Advent Fayre!

The Friends are busy planning the Christmas Fayre and we have a lot of exciting plans to make the Fayre a fun family day out!

The Fayre will be home to the following stalls on the day;

·  Refreshment stalls, including a hog roast, vegetarian chilli, cakes, soft drinks, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and mulled wine.

·  Craft stalls run by our own creative St Richard’s family members!

·  Pet’s corner – Buy a treat for your cat or dog!

·  Sweet stall – Buy a bag of sweet treats

·  Hot chocolate cones – Buy a hot chocolate cone and when you get home just add milk and enjoy!

·  Plant stall – Buy your Christmas poinsettia!

·  Balloon stall – Everyone loves a balloon!

·  Make wildlife friendly reindeer food – Keep Rudolph and his friends energized on Christmas eve with a bag of food!

·  Festive biscuit decorating – Come along and ice your own biscuit in a festive theme!

·  Fun badge making – Come and design your own badge and help turn your design into a badge that you can wear!

·  Glitter tattoos – The hugely popular glitter tattoos return for another year!!

·  Letters to Santa – Come and write you letter to Santa and post it in the special post box!

·  Fun photo booth – Come along with your family and friends and take some fun photos and share them on the school FB page!

·  Paint Box Creations – Join them for special Christmas workshops (Running all day, pre book or drop in if space)

·  Make s’mores with Mr and Mrs Orchard – Join the Orchard Family around the camp fire in the Forest School area and make some delicious s’mores to eat!

·  Guess who – Can you all tell which teacher is which in the gallery of baby photos? Have some fun trying to guess!

·  Scavenger hunt – Look around the playground and hunt for clues and see if you can discover what the missing word is meant to be!

·  Tombola’s – The ever popular tombola’s are set for a big return this year. Take your pick from the children’s tombola, the bottle tombola and the chocolate tombola or have a go on all three!

·  Children’s toys and game – Let the children spend some of their change on the hugely popular pre-loved stall!

·  Games – There will a huge variety of games including; lucky dip, knock Santa off of the box, Rudolph’s magic carrots, drop the coin on Rudolph’s nose, Guess the number of sweets, pot luck and guess the name of the teddy.

Alongside all of these fabulous stalls, games and things to do we will also be hosting a timetable of events which we will reveal closer to the date but they include; the first ever St Richard’s Great Advent Bake Off, the colour Raffle draw, an Irish dancing showcase, St Richard’s got talent, Carols with the St Richard’s School Choir, the Winter Wonderland art gallery display and the much anticipated Teachers versus Children!!!!

As you can see there will be so much going on that it promises to be a really special day, but we really need all of your help to make it happen!

We understand that there are lots of things to remember at this time of the year and this letter may be a lot to take in so here is a summary of how your donations will help us and when to bring them in! It may seem like a lot, but every year you all come up trumps with your very kind donations so let’s make this a bumper year to remember!

Colour Hamper

A donation in the colour your child’s class was allocated

From now - Please ask your child to give their donations directly to their class teacher

Last Date -  Monday 29th November so that the classes can decorate and organise their hampers ready for the Fayre!

Chocolate Tombola

Chocolate in all varieties, big bars, bags, boxes, selection packs etc.

On Friday 12th November in exchange for wearing home clothes – please give your donation to the Friends at the school entrances.

Last Date - We would love all donations to be bought in on the 12th of November please.

Bottle tombola

Bottles in all varieties – alcohol is fine, we won’t give them to any children!

On Friday 3rd December in exchange for wearing home clothes – please give your donation to the Friends at the school entrances.

Last Date -We would love all donations to be bought in the 3rd of December please.

Children tombola

Any new and unused children toys.

From now – Please place your donations in the black wheelie bin by the office marked up with the Friends Donation Point poster or please take to the school office if the wheelie bin if full.

Last Date -Donations will be received up until the morning of the Fayre but if they can be bought in by Friday 3rdit would be much appreciated.

New items stall

Raid those cupboards and dig out your unwanted Christmas gifts from last year. Toiletries, gift boxes etc.

From now – Please place your donations in the black wheelie bin by the office marked up with the Friends Donation Point poster or please take to the school office if the wheelie bin if full.

Last Date -By Friday 3rd December please.

Children’s pre- loved toys and games stall

If you have any unwanted toys, that are clean and in good, working order we would be delighted to receive them.

