WHAT WE DO
FUNDRAISING AND HOSTING EVENTS
The FFH is a parent-run PTA charity tasked with enriching the school community and making Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery a better place for our children to grow and learn.
The FFH's primary purpose is to:
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fundraise with the school community to enrich the experiences of the pupils and
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organise social and other events to promote good relations between staff, parents, and pupils.
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We achieve this by promoting a cooperative partnership between the administration, staff, parents and others associated with the school and by engaging in social and fundraising activities.
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Across the past twenty + years, the FFH team has hosted many events and raised tens of thousands of pounds. All the funds raised have been spent in agreement with the school to enrich the offer at Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery.
CHARITIES TOGETHER
How do the two charities work together?
Our school, Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery is an educational delivery charity; Charity No: 528261.
The FFH is a separate PTA charity that makes grants. Charity No: 1096062.
Neither charity is profit-making. Instead, the FFH fundraises within our school community, and all our grants benefit Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery.
FUNDRAISING
One of our most important objectives is raising funds to enrich the offer at Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery.
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We fundraise through a range of channels, including:
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Annual Social Events
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Sponsorships from Local Businesses
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Donations via Easyfundraising
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Corporate Match Funding
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Direct Donations via Gift Aid
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Recycling Projects
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Second-Hand Uniform Shop
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Over the years, we have raised tens of thousands of pounds, and we hope that together, we can continue to support Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery through our projects and activities.
2ND HAND UNIFORM SHOP
The FFH Second Hand Uniform Shop offers Highfield's parents the facility to purchase used items of branded school uniforms. We pride ourselves on selling high-quality second-hand garments at a fair price, often a fraction of the cost of new ones.
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Highfield's parents operate the FFH Second Hand Uniform Shop and sell all items of the old uniform (which will be honoured until 2025), with some pieces of the new uniform introduced in 2024.
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All stock is donated, and in return, the prices are low. Occasionally, brand-new items are in stock. These are sold at a slight premium to the second-hand price.
EVENTS
Another priority for the FFH team is to bring our children, the staff, administration, parents and carers together at social events.
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Naturally, these events take an extraordinary scale of organisation, patience, enthusiasm and energy, but our team know that it's worth it for our children.
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Some of our most popular and regular events include the Highfields School Ball, Christmas Fayre, Film Nights, Seasonal Discos and Break the Rules Days.
DONATIONS
While the FFH appreciates direct donations and sponsorships, we are fortunate that there are many new and innovative ways for families to donate to the FFH without impacting their finances.
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These options include signing up for websites that pay a % of your spending directly to the FFH after each transaction, with no cost passed on to you. Similarly, some companies offer Matchfunding programs or allow staff to donate their time at the school while on full pay.
SUBCOMMITTEES
The FFH sometimes operates advisory sub-committees.
These sub-committees use the experience and contacts from our parent and carer base to support school events.
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Generally, each Sub Committee is headed up by at least one member of the FFH while the rest of the Sub-Committee includes parents and carers with particular interests or related skills for the proposed event.
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Examples Include:
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Highfest Subcommittee
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Christmas Fair SubCommittee
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Uniform Shop SubCommittee
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Highfields Ball SubComittee
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MarComs SubCommittee
COMMUNICATION
Connecting and informing our parent and carer community is hugely important to the success of the FFH at the school.
All our formal communications can be found here on our website and are also shared on our behalf by Mrs Lyons via email and ClassDojo to all families.
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Each class form at Highfields Independent School and Day Nursery has a Form Representative who serves as the contact between your class and the FFH. As well as acting as a key point of communication for the class and families, these Form Representatives arrange smaller social events specifically designed to bring families together.
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PAPERWORK & MINUTES
As a registered charity, the FFH is legally required to abide by charity law, which includes operating exclusively for the charitable purposes we were set up to achieve, and by the rules laid out in our Constitution.
When it comes to running a charity in accordance with charity law, the Charity Commission provides a range of guides on matters such as good decision making and the rules on financial reporting, including submitting annual information to the Charity Commission. Our Constitution also sets out rules that relate directly to how often we meet and how we run our meetings.
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You can find downloadable versions of our Constitution and approved Policies using the link below. We also save the Minutes from our FFH Meetings here too.
JOIN US!
If you are looking to sign up as a committee member, volunteer, sponsor or are simply seeking more information, please submit your details and query here, and we will be in touch as promptly as we can.