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First of all we just wanted to say a massive thank you to all the Claverdon Primary school families who have supported Friends of Claverdon over the last year. All the events and activities couldn't take place without your help, participation and enthusiasm and we are truly grateful to all of you.
On behalf of all the Claverdon families we'd also like to say a huge thank you to all the amazing teachers and staff at our school who go above and beyond every day not just to teach but also to nurture and inspire our wonderful children. You are all incredible and we wish you all a restful summer break.
To our current Year 6 children and families - we wish you the best of luck in the next stage of life and thank you for everything you've done to support Friends of Claverdon, and our school, over the last 7 years. We do hope this isn't goodbye though, we would love to see you at all our future events (starting with the Fun Run in September!).
We look forward to seeing everyone after the summer holiday - and to welcoming the new reception children and families too. It was lovely to meet the parents at their welcome meeting a few weeks ago and hope the children all have a smooth transition into school.
As always, your feedback and suggestions are more than welcome so please let us know if you have any ideas on how to make next year the best one yet!
In this newsletter
This year we've raised an amazing £7,895 for our school
What an incredible year of fundraising! Raising money for our school has never been more important and we're delighted to share with you that this year our amazing school community has raised £7,895 towards our school! Here's how we did it:
News just in! Despite having to rearrange the Summer Fayre (thank you very unpredictable British weather) we raised around £1250 across all activities and stalls! What a great way to sign off the year - and a huge thank you to everyone for your hard work and immense organising skills to pull it all off, especially Michelle and Cat for a mammoth effort pulling everyone together.
The Easter Challenge was another hugely successful event - and thanks to gift aid and match funding the event raised almost £3000! A big thank you to Vicky for organising and running this event
Our Christmas calendar is always full and we really appreciate your support during a really busy time of year! This year between the Christmas raffle, Carols by Candlelight and Christmas cards the total amount raised was £1345! Thank you to everyone for pulling all these events and activities together.
Spring saw the Claverdon School Disco come around again - thank you to Alex for taking on the organising this year. The kids had a brilliant time and it raised an amazing £572 for the school!
We opened the Friends of Claverdon gift shop 3 times in school this year for Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day all run by the brilliant gift shop team (thank you Jules and co.!). The children love the independence of choosing something special and in total they raised £361 for our school - thank you team (and parents for supporting!).
Children and cake proved a winning mixture again this year, with the cake sales throughout the year raising a total of £371 for our school. Thank you everyone who organised, baked, bought and sold cakes!
The 100 Club is going for strength to strength and this year around £438 has been paid out in total prize money with £438 raised for the school. New players always welcome - even over the summer - you can register to play via the website anytime. Over the summer we anticipate between £80-£90 to be raised for the school and paid out in prize money so register now! Thank you Sarah for managing the 100 Club and coordinating all the draws!
Recycling and reusing was a theme again this year and between the Bag2School scheme, second hand uniform sales and the Claverdon Nearly New Sale a total of £357 was raised. Thank you to Alice for the Nearly New sale, Flora for organising Bag2School and Cheryl for taking on the uniform sales.
Finally, £236 was raised for the school via Benevity - a community investment scheme and £23 through Easy Fundraising. Thank you so much!
Projects supported by your donations this year
Your kind donations have made a big impact in school this year and we're delighted to share with you how the money raised is helping our school and supporting our children. None of these could happen without your generosity and support so thank you to everyone in our school community for everything you've raised over the last year. Here are some of the ways your money has been used:
Visualisers were purchased for every classroom in the school with both children and teachers now enjoying using them for their daily lessons!
We teamed up with the school to purchase a new set of Chromebooks, replacing a set which were due to expire. 50% of the cost was contributed by Friends of Claverdon and there is a plan to replace the remaining set next summer.
The Year 6 parents have organised an incredible send off for the current Year 6's - and Friends of Claverdon funds have contributed to their party tonight. We wish everyone a brilliant evening!
Ongoing commitment has been made to the school library, with Friends of Claverdon funds being made available for the library software and subscriptions.
Christmas was a magical time for our children at school - thank you to Mr Powell for organising 'Operation Snowflake' and committing to decorating the whole school as a surprise for them! We were able to support school by contributing both time and funds to make this happen. A big thank you to Barn Close Nurseries for donating our much loved Christmas trees to our school too.
Friends of Claverdon funds were used to make a contribution to the Smartphone Free Childhood promotional material at the Summer Fayre. You can find out more about this initiative online.
Other projects supported by Friends of Claverdon and our community
Let's Go Zero... introducing solar power to Claverdon Primary School
In our last newsletter we introduced you to a joint project between Claverdon Primary School and Friends of Claverdon to bring solar power to our school, and embark on a journey to reduce energy costs and becoming more sustainable.
We are currently working our way through several funding and grant processes - thank you Sue for working with school on this - and currently waiting on the outcome of several applications. After being successfully shortlisted by Morrison's Stratford we have submitted a bid for £8k for their consideration and we expect to hear if we have been successful in August. In September we submit an application to NPower which will be worked on over the summer.
Reception Class Revamp
Over Easter the outside area of the Reception Class received lots of special treatment. A team of volunteers from Cross 8 came to school over two days and worked tirelessly on this space. There’s a fabulous mural, sails, a wendy house and more. Thank you to Karen, as so much work went into to project.
Garden makeover
This term saw the school garden receive a makeover, with a view to keeping it tidy and low maintenance. Thank you to Paul and Abbie for organising and carrying out the work, and Alice for organising a team of company volunteers from e.Serve to donate their corporate charitable hours to our school. Thank you also to Christian at Offa Tree Surgeons for donating the bark chippings for our borders. Friends of Claverdon have agreed to pay for edging for the bark areas to prevent the bark spilling over and also to plant some meadow seed too.
Lunchtime parent supervisors
This year saw the school recruiting parent/carer volunteers to come in and supervise the lunchtime sessions at school. This has been a great success and a big thank you to all the volunteers for giving up their time for our children! If you would like to cover a lunchtime session please speak to Mrs Wade.
Second hand uniform
Thank you Cheryl for taking on managing the second hand uniform shop (and Year 4 for supporting at one of our events earlier this year!). We are now accepting all good condition branded uniform. If you would like to purchase items please drop us a message online to check what's currently in stock.
What's coming up next half-term
We were delighted to share our plans with you last week for the first (in a long time anyway!) Claverdon Fun Run on Sunday 29th September! This is available to book now - all information is on the website and we are still looking for volunteers on the day if you can spare a morning. We would also like to remind all current Year 6's that we'd love them to attend too for a mini-reunion so gather your friends and get the date in your diary!
Our priority for next year is to make sure we obtain as much feedback and suggestions on events and event planning as possible. With this in mind please keep an eye out for a meeting date soon and don't worry if you can't attend - we'll circulate a feedback form in advance.
The Friends of Claverdon AGM will take place on Monday 7th October at The Durham Ox. We'd love to see as many of you there as possible - everyone will be welcome.
On Tuesday 8th October there will be a Bag2School collection for your second hand clothing and other item. Thank you to Flora for organising all the collections. You can find out more by visiting the website here and clicking on the 'Bag2School' tab.
The Claverdon Primary School quiz will be returning on Thursday 17th October! Put it in your diary now, and keep an eye out for more information coming soon!
How you can get involved
We’re always looking for help and volunteers for various Friends of Claverdon project. If you would like to get involved you’d be very welcome - and your support would be very much appreciated!
Drop your class rep a message or visit www.friendsofclaverdon.org/contactus to send us a message.Â
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