EVENTS – Plan ahead


Circus


Plan ahead


It’s never too early to start thinking about the summer term – take some inspiration from these success stories and get planning


‘Our sell-out circus was a magical mix of laughs and excitement’


fundraising was great, but the smiles and the giggles were priceless. The idea came from our deputy head. Her husband is the head teacher at another school that had run a successful event with National Festival Circus nationalfestivalcircus.co.uk. The waiting list was almost a year long, but we were able to book for the following May. We opened up ticket sales to the


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school first with an early bird discount of £6 instead of the full price of £7. As a small school with 600 tickets on offer and three hour-long shows to fill, we hoped there would be enough interest, but we didn't need to worry – we sold half the tickets in the first two weeks. After that, we launched it on


hen the circus came to Cogenhoe Primary School, the


our local Facebook page and put up posters around the village. Word quickly got out: the 7pm


show was the most popular and sold out two weeks in advance. With four days remaining before showtime, we had sold all 600 tickets and there was a long waiting list. We turned our circus day into


more of an event by including stalls, games and two big inflatables to help boost income. The PTA ran the bar and sweet stall and we invited local food and drink companies along to provide coffee and cake, ice cream, chips and a barbecue. All we asked from the external stallholders was a donation – whatever they thought was reasonable. National Festival Circus arrived at


11am and began setting up their traditional big top. By 4pm, we were enjoying the first show. It was full of


pta.co.uk SPRING 2023 43


AS TOLD TO: ANNA SCOTT AND NUALA CALVI


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