User:Foshrcps

FOSH
FOSH stands for Friends of St Helen's. Friends of St Helens is the Parent-Teacher Association of St Helen's Roman Catholic Primary School located in Caerphilly, South Wales, United Kingdom.

FOSH has been in existence for numerous years, but a new committee was formed in October 2008 in order to include a higher ratio of parents to teachers. These parents would introduce a new outside-in perspective on the agenda and remit of the group. The idea was to support the teacher network by providing supplementary skills, such as event management, marketing, computer skills, arts and crafts, organisational flair and business acumen. The group meets once a month at a local Brewer's Fayre restaurant.

FOSH organises many fundraising activities and social events througout the school year and communicates these via their web site and the Friends of St Helen's Newsletter which is printed and distributed on a regular (at least monthly) basis to pupils and teachers at St Helen's school.

Events / Fundraising Efforts
The events and activities that FOSH organises are aimed at stimulating social interaction and development for the benefit of all connected with St Helen’s Primary School. They are not always planned with a fundraising objective in mind. The important factor from the point of view of the committee members is to nurture important life skills in the children who attend St Helen's that will stand them in good stead during their journey through life. Consequently, all money that is raised gets ploughed straight back into the school to provide essential learning tools and enhance the environment in which the children spend many key, formative hours every day.

Examples of events and fundraising efforts include childrens' discos, bring and buy sales, raffles, dog-racing night (adult event only), recycling programmes (such as mobile phone and ink cartridge recycling), competitions, sale of presentation CDs and of custom tea towels and tea lights - the latter two designed and created with substantial input from the children.

Fundraising Targets
The first target of the school year 2008/09 was a storyteller's chair. This was a wooden chair intricately hand-carved by a local craftsman and is now located in a woodland section of the school grounds. As the storyteller chair's target was considerably exceeded at the end of the autumn term, the residual funds have been used to purchase much needed classroom equipment, such as A3 laminators, CD players and TV/DVD combo units.

Spring term 2009 targets include a willow surround or enclosure for the storyteller chair and three small tepees to create a miniature Indian village.