Social Coordinators Handbook

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Bryce Adams
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1 Social Coordinators Handbook

2 1. Friends of Sevenoaks Introduction Contents 2. Friends of Sevenoaks Structure and Organisation 3. Social Coordinators 3.1 How Many? 3.2 Tenure 3.3 Role 4. Communication 4.1 Classlist 4.2 Parent s 4.3 Contact with SCOs 4.4 ing Parents Direct Data Protection 5. School Issues 6. Event Planning 6.1 Types of Events 6.2 Timing/Regularity of Events 6.3 Event Planner Form 7. Venues 7.1 School 7.2 Venues Outside of School 8. Notice of Events 8.1 Event Dates 8.2 Parent s 8.3 Traffic 8.4 Additional Marketing 8.5 Online Booking System 8.6 isams Calendar 8.7 Social Media 8.8 FoS Branding 9. RSVPs 10. Funding/Payment 10.1 Tickets for Events 10.2 Payment of Venue Deposits 10.3 Final Payments 10.4 Cancellation Policies/Refunds 10.5 No-Shows and Turn-Ups 10.6 Payment of Invoices and Charge to School Bills 10.7 School Catering 10.8 School Expenses 11. Post-Event Reports Conclusion Useful Addresses

3 1. Friends of Sevenoaks - Introduction The members of the Friends of Sevenoaks (FoS) include all current parents and Sevenoaks School staff, as well as any former parents and former staff who opt in on leaving the school or at a later date. The primary focus of the organisation is to enable members to meet other families in their year group and across the school s community, and to provide interesting and entertaining events for them to attend. To this end, FoS now has social coordinators (SCOs) for each academic year. The Friends of Sevenoaks is a charity, and our registered charity number, which should be included at the bottom of all formal communications, is as follows: Registered charity ( ). 2. FoS Structure and Organisation FoS is headed by a committee, currently consisting of: (i) Emma Kutchera and Clare Scott Joint Chair (ii) Sue Newman - Treasurer (iii) Sebastien Coquelin Sevenoaks School Staff Representative The Management Committee oversees the various activities of FoS and handles its administration. An Events and Donations Sub-Committee together with several other sub-groups, including the SCOs, support the Management Committee. FoS s structure can be loosely grouped as follows: The FoS Committee Social Coordinators Events and Donations Sub-Committee The Second Hand Shop Lost Property The Events and Donations Sub-Committee organises various annual FoS events including the New Parents Tea, the New Parents Supper, drinks for families new to Sevenoaks, the Christmas Carol Concert refreshments, the Careers Fair, entertainment evenings such as quiz nights and comedy nights plus the biennial School Ball. It holds parent coffee mornings for each year group at school each term. It also runs a dog walking group. Members are welcome to set up new groups depending on interest. The Second Hand Uniform Shop is staffed by a number of volunteers and feeds the funds it raises to FoS. FoS also runs Lost Property, an invaluable service both for parents and for students.

4 3. Social Coordinators SCOs are parent members of FoS who are willing to coordinate specific year group social activities for parents of existing pupils at Sevenoaks School. Each SCO has a child in the relevant year group that they represent. Some SCOs have several children at the school. The role of SCOs was introduced to develop a more cohesive structure for facilitating interaction between parents at parent-led social events. 3.1 How Many? There is a minimum of two SCOs per year group. There is no maximum number of appointees. Some year groups work well with a couple of SCOs and others enjoy having a larger number. 3.2 Tenure It is envisaged that SCOs should act for a minimum of two years. This will help ensure continuity and assist in developing an experienced knowledge base that can feed ideas back into FoS. SCOs are very welcome and encouraged to act for longer than two years. If at any time an SCO is unable to continue with their role they are, of course, able to step down. 3.3 Role SCOs are expected to: i. Introduce themselves to their year group at the beginning of each year through Classlist. ii. Organise social events see below. iii. Attend SCO/FoS meetings. If not all are able to attend, SCOs can decide between themselves who will attend. iv. Report back to Committee concerning the events they have run. v. Provide information/photos concerning events 6to assist in updating social media. In addition, SCOs often voluntarily involve themselves in the wider variety of activities undertaken by FoS, although, there is no official requirement to do so. SCOs may: i. Assist with the organisation of various school wide FoS social events (examples are listed in section 2). ii. Provide additional manpower at FoS school wide events, including setting-up and helping to decorate events. iii. Attend FoS meetings.

