FOWS (Friends of Waltham School)

Friends of Waltham School (FOWS) are a group of parents who volunteer their time and skills to help raise money for our school.

We meet each term to discuss our fundraising ideas, activities and the timetable of events.

In total, over previous years, we have raised over £15,000 for the school which has enriched the children’s learning experience.

The committee is open to any parent, relative or carer with children at the school and no minimum commitment is required, even if you can only spare a couple of hours to help at one of our fundraising events or to sell raffle tickets. It all helps.

Please contact one of our committee members via the school office to offer a little bit of time to help:

• Chair Person - Kitty Battams
• Secretary - Lucy Jordan
• Treasurer – Amy Scott

We also have friends who come along to meetings and help to organise our events. We keep our meetings as informal as possible whilst still maintaining the requirements and standards of a ParentKind organisation.

In recent years we have raised money for:

• Daily Fruit in each classroom and pre-school.
• Trips to the local Pantomime.
• All the equipment for Read, Write Inc, training and resources.
• Resources for the outdoor learning environment.
• New laptops and iPads.

Some of our fundraising events have included:

• Annual Autumn ball
• School Lottery
• Comedy on the Wolds
• Maypole event
• Annual Charter/Summer Fair

We are always looking for new members to help at events. Please contact the school office or any of the above members if you think you could spare some time.

If you are unable to spare any time to help FOWS below are a list of ways to can help support us:

• Sign up to www.yourschoollottery.co.uk. So far this has raised £582.40 which is great news for our children WALTHAM LOTTERY
• Go to www.easyfundraising.org.uk and search Waltham C of E Primary School 
• Choose FOWS as your local charity when using BOILER JUICE
• Like and share our Facebook page and any events shared on there

Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for Waltham School with easyfundraising?
 
There are over 4,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.
 
All you need to do is:
 
1. Go to DONATE TO WALTHAM SCHOOL and join for free.

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Waltham School at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
 
There are no catches or hidden charges and we will be really grateful for your donations.
 
Thank you for your support.

Message from Jane Noad, Chair of the Viking Challenge Committee:

It brings me much joy to confirm the amount raised for 2022 - we should all be incredibly proud of this and it makes a huge difference to Redmile school, Reach and the other 3 academy schools.  I would like to say a massive thank you to each and everyone of you - without your hard work (and the support of your family) throughout the year, on the day and after the event the event would not happen.  In addition, we had some great feedback on the event (smiles, fun, laughter, route, food and more) so not only did we run a massive event we ran a popular event loved by our riders,

This will be split in the following way (note the split for reach and the 3 other academy schools is based on how many marshals are provided on the day):

£12,000 Redmile School

£4,800 Reach

£3,200 for the 3 other academy schools (Waltham-on-the-Wolds £437 / Wymondham £1,890 / Croxton Kerrial £873)

In addition we decided this year that we would donate £500 to Peacock Wood to support a local cause that also supports us (a number of volunteers from peacock wood were with us for the event).  This donation is also linked to the fact we only offered digital certificates this year - saving paper and trees.

The next event will be held on Sunday 1 October 2023 so please keep the date free.