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Thornhill Foundation 2017/18 Annual Review

Thornhillfoundation

Registered Charity Number 1094597

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Thornhill Foundation 2017/18 Annual Review

ProjectsThe two initial projects that we are raising money for are:

• Upgrading our nursery and early years spaces.

Redesigning and refurbishing the nursery and reception classrooms and outdoor spaces, to provide rich and effective environments that support the development of our youngest pupils. Cost: approx. £80k

• Building a brand new inspirational library.

Latest research shows that school libraries have a positive impact on all areas of pupils’ learning, including, their self-esteem and their overall academic attainment. We plan to build an exciting, accessible and well-stocked, library: somewhere that children will love to spend time and develop a love of books and literacy. Cost: approx. £100k, plus 20k for books

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In its first year of operation as a new charity committee for the school, a key focus has been on setting up the team and structure, identifying priority projects, and building awareness and engagement with the local community. Foundation Committee members hosted a variety of stands and talks at Parents Evenings and other school events, and held a Thornhill Foundation awareness and dress-up day on 31 October 2017.

As well as engaging parents, friends and the local community, we have started the longer-term process of identifying and developing potential relationships with corporates, trusts and intermediaries.

Thornhill Foundation was established in 2017 to secure Thornhill Primary School’s ability to deliver a rich, creative and enjoyable school experience for all children, despite recent reductions in government funding. We raise money to help the school deliver major improvement projects that can’t be funded from the school’s state budget, seeking financial donations from parents and local community members, developing partnerships with businesses, and applying for grant funding where available.

Our work

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How much have we raised?In its first year, Thornhill Foundation has raised over £96,000.

How have we raised it? 1. Direct donations from parents, friends and

the local community have generated over £30,000

• Our dedicated BT MyDonate fundraising page facilitates quick and easy regular and one-off donations, with Gift Aid adding 25% extra to every eligible donation.

• Our lunch donor campaign throughout the year has resulted in 30 generous parents and carers giving back the money they save each month from their child getting free school lunches in Islington. Thornhill is a diverse, inclusive and caring school, and a priority of the Foundation was to make it easier for more fortunate families to support the school. Parents, who are in a position to give, donate some or all of the money they save each month (approx. £50 a month). Regular monthly cash flow really helps us to plan ahead and budget.

• Our recent local resident appeal resulted in a number of significant financial donations, as well as volunteering offers for our school’s Enrichment Programme.

• Workplace Giving – a number of parents are kindly pledging money to the Foundation through their company’s Give as you Earn schemes, or taking advantage of matched funding benefits that their employers offer to charities.

2. Run Thornhill Run has raised £16,000 so far, and the sponsorship money is still coming in!

Over 200 determined runners of all ages, signed up to run a 2k, 5k or 10k challenge on 1 July 2018. As well as earning an incredible amount of money from entry tickets and spectacular sponsorships, the event was a fantastic opportunity to raise profile within the Islington community – spreading the word about Thornhill and its library ambitions, generating press coverage and support, and getting a whole load of parents, teachers and children fit for summer!

It was such a success that we plan to make this an annual event, and even bigger and better for next year, so keep those trainers handy! Huge thanks to all the participants and sponsors, and to the Run Thornhill Run organising team who came up with the genius idea, coordinated with the Foundation Committee and made it all happen – Emily Bohill, Lucy Costa-D’sa, Laura Miles, Liz Sandles, Jon Shelton, and Esther Wallace.

3. Small-group and individual fundraising initiatives have raised over £4,000

• Thornhill Foundation Day and dress-up on 31 October 2017 raised £279.

• Parent Jo Michaelides ran the Hackney Half-Marathon for the Thornhill Foundation on 21 May 2018, raising £1,676 in sponsorship.

• Pupils Emilia, Martha, Georgina, Felix and Joel in Year 5 organised a sale of their old toys and books, as well as cakes, on 23 May 2018 and raised an amazing £207.

