What is the Parents' Council?

The Parents' Council at Runnymede College aims to promote effective communication between the parents and the school management in order to try to provide all students with the best possible academic, physical and social education. It also tries to enhance the School's programme by organising events for students and parents.

The organisational structure of the Parents' Council consists of an Executive Committee, a Social Committee and a body of class representatives, comprising one or two parents from each class. Meetings are held twice a term with class reps, to give them a chance to bring to the notice of the Executive Committee concerns and issues which arise from their meetings with other parents. These points are discussed at the Parent Council meetings and are then carried by the Executive Committee to the Senior Management of the school. This is a panel formed by the Head of the Junior School (Mr. Say), the Head of the Senior School (Mr. Murphy) and the Headmaster (Mr. Powell). The Social Committee is in charge of organising social events and fund-raisers.

2010-2011

The new school year kicked off with annual Welcome BBQ held on Saturday, September 11th. See the photographs.

A toy collection took place in collaboration with the British Ladies Association, proceeds from which will be donated to various local charities. Thanks to the generosity of the parents, an impressive array of beautiful toys were collected.

A meeting was held on Friday, 22nd October, to select a charity for Runnymede to support this year. Parents, teachers and students voted for five charities, out of which the Pablo Horstmann Foundation was chosen.

The Pablo Horstmann Foundation was founded in memory of Pablo Horstmann Sendagorta with the aim of comforting, transmitting hope and happiness, improving the quality of life and providing assistance to the needy, especially children.

The main project of the Foundation is the Pediatric Hospital Pablo Horstmann in Lamu, Kenya, which opened in April 2008 and has since been providing free sanitary assistance to the entire child population of the district. Most of the resources of the Foundation are devoted to the Hospital which is locally supervised and run by their partners in Kenya, Anidan K (www.anidan.org).

The objectives of this project are:

• To provide free quality sanitary assistance to the child population of Lamu, approximately 35,000 children.
• To reduce the death rate of children (currently 11% for children under five)
• Vaccination and prevention campaigns (malaria, blindness, intestinal parasites, malnutrition)
• Basic sanitary education
• To provide the hospital with the resources and equipment to offer all services (surgery, ultrasound, tropical lab techniques, etc.) as it is the only hospital of reference in the district.
• Local staff training thanks to cooperation with Spanish specialists, and a continuous education plan.

Activity:

• Currently, around one hundred children are being attended daily. Our estimates are that in the Year 2010, more than 20,000 patients will be attended in the Hospital.
• Extrahospital activity carried out by our sanitary personnel in the villages of the district (screening of child pathology, vaccinations, renutrition, sanitary education, prevention, etc.) will benefit another 6000 children.
• In addition, specific campaigns (surgical, ophthalmological, dental) take place periodically.

Year 10 Bake Sale

The fund-raising for the year kicked off with a Year 10 Bake Sale which raised €767.82 for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation. The goodies were enjoyed by all present and the sale was beautifully orchestrated by Leanne Vazquez and Gonzalo Nieto, the Student Council Class reps for Year 10. Good show!

Christmas Fair

The Christmas Fair was a huge success on all counts: we had a very good turnout, the weather was wonderful (somebody rightfully said that we have better weather at a Christmas Fair than at our notorious "Summer" Fairs!), everybody was in high spirits, the choir was cheerful, the dancers dynamic and the Santa was very authentic!

Needless to say (but I nevertheless need to say) none of this would have been possible without all the help we received from parents and students. Ann Diaz, our Events' Manager, proved her true worth with the flawless organization of this mega event and I am deeply grateful to her for her hard work. She was the whole and soul of the event. Mari Carmen Fernández, Mercedes Rossell and Alicia Baker were indispensable. Arritxu Perez Nievas, Alexandra Moreira Rato, Lucía Lanzón, Mónica Gómez Sequeira, Sarah Walker, Raji Manghnani and Pepa Sardinero were pillars of strength before, during and after the event! Winnie Matos, Nicky Smart, Masé Bofill, Maria Chiara Ferrari, Karina Manghnani, Soledad Almendro, Manuela Puig and Marta Leon were all very helpful too.

Gloria Honrado froze at the entrance handling the cash for 3 hours and did the accounts for us. Jacqueline Thompson did the programme for the Fair.

Special thanks to Peter Talbot, aka Santa Claus, for his wonderful performance!

