Original News Story

Set as another assignment for our news journalism portfolio, this news story was created after attending Gidea Park's Christmas Bazaar last Saturday.

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Pizza Cakes, Bear-Naming and Gingerbread-men-making all helped Gidea Park Primary School to celebrate yet another thriving Christmas Bazaar.


Hailed a huge success purely by the look on the faces of departing families – no less due to the more-than-enthusiastic Year 6 helpers than the PTA - the School’s annual Christmas Bazaar was held at Gidea Park Primary School, Essex, last Saturday, 5th December. The Bazaar has been held as long as current Head teacher Susan Hartnett could remember, and included a Santa’s Grotto and stalls organised by parents and Year 6’s of the school, as well as local businesses selling books, candles and wind chimes to visitors.


The School included many original events this year, such as a pizza-cake for a raffle prize, bear-naming to win the role of head teacher for a day and snow en-entrance. All of the events were planned by the PTA, who hold years of experience in involving local businesses and are “always looking for new ideas”. Louise Compton, chair of the PTA, said “we were impressed by the Year 6’s at last summer’s fete, and with the school council keen to get involved, we had more volunteers than we dared hope for!”


The eagerness was easy to spot, with Year 6’s of the school littering behind stalls, enthusiastically donning elf hats in favour of school uniforms. Andrea Connor, deputy head of the school, said “when I asked if any Year 6’s wanted to help, dozens of hands shot up. The whole thing’s really good fun and the little ones get really excited.”


After the bazaar Mrs Hartnett slipped in, “the Name the Bear ‘freebie’ went down well for me, since although the winner didn’t get a prize, they got to do my job as head teacher for the day!” Asked what the most successful event of the day was, she then replied “the 16” ‘pizza cake’, made by one of our parents, went down well and made the most bids. The parent who won it said it went by Monday!”


The bazaar was held to raise money for the school, hoping to build an adventure trail in the school’s playground once renovation works have been completed next year. With £2,300 raised on the day, pleased Year 6 teacher Mr Steve Balkham said “the turnout today was brilliant; it was good to see so many parents supporting the event.” Mrs Hartnett also added “thanks to local businesses for supporting us in donating prizes for our raffles and bid stall, and special thanks to the pizza-cake maker!”