The Friends of the Royal High School Bath booklet

e m o c l e W of the

s to the Friend th a B l o o h c S Royal High

Who we are

We need you!

Friends ofWethe Royal High School Bath would love for you to join us as a volunteer for the

We are a group of parents andRoyal staff,High including Heads both the Prep and Senior Friends of the Schoolthe Bath, andof we always Schools, who work together to raise funds for extracurricular opportunities for the welcome volunteers keen to work towards making girls. We build upon the each of ourschool’s events afriendly, success. inclusive community and welcome all parents who would like to join us.

To sign up, or if you’d like some more information, Royal High School Bath parents form a We’re very excited about our mission, drop us an email at hello@rhsfriends.org and we key part of the school community and, but we need you to help us make it work. will be in touch. together with staff, family members, and We firmly believe that every member of We look forward to meeting students, we form the Friends of the Royal you our soon! school community – parent, family High School Bath. member, or student – is a Friend of the Royal High School Bath, and we have a The Friends organise and run social events wide range of ways you can get involved for parents throughout the school year, or contribute new suggestions. provide funding for a wide variety of extracurricular opportunities for the girls and, Each of our volunteer teams has a clear through a series of varied social events purpose, which means you can volunteer throughout the year, do our part to ensure in confidence, without feeling that you that everyone feels welcome in our school don’t know what you might be getting community. yourself into.

What we do We are a registered charity and an active group who organise a wide range of social and fundraising events throughout the year. It is not linked to just one school site but aims to bring families from both the Prep and Senior Schools together. Events in recent years have included an annual Christmas Bazaar, a Gala Ball, an annual fireworks display, school discos, wine tasting nights, dog shows, quiz nights, and more, which are well supported by the parents and teachers. The Friends also receive an impressive amount of money from the second-hand uniform shop.

Each year, through the funds we raise, the Friends support the school by making donations to purchase various specialist resources as well as ‘icing on the cake’ equipment for the girls. The Friends also offer the Sixth Form students the opportunity to be considered for an Education Award, made each year to applicants who are seeking specific support for a gap year project, initiative, or individual endeavour.

The Friends Committee oversees the work and activities of our many volunteer teams, and operates in the background to provide support and advice where needed. The Chair in particular, supported by the two Vice-Chairs, networks within the school to raise the profile of the Friends and its dedicated teams, boosting recruitment and helping to troubleshoot any problems if required. The Committee also organises a ‘Thank You’ event at the end of each academic year for all members of the various teams.

The Friends Committee meets every half term to consider new funding requests and discuss plans for upcoming events.

This meeting is open to everyone who would like to attend, so all members of our wider school community - parents, staff, as well as volunteer team members - are invited and encouraged to attend.

The dates for these meetings are posted in the school calendar and in the weekly Prep Newsletter and Senior Bulletin, with reminders being sent on Classlist.

We would love to see you there!

Opportunities for everyone Summer Festival

Our Summer Festival is a celebration of the creative arts, and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a family day out in the beautiful grounds of the Senior School. You can expect music, dance and drama performances from the Prep and Senior girls as well as an art and DT exhibition – it’s a festival with something for everyone!

While we’re not able to guarantee sunshine we can definitely guarantee a warm welcome to all our Royal High School families.

We always welcome volunteers to help organize the festival, and your ideas, passion, and creativity will quickly be put to use!

Christmas Bazaar

Our long-established annual Christmas Bazaar is a highlight in the school calendar. We welcome a variety of external stall holders to create a Christmas marketplace within the school, and organise Santa’s Grotto, festive food and drinks, a raffle, and schoolrun activities and stalls to help put everyone in a truly festive mood, so it’s no surprise that this hugely popular social event is one of our main fundraisers every year.

There are so many ways you can get involved in helping to organize our annual bazaar, so we encourage you to bring your organisational skills and creativity to this team – the more the merrier!

Easter Egg Hunt

Every year we fund an Easter Egg Hunt at both the Prep and Senior Schools, hiding chocolate eggs across the grounds, encouraging students to have fun while enjoying some tasty treats. You don’t need to be the Easter Bunny to come and help us source and deliver treats for every girl – we’d love to have more volunteers to write quiz questions and deliver eggs to both school sites!

Curry and Quiz Night

We know our students have a record of academic excellence, but every year our Curry and Quiz night proves that our parents know a thing or two as well!

This is a fun, relaxed get together, and we would love you to come along and take part. To put together a successful quiz night we need volunteers to help set the questions, create slides, organise food, decorate the tables, and more.

Friends Ball

Our ball is a highlight in the calendar as we come together to celebrate our daughters’ success. Enjoy fine food, bid in our auction for fabulous prizes, or just dance the night away – it’s a fantastic event for everyone. This team is dedicated to the careful planning that goes into putting on an event this big every other year: finding the right venue, selecting dining options and entertainment, sourcing auction prizes, and more. New members always welcome!

More ways to get involved Education Awards

Every year we provide funding to students who are seeking support for a gap year project or initiative to help further their career aspirations or a lifelong interest. Time and time again it has been a huge success both for students and the communities they impact. If you would like to help, you would liaise with students to help them put forward clear goals, then help decide which requests would have the most impact so we can allocate funding accordingly.

Welcome Team

We know how easy it is to slip through the net when joining a new school, but we’re keen to make sure every family feels welcome. If you have ideas about how we can do this better and would like to meet like-minded people who can work together to put those plans into action, this would be a fantastic team to join.

Communications

Are you a whizz with words, a magician on social media, or a keen photographer? We are always looking for brilliant wordsmiths who can help promote the wide variety of activities of the Friends to our school community via bulletins, feeds, and more. Please let us know if you could spare some time to join this team!

Help us raise funds JustGiving: As a registered charity we have a JustGiving platform whereby parents can send donations directly in a tax-efficient way. Or if you have some interesting, fun, or creative ways of raising funds for the Friends, this is a great way of contributing. One parent raised funds this year by holding a coding event and selling tickets to join it.

Find out more here: https://www.justgiving.com/friendsofrhsb Easyfundraising: Another way of helping to raise funds is to use the Easyfundraising system. This is a free service that allows you to shop directly at your favourite online stores via our special links, and you automatically contribute to the Friends with every purchase you make. It won’t cost you any extra, but the Friends charity benefits.

Learn more here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/tfotrhsb

What we do

We need you!

We would love for you to join us as a volunteer for the Friends of the Royal High School Bath, and we always welcome volunteers keen to work towards making each of our events a success.

To sign up, or if you’d like some more information, drop us an email at hello@rhsfriends.org and we will be in touch.

We look forward to meeting you soon!