Voluntary School Fund – Highgate Wood School

The Governing Body, the PSA and the school are all too aware of the projects we’d like to deliver, but no matter how creative and strategic our financial planning is, the bottom line is that we currently can’t get anywhere near the end of our ‘to do’ list. And that ‘to do’ list isn’t just ‘nice to haves’.

We know we need to install additional students’ toilets (with support from the Local Authority), improve our sports facilities and changing rooms, upgrade and enhance the school’s computer network, build a rain and sun shade outside and maintain our drive for sustainability. We are also considering improving our internal communications capability by installing a Tannoy public address system that would significantly enhance our site security and responses to any emergency situation. However, at the moment, we simply don’t have the budget to do so.

Other schools in Haringey and across the country already ask parents and carers to contribute. We’re not leading the way here, but we feel that now is the right time to ask our parents and carers to contribute.

Our school’s finances are stable with a balanced budget, which we feel is a real success in the current financial climate where almost a third of maintained schools have a budget deficit (according to the Education Policy Unit, January 2019.

We have achieved this in partnership with our Governing Body’s Finance Committee by being financially prudent and cutting costs sensibly where we can. However, the situation moving forward is predicted to be increasingly challenging for schools. As you probably are aware, funding for schools in London is continuing to drop in real terms – so moving forward we are now faced with a horrible dilemma. Either give up on our ‘to do’ list, make more significant cuts or generate extra income.

The Governors, School and PSA have been discussing both how and when to launch the PCF for some time. When looking in particular at the capital investment we know we need, we think that the time is right to ask parents and carers to contribute to the PCF – particularly because we will benefit from Gift Aid.

Every donation will support our students.

Increasing costs and reductions in school income, set against the significant economies that we have put in place, make this a difficult figure to calculate – particularly with the uncertainty surrounding future funding from the Government. However, according to the School Cuts website, Highgate Wood School has experienced a loss of £362 per pupil per year, equivalent to over £500,000 per annum and we can be certain that our future funding will not cover the upgrades and improvements that we want to make.

We’re all passionate believers in the benefits of a comprehensive education. When I came into the teaching profession I never believed I’d have to write to parents asking them to donate to their own school. It is something that we are now doing with some reluctance.

I know that there is no way that anyone else is going to pay for the improvements we need to make, and I also know that the only option available to me is to ask those parents and carers who want to contribute, and who can afford to contribute, to do so.

We have no intention of making anyone feel guilty. We recognise that some parents and carers are able to contribute, and some are not. Our message is “give what you can and what you are willing to give”. We don’t want anyone to contribute more than they can afford. There is no obligation to contribute, and all donations are voluntary.

This is new to us and so we have no pre-set notion as to how much parents will donate. Our view is that anything extra will be helpful and greatly appreciated. We can calculate that if half of all our families contributed £20 a month then the scheme would generate well over £100,000 per year. If 30% of families donated £15 it would generate more than £50,000. But the honest answer is we don’t know.

What we do know is that we will report to parents twice a year, to give everyone a full account of what money has been raised, and the projects identified to receive funds. We will be totally transparent about every aspect of the PCF.

The donation will automatically attract gift-aid, but If you are a higher-rate (40%) tax payer, you can receive a partial tax-rebate on your contribution. If you donate £200 per annum, the PCF will receive £250 and you can re-claim an additional £50 on your tax return.

Payroll Giving allows those whose employer supports the system to make regular tax efficient donations to charity (see www.gov.uk/payroll-giving for more details). We are in the process of registering to receive funds via Payroll Giving and will be able to make use of this once registration is complete. Should you wish to donate in this manner please contact us (pcf@hws.haringey.sch.uk) and we shall provide you with the relevant details.

Ultimately, it’s the decision of the School and the Governing Body, in line with our development objectives, to decide on the priorities for school spend. However, due to legislation about managing finances of this nature, the PSA will have to be accountable for what happens to monies that are donated through them. This means that there is a rigorous accountability structure in place that involves representation from the School’s Leadership, The PSA and the Governing Body Finance Committee to ratify the school’s chosen priorities.

The school’s leadership and the Governing Body will be reviewing our finances and our priorities for spend on an annual basis. This process of review will include a decision as to whether it remains appropriate and necessary to continue to seek parental contributions. Parents and carers may, of course, begin contributing to the scheme or stop their contributions at any time they wish.

The PSA shall continue to run all their usual school events and event led fundraising activities. These funds raised shall be kept in a separate pot from the PCF, and will support incoming bids from the teachers at school, as they do currently. The PSA will continue to vote on how these funds are to be spent as laid out in their constitution.
The PSA will continue to focus their spending in the following areas:

• Student enrichment – additional learning support, be it from workshops, school trips, external speakers etc.
• School equipment – for various subjects; sports, music, science, art, photography etc.
• Pupil Premium/Hardship Fund – regular termly funding of the Hardship Fund, with additional support as identified by teachers for students on Pupil Premium or suffering hardship.