a true team effort and couldn’tbe done without you. Thank you to Fiona Cavanagh, chief organiser and professionalmulled wine maker!

We raised a fantastic £786.20 – Well Done!

CHRISTMAS PANTO TRIPAs we write this, the children are enjoying the pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’ atMK theatre. Early reports suggest it’s been a fantastic afternoon with lots of laughterand Christmas fun, along with the excitement of going out of school on the coach andgetting an ice cream in the middle of the afternoon! We hope everyone had a greattime and we are really delighted to have been able to fund such a magical trip for thewhole school. Busy bees have also enjoyed a party, entertained by the Great Gappo.So lots of enjoyment for every child at Swallowfield and Busy Bees.

WHAT WE'VE RAISED THIS TERM

...AND WHAT WE'VE SPENT

FUTURE COMMITMENTS OF PTFA FUNDS - PTFA SURVEYThis term the PTFA have conducted a very successful survey, gathering responses from both parentsthrough feedback forms and children of the school through the school parliament. The purpose of thesurvey was to gather ideas and suggestions on how to spend the funds raised by the PTFA. Thank youvery much to everyone who took the time to fill out a comment card or responded to our email andfacebook requests. We are now in the process of collating and short-listing the most popular responsesand there will be a further request for you to vote for one of the short-listed suggestions through theSwallowfield App coming shortly so please look out for this and vote for your favourite!

One exciting commitment for future funds is the Circus at the school in 2018! Watch this newsletter formore information nearer the time!

CLUBS CORNERSEWING CLUBThis term we have had two sewing clubs running to meet the demand and they have been stitching up astorm ready for Christmas making all sorts of festive items.

GUITAR CLUBThere are still one or two slots available forGuitar lessons. This term we have been verylucky to have some of the pupils write a littlepiece for us on their experience of guitar club, anactivity set up by the PTFA;‘We are very lucky to be able to have guitarlessons at school. Nick, the guitar teacher comesin on Thursday and Friday lunchtime. It’s fun andentertaining and we all learn new things. Wehave been learning chords and songs and arereally happy to learn to play jingle bells and thetheme from Harry Potter! It’s quite relaxing andgood fun to play with our friends and on the bus.Nick is very nice and good fun but he can getcross if we don’t listen. We love our guitarlessons and we hope you might join us too.Myles, James, George and Preston – Year 4’

PIANO CLUBThere may be an opportunity for one child to join Piano club please contact us via

swallowfieldptfa@hotmail.com if you are interested in this or the guitar lessons above.

MK DONSThe MK Dons offered a combined Year 3 and 4after school club for 6 weeks up to the Octoberhalf term. There is now no football until thesummer term when the Foundation children willbe offered an opportunity to join the club.

NEW CLUBSCould you help us set up some new clubs? Isthere a talent or a skill you have that you couldspare some time to teach the children, or do youhave a contact that could volunteer? We wouldlove to hear from you if you have any ideas or arehappy to help on swallowfieldptfa@hotmail.com.

HELPING THE PTFA RAISE MONEY TO HELP YOUR SCHOOL

110 CLUBJoin our 110 Club to be entered into a prize draw each month and help the PTFA to raise funds. There arenow four cash prizes and the winners are drawn monthly and announced via the Facebook Group. Lastyear the PTFA raised £461 from the 100 Club – everyone is a winner!

Available numbers cost £1 each a month, please contact Hilary Cox or emailswallowfieldptfa@hotmail.co.uk to find out more.

Do you shop online? Do it through easyfundraising.org.uk and raise a free donation for Swallowfield PTFAevery time you shop! https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/swallowfieldptfa/

And don’t forget to download the Easyfundraising Find & Remind tool bar to remind you whenever youvisit a website that donates money when you shop.

STAMPTASTICLove it? Stamp it! Keep it! A personalised stampmade in the UK, usable on fabric, metal and mostplastics. No more sewing or ironing on labels. Nomore losing your pencil case or PE kit! Now youcan just stamp everything! The ink will last washafter wash. Visit www.stamptastic.co.uk and usethe code SWALLOWFIELD on your order toreceive a cashback for school fundraising.

Our mailing address is:swallowfieldpfta@hotmail.co.uk

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Swallowfield PTFA · Weathercock Close · Woburn Sands · Milton Keynes, MK17 8SL · United Kingdom