Friends of Swainswick School
Where am I ? / Friends of Swainswick School
Friends of Swainswick School is a registered charity. The object of the charity is to ‘advance the education of the pupils in the school’. This is achieved by raising funds to purchase items not otherwise available to the pupils, and nurturing the Swainswick school community, helping the pupils feel secure in a supportive environment
The Friends of Swainswick is a friendly and informal group of parents, staff, governors and villagers who work in partnership with the school to organise a number of fundraising and social events throughout the academic year. Any parent can help with Friends – you don’t have to sit on the Committee to have an input !
News from The Friends is regularly updated on this page
Our aims are two-fold:
- to organise events that enable the school community to get together on a regular basis
- to raise funds for the school – which are used to provide new school materials, equipment and extra curriculum activities that would typically fall outside the school budget but which greatly enhance our children’s time at Swainswick
Where the money is spent
Over recent years the funds we have raised have supported both large longer-term projects as well as smaller more immediate funding requests. Our most recent fundraising drive was for Project Garden where Friends contributed over £15,000 to help fund the total redevelopment of the school grounds into an exciting and fun place for our children to learn
We have similarly large aspirations for future projects, including a key project in the pipeline, Project CIT (Communication Information & Technology), which aims to deliver the necessary IT support to lead our children into the 21st century. We also support funding requests such as :
- Trip to the Egg Theatre for Class 2
- Class 1 coach trip to Folly Farm, Bristol
- Arts & Crafts materials for each class
- New play bikes for Reception and Year 1
Social events
Friends’ events run throughout the year and are a great way to meet others and have some fun! We run a variety of events for both ourselves and the children. Some are one-offs, others such as Cafe Swainswick, offer a regular opportunity to get together and have a chat. Events include :
- Summer Fete
- Project Garden Cream Teas
- Christmas Fayre
- Curry & Quiz Night
- School Disco
- Cafe Swainswick
- Castle Combe Cycle Ride
How to get involved
All parents and carers are automatically members of Friends of Swainswick. We rely on your help to help achieve fundraising targets. You can help in various ways: become a class rep, join the Friends committee, donate goods, bake cakes, man stalls, sell tickets or simply come along and support the events
We are also always looking for good ideas for fundraising events and projects within school to fund. If you have any ideas, please email Emma Partridge (em.partridge@talktalk.net), tell your Class Rep or of course come along to our monthly meetings – all are very welcome and new ideas and offers to help are always gratefully received !
‘Nearly new uniform’
Please contact Rebecca Whincup (rebecca@jot.to) for any extra items of uniform or sports kit you may wish to purchase or donate. A uniform sale will be held each term – look out for details on this page or in the school newsletter
Café Swainswick
Café Swainswick was created by mums; Lisa, Sian and Hannah, for parents to connect and strengthen the community at Swainswick. It also allows younger siblings to meet future Swainswickitos and to begin to form friendships. We have found it a great place for everyone in Upper and Lower Swainswick to meet up and gas and we regularly get mums from Larkhall as well.
We have guest bakers every week, we offer breakfast and sell fresh fair-trade coffee and tea. We are always looking for more bakers so please get in touch if you can help out. Come along and support Café Swainswick every Wednesday from 9-11am in term time. Find us on FaceBook at Café Swainswick
NEWSLETTERS
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