Dear Parents / Guardians,
Following this Monday’s meeting of the RMSA committee I felt I should write to all parents to share both what the RMSA is and the wonderful work that it does on behalf of both the school and your children.
The RMSA is the Rochester Mathematical School Association, it is in effect our parent / teacher association. It is a registered charity with the charitable objects of supporting the school through the provision of funds that can be put towards items that go beyond the normal school curriculum. Just this academic year the RMSA have supported the school with more than £7,500 worth of purchases, including sporting kits, diving blocks for the swimming pool, Colorimeters for Biology, Magazine subscriptions, Cricket Balls and Sensory equipment for the SEN department. Given the current funding situation in education this money is crucial to ensuring we continue to provide the kind of education and activities that our students have come to expect.
However, beyond fundraising the RMSA supports the life of the school in a wide range of important ways. We are almost unique as a secondary school in that we have a properly organised lost property system which is run by the RMSA volunteers for the benefit of students and parents alike. They give up their time, for free, to try and reunite your children with their lost items. This is something I am sure you can appreciate is a mammoth task (please name all your child’s belongings). They also serve refreshments at major school events, again something that they do for free, as volunteers, from their own time.
Finally the RMSA is crucial in providing a number of community events which make the Math such a unique place. They put a huge amount of time and effort into Foundation Day providing a range of stalls and activities. They put on a number of events throughout the year, such as the upcoming quiz night and the Christmas Fair. These events are not just fundraisers, but events which support the community of the school.
I am sharing this information with you because many of these associations have long since disappeared. We are unusual in that we have an active and effective parents / teachers association. We would like to keep it that way. There are a number of ways that, as parents, you could support us to do so and so, in turn, support your children. Some do take up a little time, but others are incredibly easy:
- Attend RMSA events – buy a table for the quiz night, come to the Christmas Fair, attend Foundation Day afternoon.
- Respond to requests for raffle prizes and the like when they are sent out by the School Office on behalf of the RMSA. In particular, ask your places of work if they can help.
- Sign up to Your School Lottery through this link. If 1 £1 ticket was sold for each child in the school, each week, this would raise £30,000 a year.
- Join the RMSA committee that meets once per half term and organises the events run by the RMSA
- Volunteer for the RMSA and support with lost property or supporting school events – they can be contacted through rmsa@sjwms.org.uk and would be delighted to hear from you.
We are extremely grateful for the continued support of the RMSA and its members. Please help us to support them in providing both finances and community events that support the school and its pupils. The school would be a much lesser place without them which is a genuine risk without our collective support.
Yours sincerely,
E. Hodges | Principal
