Latest News from Mayfield PTA

Welcome to our blog - this is where we'll share the latest news and updates from the PTA. 

⭐Eggs (and chicks) - Funded ⭐april 2024

Just before Easter, the PTA learnt that the Reception classes were planning to bring eggs and an incubator into their classrooms to demonstrate to children the change from egg to chick. 

The school were originally going to ask for donations from parents to cover the cost, picking up any shortfall from school budgets, but the PTA thought "nah, we'll get them". This is exactly the sort of project the PTA love to fund: it's an amazingly hands-on approach to learning across the curriculum... as well as being incredibly cute!

This is what the Reception team were hoping to achieve:

Wow, all that from some eggs! 

Reception children have been really engaged with their new classroom chicks and the rest of the school have had a chance to visit too. Miss Joyce even set up a live stream of the chicks hatching for any children out of school (or parents with nothing better to watch in the evening).

What a brilliant experience for our youngest pupils. Thank you Reception team 🐣

From non-uniform to glue sticks april 2024

On the last day of Spring term we hosted a non-uniform day to raise money for glue sticks across the school. 

We had an amazing response, generating:

The money raised enabled us to buy enough glue sticks for every class to have one per child. Or, to put it another way: One non-uniform day = 407 glue sticks

It might not sound like much, but this has really eased the pressure on classroom budgets. To quote one teacher "Oh my, it feels like Christmas!" A huge thanks to everyone who donated!

laptops gifted to the school march 2024

We're really excited to share that IT company Redgate Software has kindly donated 21 laptops and 4 monitors to the school! 

The school highlighted to the PTA that laptops are really at a premium across the school, and, with some children needing access to a laptop as part of their EHCP, it was clear to us that more laptops would only be a good thing.

The PTA contacted Redgate at just the right time - they were upgrading some of their staff laptops and so instead of these 21 laptops being recycled elsewhere, they are now going to be part of the school's IT assets. A win-win for both the school and Redgate!

Our huge thanks go to Redgate Software - we are so grateful for this donation which will really make a difference to IT provision across our school.

Do you work for a company who may be able to help our school? Find out more on our Donate page

⭐Oddizzi Access - funded! ⭐march 2024

It is part of the PTA's commitment to support learning across the school and we have a particular focus on supporting core curriculum areas where we can. 

We are therefore delighted to share that we are supporting Geography through buying access to the online learning resource Oddizzi. 

Miss Taylor (Year 3 teacher and Geography Lead) tells us:

"I learned about Oddizzi on a recent Geography training session.  It has interesting resources for teachers to use in class and also for children to access for research and general interest.  

"A particularly popular part is the Quizzes.  These are multiple choice on a wide range of topics.  Your child needs to log on using their username and password - this is the same for the whole class.  To play a quiz they need to know their pupil number, or they can play as Monty and contribute to their class score.  

"We are hoping that this contributes to children's geographical knowledge and also helps their reading of questions."

Sounds fantastic Miss Taylor! 

Your child should come home with details on how to access Oddizzi over the next couple of weeks.

To find out more about how we are planning to use the funds we've raised to benefit the whole school please visit our Projects page

World Book Day march 2024

A great day was had by all at this year's World Book Day! The school hosted an amazing whole-school assembly where everyone gathered and shared their outfits and Extreme Reading photos and there was a great atmosphere across the school all day long.

The book swap was a huge success with every child given the opportunity to take a book home from all of those donated by families. Thank you so much for all your kind donations. The School Librarian also had a look through the donated books after the book swap and gathered a pretty good haul for the library shelves ♥️. Remaining books were then sold after school, meaning all-in-all the book swap and sale made a brilliant £110 for the school.

And a huge thank you to our expert bakers who created some amazing bakes for our book-themed bake sale. We really didn't want to chop into them, but we had to as the sale was a complete sell out! The Bake Sale raised a fabulous £180 for the school!

Cambridge half marathon march 2024

Thank you so much to everyone who ran, cheered, high-fived, sponsored and supported all our Mayfield Runners at Sunday's Cambridge Half Marathon!

We may have had sore legs and feet afterwards, but we also definitely had a warm glow of achievement (although maybe that was just the Deep Heat kicking in?). 

