Hello and welcome to the CHPS Fundraising Friends
Why does Castle Hill Primary have a Fundraising Friends Team?
Our friends’ group of volunteers is called CHPS Fundraising Friends and has been running for over 10 years.
The main function of our Fundraising Friends team is to support the school by raising as much money as we can to enhance, enrich and improve learning experiences and facilities for the children. We also provide those 'little extras' that make school memorable, such as leavers books for our Year 6’s.
Our aim is to bring the school community and home closer together for our parents to be more involved in the life of their chosen school.
Lastly, we’re here for the simple reason that we want to get together socially, (whether that be in person or virtually), meet new people and have fun!
The Fundraising Friends Team is run by a committee who are all volunteers. We might sound like an abstract group of people, but we're parents, carers, friends and allies – just like you. Not so long ago, we were new too.
Recent events held and how much we raised
| Event | How much we raised |
| Summer Fair | £1300.00 |
| Christmas Glass Duck Workshop | £393.53 |
| Christmas Raffle | £1620.00 |
| CHPS Lottery | £400.00 |
| Cauliflower Cards | £145.50 |
| Sales from Stikins Labels | £59.10 |
| The Ink Bin | £49.95 |
| Smarties Challenge | £875.00 |
Those were just a few of the events we organised throughout the year (2021-2022). We have managed to raise an amazing amount of money to make improvements for our school. We got creative and pulled together as a community.
What the CHPS Fundraising Friends Team funded with the money
We always try to respond when asked to help the school, and after the work is done, it's so rewarding to see the children enjoy new resources and equipment provided by the CHPS Fundraising Friends. Please see examples below;
- £1000 towards the cost of school trips per academic year
- Contributed towards the cost of Year 6’s end of year/ SATs treat
- Purchased leavers books for our Year 6 leavers 2022
- Assisted with the ‘fit out’ our sensory room with lighting and calming activities to enable us to have a quiet and relaxing room that children are able to use as an additional intimate learning space for small groups.
- Saving to purchase an outdoor classroom space
How we keep you up-to-date with our activities?
Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/167108237090710
We post notices about all upcoming meetings on our Facebook group as well as reminders about events and requests for volunteers. This is a closed group and you will have to answer certain questions before you are ‘accepted’ all names are double checked with a member of the school office before being authorised.
PTA Events Website
www.pta-events.co.uk/gbff/
Wherever possible, we use PTA-Events website to list our events. This enables card payments and stops the need for children to bring cash into school. We will always let you know if the events are on our PTA website.
CHPS School Newsletter & Website
The school website is a great tool to find out any information regarding school and the Fundraising Friends activities and events. Here is the link;
https://www.castlehillprimary.net/parents/fundraising-friends-greenbank
Noticeboard
The CHPS Fundraising Friends noticeboard is located on the window facing outwards by the side of the main reception.
What are we raising money for next?
We would like to continue to subsidise school trips by £1000 each academic year, this is one way of really helping out all families by bringing down the cost of all school trips across the year.
Again, this year we would like to be able to purchase year books for our Year 6 leavers, this is becoming a bit of a tradition and something our Year 6 leavers look forward to receiving, many look back and refer to their leavers books years down the line!
COVID has highlighted the need and the advantages of outdoor learning and classroom spaces. It would be fantastic if we can continue to add to our ‘pot of funds’ to help purchase an outdoor classroom space (a lodge type building or eco dome), an exciting, fresh and alternative environment for the teachers to educate our children in. An outdoor classroom would provide an engaging and motivational place for little minds to learn, helping our children to reconnect with nature and realise their potential.
Obviously, this is a big project and something that may need to be our goal over the next couple of academic years or maybe with your help we could make this is a possibility sooner! Watch this space!
When are the next meetings?
TBC
Come and join us in the Greenbank Hall!
How can you get involved?
Please email gbff@chjs.net and we can email over some information to you after the meeting.
The more people who become involved, the more we can achieve and the easier it will be to raise money for our much-loved school and children!
Even if you have younger children at home, or only a small amount of time, could you attend a virtual or face to face meeting, help set up an event, serve food or design a poster? Perhaps you have a professional skill you could help us out with? Many of our volunteering tasks can be done from home. We need as many ideas as possible and are always looking for fresh, exciting new ideas.
Match Funding
If you work with an organisation that has a match funding policy, any money you/we raise could be matched by your employer. Companies match the fundraising total for an event that their employee is working on. Usually, the employee will need to supply them with a letter from CHPS Fundraising Friends detailing the date and nature of the event, together with the total raised.
We understand that high street banks, building societies, supermarkets and large corporations are likely to do match funding but these schemes
are not exclusive to the major corporation giants. We would be grateful if you could see if your employer has a match funding scheme, or if they are willing to match fund any of our events. If you cannot offer your time to the Fundraising Friends but the company you work for has a match funding policy, this could be a really large source of income and help us raise money for our ultimate goal of an outdoor classroom/ eco dome.
In previous years, we received match funding from Wates Group and Aviva which helped us raise an additional £1250.00! An amazing amount, very little work is involved and we will help you every step of the way!
Please contact gbff@chjs.net if you think your company may be able to help us out.
Contact details
We'd love to hear from you. We have a dedicated email address for all new parents wanting information about the CHPS Fundraising Friends and our activities. Feel free to drop us an email with any questions about events (rather than the school office) or drop us any ideas, we love to hear them!
Email Address – gbff@chjs.net
How you can support us right now?
Did you know that you can start fundraising straight away? Use these companies when you buy school essentials and the CHPS Fundraising Friends gets paid without costing you more.
Stikins
Stikins a label on me… or I end up in lost property at Castle Hill Primary
We have teamed up with Stikins to offer parents the opportunity to purchase quality labels for your children’s school uniform, whilst earning the school commission at the same time!
As we all know, lost property is a problem in all schools and I am sure we are all familiar with our child, at some point, coming home from school with a missing item. As parents, we are aware that time is precious, which is why we think these labels are such a great idea; they simply stick onto the wash-care label of clothing. They can even be used in shoes! Naming of clothing is a school requirement and we are hoping that with this opportunity we can start to eliminate some of parents’ frustrations that surround these issues.
They are really easy to use – no sewing or ironing – just stick them to the wash-care label.
They are washing machine, tumble-dryer, dishwasher and even microwave-proof!
Use them on coats, clothing, lunch boxes, water bottles, shoes, bags, PE kits, glasses cases, trainers, musical instruments, etc.
*Use the Stikins ‘button’ on the school website homepage (at the bottom of the screen) to enable us to get 30% commission from your purchase*
The Ink Bin
Collect used inkjet cartridges and recycle them with us!
We are now working with The Ink Bin- a specialist teacher-led business which supports pupils to collect empty inkjet printer cartridges.
The Ink Bin pledge to recycle as much of the single-use plastic as possible and also send away some cartridges for refilling in order to reduce their carbon miles. For refillable cartridges, the company will give the school money which we can spend on exciting new equipment.
The project aims to support children to be as eco-conscious as possible as well as learn through enterprise. Wherever possible, it will be child-led. Please do check at home, at work and with friends and family to see if you have any old cartridges which can be brought into school- every cartridge makes a difference!
*Should you have any ink cartridges that you would like to donate, please send them into school in a sealed bag with your child*
Your School Lottery
to start supporting visit; https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/ and search for Castle Hill Primary.
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We look forward to 2022-2023 new academic year and we would love this year to be our best year yet!