Parents' Association

Registered Charity 1131130

The Parents' Association at King Edwards VI Aston School has been in continuous operation since 1938, not the first, but perhaps one of the oldest Associations in the country.

So what do we do? Our Constitution says:

The object of the Association is to advance the education of pupils in the School. In furtherance of this object the Association may:

1. Develop more extended relationships between Staff, Parents and others associated with the School.
2. Engage in activities that support the School and advance the education of pupils attending it.
3. Provide and assist in the provision of such facilities or items for education at the School (not provided from statutory funds) as the Committee in consultation with the Governing Body shall from time to time determine.
4. At no time shall the Association nor any section of the Association take action which, in the opinion of the Headmaster, will interfere with the normal running of the School.

In practice this means we are there to support the School in many different ways raising money to provide the things that would not be possible from the normal funding. We provide a welcome hot drink and refreshments during Parents' Evenings. We try to phone each new group of parents before their sons start in September to welcome them to Aston and host a welcome evening early in the first term. We pay the annual premium for the Personal Injury Insurance for each student in the School.

So how do we raise funds? We are extremely fortunate that the School is situated a short walk from the Aston Villa Football Club ground. We have strong ties with the club (they are a sponsor of the School) and for each home game we open the School playgrounds for 'Match Day Parking'. We are probably one of the most secure car-parking areas for the football ground with the grounds locked and patrolled during the match. We have nearly one hundred parking permit holders who pay per season to park with us. We then supplement this with up to 200 additional cars both from home and visiting supporters. This means we are able to donate much larger sums to the School than most Associations. We have a regular income that can be put to good use within the School and this is from 'our customers' rather than from the 'parental pocket'. We are always looking for Parent Helpers and if you could spare an occassional Saturday afternoon to help please contact Lisa Withington, our car parking coordinator by email lisamac@blueyonder.co.uk or by telephone 07834 538321.

The Parents' Association is registered with easyfundraising which is a shopping directory listing some of your favourite online stores, including Argos, Next, Amazon, Debenhams, John Lewis, Toys R Us, HMV and over 600 other top name stores. Whenever you shop with any one of them using the links provided on the easyfundraising site, you'll generate a free donation for us of up to 15% of the purchase price every time! It really is that simple! It's completely FREE to register and you won't pay a penny more for your shopping when you use the easyfundraising site. In fact you can even SAVE MONEY as many retailers give discounts, special offers and even 'e-vouchers' exclusive to easyfundraising.

You can shop for holidays, flights, electronics, mobile phones, computing equipment, food, wine, pet supplies, finance, insurance and much more - and every purchase you make will raise funds for the School at absolutely no cost to you! All you need to do is register for free and use easyfundraising.org.uk/kevipa every time you shop online.

Also you can raise funds for the School every time you search the Web - with easysearch, a search engine with a difference! When you search with easysearch, you'll raise funds with every search you make! Make just 10 searches a day with easysearch instead of Google or any other search engine and you could raise around £20 a year - or more. It's that easy! What’s more, easysearch combines the strengths of several search engines together - Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.com and many more - making it a 'super' search engine! easysearch tracks down the most relevant and accurate results from across the Web, which means you'll find what you are looking for quickly and easily every time - in one 'easy' search. Please set our unique easysearch page kevipa.easysearch.org.uk as your homepage and use it every time you search the Web.

In addition we raise a small income from the refreshments and the traditional Parents' Evening Remote Quizzes. Parents now know that they attend Parents' Evenings ready with a £1 to purchase a quiz that is subsequently returned to the School Office by Easter, the winner receiving £50 for their effort.

On what do we spend our funds? We provide donations for both regular and specific items. As well as the insurance we provide mobile phones for sports fixtures and trips out of School so that staff can maintain communication with the School. We sponsor many of the academic prizes at the annual speech day and a member of our Committee, Suraiya Kidia prepares the flower arrangements for the evening. We provide and maintain the Water Fountains around the School. The Parent's Assocation has recently funded the following:

• Fabric & Sewing Machines
• Digital Piano, Stand and Case
• Trampoline spotting decks
• Basketball Rings for the Courts
• 15 Laptops & storage Unit & Laser Printer
• Equipment for the Teaching Kitchen
• Digital Camera
• Perception Goggles
• Mini Bus
• Defibrillators
• Computerised Library System
• and made a large contribution to the Drama room refurbishment

Each year the School, in July, holds a Festival of Cultures to celebrate and promote the ethnic diversity of the School. This is a day-long event with the boys in years 7 to 10 taking a variety of workshops during the day. These could be sporting, musical, drama, dance, artistic or even cooking with tutors brought in from a variety of backgrounds. The culmination is the evening event where all these talents are on show with music, dance, art and foods from around the world. The Parents Association supports the event each year not only providing a large subsidy, but also assistance with the organisation and lots of help on the night.

The Parents' Association is organised by a dedicated Committee that meets each month at Trinity Road Sports Ground in Aston. This Committee ensures that the refreshment counters and the parking are staffed by both Committee and volunteer parents. It monitors the Association' Bank Account and decides to which projects within the School the money is directed. The meetings, which tend to be the first Monday of the month, are always informal but structured and attended by either the Headmaster or Deputy Headmaster. The Association has a number of officers. These posts are currently held by:

All Parents are invited to join the Association when their son starts at the School. There is a one off payment of £15 that covers their membership for the whole time the lad is in the School. (Second and subsequent sons have a reduced rate of £10.) We encourage parents who are able to join the Committee. However we tend to find it is the 'most busy' parents that volunteer for this extra commitment.

The Parents Association is fortunate to be run by such a dedicated team. Parents, who have hectic lives, turn up and assist with Parents' Evenings, Parking or Events when I'm sure they would rather be back at home. Several members of the committee have seen their sons leave the School many years ago but continue to serve. I know the School is extremely grateful to everyone that continues to make the Parents' Association a vital aspect of King Edward VI Aston School.

For more information please contact Tracey Dutson on pachair@keaston.bham.sch.uk or call 07504977305, you can also leave a message via the School Office.

 PA Calendar Dates 2012-2013

 Easy Funding Car Park Letter