Partnerships
‘We transformed how we work with our school to fund a new library,’ says PTA chair Yvonne Cole
O
ur small village primary school in North Wiltshire has three classes, some including more than one
year group. Until about three years ago, the PTA (Friends of Stanton School, or FOSS for short) raised money and then offered it to the school, or the school asked for a particular amount to fund one-off events, such as visits from activity groups. Like many schools and PTAs, we didn’t really have a cohesive way of working together. All that changed when our English
lead teacher, Verity Anderson, had the ambitious idea of transforming
an unused classroom into our very first school library. The school applied to the Foyle Foundation for a grant of £10,000 to cover the costs, but the bid was unsuccessful. Instead, FOSS took on the task of raising the money ourselves – and the project has transformed the way we work with the school. While many schools lost touch
with PTA members during the pandemic, our PTA’s relationship with the school grew stronger because we had a shared goal and a two-year timescale to work towards. We began meeting on Zoom, with Mrs Anderson and the head of
school (Sarah Matthews) attending each meeting. Their consistent presence made me feel very supported as chair, and they often volunteered ideas and let us know how they could help during school time. They were also able to enthuse other members of staff to support FOSS fundraising activities. One of the most important things they did was provide an update on the project at each meeting. I quickly realised that this input was essential in keeping our PTA team of eight motivated, which meant that we, in turn, could motivate the wider school community to get involved in our fundraising. My background was in helping
universities apply for funding so I worked with Mrs Anderson in
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