Fundraising


think the children needed something to look forward to, so we simply highlighted that if every child in the Larch Centre gave £10 we would quickly hit the total. The platform worked really well


for us. It was great to be able to read all the lovely comments people made as they donated, about what their children were looking forward to. We publicised our page through the school newsletter, internal emails and the school’s social media and it was very easy for people to give simply by clicking on the link. We were delighted to reach our


fundraising goal in a matter of weeks, raising £3,765 plus £892 in Gift Aid. This was mainly through lots of people across our community donating small amounts. Busy Lizzies also made a


significant contribution (for which we were very grateful) because the nursery children are already contributing actively to the farm and our partnership is so important to us. We had a further large donation from one grandparent. We then added additional amounts from various other budgets, such as pupil premium, to cover the total costs of establishing the farm. The community and parents were


keen to support us in other ways too. One parent made all of our farm signs and another linked us to Pets at Home, which offered us a small discount on supplies. We were lucky enough to launch the farm with two


26 SUMMER 2021 FundEd


‘Looking after animals is a great learning experience


and this brought our values of responsibility, compassion, patience and kindness to life’


rabbits, four guinea pigs, three tortoises and seven hens! The Simon Balle Farm opened


with an official launch party on the first day of our summer term. It was a fantastic occasion, with staff and children from both the Larch Centre and Busy Lizzies coming together (outside) for the first time in a year. We were joined by the Year 9 farm leaders, two governors and our


headteacher Alison Saunders, who cut the opening ribbon and made a speech. We even had the school big band playing, which added more excitement to the day. The children are really enjoying


their new farm and it’s been a great addition to the school. Science and understanding nature have taken on a different dimension and the idea of “stewardship” is being taught and modelled. We’ll be asking for family support with rotas for looking after the animals at weekends and during holidays – and it looks like we’ll have many willing volunteers.’ Rachel Kirk, vice-principal, Simon Balle All-through School, Hertford (1,489 pupils)


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