A very warm welcome to the St Nicolas’ Parent Staff Association - PSA))

We very much look forward to meeting you and your child. All staff, parents and carers who join the St Nicolas’ infant school community, are automatically members of the PSA. The PSA is a registered charity and our two core objectives are:

*To contribute to building and maintaining effective relationships within our special school community and,

*To work in partnership with the school to help give our children the best possible infant school experience.

As such, the PSA organise social events for both adults and children, and fundraise to provide resources and opportunities that the school may not otherwise be able to afford. We also contribute towards developing a more environmentally aware and active school community.

The PSA Core Team is made up of seven parent volunteers who oversee the running of the charity, and Mrs Smart, who represents the staff. We are supported by class representatives, and by a lots of wonderful parent and carer volunteers who get involved with individual events and projects.

There are many opportunities to help, from taking part in PSA events; donating money or items for tombolas etc.; or being actively involved in arranging individual events. All offers of help or ideas are always welcomed. We understand that sometimes you may be at capacity, and other times have more flexibility. We are grateful for whatever support you can offer. It really does make a huge difference.

Past PSA Events/projects Events have been a little different over the last year, but working within the Covid Regulations, we have still managed to arrange:

• A summer fair trail around the local area

• Zoom quiz nights

• Raffles

• Sponsored run

• In school hours Christmas fair for the children and a visit from Santa

• Happy School Bags clothing collections

• Christmas cards

• School recipe book

• A Christmas Single from ‘The Christmas Fathers’

• Nearly new uniform sales

• Recycling of difficult to recycle items (continually collected in the bins by the double red doors)

• Online Murder Mystery hosted by the Guildford Shakespeare Company

• Easter Egg Hunt within the local area.

In previous years events usually also include:

• Annual Christmas and Summer Fairs

• Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day Breakfasts

• Quiz nights

• Children’s winter parties

• Silent Auctions

• Social coffee mornings, with siblings welcome

• Social evenings for parents and carers

• Half-termly snack sales and ice lolly sales.

These activities typically raise in excess of £10,000 a year – a tribute to the hard work and enthusiasm of the amazing community at our small school.

Some of the ways PSA fundraising helped the school over the last year

• Setting up areas, such as the ‘Treehouse’, to offer children emotional support and small group interventions, and ‘The Learning Hub’, an additional learning space for all the children to access • Eco therapy resources, including gardening equipment • ICT resources, including programmable robots • A new oven for the children to use when cooking • Reading books • Gazebo for playground ‘Peace Corner’ • ‘Incredible Eggs’ – hatching eggs and observing the chicks’ early days • New tablet computers for use in classrooms • ICT programme subscriptions • Exciting resources to support themed weeks and individual topics

• Training and supervision of an ‘Emotional Literacy Support Assistant’ (ELSA) Key fundraising projects • Revamping the Forest School area of the school, to further enhance the children’s outdoor learning experiences • Supporting a new mural at the main school building entrance • Purchasing diversity resources including books and workshops • Funding a defibrillator.

So, once again, welcome to St Nics’ and we very much look forward to meeting you and your child. Do get in touch if you have any questions: psa@st-nicolas.surrey.sch.uk

Best wishes, Your PSA Team

Meet the team: https://www.st-nicolas-guildford.com/parent-staff-association-psa/

Term Dates:

Please also note our 5 INSET days, when the school will be closed:

 Friday 1st September 2023

 Monday 4th September

 Friday 20th October

 Tuesday 2nd January 2024

 Monday 3rd June

Vision Statement:

Our school community lives life in all its fullness:

 Through a love of learning,

 By having a sense of unity,

 Understanding right and wrong,

 Being able to persevere through life’s challenges

 With dignity and respect for ourselves and others

 And with hope for the future and all that it brings.

Vision Phrase:

“Living life in all its fullness”

John 10:10