The annual Christmas Fair (also known as Winter Wonderland) was held at Warren Road Primary School in Orpington on Saturday 30th November from 11:00am to 2:00pm.
Activities at the Winter Wonderland included a secret gifts room, face painting, a pamper room, filling sand ornaments, decorating biscuits and decorating baubles. As well as this, for the younger children there was a highly popular Santa’s grotto which was fully booked in advance and an elf hunt throughout the school. In the main hall there were several stalls set up selling an array of items such as Christmas gifts, lucky dip prizes, raffle tickets for the ‘Sanatabola’ and food and drinks.
The whole event is planned and organised by the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) with Liza Tucker acting as head organizer. Planning for the Christmas Fair usually starts soon after the Summer Fete which is in June and so spans over five months. There is so much planning because of the scale of the event and the importance of raising money for the school. On average, over a thousand people attend the Warren Road Christmas Fair each year and roughly £10,000 is raised in profits. This money is mainly used as school funding for example, maintenance of the swimming pool and paying for the life bus. A small part of profits goes towards next year’s event.
The Christmas Fair is a fun day out for both children and parents that gets everyone in the Christmas spirit whilst also providing the school with further funding.
By Caitlin Mainwaring
