Parents are an important ingredient to the future of St Marie’s Catholic Primary School, not only because of their support for the children, but for their involvement and commitment to the school. With the continued help of parents, the St Marie’s Home School Association (the parent – teacher group) can add resources and essential infrastructure to the school to enhance each pupil’s experience and to add to their enjoyment and education. Recently St Marie’s HSA won a City Recognition Award for its commitment to its work and achievements.

In the last two years St Marie’s HSA has provided a £6,000 donation towards a stage (2009)- meaning the school can now perform the Christmas nativity to an audience in a way it’s never been able to in the past; almost £5,000 towards a KS1 playground gym and £750 towards sunshades for KS1 & KS2 (2008). There has also been a £1000 gift of construction blocks for the Reception class (2009), £500 towards Let’s Get Cooking equipment (2008) and books for each child to take home at the end of the year in 2008 and 2009.

The St Marie’s HSA is currently (Mar 2010) well on its way to reaching its target of £6,000 to improve the playground and outside learning environment, and has already made a payment of £1,500 to get the initial plans in place. This will provide a holistic approach to the children’s learning across the school, encompassing literacy, languages, science and PE and would include gardens, play equipment and an all round attractive ambiance.

The St Marie’s HSA meets regularly to discuss events and opportunities for fund raising. Of course, the success of the St Marie’s HSA is dependent on the contributions of parents; and parents are therefore needed to contribute in any way they can, be it in person, at an event, by phone or on-line for planning, idea generation or the hard work of organising or managing events.

There is a regular diary of activity and events which includes a termly disco and movie night, parent social evenings, winter and summer fairs, Mother’s day and Easter gifts and craft stalls, Christmas cards (designed and created by each child), term time calendars (featuring each child in school), coffee mornings, parents social events, tog swaps and much, much more.