We are eternally grateful (as ever) to James Preston for his wonderful job handling the raffle draw.

The Students' Council organized and ran all the games down at the gym, which made the event memorable for the children.

The event was beautified by the lovely balloon decor courtesy of Fiesta Fácil; the drinks were sponsored by Pepsi; Goodyear, Proctor & Gamble, Pepe Jeans, Hoss and many parents were all extremely generous with their gifts.

Mr. and Mrs. Powell were very helpful in all aspects and we are thankful for their support.

Dr. Allen was our trouble-shooter, Mrs. Foy and her dance troupe were spectacular and Mrs. Balashova and her choir were superb and Mrs. Price's Art Corner was a perennial favourite!

The ubiquitous Mrs. Quinn was, quite simply, essential in every way, as is her wont.

Year 9 Hot Chocolate Sale

Steaming hot chocolate proved very popular during the last week of the Christmas term, as sub-zero temperatures helped the Year 9s to sell litres of it! At €1 a cup, complete with marshmallow and cookie, it was a treat and raised a total of €170. Well done to all the Year 9s, especially the 2 class reps, namely Alisha Sukhwani and Marcos Vega-Hazas Martí. Special thanks to Mr. Kelly for his supervision, Mr. Fryer, Mrs. Tribe, Mrs. Lyons and Dr. Allen.

Nursery and Reception Sing-along

The Nursery and Foundation teachers put up a beautiful show for parents in the amphitheatre, making the little ones sing and dance to Christmas Carols. The bright sunshine, the mulled wine and mince pies and most of all, the cherubic expressions on the children's faces, made it a very enjoyable occasion for all. The children then sold some artistic, hand-crafted (by them) Christmas ornaments to their doting parents, who were very generous and appreciative indeed! €575.50 was raised for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation.

Year 1 tealight decoration

The Year 1s designed wooden candle holders. They painted them, coloured them and covered them in glitter. It was thoroughly enjoyable for all the children and they raised €242 for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation. Many thanks to the Year 1 teachers and parents.

Year 3 Sponsored Quiz

Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. Robinson drew up questions in 8 categories for children to learn the answers to. The parents were to sponsor them for questions they answered correctly or a flat rate for participating. The children mostly learned 60 answers, with the result that the proud (and shocked!) parents forked out a staggering €4,034! The children thoroughly enjoyed the exercise and were rewarded with juice and biscuits from the Parents' Council after all their hard work!

PC Quiz and Curry Night

Runnymede staff proved their intellectual might on Friday night, putting parents to shame with their victory at the Quiz and Curry Night. The "Educators", as the winners dubbed themselves, taught parents a thing or two about the importance of being earnest! All we mere mortals could do to take the edge off our humiliation was partake of the blissfully free-flowing wine and beer and enjoy the curries. Nigel Bennet was superlative in conducting the Quiz, although the questions, made in conjunction with Alicia Baker, were fiendishly difficult! Many thanks to Ann Diaz, Mercedes Rossell and Mari Carmen Fernández for their curries and to all parents for coming and exposing themselves to shame at the hands of Luis de Avendaño and Co. €277 were collected in tips for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation.

Year 12 Valentine's flower sale

The Year 12s warded off the bitter cold on Valentine's Day by spreading the warmth of love in the shape of flowers... 300 flowers to be precise! The whole Senior School was buzzing with excitement as the flowers worked their magic on the recipients. Over €300 were raised for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation - flower power! Many thanks to Dr. Allen for his support with this initiative, which was run beautifully by the Students' Council.

Half-Term Skiing Course

The PC Skiing trip to Valdesqui over half-term was very successful. Sixty children, as well as some mothers, signed up for it. The first two days the weather was foul, but not enough to dampen the participants' spirits, who honed their skiing skills in preparation for the sunny weather.When the sun did come out on Wednesday, the weather remained spectacular for the rest of the week. The Ski1 team organized fun and games on the last day, as well as refreshments, music, making the giving of the diplomas a bright and cheery event. They also gave each participant a photo collage of the week on CDs. In all, it was an excellent alternative to staying home and all the participants have requested the PC to organize this event again next year!

Year 7 Bake Sale

Year 7 organized a Bake Sale on Friday, 18th March. They raised an astounding €998.30, proving their excellent salesmanship! The parents of Year 7 and other parents of Runnymede, including the Junior School, generously donated mouth-watering cakes and cookies in all shapes and sizes. The warm Spring sunshine and the thumping Shakira music played lightened the atmosphere, making for a perfect end to the week.