5 4. Communication SCOs key form of communication with parents is via /classlist and face to face contact. 4.1 Classlist Classlist s virtual school gate enables you to join a secure, private online community of other parents at your school. Perfect for parents who want to talk to each other, contact each other about parties, share the school run or sell off their unwanted bike and more. To sign up please go to Parent s The school office will send s to parents, on behalf of SCOs, concerning social events. This ensures that SCOs s are sent to the most up-to-date addresses on file for parents. These s should be sent to the school office via fos@sevenoaksschool.org 4.3 Contact with SCOs For ease of convenience, SCOs often choose to provide their own personal addresses for event RSVPs. It is also envisaged that SCOs will provide their addresses at the beginning of the year to the parents in their year group confirming that they can be contacted if they would like information concerning social matters. Any invitation should include at least one SCO address in case there are questions about the event ing Parents Direct - Data Protection If you lists of attendees at events directly, please protect parents personal details: Hide their addresses by entering your own address in the To box and all the parent addresses in the Bcc box. Avoid contacting other parents from an account or set-up you share with other family members. Delete all parents addresses from your computer when you have finished. The school can send s for the whole year group for whom you act as social coordinator on your behalf. Send your to fos@sevenoaksschool.org, and it will be sent out via the main school office. In general, we would expect an initial invitation and one follow up reminder, plus a confirmation only to those who have booked. 5. School Issues In the event that a parent requests school information or help in relation to a school matter from an SCO, the SCO should direct the parent to contact their child s tutor or Divisional Head. SCOs are not required to resolve school issues/matters.

6 6. Event Planning 6.1 Types of Events SCOs organise a wide variety of events including: - Informal coffee mornings - Lunches - Dinners - Drinks evenings - End of term/year parties - Miscellaneous events For example, in the past one SCO set up golf mornings at Hever Castle Golf Club. New ideas for events are always welcome. SCOs need to decide whether the parents of the whole year group will be invited to an event or whether they will limit the invites, for example, to a particular class. 6.2 Timing/Regularity of Events As a minimum, two events per school year should be arranged including, ideally, one event near to the beginning of the Michaelmas term and one in the Summer term. These might be linked to events involving the year group, e.g. their disco. If you would like to know the relevant dates for your year group, please contact fos@sevenoaksschool.org Some year groups are more active than others. For example, some year groups arrange one coffee morning plus one other social activity such as a dinner per term. You need to gauge how keen people are. Too many events in a less social year group may result in poor attendance. 6.3 Event Planner Form An Event Planner Form can be found on the Friends of Sevenoaks website page, an example of which is at the back of this leaflet, the completion of which is mandatory for all events.

7 7. Venues 7.1 School There are various locations inside school that can be booked for events: (i) The Recital Room, which can hold around 100 (ii) Both the Bar and Recital Room together, which can hold 200 The school is able to supply drinks and catering (i.e. canapes etc.) There are details at the back of the leaflet on how to book a location at the school and current (as at July 2018) prices for catering/drinks. Please note school venues and catering get booked up early, so please provide as much notice as possible, preferably at least a term. The Recital Room is an ideal venue for a parents function when your year group has a function for pupils on at school, for example, a disco. 7.2 Venues outside of School Venues that have been used to date for both small and large scale events are wide and varied. They include local restaurants, hotels and golf clubs. Some SCOs and/or parents are happy to hold events such as coffee mornings or larger scale end of term parties at their homes. There is no obligation to do so. Venues can always be found! 8. Notice of Events 8.1 Event dates Please notify fos@sevenoaksschool.org of any proposed SCO events taking place on the school campus. The School will confirm whether there are any significant event clashes for the proposed date. It can be included on the FoS web page and the school isams calendar. 8.2 Parent s As stated previously, the school will send group s to parents concerning social events. s should be submitted to fos@sevenoaksschool.org for circulation through ParentPost. SCOs should ensure that clear information is provided to parents concerning: - The event: location, date and time - How to RSVP and pay (if a charge is required for an event) - The cancellation deadline date and refund policy.