From now – Please place your donations in the black wheelie bin by the office marked up with the Friends Donation Point poster or please take to the school office if the wheelie bin if full.

Last Date -By Friday 3rd December please.

Books and DVD stall

Books and DVDs (for adults or kids) will be gratefully received

From now – Please place your donations in the black wheelie bin by the office marked up with the Friends Donation Point poster or please take to the school office if the Wheelie bin if full.

Last Date -By Friday 3rd December please.

Refreshment stall

Cakes, biscuits mince pies

On Friday 3rd December during school hours please

Last Date -On Friday 3rdDecember during school hours please or on the day of the Fayre itself.

Sweet stall

Bags of sweets – This year the Friends won’t be sending out the normal pink striped bags for your sweet donations. To make sure that we are being Covid safe we are asking families to donate bags of sealed sweets only. Bags of Maltesers, Skittles, Haribo etc

From now – Please give donations to the school office

Last Date -By Friday 3rd December please.

Advent bake off

Please see the attached poster and registration slip and enter the very first St Richard’s Great Advent Bake off! You will be in with the chance of winning the coveted Star Baker spoon!

Registration slip from now – Please post your permission slips into the schools new red post box located on the wall just above where the after school folder is kept.

Last Date -By Wednesday 1stDecember please.

Cake entries on Friday 3rdDecember - During school hours please to the school office.

By Friday 3rd December please

Winter Wonderland art gallery

Please see the attached poster and entry form. Children and adults are invited to design their piece of artwork for displaying in our very own art gallery. All entrants will be in with a chance of winning a rosette in our first ever Advent art competition.

Art gallery entries – from now please to the school office as we’d hate for the entries to get scrunched up in the school mailbox!

Last Date -By the end of school on Friday 3rd December please.

St Richard’s Children have got Talent!

Please see the attached poster and registration slip for entry into the first St Richard’s Children have got Talent event. The children cans showcase any talents that they like be it singing, dancing, playing an instrument etc. Please can we ask that you chat to your child/ren and see if they would like to showcase their talent. They can enter in a pair or groups with their friends. It is not a competition, it is simply a way of celebrating the talents of our wonderful St Richard’s children.

Registration slip from now please – Please post your permission slips in to the schools new red post box located on the wall just above where the after school folder is kept.

Last Date -By Wednesday 1stDecember please.

This year we won’t be sending home books of raffle tickets for the highly anticipated coloured hamper raffle drawer. Instead they will be going onto our website for purchasing, the Friends will also be on the playground on select days so that you can buy them with cash in person or fill out the enclosed form and place your cash in the envelope marked Raffle and we will enter you into the drawer – (Please keep an eye out for your ticket numbers via email.) Tickets can be purchased up until the morning of the fayre until 1pm when we will be closing the raffle ready for the drawer. As in previous years the Coloured raffle tickets are priced at £5 per ticket.

Finally, we will need lots of helpers on the day!

The Friends have left a sign-up sheet in the office so please do sign up for any time that you can spare – help is required on the Friday evening, the Saturday morning and of course to run the stalls in the afternoon. We would be grateful for any offers of help – no matter how short or long! We would also love help from secondary age children that have moved on from St Richard’s to help out on our games stalls on the day of the Fayre. Please sign up your older children on the sheet or email friends@strichardsprimaryfrineds.org if they are willing to join in the fun!!

The night before the fayre – Male sure the whole family get a good night’s sleep so that you are all ready for the festive fun that awaits you at the school!

On the day - As with previous years, we all know a quick visit to the bank in the week leading up to the fayre to change our notes into change, is a good idea! We will have lots and lots of stalls that cost 50p - £1 to play, donation buckets for change so please come armed with your bags of change!! We will have card readers available on the day and these will be located at the refreshment stall for your use.

Come hungry and enjoy lunch with your family and friends and lastly let’s make this day a Fayre to remember. After the past few years, we would all love for everyone to come along, enjoy the day and create some fabulous festive memories!

The Christmas Fayre is one of the highlights of the school year and we are so grateful for all your donations of time, prizes, second hand toys etc. It promises to be a magical day for the children …. And their families!

If you have any questions at all, please speak to any of the committee members, email Jenny on chair@strichardsprimaryfrineds.org or email the Friends on friends@strichardsprimaryfrineds.org

With best wishes,

The Friends