Year 8 Mug Sale

Arritxu Perez Nievas and Year 8 hatched the ingenious idea of painting mugs, which they then sold to raise funds for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation.
Their burst of creative energy spawned enough mugs to raise over €800 in selling them! The buyers fought over their favourite mugs and much satisfaction was gleaned from the enthusiasm with which the initiative was received by parents and teachers alike. The co-operation, drive and support of Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Almaraz was indispensable. The Year 8 mothers also helped - Sophie Navon, Paz Ortiz, Michele Mallet, Paloma Richi and Isabel Ratliff were wonderful!

Ms. Foy's Dance group at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital

Ms. Foy's dance class - "Shake, Rattle and Roll" - (Years 3 and 4) performed at the Gregorio Marañón hospital yesterday, 6th April, to provide entertainment for the poorly children at the hospital.
They brought the entire children's ward alive with their energy, enthusiasm and gyrating moves!
Some of the patients forgot where they were for a few moments and despite themselves, clapped and smiled - the dancers' smiles were contagious!
Ms. Foy, Ms. Kenny, Lauren Watson and Mr. Say managed to rein in the girls' enthusiasm and channel their energy in the right direction. It was an evening where every mother and teacher present felt truly proud of the exemplary behaviour of our Runnymede students! Many thanks especially to Ms. Foy for her efforts in putting the show together.

Year 11 Silly Games

The hard work put in by all during the term was rewarded by an afternoon off on the last day, where the Y11's, guided and cajoled by  the inexhaustible Dr. Allen, set up "silly" games for all to enjoy, including throwing sponges at classmates and limbo. The icing on the cake was the now legendary Tug of War that took place between staff and students, where staff proved their might, beating students for the third year in a row! It was a very hot afternoon, so the cool drinks generously donated by Pepsi were a welcome treat for all! All proceeds went to the Pablo Horstmann Foundation.

Paper Cranes for Japan

We have all been horrified by the tragedy that has struck Japan with the Tsunami. We felt that a calamity of this proportion shouId find some response among our students, if only to raise their awareness of such natural disasters and the havoc they cause.
In keeping with a dignified Japanese abhorrence of asking for money (and also, because we don't want to tax parents' wallets any further), we thought that our response should be symbolic rather than monetary. We did a short workshop with the children of Years 5 and 6 making origami cranes. Why cranes? Cranes are sacred creatures in Japanese culture. According to ancient legend, anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish, like long life or recovery from illness, by a crane. The workshop, conducted by 9 mothers (who spent arduous hours before mastering the art of making paper cranes using YouTube tutorial videos!), was instructive, didactic and entertaining for the children and helped create a strong sense of solidarity for the suffering of the stoic Japanese people. A total of 261 paper cranes were made by the students, which were then mailed to Students Rebuild, where they would generate funds to rebuild Japan ($2 per crane, details at http://studentsrebuild.org/japan/).

Year 5 Sponsored Read

The teachers in Year 5 came up with an ingenious fund-raiser. They asked children to read over the Easter break and to ask for sponsorship for their hours of reading... the end result was that funds were raised for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation, as well as awareness for the need of others and last (but by no means the least), the children spent a considerable amount of time reading instead of playing video games!
Many thanks to Mrs. Isaac and Mrs. Barr for their efforts!

Junior School Sponsored Run

The scene was set against the background of a flawless day - under a blue sky with the odd timid cloud, parents waited eagerly to see their children run for the lives of the inhabitants of Lamu, Kenya. With clockwork precision, each class was marched out at the appointed time. The children ran gleefully, accompanied by the volunteers of the Pablo Horstmann Foundation as well as some sporting and sporty parents. One year was dismissed and the next appeared with a precision that put Swiss horologists to shame. The runs took place seamlessly under the expert guidance of Mr. Say, Mr. Hunter and the form teachers and before we knew it, it was all over. The children enjoyed the juices kindly donated by Pepsi, danced to Waka Waka and raised €6,037.19! 

Senior School Sponsored Run

It looked like a war was raging at the Alcobendas Polideportivo before the Sponsored Run began. Fearful painted faces greeted us, the remnants of the Sports Day which had just taken place before the Run. It is to the students' credit that after the considerable exertions of the Sports Day itself, they battered not an eyelid but stoically got into position for the Sponsored Run. Many of the students and teachers ran for 40 minutes solid and a maximum of 24 laps were completed by a few (much to the despair of their unsuspecting sponsors!). The end result €5,673.71 was raised by the Senior School!

