Birch Copse School has a very friendly, hard working, enthusiastic Parent Teacher Association Committee who organise the many activities of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The money raised by the PTA is used to fund equipment or activities across the school.
The committee meets once each half term and anyone connected to the school (parent, guardian or teacher) can attend as a member or simply as a friend of the PTA . Committee meeting dates are published in the school bulletin.
Fund Raising Events
The PTA organises many annual events and some one-offs – any offers to assist at any of the events or to run your own event are gratefully received, please contact a member of the committee. Regular annual events include the Christmas Fair, Easter Raffle, Summer Fair, School Discos, Quizzes, Production DVDs and Reading Football tickets to name just a few.
Another easy way to help the school is to shop online at www.TheGivingMachine.co.uk and www.easyfundraising.org.uk where you will be able to make free cash donations to Birch Copse School with every purchase. More details at the end of this page.
Uniform Shop
The PTA also runs its own school uniform shop online where you can buy all branded items. If you haven’t already, please visit the Birch Copse PTA website: https://www.pta-events.co.uk/birchcopsepta/#.Y208eHbP02x where you can register to access all available services, including ordering uniform.
Once registered, select ‘Shop’ from the menu and then ‘Uniform and Merchandise’ to find the item you need. Payment is taken at the time of ordering via ‘Stripe’, a secure payment platform. Your order will then be processed by our PTA volunteers and sent home with your child once it’s ready.
Please note that at times we can experience supply chain issues, which means some items may be low in stock resulting in a delay in processing your order. If this happens, we will put a notice on the PTA website uniform page notifying you as such and will endeavour to get your order processed as soon as possible.
You can also check stock levels on the Uniform shop, these are displayed under each item we sell.
If you have any questions, please contact the Birch Copse Uniform Team at
ptauniformshop@birchcopse.w-berks.sch.uk.
For further information regarding our exchange/return policy or if you qualify for uniform via Pupil Premium, please refer to the ‘Further information’ section on the PTA website uniform page.
PTA Funded Items and Activities
In light of the current funding crisis (affecting all schools locally and nationally) the PTA is raising funds to help with day to day activities rather than the extras. Last year the PTA donated £16,500 to the school.
Some of the items that the PTA has committed to fund on an annual basis include:
-Money for the teachers to spend on classroom resources
-The Life Education bus (previously funded by parent contribution) - but this is not able to happen in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions
-The Year 6 Leavers' Books and party food
In previous years the PTA has funded foundation play equipment, new classroom TV sets, an outdoor classroom, library books, library computer and software, the wireless network, interactive white board, drum kit, PA system, outdoor play equipment, drum kits, hall tables & benches, projectors, a cash contribution to the new school hall and many other items.
The Giving Machine
You can find Birch Copse Primary School on The Giving Machine, a great fundraising site that lets you raise donations for Birch Copse Primary School whenever you shop online. It’s easy to use and doesn’t cost you a penny! The Giving Machine is a fundraising charity setup to help other charitable causes raise money online. By signing up and shopping online via The Giving Machine you will generate a free cash donation for us. With over 2,200 of your favourite retailers, including Ebay, M&S, Tui, Sainsbury, John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners, you are bound to find what you need and generate a donation. To start raising free donations go to https://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/causes/birch-copse-primary-school and join. It’s that easy.
School Lottery
We now have our own school lottery! Click on the link to find out more... Join our school lottery! All funds raised go to improving our school. There's a guaranteed prize every week for one of our supporters AND there's a chance to win £25,000!
Just click the button below.
How the lottery works .... Only £1per ticket, that's right, unlike many other lotteries, our lottery tickets are only £1 per week .For every ticket you play, 76% goes to our school and prizes. Match all 6 numbers and you win the JACKPOT of a £25,000 grand prize! A chance to win every week, play as many lines as you wish. And it’s not all about money….
Rags to Riches
This is where you can donate a bag (or bags!) of used clothes and unwanted items to the PTA, we let you know when the drop off day is, provide you with a bag and you simply return it with any unwanted clothes. We then arrange for Rags to Riches to collect from us for a cash donation to our school. As a real bonus, it is a 100% efficient clothes recycling process, reducing wastage and benefiting the environment and people in various developing world countries.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our page and checking out all the things we get up to, we would absolutely love to hear from you if you would like to know more, have a fundraising idea or simply would like to offer a helping hand. You can email us here at ptainfo@birchcopse.w-berks.sch.uk
Birch Copse School PTA