WELCOME TO THE FOSMS SECTION

We are the Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

of St Mary's School

With your help, FOSMS raise much-needed cash to support St Mary’s School and also run services for everyone’s benefit (second-hand uniform sales, Walk 2 School, etc); aiming to encourage a community of which we are all proud and pleased to be a part of.

Use our links to find out more about upcoming events, services run by FOSMS and some fantastic fundraising schemes, which will not cost you a penny!

FOSMs - Who we are and what we do!

The Friends of St Mary’s – we hope that every person connected with the school is indeed a Friend of it but there are some more defined roles that organise things to ensure this group can serve its purpose.

FOSMs and its events are kept going by a committed group of volunteers, who give their time behind the scenes. Some of these have official roles and titles (see below) but the bulk of the work is done by parents from every year group who volunteer for all sorts of jobs at the events we run. The time and dedication given by these volunteers to improve the school experience of each St Mary’s pupil is much appreciated and, by it’s nature, rewarding for parent and child. If you’ve not joined the ranks, please do! You can come along to the termly meetings, put your hand up to get involved in specific events, approach anyone you know is already involved such as those below, or email us on committee@fosms-amersham.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you!

FOSMs Committee roles

Chairperson (Greg Cowan) Vice-Chair (Lou Hernando)

The Chair provides leadership for the Friends, sets the agenda for meetings and manages our termly meetings. The Chair should welcome input from all parties, ensure that issues are properly debated and an agreement is reached. 

We look to the Chair to create a team spirit that welcomes new members from all classes within the school and together we can achieve great things and raise lots of funds.

The Chair is not responsible for every event but should be there to support the lead person on any particular event, helping to gather a team, ensure lessons of the past are passed on etc and ultimately deciding if an event should proceed or not.

The Chair needs to work closely with the Treasurer and Secretary to ensure that FOSMs is run effectively, including writing the annual report in co-operation with the Treasurer and signing cheques with one other committee member.

Secretary (Lindsey Mitchell)
The Secretary deals with any correspondence that the PTA receives and helps the Chair ensure that committee meetings run smoothly. The Secretary applies for licences for events as required (eg alcohol and noise licences).

Key responsibilities:

• write up and circulate the minutes of meetings
• prepare agendas
• call meetings - giving plenty of notice
• keep a record of attendance at meetings
• co-sign cheques as required
• secure event licences

Treasurer (Gary Richards)

A key role for all event organisers is to manage and control the funds FOSMs raises. The Treasurer plays a vital part in helping us carry out these duties properly.

The Treasurer should record all income and expenditure. The Treasurer should record details of the amounts received and spent and have the details available for every committee meeting plus:

• the balance of funds
• committed expenditure
• income, expenditure and profit from each event held

If the Treasurer or Deputy Treasurer is unable to attend a committee meeting, a written report should be sent to the Chair ahead of the meeting. The Treasurer also

• liaises with the bank
• pays money into the bank account and reconciles bank statements
• advises the bank of agreed changes to the bank mandate, ie those authorised to sign cheques
• raises and signs cheques with a second committee member co-signing.  The person co-signing must see what is being paid for before signing.  The Treasurer should sign last and keep all original invoices
• withdraws money to provide a cash float for events
• monitors funds held on account and discusses with the bank or building society, the use of higher rate investment accounts.  Any decision to use an investment account, including the amount to be put in the account, should be taken by the whole committee.
• ensure regular payments, for example, NCPTA membership, are made on time to guarantee benefits and take advantage of any discounts
• reimburse agreed expenses incurred by parents on FOSMs business

• maintain the financial records
• count and bank monies at events
• charity registration and Gift Aid
• draw up the annual accounts

Deputy Treasurer (Chris Longman)

• To support the PTA Treasurer with controlling the PTA finances
• Attending major events like school fairs to assist with preparation of cash floats, the counting and banking of money raised. 
• Assisting with the collection and banking of incoming funds from various fundraising initiatives.   

Independent Auditor (Iryna Kryvorukova) 

FOSMS submit an annual return to the Charities Commission in June each year. The accountant who has done it for us for the last 4 years can no longer and so we are looking for a new volunteer to take on the role. It entails : 

Ordinary Committee Members

Ordinary Committee Members work alongside the Officers, contributing ideas, helping at events, and sometimes running with smaller projects.  They also have an important role to play alongside the Officers of FOSMs in ensuring good communication with the rest of the school, encouraging participation and enthusiasm for events organised. If you are interested in joining the committee, please get in touch at any time.

Being on the Committee does not commit you to anything more than being on an email list that is used as the first port of call for help when we don’t necessarily need to go school-wide. For example, when the Christmas market needs a few hours help on the door and behind the bar you would get an email asking if you could you spare an hour. 

Supermarket Vouchers Co-ordinator (Becky Gray)

Second-Hand Uniform Sales

This is a service for parents providing a much cheaper way of dressing your children for school at just £1 a piece and they also benefit from funds raised.

Please don’t throw away what yours have grown out of, donate their old uniform to our good cause and get the next size up from us too!

Regular sales are held throughout the year or contact us via the office.

Footsteps Co-ordinator (Michelle Steiger)

Communications Co-ordinator (Janice Craig)

Going for Gold (Michelle O'Shea)

FOSMS needs YOU to get involved by...

• suggesting new ways to raise funds;
• helping to organise/run events;
• setting up and clearing away at events;
• joining one of our fundraising schemes;
• helping to organise/run one of our services, and/or
• taking part in our events, fundraising schemes and services to make them a success!

Any help is always welcomed and greatly appreciated.

You can get in touch, with any queries, offers, concerns or anything else you’d like to throw at your PTA in the following ways:

• via the FOSMS box in the office lobby;
• by email to committee@fosms-amersham.co.uk;
• through your Class Rep;
• by attending our meetings;
• talking to organisers at any events, or
• talking directly to the committee anytime.

We’d really love to hear from you!