The Icing on the Cake (and Some of the Fruit and Spices)
In October we held an event to thank parents for donating to our newly refurbished Sixth Form Study Room and Common Room. During my speech I described government funding as paying for little more than the basics, such as staff wages and keeping the lights on, with the added extras supported by parents’ generosi-ty. Rather ironically, and barely five minutes later, the lights went out! Someone had leant back against the switch.
On Wednesday, I was again struck by parents’ wonderful generosity whilst at a Challoner’s Girls Foundation (CGF) meeting (donations made by parents go to the CGF which has charitable status). Trustees considered a range of requests for money from the school and were able to authorise a further £55,000 to enhance the quality of education and amenities at Challoner’s. Thank you so much for your on-going donations to the Foundation and your support of PA events – it is making such a difference.
£25,000 of CGF money will be spent on our Courtyard Café project, with almost half of that having come via Shop for Challoner’s. This combines with £13,000 from the Christmas Fayre and hopefully a further £8,000 from the PA to reach our target of £46,000. This project has come a long way from our aspiration in September to have a bit of extra outdoor seating! With block paving, quali-ty café furniture, a partial covering, pots, plants and student-designed creative features, it will be an inspirational centre-piece for the whole school to use from May onwards.
Incidentally, Shop for Challoner’s is booming – thank you. January orders raised a massive £1,721 for the school, bringing our total for this school year to £9,249 – way ahead of previous years. Thank you also to the selfless work of Elaine Flynn and her dream team behind the scheme.
At a meeting in November, a governor asked, ‘If you had a bit more money, how best would it be spent to raise exam results even higher?’ Whilst initially a hypothetical discussion, it inspired me to ask the same question of our Heads of Faculty and as a result a combined request for £21,000 was authorised by the trustees of the Foundation. About half of this money will be used on addi-tional revision guides, books, software and targeted booster sessions and work across the curriculum. The remainder will combine with school funds to ensure that teachers are fully trained for teaching all of the new GCSE and A Level courses that are currently sweeping the country.
The Foundation is also enabling us to buy new digital projectors to enhance lessons and to upgrade aspects of the sound system in the Hall and Courtyard. All of this is in addition to on-going donations supporting our electronic device scheme for all Year 7, 8 and 9 girls, and the trustees will be meeting twice more this year to consider other areas of expenditure.
At the heart of Challoner’s, our strength centres on our exceptional staff and students. However, there is no doubt that our school community’s generous financial support adds the icing on our educational cake. As government funding has tightened, parents have responded generously and, at the risk of pushing this metaphor too far, are now also ensuring that there is adequate fruit and spice in the cake. Many thanks.
Best wishes,
Alan Roe
