Dear Parents, Guardians and BHS Staff,

The Parent Teacher Association of BHS (PTA) is pleased to highlight a year of success! We had a full calendar of events, including the much-loved Halloween Fair, Primary & Secondary Popcorn Recess, the famous Primary Dance Party, two Secondary Dances, Bingo, and the Schoolwide Biennial Raffle! We also introduced a few Parent Education evenings alongside the Leadership Team.

The BHS PTA contributed $113,130 to BHS during the 2023/2024 school year, allocated as follows:

The BHS PTA raised $131,743 during the 2023/2024 school year ($69,753 during the 2022/2023 school year), as follows:

Other 2023/2024 Highlights and Contributions:

• On Tuesday, October 5th, 2023, the PTA thanked teachers and staff with Tuck Shop cookies to celebrate World Teachers' Day.
• We had unprecedented attendance at the Halloween Fair on October 13th, 2023, with over 850 people attending and the highest profit in history, $19,340. Due to the weather, we had to host the event in the gym, but that didn’t hold anyone back!
• In December, the PTA organized a potluck holiday lunch for the staff, and Secondary parents donated lunch items and treats. We also collected donations for raffle prizes and had a holiday raffle for the Secondary teachers and administrative staff, gifting 20 prizes with a combined value of over $1,800.
• Teacher Appreciation Day was recognized on Tuesday, May 7th, 2024, with the traditional Fourways lunch for the BHS staff from the PTA and a cake from Supermart, which was very well received.
• $500 was provided by the PTA to each of the Y13 Prom, Y11 Semi-Formal and Y10 Boat Cruise. Year 13 volunteered to sell Cotton Candy at the Halloween Fair and received 50% of the profits in the amount of $590 for their Prom. Year 11 volunteered to sell Popcorn at the Halloween Fair and received 50% of the profits in the amount of $206 for their Semi-Formal.
• The PTA also provided $500 to Year 6 for an end-of-year pizza party in celebration of ‘Moving Up’ to Secondary.
• The PTA, along with the BHS Leadership Team, hosted a series of Parent Education evenings, with the first being a presentation by Susannah Cole discussing her book Flexible Mindsets in Schools. The evening was interactive, and parents were very engaged in the presentation. Light refreshments and childcare were provided. The second presentation was by Deanna Puccio from the RAP Project, Raising Awareness & Prevention, particularly as it relates to online activity, internet use and social media. There was an option to watch the presentation on Zoom for those who couldn’t attend in person. Additionally, PTA covered costs for Deanna Puccio to give presentations to two year groups at BHS.
• The PTA provided light refreshments for a presentation for Rising Year 7 Families, and PTA Exec members were on hand to answer questions that Year 6 families might have regarding Year 7.
• This was a BHS PTA Raffle year! The Raffle Committee procured some amazing prizes from our very generous BHS families and friends. We also had fun incentives to encourage the students and teachers to sell. The Raffle has historically been the PTA’s most successful fundraiser, and the 2024 raffle has once again been a huge success, raising $72,000.
• This year, due to the success of the Raffle, the PTA agreed to contribute $5,000 to the Bermuda High School PTA Excellence Prize Fund, which is invested in the Bermuda Community Foundation. This Fund was created in 2013 and is now made up of contributions by the PTA of $12,500, an external gift of $5,000, and a $2,500 permanently restricted gift from the RenaissanceRe Charity Challenge. Each year, the Fund is entitled to receive a grant from BCF, and the intention is to use this grant to give a student(s) the Award at the end of each school year. As part of the Award, the student(s) receives the privilege of allocating the funds from the Award to improving BHS.

Appreciation:

 Throughout the year, the PTA Executive worked diligently in collaboration with dedicated school staff, enthusiastic volunteers and generous donors to create an array of successful fundraising initiatives. These events not only provided financial support but also fostered a strong sense of community and engagement among parents, teachers and students. The PTA is greatly appreciative of all its BHS families, students and faculty/teachers who help.

A special shout-out to the following volunteers for leading the 2023/2024 PTA events listed below:

The PTA would like to thank all the BHS families, teachers/staff and students for your support and hard work during the past year. We are so grateful and appreciative of all the volunteers for the various events, and we hope everyone had a lot of fun along the way!

We wish you a wonderful summer!



Kind regards,

The BHS PTA