Dance-a-thon

Ms. Quirke and Mrs. McCreadie organized a lovely event in Year 4 to raise funds for Pablo Horstmann, a dance-a-thon!
The children were sponsored to give up one break-time and spent a solid 25 minutes dancing non-stop! They were, of course, encouraged no end by the enthusiastic participation of their teachers!
Such was the bubbling excitement in the air that even Mrs. McCreadie couldn't resist making a few moves!
This beautiful event showed the children that solidarity can also be a whole lot of fun!

Summer Fair

This year's Summer Fair was dubbed the "all-new Summer Fair" and it certainly did live up to its name! The jumping castle, the new gazebos purchased jointly by the PC and School, the international food stalls, the endearing petting zoo sporting even a little piglet, the professional entertainers with motorized skateboards, archery, paintball and balloon shaping workshops all made for a completely different feel to this ever-popular event. The Raffle draw was the highlight of the day, with amazing prizes like 2 iPads, tennis rackets, 3 TVs, an iPod and a long etcetera all kept the tension up until the very end. Many thanks to all parents for contributing gifts, food and for participating on the day, making it a memorable event for all.

Year6 Charity Morning

Year 6 set up an exciting range of games for the entertainment of the Junior School. All Junior students were allowed to take part in the games after making a token contribution for the Pablo Horstmann Foundation. A great stir of activity was generated and the Year 6 initiative raked in €705 for our NGO. Mr Collin, Ms Dolby and Mr Hunter supervised and orchestrated the whole event.

2009-2010

We kicked the year off with a Welcoming Party, hosted jointly by the Headmaster & Mrs. Powell and the Parents' Council. The main objective of this gathering is for new parents to meet existing ones to start feeling a part and parcel of Runnymede. It is also an ideal opportunity for old friends to come along and meet and greet each other after the summer. It was a very mild evening in late September and with the wine flowing, the burgers sizzling and the conversation bubbling, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The little ones were kept very busy on the school lawn with the team of four entertainers that were hired from "Fábrica de Travesuras", which gave the parents a welcome respite!

In October the main business of the PC was to choose a new committee, new class reps and thereafter a new charity to support this year. A list of four charities were presented by the class reps and Fundación Balia was chosen. This organization gives needy children whose parents are both working a place to come to after school, instead of going to an empty home. The children are given a snack and support with their homework, as well as being taken to a park to play. A few Runnymede students volunteered at one of the centres in Madrid over the summer and found the experience very positive. For more details, please click on the link provided.

Year 8 & PC Bake Sale

Our first fund-raiser of the year, the Bake Sale, was a huge success. We raised €1,015, thanks to the generosity of the Year 8 parents and students, who contributed a mind-boggling and mouth-watering array of cakes and pastries of all shapes, colours and sizes! Other parents also chipped in with cakes and cookies, which enabled us to sell cakes from 10:15 a.m. all the way through the end of the lunch break at 2:40 p.m. We are very grateful to all parents and students who contributed to this event's success. Special thanks go to Alexandra Moreira-Rato, Mercedes Rossell, Paz Ortiz and Sarah Stordy for their time and effort.

Food collection for the needy in Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes

Arritxu Pérez Nievas brought to our attention a scheme run by a well-established Spanish charity to encourage children at the schools around Alcobendas to contribute a kilo of food each to help the needy families around the neighbourhood who are living hand-to-mouth. The idea is to raise our students' social awareness of the troubled times we live in and to making helping the destitute a habit rather than an isolated action. Different categories of food were allotted to each class, ranging from milk to canned vegetables. It was very touching to see the children coming into school on the day clutching their bag of food to hand over. In all, 1,050 units of food/beverage were collected. Some brave mothers then loaded their SUVs with the stash and drove it to the parish for future distribution. Five bursting carloads of food were delivered. We are very grateful to all parents for participating in this initiative and in particular to the following mothers who gave their time: Alicia Baker, Arritxu Pérez Nievas, Mónica Gómez Sequeira, Puja Mahtani, Sonsoles del Yerro and Vicky González.

