Cotham School Pay It Forward Campaign
Many parents, carers and alumni have contacted me this year to enquire as to how they might help the school. They are aware that in these times of austerity for many of our families and education funding cuts it can be challenging to provide all of the ‘extras’ that make a student’s journey through the school so memorable and in many cases so life changing.
‘Pay it Forward’ is an international movement which promotes the undertaking of random (or not so random) acts of kindness. ‘Pay it Forward’ can take many forms; for example: a general donation which we can decide how to use to assist our students in the best way possible. Also, a donation to help us provide access to extracurricular activities which carry extra costs that some families cannot afford to pay. Such activities at Cotham include music instrument lessons, sports clubs, e.g. Badminton, Cue Theatre (drama) club, Duke of Edinburgh, Rucksack Club and any school trip which is not part of the curriculum.
Parents and carers have already very generously funded a child other than their own to attend a camping trip, musical instrument lessons for a number of children and provided financial support for additional children other than their own to attend a trip abroad.
Through Pay, it Forward we have already raised funds towards concrete table tennis, five-a-side goals, extra basketball hoops and more sustainable picnic benches around the site, and we are very keen to fundraise more generally with a view to providing students with more equipment for use at break and lunchtime.
We would also like to promote ‘Pay it Forward’ for essentials like school uniform, PE kit and project materials, e.g. specialist art materials.
Paying it Forward in other ways
Not everyone can or wants to make a financial donation. We understand this, but the great news is that there are other ways to ‘Pay it Forward’. These are some of them:
- Do you have any school uniform/ sports kit you no longer need which is in a good, clean condition? Please donate it to our parent / carer group who run the second hand school uniform shop by bringing your donations to the main school reception on Cotham Lawn Road.
- Have you bought your child GCSE and A Level revision guides that they no longer need? Donate these to the school for a child who cannot afford to buy them.
- We spend considerable funds on textbooks. Do you have some Cotham school text books at home that your child is not using, or they have forgotten to return? Please return them to the school.
- Do you have any books, suitable for secondary age children, that your children have read and you no longer need? Donate them, so other students can read them.
Please bring any books that you wish to donate to the main reception at Cotham Lawn Road.
- Do you have a skill that you could donate to the school? Could you become a ‘Cotham Supporter’? We are always looking for adults to attend our many workshops and activities to enable us to bring essential life experiences to students; for example: careers events, mock interviews, assembly speakers and contributions to the curriculum through masterclasses or lectures.
As you can see there are so many ways that together we can help Cotham students to flourish and thrive. Your ‘Pay it Forward’ contributions will make a significant difference to our school whether they are financial, helping with resource upcycling or the giving of your time and skills.
If you wish to become a Cotham Supporter
Please contact: Mary Clarkson, Human Resources Manager at clarksonm@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
Do you have any other ideas that you would like to share? Please let us know!
Please contact Allison Crossland, Director of Finance and Resources at Crosslanda@cotham.bristol.sch.uk
What happens next? How do I ‘Pay it Forward’?
Please get behind our Pay it Forward Campaign and donate in any way you are able to. We want to generate a fantastic response over the next twelve months. We will keep you regularly informed of our progress through our weekly mailings to parents and carers, our website, the school Facebook site and Twitter.
To make a regular financial donation you can:
Create a standing order with your bank to send a payment to Cotham School’s bank account.
The bank account details are:
Lloyds Bank plc Sort code: 309483 Account number: 41658468.
Whether you are donating generally or for a specific area of interest, please include one of the following references:
∙ For Books (library, textbooks, revision guides) - Books
∙ For Music & Performing Arts - MPA
∙ For Art and Design Technology Materials - ADT
∙ For Sports clubs & PE kit - Sport
∙ For anything else - General
To make a one off donation you can:
1. Log into Wisepay via the school website
2. Choose the box titled ‘Fund Raising’. There will be a menu where you can choose what you would like to donate to.
Whatever you can do, however you can help, please get involved in our ‘Pay It Forward Campaign.’ Thank you for helping us to make a difference.
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