Runners included teachers (Mrs Jarman, Miss Taylor, Mrs Barnes and Mrs Stepney), members of the PTA and parents of children at the school.

We've had an amazing response to our call for sponsorship, with £1,945 raised (plus an extra £345 in Gift Aid)! If you would like to donate but haven't done so yet, please visit our JustGiving page 😀

Funds raised will be used to revamp the swimming pool area. Watch this space for more information and to get involved!

Thank you again! Same time next year....?

Brilliant fun at the school disco february 2024

A fab time was had by all at the school disco just before half term. There were sequin and sweeties, glowsticks and grooving, foam and flossing!

We raised an amazing £900 for the school!

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event - we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

And a huge, huge thanks to everyone who volunteered their help on the night, you really did help make the whole event run smoothly!

The school disco will return in the Autumn term.


Another fantastic bake sale! february 2024

Huge thank you to all the Year 2 families who helped out, baked and bought goodies along to the Year 2 Bake Sale last week. There were some amazing bakes!

And thank you to everyone who came along and bought the bakes! 

We raised a fab £269.22 for the Year 2 classrooms. Great work all round everyone 😍


Environment Improvement Bid - success! january 2024

We got the fabulous news last week that our bid for £4,500 of Council funding via the Environment Improvement Programme (EIP) bid was a success! Brilliant news!

The EIP bid was put together by the PTA and sought to enhance the biodiversity of our grounds for the benefit of our school pupils and anyone else who uses the school grounds. The bid was approved following careful consideration from the North Area Committee and given final approval from the Executive Councillor for Openspaces and City Services.

Thank you to everyone who spent time bidding on our proposal, it really did make a huge difference ♥️

We will keep you up to date with next steps and (of course!) be showing you how that money has been used to benefit our school environment as soon as we can.

RECORD Year 3 Bake Sale january 2024

Thank you to everyone who braved the cold last week to support our Year 3 Bake Sale! 

There were cakes a-plenty, with a great spread of homemade and shop-bought goodies, a fab selection of dietary specific treats and a lot of welcoming smiles from our fabulous volunteers. What a team!

And (drum roll please) all those bakes made an amazing £320.23 - a new Bake Sale record! Well done Year 3 🏆

Additional thank yous to everyone who donated second hand uniform to our sale. Many bargains were had and we raised an impressive £49 for the school.

The next Bake Sale will be the turn of Year 2 in February.

winter craft days creative and fun! december 2023

What a great time we had during the Winter Craft Days! We were so pleased to be back running the sessions in the large hall with lots of amazing parent helpers joining us across the two days.

There were focused eyes and hands, creative flair and paper chain making competitions, alongside some great crafting. Well done to all the children who took part, they did amazingly well and created some lovely festive items! We hope you're now enjoying their crafts as much as they enjoyed making them. 

We tried really hard to make sure the children created winter crafts that were fun and relevant to their age groups as well as having as little environmental impact as possible, with lots of what we used being recycled or recyclable wherever possible.

Special thanks to Inbal (from Mayfield Art Club) and Agnes (from Mayfield Gardening Club) who took charge of making cards for lots of the school. The creations they helped to make were unique and delicate and really inspired lots of the children. Thank you so much for bringing your expertise to the craft days!

And of course a big thanks to all the parent (and grandparent!) helpers who came along and got stuck in - we could not have run the day without you! 

If you haven't donated to the craft day and would like to do so, the link will stay live on ParentPay for the next week or so. All money raised is used to fund the craft day or to supply the school with extra craft equipment. 

⭐Funded!⭐december 2023

We love running the events that you all attend, we hope they are lots of fun and help bring the school together, giving you a chance to meet other families and engage with staff and teachers in an informal setting. 

But of course one of our main aims for these events is to raise money for the school. That money is used carefully to help bridge the gap between the needs of the school and the funds they have available to them. Here's an update of what we've funded this term.

Reception furniture - FUNDED

The Foundation Stage team got in touch with the PTA recently to highlight that they were in need of indoor and outdoor storage for the Reception play area. We crunched some numbers and were happy to help - here are some pictures of the new furniture and rugs in place - it's looking so welcoming and cosy (and organised!).