8 8.3 Traffic In order to ensure that traffic to parents is kept to a minimum, SCOs should aim to send a maximum of three s for each event: (i) The initial invitation to parents (sent via school office). (ii) One reminder to parents, prior to the booking deadline (sent via school office). (iii) A confirmation to those who have booked one week before the event (sent from SCO). Fewer s may be required when booking smaller events such as informal coffee mornings. 8.4 Additional Marketing SCOs may wish to take advantage of the school s Marketing Department for events. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact fos@sevenoaksschool.org. 8.5 Online Booking System The school online booking system can be used to advertise events and to provide a platform for collating RSVPs and collecting payments, just fos@sevenoaksschool.org with your request. SCOs are encouraged to use it where appropriate. 8.6 isams Calendar Approved SCO events will be included in the isams calendar that can be accessed by the school and parents. 8.7 Social Media SCOs are encouraged to assist in updating the school s social media sites concerning SCO events. Advance information about upcoming SCO events should be ed to fos@sevenoaksschool.org so that the necessary information can be posted Facebook. Do also send us photos and write-ups of your events which we will also post. 8.8 FoS Branding The school has FoS branded word documents, headed notepaper and invitations, if SCOs wish to use them. Please contact fos@sevenoaksschool.org for electronic or hard copy versions.

9 9. RSVPs For some events, SCOs choose for RSVPs to be sent to them direct at their personal address, alternatively RSVPs can be made through the school online booking form for some events. Regardless, the SCOs personal should always be included in the initial to parents containing the event information in case there are queries. If RSVPs are captured via the school s online booking form, the SCO must request a list of attendees from fos@sevenoaksschool.org at the time of the booking deadline. The SCO finalises the attendee list, confirms the booking and numbers with the venue, and sends a confirmation to attendees before the event. 10. Funding/Payment FoS does not subsidise any year group events. Budgeting for events should include a small profit to ensure that you do not make a loss. Any excess funds made will be donated to projects which support the school and advance the education of the pupils Tickets for Events Payment by parents for participation in SCO led events can be made: (i) Directly at the Event Some venues, for example, in relation to restaurant suppers, provide payment on the night systems, whereby the payment in advance is avoided. However if the venue requires a deposit, or if there is going to be a cover charge for anyone who doesn t turn up, then either part or full payment should be arranged through the school bill. Part payment should normally be non-refundable and this should be clearly stated in the invitation , as well as saying that the remainder will be payable on the night. (ii) Via School Bills Parents can opt to have a charge (or part-charge) put on their school bill for participation in FoS events, as long as there is a known cost that can be identified at the time the event is advertised that parents are agreeing to pay. Any charges or part charges for the School bill must be at least Payment of Venue Deposits SCOs are not expected to fund deposits in order to organise events/secure venues. However, most venues require a deposit unless you are dealing with quite small numbers. It is suggested that SCOs ask the venue to send you an invoice (addressed to FoS, c/o the Accounts Office at Sevenoaks School, rather than to you personally), which you should authorise for payment by ing the details to accounts@sevenoaksschool.org, please copy the Treasurer, Sue Newman, (sjlnewman@icloud.com) and fos@sevenoaksschool.org in on this . If payment by credit card is required, the payment request details to admin@sevenoaksschool.org for payment using the school credit card, similarly the Treasurer needs to be aware of all credit card payments. Whichever payment method is used, the cost will be recharged by the school to the FoS.

