Fundraising
‘WE RAISED £6,500 FOR A MINI FARM’ ‘S
imon Balle All-through School is an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ academy for primary and secondary
pupils, including sixth form. We also have a nursery run by Busy Lizzies at the school. The idea of a mini farm was hatched
last year as a way of extending our outdoor provision. We wanted to promote nature, and support our pupils (particularly the younger children, those who may be disadvantaged in any way and children with SEND) both during and following the pandemic. Looking after small animals is a great
learning experience – and we felt that having this opportunity would bring our values of responsibility, compassion, patience and kindness to life. Outdoor learning is an integral part of our Early
Years curriculum; we already have a pupil garden with a vegetable allotment, and the children enjoy regular welly walks through local wildlife habitats. Our plan was to site the farm on an
underused area of grass outside our Larch Centre (our primary school building) as an extension of our outdoor classroom activities in primary science and learning for life. We also wanted to increase cohesion across the school community by having a group of Year 9 volunteers leading the farm work. With our core budget already
stretched, however, we couldn’t justify the outlay on what might be seen as non-essential provision. Instead, we decided to see how much we could raise through a crowdfunding appeal. We knew we needed a safe fenced area (and one that would be fox-proof, which
added to the expense!), with double gates and enclosures. We also allowed for some areas starting off empty so that the farm could expand, or we could use them to welcome visiting animals. Other essential items were then
costed, including hutches and homes, food and bedding, vaccinations, storage and accessories (such as gloves and brooms). Most of our small animals were promised as donations, for instance one of our parents breeds guinea pigs, and a staff member provided our hens. We set our crowdfunding target at
£4,500 and launched our campaign last autumn on DonateMySchool (now InvestMyCommunity). We’d used this platform before as a school and found it very straightforward and easy. We didn’t feel it was the right time to be asking parents for lots of money, but we did
FundEd SUMMER 2021 25
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