Helping Santa deliver the goods - FUNDED

Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes, and Santa is no different. We helped him deliver a wide range of goodies to the classrooms this year, including origami paper, games like Mancala, Bananagrams and Snakes & Ladders, tennis balls, notebooks, a butterfly garden, a marble run, art supplies and books. 

Merry Christmas everyone!


Year 4 Bake sale delivers festive goodies december 2023

Huge thanks to the Year 4 families who made such a delicious array of festive bakes for last week's Y4 Bake Sale. 

The cakes were delicious, the helpers were amazing and the sale raised a fantastic £195 for the school - well done and thank you to everyone involved!

christmas Trees collected and up! december 2023

This was our first year selling Christmas trees to raise money for the school and we were amazed at the response. Thank you to everyone who bought a tree - we hope you'e enjoying them up in your house!

We had great fun giving the trees out with Christmas music on the go and mulled wine and mince pies  enjoyed by many of you. 

And (most importantly) we raised an amazing £1,350 for the school.

Same time next year then!

🎄Thank you to those of you who have shared pictures of your tree. We'd love to see more - please send them through to contact@fundmayfield.com 🎄

EVERYONE LOVES A ONESIE! November 2023

...And it wasn't just Mrs McCombe and Mrs Priest who donned their onesies for Children in Need last week - there were onesies, Pudsey ears, fancy dress and great outfits all round, all to raise money for this great cause.

Well done everyone - we raised over £630! 

Lovely bakes at the Y5 bake sale November 2023

Friday 10th November saw a great range of bakes created by the Y5 families being sold at our latest bake sale.

There was an army of helpers and a huge range of goodies (including loads of delicious homemade ones) on offer!

Thank you to all the Year 5 families who helped out, baked and bought. And to everyone who came along, donated their money and sampled the goods.

All that baking raised an amazing £234.50 for the school - money that will be used to directly benefit the Y5 classrooms. Great work everyone!

Disco fever November 2023

A great night was had by all at our School Disco on Friday 3rd November. 

There we three discos: one for Reception and Year 1; one for Years 2 and 3; and one for Years 4, 5 and 6. Each disco saw our pupils lighting up the dancefloor.

There was foam, cheering, some amazing moves and lots of Gangnam Style across the three discos - we hope you all had a great time!

We run these events so that our pupils can have a great experience and a fun night, but also to raise money for our school too. And this event didn't disappoint on either counts - we raised an amazing £994 (and 9 raisins 😅) for the PTA!

A huge thank you to all our volunteers who helped the whole event run smoothly. We had helpers from all year groups which was fantastic!

Also a big thank you to everyone who booked their tickets in advance through ParentPay, it really helped us get everyone in quickly. 😀

I'm sure we'll be running more discos again soon! And remember, you can have your say about the events we run by contacting us at contact@fundmayfield.com - we'd love to hear your feedback on the events we run and ideas for other events too.

Mrs Ayliffe Celebrations round-up october 2023

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on Friday 13th October to celebrate Mrs Ayliffe as she retires from teaching. Mrs Ayliffe has been a fundamental part of Mayfield over the last 20-odd years so we couldn't let her go without a good send off!

There were amazing bakes, fantastic Mrs Ayliffe-inspired artworks and a few tears on the day, accompanied by the Guys and Dolls soundtrack (chosen by Mrs Ayliffe herself).

Mrs Ayliffe joined the PTA in the kitchen to help choose the winners of the Great Mrs Ayliffe Bake-Off. 

We're not sure she was expecting to see her face on quite so many cakes but we did see her sneak some of the cupcakes home so she can't have minded too much.

And the winners were...

It's a tough job, but Mrs Ayliffe rose to the challenge and tasted all the cakes donated to the bake sale. 

Huge congratulations to Mrs Ayliffe's winners: Daisy, Drew and Freddie.

Special mention to Freddie who made Mrs Ayliffe's favourite fridge cake with dairy milk chocolate with cherries in. To quote Mrs Ayliffe "Just like my mother used to make" 😍

Bake off winners all received a special edition Mayfield apron!

