School Development Fund

St John’s Catholic Primary School, Rickmansworth

‘Learning and Living God’s Truth in Love’

School Development Fund

Our status as a Voluntary Aided Catholic School allows Governors and Staff some flexibility in the decisions we can take locally, to provide the best school life and environment for your children to learn and grow. It also means that the Governors, on behalf of the school, are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the school buildings and infrastructure.

As a result, for VA schools there are some costs that we have to meet which are not funded by the government. The school has to meet 10% of the cost of capital projects and maintenance of school buildings. This means that for the school to undertake any building work or refurbishment we need to ensure we have sufficient funds in the School Development Fund account. 

The facilities that your child currently enjoys are a result of the generous donations of past parents, enabling us to unlock external funding from other sources. There is an ongoing requirement for improvement and repairs to provide the best learning environment and keep in line with current legislation. Our school was built in1967 and despite the many developments that have taken place, the school requires a lot of care and investment to ensure our facilities continue to support our aspirations.

The Governors are always working closely with the leadership team to prioritise any major expenditure. Recent projects have included:

• Renovation of Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms with the latest equipment and furniture
• Phase 1 of our security system installed at the main entrance
• Phase 2 of our security system on the playground access doors will take place over October half term, enusring full school security
• Replacement of the Hall windows will begin during the Christmas holidays

But more needs to be done, not only to maintain but enhance our existing facilities so that your child has the best possible environment for their education and development. We would therefore like you to consider making a regular voluntary contribution (via standing order) or a one off contribution to the school development fund to help us meet our desired aims. A donation of £5 per month by all families at the school has the potential to generate over £8000 for the development fund. We understand that there are many demands on the family budget and that for some families additional requests for financial contributions to the school are difficult, whilst there are others who may be in a position to donate more but any contribution that you can afford to make will be of huge value. If you are a UK tax payer, your donation is able to attract Gift Aid from the government and the school could claim an additional 25p for every £1 donated. So a donation of £10 per month could raise an additional £30 per donor per year to go into the development fund.

Please download, complete this form and return to the School Office to donate - School Development Fund Form and Gift Aid Form

If you have any questions on the School Development Fund please contact the Chair of Governors, Chris Briggs, via the School Office.