SLSA Parents' Association

The St Laurence School Association (SLSA) was set up to work alongside the school to help with fundraising and creating a community. The fundraising projects work alongside school departments to be able to purchase or secure equipment and assist with activities that otherwise may not be possible. The SLSA also helps us, as parents, to get to know one another, something that becomes more difficult as we become parents of secondary school students.

​

The focus of the committee is to support well-being (mental, physical and financial) across the school community.

​

What have we done to date?

Our biggest success was the pop-up shop in October 2023, which we opened in Silver Street. Open over a period of 2 weeks, and with the help of 6 volunteers, the shop not only managed to raise over £1500 by selling great quality, second hand items ranging from £1 to £4, but also gave parents the opportunity to swap uniform for bigger sizes – at no cost. The initiative not only raised money but helped hundreds of families and we hope to open the shop again this year.

This was repeated in 2024 when another shop space became available in Bradford on Avon. We ran the second-hand clothes sale for a week in the Mirror shop, again encouraging parents to donate, buy and simply come in and size up. During 2024 the committee also ran smaller uniform sales at school.

​

Parents helped to run the bar for the school performances of Bugsy Malone and Charlie and the Chocolate factory, both taking place in Trinity Hall.

​

We also ran a large ladies clothing sale with designer donations and beautiful preloved items that were sold at bargain prices but yielding a healthy profit!

​

The Christmas Tree sale was hosted over 2 separate years. Standing in freezing conditions parents sold 5’, 6’ or 7’ high quality, no drop trees. The last sale raised close to £2000.

​

With new parents on board, we hosted a sell-out Quiz night in October 2025. The quiz saw over 100 tickets being sold. We were incredibly lucky to have had wonderful support from local businesses and many guests left with fabulous raffle prizes.

​

Funds raised since 2023 have contributed towards Counselling, Wellbeing Week, the I CAN I AM bus, guest speakers and several resources for activities.

​

What’s Next?

In February 2026, we have guest motivational speaker Gavin Bate taking the stage in Trinity Hall for an inspiring talk about his experiences of scaling Mount Everest 6 times and we are planning lots more events so look out for details in the Parent/Carer Bulletins and on social media.

​

We would love to hear from you - whether you have new ideas or are able to help for one event or on a regular basis. Please get in touch using the contact details below.

​

Thank you everyone on behalf of the SLSA!