On April 12, 2012, The Sultan’s School Parent Teacher Association (PTA) proudly kicked off their first annual “Fun Day”. The event saw over 1000 people enter through the doors of the school’s auditorium and sports hall.
According to Buthaina AlRasasi, Head of the PTA Health & Safety Committee, “We were amazed by the number of people that came to the event; we were happy to hear we had sold all our initially printed tickets by 11 am.”
The PTA organized the event in order to raise funds for multi-purpose outdoor sports flooring that would provide additional outdoor activity areas for soccer, basketball and volley ball as well as other sports. This initiative was in part due to the PTA’s goal to promote a healthy and active lifestyle among the staff, students and greater community.
With the major promotional goals in mind, one of the major events at “Fun Day 2012” was headed by a member of the school’s Physical Education team, Mr. Ian O’Sullivan. In The Sultan’s School sports halls, Mr. Ian had prepared a number of games testing physical ability and agility; five-a-side soccer, basketball as well as an obstacle course for children year 5 and younger.
“Fun Day 2012” included a number of activities for every age group including, horseback riding provided by The Royal Stables, tours of a fire engine from the Fire Training School, a kids driving track provided by Porsche, a bouncy castle, a bazaar, traditional Omani crafts, in addition to participation of a number of local restaurants and cafés; Aroy Thai, Cake Gallery and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
With many of the booths donating their profits to the PTA’s goal, the visitors were eager to purchase and participate in many of the other activities arranged for “Fun Day 2012”; Nadini’s Events had organized carnival games, the PTA’s Hind Jaafar and Gemma O’Sullivan had organized an Omani arts & crafts section where children and parents could paint their own clay pots and incense burners or decorate an Omani doll. Buthaina’s Bakery, AlFaisal’s Juice bar, The Girlie Corner organized by year 5 students, Tala AlAjmi, Maraal AlReyami and Zein Dabbous and an International Food Corner organized by Ellie Hennessey also donated their profits to aid the PTA in reaching its objective.
The International Food Corner was one of the biggest and most successful attractions at the event. With over 25 mothers, students and teachers participating and volunteering their time, money and culinary expertise to make foods from around the globe; everything from spicy samosas to melt in your mouth Scottish short bread, moist Madelines, rich chocolate fudge and brownies – the tantalizing mouth-watering list was endless.
“As a PTA, we were lucky to have so many student and parent volunteers; without them the event would not have been such a success.” stated Lamya Kiyumi, President of The Sultan’s School PTA.
The event ended with an amazing performance by The Sultan’s School Rock Band. Their performance brought cheers to the droves of people that had come to “Fun Day 2012”. All age groups were front and center at the stage and the beats were continuous for approximately half an hour; a strong finish for a successful day which saw the PTA raise over 6000 Omani Riyals with reports of more being pledged in the days following the event by parents and businesses that witnessed the commitment and drive of The Sultan’s School Parent Teacher Association members.
