Chilton Foliat Primary School Pupils are told “Grow your fiver into a new classroom and community club house”

Fundraising has begun in earnest at Chilton Foliat Primary School where pupils, together with the Chilton Foliat Community Association, hope to raise £85,000 to build a new classroom and a new and improved 68m² Community Club House. 

While government funding has been secured to build the new classroom portion of the project, a further £85,000 is needed to fund the new Community Club House. 

The ‘Grow your Fiver’ initiative has already raised over £1000 and given pupils valuable entrepreneur skills in the process.  Pupils at the school each received £5 and devised imaginative ways to make it ‘grow’.  These included craft and cake sales and a pop up shop.

Headteacher, Mrs Katie Turner, who joined the school in September 2018, commented:  “It’s an exciting time at Chilton Foliat Primary School.  The enthusiasm from both the school and village community is infectious and we are hugely optimistic that we will reach our £85,000 target;  creating a fabulous building to benefit all our children and the wider local community, and continuing to build on our already positive relationships”. 

The new building will provide the school with a classroom for the school’s older children and in the Community Club House, space for Chilton Club Childcare which runs Early Birds Club, After School Club and Holiday Club.

These clubs are hugely popular with the children and essential for working parents across the area.  Previously these valuable clubs operated out of a well-used mobile classroom, due to be demolished and replaced with the new wood clad structure.

The government’s funding timeline requires building work to start at the latest in February 2019.  Building the two elements simultaneously will ensure the realisation of significant economies of scale.

The charity and school community are working hard to address the funding gap, and in addition to applying for grants, they are appealing to the wider community to support this project. 

The project is registered with The Good Exchange, a fundraising platform matching potential grant donors and community projects.

The Greenham Trust has generously awarded a match funding which means that every £1 donated via The Good Exchange will be matched with £1 from The Greenham Trust, up to a maximum of £20,000. 

If you wish to enquire about making a donation to the Chilton Foliat Community Association to support this project please visit The Good Exchange link or email chiltonfoliatpledges@gmail.com for more information.  You are also invited to follow the Chilton Foliat Community Association on Facebook for regular updates on fundraising.