Welcome to Friends, the parents' association of Woodhouse Grove School
Are you thinking of sending your child to Woodhouse Grove in September 2009? If so, this page gives you a bit of background on Friends - the parents' association of Woodhouse Grove Schoool.
Friends is all about socialising
Unlike some PTAs where the emphasis is on fundraising, Friends is primarily about socialising. Our events are an excellent way to meet other parents, not just in your child's year group but across the whole school.
Typical events include our October Quiz Night which is fantastic fun (with free fish'n'chips), our superb Christmas Craft Fair in November, our family Ice Skating evening in January and our (always popular!!) Wine Evening in the spring.
Events are inexpensive and often include extras like refreshments or a free supper. The school bar is usually open selling a great selection of beers, wines, spirits and other drinks at reasonable prices.
Our events aren't restricted to Grove parents - friends and relations are very welcome. Many of the staff are also Grove parents, so our events are a great way to meet them informally too.
Our New Parents' Evening - welcoming you to The Grove
Our first official event of the new academic year is always the New Parents' drinks reception evening held at the end of the first week of term.
Organised by Friends in partnership with the school, it's an event where we invite form tutors, key members of staff, the Headmaster and all new parents to come along and share a glass or two of wine with us.
It's a superb chance to compare notes with other new parents and chat to staff about any issues that may have arisen during the first week. Entry is FREE and cheese and wine are provided. This is always a hugely popular event (which may or may not have something to do with the complementary wine!)
Interested in joining our committee?
We're really keen to welcome new parents to our committee - and we had a fantastic response from 2008 new parents. Obviously as 'old' parents leave the school, we need to boost numbers with 'new' parents - and it's always nice to have some fresh ideas and useful skills!
We meet a couple of times a term in the Long Gallery (usually Tuesday or Wednesday evenings over tea, coffee and biscuits).
Don't worry - we won't expect you to do lots of hard work. Most of us hold down full-time jobs so we don't have masses of time on our hands. But if you'd like to meet other Grove parents and staff, and have fun helping to organise events, joining our committee is a great way to become part of the school very quickly.
So if you feel you'd like to join - or even just come along to see what we do (no obligation or pressure!) please get in touch or just come along to our next meeting (see Home Page for dates).
Email list
When you join the school you will be asked if you are willing to share your email address with Friends. This is so we can keep up to date with news of events and tickets sales - and it's now the primary way we contact parents.
However if you'd rather NOT receive emails from us, you will be given the opportunity to opt out either by ticking the opt-out box on the school data form - or by following the instructions at the foot of the first email you receive from us.
Any questions?
We know from talking to parents there are lots of questions you have about being parents at the Grove and also questions about our events or joining our committee. Hopefully our FAQ page answers many of these. Or contact us and we'll do our best to help!