Christmas Fair

The Christmas Party, held on Saturday the 12th of December infused the school with a contagious Christmas spirit... The angelic faces of the children singing carols, the aroma of mulled wine and mince pies, the cheerful decorations, the student volunteers sporting Santa hats with flashing lights all contributed to vividly bring home the fact that Christmas is upon us! The stalls selling books, candles, assorted gifts, make-up, along with the numerous games for children bearing Christmas themes like "Santa's Magic Sack", a very authentic and cheerful Father Christmas circulating with a bag of goodies for the children, the raffle and tombola brought together entire families for a rollicking good time. The highlight of the event was definitely Ms. Foy and Ms. Hill's dancers doing a tribute to Michael Jackson on stage. All in all, the event raised €2,933, 50% of which will go to Fundación Balia.

Special thanks to Dr. Allen who tirelessly worked to bring the Student Council into the fold to take an active part in the organization of the event. Very special thanks to Gonzalo Ramos, the President of the Students' Council, who whipped up the support of 40 volunteers from the Senior School to run all the games and entertainment for the children.

Bake Sale For Haiti

The terrible catastrophe that struck Haiti soon after the year started quickly dispelled any remaining holiday sloth and the students, much affected by the heart-wrenching images that flashed across the media constantly, sprung into action. Sarah and Alejandra Eisen impulsed the Bake Sale that turned out to be the mother of all Bake Sales! The cakes poured in and the cash just flowed in too! The total raised was over €4,300! The PC mothers chipped in by cutting the cakes and keeping order while the sale took place, under the watchful eye of Gonzalo Ramos and the Students' Council, all basted by the bottomless energy that Dr. Allen exuded.

The proceeds have been sent to Shelterbox, a UK based NGO that provides immediate, life-saving aid in emergency situations around the world. Please do visit their website: www.shelterbox.org for more details.

Quiz and Curry Night

The Quiz and Curry night was held Friday, 5^thFebruary at School. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable evening (except when the tension rose towards the end of the night as the winners were announced and the scores were so close that egos were deflated!). The winners (who, it must be said, were only ahead by half a point!), were José Peña, Winnie Matos, Claire and Mark Jones, Fiona and Russell Thomson and Jenny Discoll.

The curries were hearty, the wine was heart-warming and the guests expressed their satisfaction with the overwhelmingly generous tips that they left. In all, €448 were collected in tips, which will all go to Fundación Balia.

Other Charity events

The entire school has made an effort to join the "campaign of solidarity" for Fundación Balia, led by their altruistic form teachers. Love was in the air on Valentine's day when Year 12 sold flowers and chocolates to the entire school, raising over €400. Year 2 organized a Bring and Buy Book sale, (see photo) where books were swapped for a token amount and children behaved like they were in a real bookshop; Years 7 and 8 helped ward off the cold with the sale of hot chocolate; Alejandra Setien organized an Art competition (see photo) which required an entry fee; Year 11 have organized a football tournament; the Year 10 "Silly games afternoon", (see photos) which also raised the not-so-silly amount of €413, involved mafficking by the entire Senior School, as they engaged in how-slow-can-you-go bicycle races, limbo and tug of war... The term has only just started and many other events are in the pipeline.

Sponsored Run

Accuweather put us through trials and tribulations when setting a date for the Sponsored Run - the now hated "cloudy- with- thunderstorms" icon prevailed for weeks, making us postpone the run from the original date of the 15^th of April to the 21^st, when, against all odds, San Lorenzo made a very welcome appearance! The Junior School run carried the very British "Mr. Say" stamp, as class after class trooped out to the cue of their form teachers with barely-contained excitement, but never breaking their formations. This military rigour was offset by the wild enthusiasm of the many parents that came to watch, cheer and run with the children. One of the dads participating is a New York Marathon runner, elevating our modest run to heights never before attained! The Senior Run had all the hustle and bustle and focused drive of a professional sporting event, with participants stretching and flexing muscles before taking the stage... the starting point, as always, sent a frisson of pure emotion through the onlookers, as all runners set off en masse with one common goal in mind, to raise money for Fundación Balia. It is evident that what makes the Sponsored Run so singular is that it is the one occasion when students, teachers and parents are all on the same side! Special thanks to Dr. Allen, Ms. Quirke and Mr. Say, who are really the driving force behind this marathon (never better said!) event, as well as to the PC class reps and other mothers, who tirelessly handed out water to the afflicted runners, and to the form teachers who dedicate precious time to the collection of funds after the run, which is the most grueling part of the whole affair! Our eternal gratitude to Alexandra Moreira-Rato for her magnificent photographs and very special thanks to the McDevitts and PEPSI, who so generously donated the water and soft drinks for the run!