And it wasn't just the bakes that were creative. A huge thank you to all the children who entered our Mrs Ayliffe inspired art competition. There were some really lovely entries and Mrs Ayliffe has happily taken all the creations home. Mrs Stepney stepped in to judge and chose these pirctures from Victoria (in KS2) and Miriam (in KS1) - Mrs Stepney said both winners had captured Mrs Ayliffe's smile perfectly.

Thank you to everyone who helped on the day, those of you who baked and created and all who came along to celebrate the amazing contribution Mrs Ayliffe has made to the school. 

She will be sorely missed, but we hear she will be popping in from time to time.

Governors & PTA Quiz Night october 2023

A huge thank you to the school Governors (especially Anna and Andrew) for running such a fun quiz night! There was a great atmosphere and some stiff competition amongst the parents. 


Congratulations to the winning team - the "Fake Professors".


A great night was had by all and we raised over £200 for the school. Same again next year!

2023/24 Bake sales are off with a bang! october 2023

A huge Mayfield THANK YOU to everyone who helped and supported the Y6 bake sale, uniform and impromptu plant sale last week. The playground was buzzing and with gardening club on the go too it really felt like the school grounds were alive with activity.

Gratitude time:

Over the course of the afternoon's activities we all raised an amazing £500 for our school - £320 coming from the Bake Sale (a new record!) and over £180 from the sale of the plants and second hand uniform. A great achievement!

Keep an eye on our events page for news on upcoming bake sales and we aim to host another uniform sale in January.

Vote for mayfield to win council funding september 2023

Each year, Cambridge City Council opens bidding for an Environmental Improvement Programme where they fund community-led projects that benefit local spaces. The PTA have submitted a proposal for funds from this programme to help us improve our outside play areas. 

Last year the junior playground was looking very sad with a derelict raised bed that was both unattractive and a danger to those playing nearby. The school and PTA have worked hard to find the money needed to remove that raised bed and now we are bidding for funding to transform that area into a wildlife hotspot - this will have benefits to the local environment, the school, the pupils and all the visitors that come through our grounds. 

Voting has now closed for this project. We will keep you up to date with any news - fingers crossed everyone!

Sunflower competition: we have a winner! July 2023

Web version And the winner is....mp4

The final business of the academic year is the big reveal of the winner of the sunflower competition - and it really is BIG!

A huge well done to all those who kept their sunflowers watered and healthy in the slightly adverse weather conditions, you've done better than a lot of us!

Enjoy this short reel of the entries and well done to the winner - a Year 4 pupil whose sunflower reached an amazing 241cm!

Review of 2022/23 July 2023

It's been quite a year. We've organised bake sales and craft activities, a Fun Run and a Coronation Tea, Frozen Fridays and the Summer Fair, all in the name of raising funds for Mayfield Primary School. We thought we'd give you a run-down of what we've achieved and what we've funded.

Our fundraising

Taking into account our events and our additional fundraising through Easy Fundraising, Bag2School, Just Giving and ParentPay, the PTA have raised over £7,500 this year for the school. Definitely something to celebrate!

What we've funded

And a couple of things that are in progress:

From cakes to ...?

We asked the teachers to provide us with a list of all the things purchased with the money raised from the year group bake sales. Here's what they told us:

Other achievements

We've also been busy behind the scenes:

So, yes a busy year! 

It's been loads of fun and we're excitedly making plans for 2023/24. If you'd like to help us realise those plans, or have thoughts and feedback on what we've done so far, please do get in touch - we'd love to hear from you. 

Thank you!

The PTA is much more than just the committee - the school teachers and staff, all the volunteers that come and help out and all the families that attend our events or donate to us - you all help the PTA thrive, ultimately helping our wonderful school. 

Thank you all for a great year, and we'll see you in September!

Summer Fair round-up July 2023

The PTA donned our new tabards and felt pretty much ready to go. Then the heavens opened at the same time as the school gates and it was a bit worrying for a moment or two - would it be a wash out? 

Well the weather calmed a little, as did our nerves, and the festivities began: the BBQ was going all afternoon with tasty burgers from Art of Meat (plus a vegan option too of course); the bouncy castles were up and being jumped (and splashed) on; faces were painted; arrows were drawn; miniature gardens were made; and giant inflatable dice were rolled for the Teddy Tombola.