10 Please ensure that you have sufficient numbers for the venue before requesting deposit payment, in order to minimise the risk of deposits being lost in the case of an event being cancelled Final Payments If a venue requires a final payment that is not going to be covered by cash collection on the night, please arrange for an invoice to be addressed to The Friends of Sevenoaks, Sevenoaks School to be sent to the school s accounts office for payment. Please ensure that a copy of the invoice is also ed to the Treasurer (sjlnewman@icloud.com) and fos@sevenoaksschool.org Cancellation Policies/Refunds All invitation s should clearly state the cancellation deadline for participation in events and the refund policy. Parents should be made aware that they will forfeit deposits/full payments if they do not comply with cancellation deadlines No-Shows and Turn-Ups The cancellation policy is that there will be no refunds to no-shows on the night. The SCO will determine how and when attendees who just turn-up on the night will be charged. SCO responses will be largely dictated by the type of event and payments involved Payment of Invoices and Charge to School Bills The SCO is responsible for providing the invoice and the final list of attendees to the Accounts Department, the Treasurer (sjlnewman@icloud.com) and fos@sevenoaksschool.org should be copied School Catering Any catering provided by Chartwells (the school contract caterers) will be invoiced by Chartwells directly to the FoS School Expenses Any expenses incurred by the school on behalf of the FoS will be recharged to the FoS via periodic invoices sent to the Treasurer. 11. Post Event Reports Please send photos and reviews of your event to fos@sevenoaksschool.org who will post them on the FoS Facebook page.

11 12. Conclusion Being an SCO can been very rewarding, it is a great opportunity to meet fellow parents from the school and learn more about the school that your child attends. In practice, the benefits of being an SCO outweigh the work involved. The role is to be recommended. This handbook is not intended to be all encompassing and prescriptive. Please do shape your own role and come forward with your ideas. There is a strong network of SCOs/FoS members who are always willing to help you. The school s Finance Manager, Karen Hooley, and Finance Bursar, Philip Watkins are also happy to give guidance or practical advice on managing payments, if needed. FoS gratefully receives all comments concerning this handbook and how it applies in practice, together with feedback following event experiences. 13. Useful Addresses Emma Kutchera: emma@kutchera.co.uk (FoS Joint Chair) Clare Scott: clarescott182@gmail.com (FoS Joint Chair) Sue Newman: sjlnewman@icloud.com (FoS Treasurer) Jana Farmer: fos@sevenoaksschool.org (FoS Staff Administrator)

12 Friends of Sevenoaks Functions in the Recital Room Social Coordinators Planning Sheet Booking To book the Recital Room you need to contact Adam Leigh, the Operations Manager for the Space. He can be reached as follows: (cc. Telephone The Recital Room does get booked up, so give him as much notice as possible, preferably at least a term! You will need to let him know how the room should be set up, and of course the date and the times you require the room. Catering Becky Pogson, our Catering Manager, can be contacted as follows: cateringmanager@sevenoaksschool.org Telephone Again, please book up the catering as soon as you can. Pricing This will depend on what you would like, for how many people, and how much you use on the night. A range of canapes and nibbles are available for different budgets, please contact Becky to discuss the options. If you need staffing, then that is an additional cost for which Becky can quote. Sample costings (as at September 2017) are below and can be subject to change throughout the year due to purchasing increases. Drinks & Canapes: Charges from: Wine per bottle 8.50 Prosecco per bottle Orange juice per litre 1.55 Cranberry Juice per litre 1.56 Elderflower per bottle 85p Canapés 3 per person 4.50 (basic range from 4.50)

13 EVENT PLANNER About the Event Name of event: Year Group(s) involved: Date: Time: Place: Minimum number required: Maximum number allowed: Details of meal: Cost: About the Organiser FoS name(s): FoS contact mobile number: FoS contact address: Communication Add to isams Calendar (Yes/No): How will the event be communicated (e.g. parent mail, posters, facebook): RSVP s (via or online booking form): If you wish to have your event displayed on the digital sign at Duke s Meadow, please contact Linda Kilgallon (lsk@sevenoaksschool.org) About the Booking How will payment be made? Deposit required (Yes/No): Date of initial invitation (remember to Bcc everyone, and add FoS Charity Number: Registered Charity ): Date of reminder Date by which you need to book: Date of confirmation (a week ahead of the event) from Social Coordinator (NB: Always send as Bcc): Cancellation deadline and refund policy: Online Booking Form: Jana Farmer (fos@sevenoaksschool.org) will arrange for you to set this up. Charging: At confirmation please send to the Treasurer, Sue Newman (sjlnewman@icloud.com) including a list of attendees. Include all costs expecting to be paid/reclaimed, before payment is made.

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