Summer Fair

Most inappropriately entitled the "Summer Fair", when this year the event was neither "summery" nor "fair". We could not have chosen a worse day (weather-wise) for the Fair and between 1p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, 12th June, the eye of the storm was directly over c/ Salvia, 30! Despite the foul weather, however, the fair was surprisingly well-attended and a jovial time was had by all those who bravely challenged the forces of nature. We were all resilient and British about the weather, and went about business as usual, queueing up in the rain bearing umbrellas for the barbeque burgers, eating the wide variety of delicious cakes that were brought in, feasting on the spicy curry provided by the Indian community, savouring the Iberian fare at Mrs. Julia Powell's traditional Spanish stall and sipping the generous signature Gin-Tonics provided by BeamGlobal's Larios 12 stall. The Larios Mixologist Sergio saved the day by providing a non-stop flow of different concoctions with the only common factor being the excellent Larios 12 Gin. Pepsi very kindly donated all the soft drinks for the occasion and Gypsy Rose (Barbara Long) provided an air of mystery which enshrouded the fair in keeping with the weather. Mónica’s hands froze in the gazebo braiding hair and painting nails but the girls looked so beautiful afterwards! Stalls displaying jewelry, trinkets and clothes provided entertainment, overshadowed only by the mind-blowing performances of Mrs. Foy's troupe of Year 4 and 5 dancers. The Tombola, run by Mrs. Barr and Co. was a huge money spinner too and provided excitement, along with the raffle where an anonymous donor's extravagant contributions included 2 32" flat screen TVs, a Playstation and many more eye-widening gifts!

The Parents' Council would like to thank the following for their generous contributions:

• Mr. and Mrs. Powell for their overall contribution;
• Jonathan and Sarah Stordy for the Gin Larios Bar;
• Pepsi for the soft drinks;
• Alexandra Moreira-Rato for her fabulous photos; Catalina Marquez for her help setting up the Fair;
• The cake donors for the wonderful array of brownies, lemon tarts, muffins, cookies etc. that were present;
• The donors for the Tombola and raffle gifts;
• The Students' Council for the volunteers they provided;
• Mrs. Foy, Mrs. Barr, Mrs. Quirke and Barbara Long for their help;
• Mrs. Quinn and Marita for their help at the Bar;
• Mónica Gómez-Sequeira for the hamburgers and her Beauty Bar;
• Winnie Matos for her petting farm and lovely puppy;
• Pizzicheria and Maria Chiara Ferrari for the pizzas;
• Masé Bofill, Mercedes Rossell and Sarah Stordy for their help at the International food stall;
• Raji Ajoomal, Jyoti Sharoff, Pooja Daryanani and the Indian Community for their curries and smiles;

And all the parents for coming (against all odds) and making the Fair fun for all!
We raised a total of €4,200 thanks to all your contributions.

Runnymede Times

The school newspaper was revived thanks to the efforts of Alexandra Moreira-Rato, Alicia Baker and Mr. Farmborough, with Luis de Avendaño providing solid technical know-how. The newspaper has (as is fitting!) a news section, a Claim to Fame section and many interesting articles about events in School. Watch out for the next issue, coming out soon!

2008-2009

At the beginning of the year the traditional Welcome Barbecue was organised in order to welcome all parents new to the school, to give them a chance to meet existing parents and imbibe the school atmosphere and principles. Soon after, elections were held and a new committee was chosen. The main objectives of the new committee were to involve the Students' Council in the activities organised by the Parents' Council and to set up a framework whereby they could collaborate in social and charitable work.

Our first duty as the new Executive team was to print the Parents' Council phone directory, which is extremely useful for parents to keep in touch and organise play dates for their children. The directory is financed by the Parents' Council and the School and each family is entitled to one complimentary copy.

Christmas Bazaar

We kicked off the year with a Christmas bazaar cum party, which was a huge success in every aspect. As a fund-raiser, it made over €4,800 and it was extremely well attended, with over 300 parents' and children! The children had a blast at the games, which included a Nail bar (for the vain), a tattoo corner, a face-painting stall, football, basketball, bowling, lucky dip, pin the tail and nose on Rudolph and name the Teddy. Many thanks to our very generous donors, who gave us drinks, sweets, gifts, doughnuts, mince pies, sherry and cheese and a wonderful array of home baking. There was a Christmas Carol concert, which was organised by Ms. Balashova, our very talented Head of Music department, and a Santa, seated under the spectacular Christmas tree set up for the occasion.

