FRIENDS OF W.I.S.

H NEWSLETTER

Issue 2

Friends of W.I.S.H
Newsletter

Whitbourne C of E Independent School & Hub

19th August 2013

Enjoying the sun at the school allotment IN THIS ISSUE

An exciting new development!

The end of July saw a very exciting development with regards to the future of the school. Several months ago Sheenagh approached the Trustees of the H.O.P.E. Family Centre to see if they would be interested in joining with us and supporting the creation and running of Whitbourne C of E Independent School & Hub. Following a lot of discussion and a (rather nerve wracking) meeting with our committee we were really pleased when the Trustees decided that they would be in a position to work with us. We are all extremely excited by this partnership, and would like to thank the H.O.P.E Trustees for their belief in our vision for the school and the exceptional level of support they have offered us. We will benefit Dont forget enormously from this, not least because of the wealth of experience they bring with them. All the Trustees are fully behind, and believe in, the philosophy being put forward for how we believe childrens learning should be and how we want to use this to shape the school. They believe that the school would fit in with the charitys aims and objectives, and are also excited by the potential it offers to extend the work done at H.O.P.E. beyond the early years and provide children with what they need. We have set up a new company, with both members of Friends of W.I.S.H. and H.O.P.E. as directors to run the new Independent School. The Trustees were anxious that we do this, rather than using H.O.P.E. itself as it would mean that we could retain control of the project and still benefit from H.O.P.E.s support. In addition to this the Trustees have also offered the school a very

Being a friend of W.I.S.H.

How your membership is helping the effort to save the school and details of our members prize draw! Page 2

Fundraising & Events

Whats coming up, how to get involved and who to contact! Page 2

Past Events
Find out what has gone on since the last newsletter Page 3

W.I.S.H. progress
The latest developments at the school Page 4

generous start-up grant, they have agreed to release Sheenagh from H.O.P.E (and fund the cost of backfilling her position) as well as giving us some administrative and legal support. All the committee offer a huge thank you to H.O.P.E for providing us with such a solid foundation on which to build the future school.

SUPPER & QUIZ NIGHT 7:30pm on the 28th September At the Village Hall

FRIENDS OF W.I.S.H NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Can You Help?

For anyone thinking Id like to help, but I dont know what I could do, we have created this section in which you will find details of areas where we would like some help. If you see something that you feel you could assist with please get in touch with the specific named contact.

Fundraising & Future Events

On the 28th September we are holding a Supper and Quiz Night at the Village Hall. The evening will start at 7.30pm with a bring and share supper, followed by the quiz. Entry will be 10 for teams of up to 6 (8 if the team contains an advanced member!) Tickets will be available closer to the time from the Village Shop or any committee member. Before this, on the 7 September, we will be joining the Village Shop for a Mulch and Munch session at the Community Orchard from 122pm. We will be mulching the trees in the Orchard followed by a well earned all-ages picnic. It also gives us the chance to see how the apple trees that were planted in November are doing, particularly the Coxs Pippin that the old School sponsored and planted. We will be helping get the orchard ready for the autumn and have an opportunity to look for the first beneficial insects and plants colonising the site. The school will also be on our allotment site, seeing how our fruit and vegetable plants are doing, and getting some weeding done. A picnic (including local eggs, salad and ham) made by the Wheatsheaf and fruit juices from Mill Orchards will be available for a reasonable 3.50 with proceeds from this going towards our fund-raising effort. We want this to be a real family and community event if you would like to come along please let us or Kate Lack know (it will help with catering requirements if we have some idea of how many will be there!) Ideas for future events include a balloon race, Christmas Bingo and family fun day. These are still in the very early stages of planning and
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details and dates are still to be confirmed watch this space! If anyone would like to help with the organisation of any fund-raising events or feels they may be in a position to help with running one on the day please get in touch with Deb Walker. We are extremely pleased to have been offered, from 10 of our advanced members, a total of 2150 as one off donations and 205 as monthly contributions, with unspecified pledges from several more. We are currently trying to register as a small charity with the HMRC if we can claim gift-aid on these donations it will boost the amount we currently have pledged to over 5700 for the first year. This is a fantastic start, and puts us roughly a quarter of the way towards achieving our total fund-raising requirements for the first year. For those who may want to help with small regular donations but dont feel they can commit to a set monthly amount, we are currently working on a way that this can be done that would still enable us to claim gift-aid on those donations.

Non-classroom support
Once the school starts we will need a number of volunteers to assist in the day to day running of the school from answering the phone to photocopying and other administrative duties to assisting at playtimes and lunchtime to various caretaking duties.

Painting, decorating, DIY

Once we are in the school we anticipate that we may need some volunteers to help with redecoration. In the first instance for both of the above contact Anna Adshead 821887 or 07903 763899

Forest School Site

We will have plenty of opportunities for anyone who enjoys the outdoors to help with the clearing and setting up of our new forest school site. Matt Bennett 07846 088379

WHO TO CONTACT MAGAZINE EDITOR

Anna Adshead 821887 or 07903 763899

Macmillan coffee morning

We have happily agreed to take over the responsibility of running the annual Macmillan coffee morning, something that had become a bit of a tradition for the previous school. Deb Walker 07814 399918

MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES
Anna Adshead as above or Anna Marshall 07790 886432

FUNDRAISING CO-ORDINATOR
Deb Walker 07814 399918

SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS
Matthew Bennett 07846 088379
Or email at info@friendsofwish.co.uk

