Ashford School Annual Fund Leaflet

T H E A S H FO RD S C HO O L FO UNDATION

PARTICIPATION IS THE KEY Annual Fund 2016 / 17

foundation@ashfordschool.co.uk www.ashfordschool.co.uk

What is the Ashford School Foundation Annual Fund?

The Annual Fund is a request for support made to every member of the Ashford School community of parents, former pupils and other friends of the School. Its aim is to provide the resources to fund modest and achievable projects that enhance and broaden the life and educational development of our pupils at every stage of their journey through Ashford School and to build up greater reserves to fund meantested financial support for our pupils.

All of the funds raised are allocated, according to the preferences of our donors, towards pupil support or the target projects identified by

the School’s teaching staff as being likely to provide immediate and substantial benefit to the teaching and learning environment at Ashford.

The Ashford School Foundation was launched in September 2016 to act as the fundraising charity to support the future development of the School.

Ashford has always relied upon the generosity of individual parents, former pupils and support groups such as the PTA to help it fund items of equipment, new activities and financial support for current pupils which we cannot provide through fee income alone.

We hope you will feel able to participate.

T H E A S H FO R D S C H O O L FO U N DAT I O N

How much should I give?

The Annual Fund allows all of the School’s supporters to participate in something from which the pupils will see an immediate benefit. Please give whatever you feel comfortable with.

Participation is the key, not just the level of individual gifts. All gifts are welcomed and acknowledged in the same manner and giving levels are not disclosed publicly.

We will honour the wishes of those donors who wish their gifts to remain anonymous.

Gifts can be single, or spread over a period through direct debit payments.

Through Gift Aid your donations can be made tax-effective for the School and for higher-rate tax payers.

How will my gift be spent?

Your gift will be spent in the area you choose, whether towards the target projects enhancing our facilities and curriculum which are identified overleaf, the Assisted Places programme, or at the School’s discretion based upon the priorities and needs of the School identified by the School’s Executive Team.

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This Year’s Projects PE and Sport ELECTRONIC SCOREBOARD The School has made significant investment in its sports facilities in recent years and is transforming our pupils’ engagement with sport from a recreational interest to a performance culture. Our facilities would be further enhanced by the purchase of an electronic scoreboard for our astro pitch at the Senior School, where it can be seen from the viewing balcony.

Estimated cost: £12,000

SWIMMING POOL DIVING BLOCKS With the appointment of a Director of Swimming last year the School made the decision to provide a fully integrated swimming programme within the School and an external programme for the local community.

Much progress has been made. However, at present, training, starts and turns and time trials are run at fully-equipped external venues.

The provision of 6 starting blocks (4 at the Prep School and 2 at the Senior School) will enable all pupils to experience the opportunity of learning new skills and be able to compete and train more frequently on site. The blocks will ensure that the School can become a centre of excellence for both the development of pupils and be a flagship venue for training, coaching and course implementation.

Estimated cost: £5,000

Prep School OUTDOOR CLASSROOM To make better use of the fantastic grounds we have at the Prep School we have installed an outdoor classroom to enable cross curricular lessons to be delivered in a ‘forest school’ way. The project will be combined with our plans to transform the school pond to allow pond dipping and mini beast observation. The Classroom will also serve as a performance area or auditorium space enhancing drama lessons and providing a dedicated space to rehearse in play times.

The PTA has already made a very substantial donation to the cost of the classroom, but we would welcome individual gifts to help complete the project.

Estimated Cost: £20,000

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DIGITISATION PROJECT In response to requests from alumni of both Ashford School and Friars Prep School a digital archive project has been made possible by initial grants from the School and the ASA. The digital archive can be found on the School website and is proving an excellent resource for teaching and learning at the School.

We are committed to cataloguing and preserving our existing material and rebuilding the archive with new material offered by former pupils and other supporters.

The costs of digitising our printed materials and making them freely available on the website will be ongoing and the generous support from alumni will be needed if the project is to be completed.

Estimated Cost: £6,000

English WRITER IN RESIDENCE To inspire and empower Ashford School students to write with flair, creativity and imagination the School would like to engage a published author to work in small groups or on a one-to-one basis during creative writing and poetry lessons across all Key Stages. Additionally, the Writer in Residence would assist with developing writing skills in Humanities and Science, helping students to find ‘ways in’ when approaching writing tasks in these subjects.

Estimated Cost: £10,000 (1-yr fixed term contract)

For more information please contact: David Young, Foundation Director, Foundation Office, Ashford School, East Hill, Ashford TN24 8PB

foundation@ashfordschool.co.uk 01233 619525 www.ashfordschool.co.uk

T H E A S H FO R D S C H O O L FO U N DAT I O N

Pupil Support ASSISTED PLACES Since the withdrawal of the Government’s Assisted Places Scheme in 1997, the School has continued to offer an Ashford education to pupils whose families could not otherwise afford one. This has been funded by a combination of the School’s own resources, and from donations to the Ashford School Association Charitable Trust (now The Ashford School Foundation).

In the current academic year Ashford will spend just under £250,000 on providing financial support to current pupils by way of means-tested Assisted Places and other forms of grant. However, donations of individual supporters are key in ensuring that our school community remains broad-based and socially inclusive.

The 1898 Society Whether you make your donation by a single annual gift or by a regular monthly direct debit payment, those whose annual donation to the Foundation is £1,898 or more will be invited to become members of the 1898 Society. In recognition of the fact that some younger Ashfordians might be interested in supporting the School, but not at this level, there are special tiers of membership for alumni under 35 years of age and for recent leavers.

Young Ashfordian (<35 yrs)

Full Membership

Monthly Gift - Net £126.50

Annual Gift - Net £1,518

Value of Gift to Us (Gift Aided) £1,898

Monthly Gift - Net £12.65

Annual Gift - Net £151.80

Value of Gift to Us (Gift Aided) £189.80

Recent Leavers (<23 yrs)

Monthly Gift - Net £1.26

Annual Gift - Net £15.18

Value of Gift to Us (Gift Aided) £18.98

All members of the 1898 Society will receive recognition in the annual Donor Report and priority invitations to events.