Christmas Card Competition

We organised a Christmas Card competition for the entire school, the winners of which were: Alex (Nursery H), Beatriz (Year 2G), Sanaya (Year 5B), Anna (Year 7H) and Alejandra (Year 7H). The winning cards were printed as Christmas cards and the packs of 5 were then sold to raise funds for charity.

Lottery

It was also decided this year that in order to boost funds for charity, we would print tickets from the Lotería Nacional and sell these, using the school parents' social network. We sold over 2,500 tickets, raising €1 for each ticket sold. This was the main reason why the Christmas party was so successful in numbers.

Charity Support

Our next mission was to choose a Charity organisation for the school to support. We had to take into account various factors: the children should be the ones to decide which charity they wished to work for; the charity should be one which appealed to Junior as well as Senior school; it should be one where we could receive active support from the organisation to help us with the fund-raisers; it should be one that all members of the Parents' Council agree on. As you can imagine, the task set before us was by no means simple, as everybody has an organisation which is near to their hearts. We first gave the Class reps a chance to present their NGOs to the Parents' Council, which resulted in a list of 12 organisations. The class reps then proceeded to vote on these 12 in order to shortlist 4. These 4 were then presented to all Senior School students in the form of 5 minute audiovisual presentations, after which they were given voting slips to choose the charity for the school. By this procedure it came to be that Adelante África, which is an organisation where two of the founding members are actually students at Runnymede, is the charity that we will be supporting. You will find details of the organisation on the link on this website.

So far, we have already given this organisation over €2,000 to start work on the school that they are aiming to build. These funds came from 50% of the Christmas Party proceeds and funds from the Parents' Welcome Barbecue.

We are now involved with organising workshops for each class to heighten their awareness of the social responsibility we each have to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We are also endeavouring to provide a means for older students to give their time to helping the needy by teaching English and computer skills to those who don't have the privilege of studying at a school like Runnymede College.

Quiz and Curry Night

On a lighter note, we also organized the now traditional Runnymede Quiz and Curry Night, where teachers, parents of Runnymede students and other friends pit their wits to prove their intellectual might, heartened by a spicy curry and wine! Amanda Wheatley, Sue Smith and Alicia Baker provided such attentive service that night, tirelessly replenishing drinks and poppadums, that they managed to raise nearly €200 in tips (all of which went to Adelante África)!

Bake Sale

We organized a Bake Sale, concentrating on Year 6, to raise money for Adelante África. We were overwhelmed at the response to the plea for help that we sent out. Cakes and cookies of all shapes and sizes magically appeared at the School Office, driving poor Ms. Quinn and the other regular inhabitants of the Office to distraction with the wonderful aromas that permeated the air. The sale was on from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the result was a whopping €1,800 for Adelante África!

Charity Run

In April, under a brilliant blue sky, Runnymede students came together in a way that moved onlookers to tears. First the Junior School students ran laps around the football pitch to raise money for the children of Igayaza in Africa. They each had a photo of the child that they were sponsoring taped to their chests and enthusiastically covered the required number of laps to the beat of African music and shouts of encouragement from mothers and others. Three cheers for Wendy Mangeant, Mari Carmen Taylor and Jane Cadwallader, who actually ran with the children! At noon the Senior School students and teachers set off altogether and ran for the cause for forty minutes. The rest of the staff, as well as some mothers, stood by and cheered and whistled and supplied the runners with juices to ward off exhaustion and dehydration. Kinder eggs were given to all to further sweeten the rewards of selflessness! The entire event raised over €20,000 and contributed a feeling of camaraderie and bonhomie that still lingers today.

Charity Ball

May brought with it frenetic activity as the Social Committee raced against time to organize the social highlight of the year, the PC Charity Ball. It was held at Club de Tenis, La Moraleja on Saturday, 30th May. The theme was the Roaring Twenties and swing we all did, thanks to the efforts of Mónica Gómez Sequeira, the Ball co-ordinator! We had a very professional and effective Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer, James Preston, who managed to squeeze the attendees dry with his wit and haggling! Beaded necklaces and feathers were on sale for the guests to imbibe and personify the Twenties and our sponsor for the night, Global Beam with their star product Larios 12 years, ensured that spirits were kept high all night! The Year 12 and 13s who were involved with Adelante África brought a lump to the guests' throats with their audiovisual presentation of their NGO. All in all, it was a memorable event which raised over €10,000 for Adelante África, in no small measure thanks to the stunning gifts for auction contributed by our generous donors.