FRIENDS OF W.I.S.H NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

The Friends of WISH committee would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has signed up to become a friend of WISH. Your ongoing interest and support for the school means a lot to us and we hope a good sized membership will provide an effective demonstration of support for the school when we come to apply for Free School status. As a member you will be invited to attend our AGM every September, be able to vote on various issues (eg, who is on the committee) and even stand for a position on the committee if you should so desire! An extra special thank you must be extended to those who have been able to sign up as advanced members. As was mentioned in the previous newsletter these members will benefit from a discount when attending any of our events & the

Being a friend of WISH

right to vote on how friends of WISH funds are spent at our annual AGM. If you are reading this having picked up the newsletter from one of our local distribution points then I would urge you to become a member. It is the only reliable way of making sure you are kept up to date with all the developments and events happening at the school. Our organization is open to everyone and there is no obligation to become involved by volunteering or providing financial support (though all offers will be gratefully received!) If you have lost the form attached to the 1st newsletter you should be able to pick up a replacement from the

village shop, you can email us at info@friendsofwish.co.uk or fill in the contact form on our website friendsofwish.co.uk. To try to encourage the return of forms and increase the numbers joining our organisation we have decided that we will have a membership prize draw. This will occur when our membership numbers hit 75, 100 & 150. Every member will have one entry, with advanced members receiving a bonus entry. The prize being offered when we reach 75 members is a main meal for two courtesy of the Wheatsheaf Inn in Whitbourne. Remember, if you havent specifically requested to be a friend by returning your form or sending us an email you wont be on the membership list, and you will not be eligible for this draw, or any others.

On the 1 of August we held an allotment afternoon down at the schools site. This turned out to be much harder work than expected as, in complete contrast to previous days, the sun came out in force for us and instead of the warming hot chocolates that we thought might be needed we ended up buying out the village shops supply of cold drinks! The children had a great opportunity to work with our teaching team Sheenagh and Matt enabling them to get to know them better before September, as well as just having good time digging in the dirt and planting some vegetables. The allotment afternoon also provided an opportunity for a family interested in bring their children to the school to come along and meet us, and get stuck in helping out with the digging! The 3rd August saw us holding an Information and Coffee morning a chance for interested parties to come and find out more about the school over a drink and slice of cake. We were overwhelmed by the numbers of you who came! We didnt take an official tally of numbers attending, but we think that there were around 70-80 people. It was a fantastic show of support, and a huge thanks to everyone who came! Although the main objective of the morning was to inform the local community, we also had some more potential parents turn up to find out more about the school and managed to do a small amount of fund raising with the tea & cakes, a raffle and a lucky dip for the children bringing in a tidy 141.

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PAST EVENTS

LIMITED EDITION SIGNED PRINTS & CARDS

There is still the opportunity to purchase a limited edition print of local artist Cynthia Watermans beautify ul watercolour painting of the school. Proceeds from the sale of these prints will go towards W.I.S.H. There is the option of buying framed and unframed, mounted prints which will be signed by the artist. Prices are 23 unframed, 30 framed. We also have greeting cards that feature the image, these are available in packs of 5 for 4. Prints can be bought by contacting Cynthia at info@cynthiasfineart.co.uk and cards through Friends of W.I.S.H via any of our contact options.

FRIENDS OF W.I.S.H NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Update on W.I.S.H
Looking forward to September and the start of W.I.S.H. it would seem that everything is moving along for us to be able to be in the School building by the 18th of September. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, we have not been able to get in to the building to see what work may require doing once we are in possession. As soon as we officially have the keys it will be flat out decorating and setting up the school

all offers of help, as ever, would be gratefully received! There will be an opportunity for those of you who love the outdoors to help with the setting up the Forest School site. We are all delighted by the Evans's very generous offer of a piece of woodland where the children will be safe and we can set up a base camp for our Forest School curriculum. We'll be there clearing and getting the site ready in the first two weeks of September, if you'd like to know more about that side of the school and/or would like help then please talk to Matt.

We are really pleased that a local school has expressed an interest in coming alongside us and working closely with us and the children. This means that while the school is growing, the children will have the opportunity to be in bigger groups for things such as team games, school plays and trips out. We will be able to tell you more in the next newsletter.

Friends of W.I.S.H

Newsletter

Dene Hollow, Whitbourne, WR6 5RN

BECOME A FRIEND OF W.I.S.H

Please help support us by signing up to become a Friend of WISH. Membership is open to everyone, is completely free and does not commit you volunteering, participating in the school or attending fund raising events (though we would love it if you were able to do some or all of these things!) Becoming a member is simply one of the easiest ways to demonstrate your interest and support for Whitbourne School. As a member you will receive a copy of our regular newsletter enabling you to stay up to date with new developments and the progress of the School. Should you wish to further your support for the school by offering some financial assistance you will enjoy an advanced level of membership and will receive, in addition to the newsletter, a discount at any event organised by the friends of WISH and also the right to vote on how funds are spent. Whilst the exact detail of how funds will be used is yet to be decided it is envisaged that the majority will be used to support the day-to-day running of the school. This will include such things as; learning resources, admin supplies, rates, utility bills, insurance, building maintenance, etc Name___________________________________________ email _____________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Please send the Friends of W.I.S.H. newsletter to my email/home address (delete as appropriate) Please tick the box if you wish to become an advanced member further details about how you can donate will be sent to you and a committee member can visit you to help fill in the forms if you would like them to. Please indicate below if you are interested supporting the school by volunteering Fundraising/events Publicity/newsletter Non classroom (eg maintenance/cleaning/admin)
Please return your completed form to: Any of the Friends of WISH committee members The Village Shop Dene Hollow, Whitbourne, WR6 5RN

Teaching/Classroom help Other ___________________