AGENDA – We did it!
‘We fitted the plane out with the help of one of the teachers’
headteacher agreed it would make an interesting and creative learning space which the kids would really enjoy. The sale fell through but the idea stuck, and one day I saw an old beat-up shell of a plane at Southend Airport where I was having a flying lesson. We decided this project could work for us and bought it for £4,000 including delivery. Once planes reach a certain age, their parts often get sold off until only the shell remains. This sad little plane had no wings, no engine and it had been gutted inside. It was basically scrap. Our PTA holds regular
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fundraisers. Popular activities include the staff talent show where teachers, caretakers, cooks and learning support assistants do a turn to entertain the children. We have a staff band too, and hold regular concerts. That meant we already had a pot of money ready
hen I spotted a helicopter for sale on eBay, my
for the purchase, which was the biggest spend, so we targeted our fundraising at its refurbishment. The site team and I fitted the plane out with the help of one of the teachers. It was a bit of a mess. We had to strip out everything, angle-grind off bits of metal, clean out the interiors and drain fluids left behind, which might be toxic. We put a floor down and then used flexi wood and covered it in leatherette to line the walls. We built wings, fitted solar panels and added a cockpit using a flight simulator, which we already owned, so you can actually pretend you’re flying. In total we spent around £2,500 on the refurbishments. The children get very excited when they get to use the plane as a podcast and radio station or try out the flight simulator. We feel like a very special primary school. Jon Baker, media and ICT manager at Milton Hall Primary School, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex (702 pupils)
‘We hope to hire the second carriage out for corporate events’
We built wings, fitted solar panels and added a cockpit using a flight simulator, so you can actually pretend that you’re flying
school that had bought a bus to house their new library. She wanted something bigger and better, and our ideas culminated in a search for a train. We put out feelers and found Porterbrook,
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a train leasing company that offered us three train carriages for free. We couldn’t believe it. Could we really
pull this off? We’d need a lot of money for the renovation, but we decided to go for it. We accepted two carriages and made plans
to turn one into a classroom and library. The other would be used by the pre-school and for wrap-around clubs. Later, we hope to hire them out for corporate events. The parents have been amazing. We
raised around £5,000 in the first ten months despite the restrictions of lockdowns. An online raffle became my little project while I was at home shielding – I made lots of calls to local companies and contacts begging for prizes. Other fundraisers included a playground bookstall, and our local Tesco charity
pta.co.uk AUTUMN 2022 13
lans to revamp our library were shelved when our headteacher heard about a
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