Summer Fair

June is never complete without the Summer Fair, which is the apex of the children's social calendar of the year. Despite the rain and chilly autumnal temperatures, the Fair was well attended and enjoyed by all. Alicia Baker, the Fair co-ordinator organized an exciting array of activities for the children: there was a corner for children to interact with domestic animals (goats and rabbits), many game stands (basketball, fishing and others), the ever popular Indian Food Stall, cakes and cookies, pizzas and the BBQ. The Bar was intoxicatingly attended by the engaging Ms. Quinn and an impressive €4,000 was raised, to be used towards the School.

Fund raising

In total, €40,700 was raised for the NGO Adelante África. The credit of this success goes mainly to the parents of the students of Runnymede for their overwhelming generosity in supporting our fund-raisers and to the teachers, whose invaluable support made this all possible. This money is already being put to use in Igayaza, Uganda, where the school, which will eventually accommodate 350 day students, is being built this summer. Please watch the video above to see images of the children of Igayaza and the construction of St. Joseph's School.

Purchases

Apart from these diverse social and fund raising activities, the Parents' Council has bought the following items for the use of our students:

1. 2 electrical guitars and amplifiers for the Music department
2. Theatrical lights and other props for the Drama department
3. 2 microscopes for the Biology department
4. A digital camcorder for the Geography department
5. A digital camera for Foundation stage
6. A projection screen for the School in general
7. Ample toys, games and storage units for the Junior School Golden time and playground

A race track for toy cars is being built in the playground this summer with Parents' Council funds. Two benches were also placed in the front lawn this year to commemorate the late Mr. Arthur Powell, Founder and Headmaster of Runnymede College.

As you can see, it has been a busy and productive year for the Parents' Council. The success this year is due to the active participation of the class representatives, who went about their labour of communication with ardour. We hope to count on the support of all our class reps next year, as well as new members to continue our work.

2007-2008

The Parents' Council started the year by developing a more complete version of the Student Directory which seemed to be received with great enthusiasm by everybody. We would like to show our appreciation to the School's ICT specialist, Mr. Luis de Avendaño whose support in all stages of conception, development and finalizing of the directory was totally invaluable. Also, we would like to thank the school's management for allowing us the school's resources to produce a better directory. Apologies for the mistakes of this first version that will be amended in the next edition!

We followed the tradition of organising social and fundraising events for the children and the school community. According to what was done in previous years, the proceeds were split between the Charity Fundación Theodora and the funds of the Parents' Council, in the proportion of 75 %/25% or 25%/75%, depending on the event. One thing was done differently this year; it was voted that the proceeds of the Summer Fair were 100% going into the Parents' Council funds. As usual, all the proceeds from the Bake Sales, the Junior School Sponsored Run and the Charity Ball were donated to Fundación Theodora. cases, e-mail address.

The money that is the result of all the events is then used to pay for the phone directory (where we have had with the last directory a lot of support from the school), some Christmas treats for the teachers and staff, and most importantly to help teachers to buy some extra material that will enhance the kids experience at Runnymede College.

This year was our second and last year supporting Fundación Theodora, finishing our two-year commitment. Fundación Theodora was extremely active in all our fundraising events, always sending us some of their clown representatives, providing the children with t-shirts, etc. It was a pleasure to organise fundraising activities for them.

It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm that was put by the children, school staff and parents to all the fundraising events. The results speak for themselves. It is very rewarding to see such impressive results! A very big thank you to everybody who made it possible.

The money that was kept by the Parents' Council will be used to help teachers get some extra material that will benefit children in both Junior and Senior School.

But not everything is about the money that was raised. We hope that children have enjoyed having again a Halloween party; that they felt the pride of baking cakes or running for a worthy cause; that they had fun selling raffle tickets and winning prizes; that both children and parents had a good time at the Summer Fair.

For the parents and school staff, we hope that the traditional Quiz and Curry night was challenging and sociable; that the Charity Ball was a fun evening (where some stunning masks where displayed, but most of all, a very big success in terms of charity support).