We had special guest activities with Decathlon leading the archery, ((Bounce)) having a dance-off on the mini trampolines, there were tennis nets set up with rallies on the go with Love Tennis Academy and rugby tackles and throws courtesy of Cambridge Rugby Club. 

Huge thanks to all our "stage area" performers - Mrs Taylor led with her school Ukelele and Samba bands, who were swiftly followed with Capoeira from Groupo Senzala Capoeira. Next up was Year 2 parent Sonali Shukla who had the crowd joining in with Bharatanatyam - an Indian classical dance. Aspire Dancesport then drew the performances to a close, and it was great to see lots of current and alumni Mayfield pupils amongst the dancers!

There were great activities all round. The Year Group stalls were as popular as ever, with Egyptian Pong, a Coconut Shy, Odds & Evens, Pin the Head on the Alien, a Witch Hunt, and Treasure Map and a slightly more calm but just as enjoyable storytelling area from Reception with The Puppetry Club.

The raffle and silent auction stall was busy throughout the day and all the winners have now been notified. We hope all winners enjoy their prizes!

Huge thanks to everyone involved. None of this would have taken off if it weren't for the support of the staff (not least the office team and Bob Taylor who were amazing in their support throughout), the Year 5s for being so helpful during set-up, the Year 6s who painted faces, all the people who ran activities or baked cakes for us, our fabulous volunteers, and the Mayfield parents, families and children who enjoyed the activities on the day. 

Thank you all so much for coming along and supporting the PTA and our school.

The real winners on the day were of course the PTA, who soundly beat the staff and teachers in a Tug of War! PTA 2 - 1 Staff. Thanks to Ben from Playtime After-School club for presiding over the battle. 

Sorry, of course what we mean is: 

The real winners on the day were of course the whole school. 

We made an amazing £4,391!

We will keep you up to date with where this money is being spent, ensuring it is used to benefit pupils across the school.

We want to make sure our events are enjoyable for everyone and would really value any feedback you have. If you'd like to tell us anything (good or bad!) about the Summer Fair or any of our other events, please do drop us a line at contact@fundmayfield.com

Bag2School - the results are in June 2023

How much money do you think you can earn from a few (...ok, quite a lot) of bags of unwanted clothes and fabric?

We were amazed at your response to our call out for Bag2School back in May - thank you so much to everyone who filled a bag and brought it along.  You raised an amazing £225 - the most we've ever raised in one collection!

We've used some of these funds to buy a much needed Bluetooth PA system for the school - no more will Mrs Ayliffe nearly lose her voice at Sports Day, no more will we struggle to hear what's on next on the stage at the school fair!

Huge thanks again to everyone who donated.

Frozen fridays - smashing it! June 2023

Frozen Fridays are back! Orla has been leading the charge and has had a crack support team in the guise of some of the Year 6 students. 

The students have been fabulous, listening carefully to the instructions on how to look after the stall and being really kind and polite to all the children who came to buy. To quote Orla "They smashed it!"

And speaking of smashing it, so far we have raised about £250 from just two Frozen Fridays - an amazing result! So thank you everyone involved, especially Orla and all the Year 6 helpers.

Fun run in the sun June 2023

There were great scenes at Castle School sports ground on Sunday 11th June when over 70 children from across all year groups ran to raise money for Mayfield! 

We were warm to start with but a great run-ready warm-up was led by local running group Let's Run Girls. The running then commenced with a fabulous (and very cute) toddler race, a sweltering 1k and a super fast (and very hot) 3k. The runners all did amazingly well and there were smiles all round as Mrs Ayliffe and Mrs Redman awarded the medals as they crossed the line. 

After the serious runs were over it was time to kick back, enjoy hot dogs and drinks, and laugh as the parents humiliated themselves in their race. Blow up a balloon and run with it between your knees? Balance a beanbag on your head? A Back to The Future inspired running backwards whilst shouting "Great Scott"? It's a good job it's for a good cause :-)

The Fun Run made an amazing £504! 

As ever, these events could not happen without our extended Mayfield community. A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event:

More fences fixed June 2023

We've continued to support small improvements around the school grounds by funding the repair of the fences around 1MC. 

The new fences mean the children have a bit more space and freedom to play in their 'outdoor classroom'! A great result I'm sure you'll agree!

Record Breaking bake sale! may 2023

Wow, wow, wow! It might have been their first bake sale, but the Reception families absolutely stormed it with loads of brilliant volunteers joining the PTA team on the stall, and huge amounts of goodies to sell. Well done everyone!

And with so many gorgeous homemade and shop-bought goodies on offer, it's no surprise that they raised a new record for a Mayfield bake sale - a grand total of over £300!

Huge thanks to everyone involved.

Alongside the bake sale we also ran a second hand uniform sale - many a bargain was grabbed and we raised a fabulous £160! Thank you for all the donations.

reception outdoor play area may 2023

A couple of months ago at a PTA meeting Mrs Ayliffe flagged that the Reception outdoor play area needed a bit of a lift - new bark for under the tree and new sand for the sandpit. The PTA was happy to help and deliveries of both were taken by Miss Joyce, Mrs Barbouris and Mrs King last week.

The children enjoyed watching the bark arrive as it was lifted over the fence, and they were ready to help out with spades, mini wheelbarrows and rakes. The children also helped fill the sandpit, while parents helped unload the bark. A great team effort - thank you so much to everyone who helped!

We hope you all enjoy the updated space!

Local residents raise for Mayfield may 2023

Huge thank you to residents of the 'Square' (Eachard, Woodlark, Sherlock and Hoadly Roads) who held a big Coronation street party on Sunday 7th May. Alongside the cakes, fun and music the residents generously raised money for our PTA - we are so grateful that they considered fundraising for us.

The event raised an amazing £172. Thank you so much to the residents of the Square and everyone involved! 

If you are running a community event, please consider raising money for us - it's a great way to boost our funds so we can help support the school.

Swimming pool ready for action may 2023

The money we raised at the Coronation Tea was used, in part, to fund the repainting of the school swimming pool. Quite a transformation I think you'll agree! 

Huge thanks to everyone who donated at the event - without you we wouldn't have been able to fund this project. And kudos to Josh Jones who did all the hard work!

School swimming lessons will restart after half term.

Coronation Tea may 2023

A bit of rain they said. Thunder at 4pm they said. Well they were right, but did that stop the Coronation Tea? No way! 

We had envisaged a bright sunny day, everyone sitting around on picnic blankets under trees drinking Pimms. But the weather had other ideas so we moved the party inside. It might not have been what we planned, but it was still a great afternoon with loads of families, teachers and staff joining in! 

There were scones and refreshments served in the small hall and everyone made their way into the large hall to sit together to eat and enjoy. When the rain stopped there was lots of playing to be had in the mud and on the playgrounds - we spotted hide and seek, den building, football matches and climbing competitions.

Mrs Ayliffe then led the charge for the crown parade which took place on the Junior Playground. Huge congratulations to all those who took part, there really were some great designs and it was great to see so many parents, teachers and families cheer on all the children who had worked so hard on their crowns.

We had a board up celebrating the Design a Stamp competition - well done to all those who entered. Mrs Ayliffe found it so hard to choose a winner she decided everyone was highly commended :-)

A huge thank you to everyone who made the event so special - we couldn't have done it without you: 

We hope you all enjoyed it as much as us!

And, the icing on the scone, we raised over £600 for the school - this money will be used to repaint the swimming pool ready for the second half of the summer term when school swimming lessons restart.

New fences up! April 2023

It might not sound like much, but we recently funded the repair of the KS2 quiet area fencing. 

The restoration of the fencing means teachers can once again safely use the space as an outdoor learning zone and children gain access to a quiet area during breaks.

A small, but significant, win!

Bake sale successes March and April 2023

We run bake sales about once a month to help raise funds for each individual year group. The money raised gets distributed back to each class for the teachers to use - they might save it up for a particular project or spend it on additional resources like paint or gluesticks.

The last two events (with bakes from Years 1 and 2) have raised over £400, meaning each class gets about £100 to spend on whatever they need!

The bake sales are a success because of your help - your generously baked or bought goodies directly benefit your kids' classes. 

And we couldn't do it without the help of volunteers from each year group - huge thanks to you all!