• In June 2018, parents Kate Slotover and Buffy Sharpe sold second-hand books at a stall at the Cally Festival and at Playstreet and made a whopping £437.30 for the library. They also got great press coverage in the Islington Tribune for our school, library initiative and Run Thornhill Run event.

• Parent Sarah Adams, organised an impromptu refreshment stand and library collection, at the Word Festival Thornhill Poetry Night, 20 June 2018, raising £55.57

• At the PTA Summer fair on 29 June 2018, some Year 3 pupils hosted two stands especially to raise money for the library. Thanks to Bella and Sanya for raising over £50 on their bug stall, and to Avery, Rosalie and brother Dougal for raising £104.50 on their ‘Peg-drop’ stall.

£96,000

£45,000

£30,000

£16,000

£4,000

£1,000

Grants and matched funding

Direct donations

Run Thornhill Run!

Individual fundraising initiatives

Corporate partners and sponsorship

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• Our Mars class boys in Year 3, Tom, Max, Luke and Ben raised £125 on 9 July 2018, selling toys, books and cakes and doing a number of random challenges and exercises!

• Joel and Tia Kitchen (Year 3 and 5) hosted a lemonade stand outside their home and raised an incredible £57.47 towards the library.

• The School Diners event on 12 July 2018, hosted by our wonderful Year 6 pupils and TV chef Mark Lloyd, raised a massive £1,320.

4. Grant funding and matched funding has raised £45,000

• A successful grant application to Morris Trust*, secured an incredible £25,000 of funding for our nursery classroom interior. Thank you

• Islington Council kindly provided matched funding of £20,000 to make up the shortfall in order to complete Phase 1 of the early years renovation.

5. Corporate partnering and sponsorship has raised £1,000 so far …

• Initial meetings with the BIG (Businesses for Islington Giving) Alliance and other businesses have been set up to try to help identify potential corporate sponsors. This has also developed valuable links with local businesses for the Enrichment Programme.

• A number of organisations kindly sponsored Run Thornhill Run, including a very generous £1,000 sponsorship deal from Hamptons, Yo-Yo treat giveaways from Bear, massages from Perea Clinic and a selection of prizes from F45 Gym, Little Angel Theatre, Ballet North and Udderlicious. Thank you all so very much.

Plus we have saved over £10,000 in fees!

• Award winning practice Jan Kattein Architects has generously provided its services in kind for the design-phase of our library project.

• Parent and Interior Architectural Designer Susan Yen worked with our nursery team and senior leadership team to help come up with a wonderful design for our nursery. This was commissioned free of charge.

How is this being put to use on our two projects so far?Upgrading our nursery and early years spaces

The generous grant funding from Morris Trust and matched funding from Islington Council, allowed us to complete the first phase of our early years upgrade during the Easter holidays in 2018, with the complete overhaul of our Nursery Classroom interior. Children, staff and parents have been truly delighted at the transformation.

Once we’ve secured the additional funding, the next phases will be i) a complete overhaul of the Early Years outside play areas and ii) an upgrade of the Reception classroom interiors.

top Susan Yen’s designs above Photos from the new nursery launch.

* The Morris Charitable Trust was established in 1989 to provide support for charitable causes. It was founded by the Morris Family whose businesses - Business Design Centre Group Ltd, and Business Design Centre Ltd - are based in Islington.

“ The new stimulating environment fosters the children’s innate curiosity and drives their interest to understand their world and their place within it. This inspiring space has facilitated a child-led approach to learning which creates learners that are strong, capable and resilient; rich with wonder and knowledge.” aisling o’flaherty, eyfs leader

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Building a brand new inspirational library

Since January 2018 when our architects were appointed, and the decision was made to re-house our library in the disused area under Outer Space, it has been full steam ahead to work with children, teachers and parents to come up with a child-led design that excites and delights, while getting necessary planning approval, structural surveys and building control lined up. We are now ready to go, but the library build will be phased as we seek to raise the additional funding.

Over the summer school holidays, taking advantage of the vacant playground, the first phase will take place with new foundations being laid. We hope to start the rest of the build in Autumn term, but the sooner we raise the funds, the sooner the dream library will become a reality.

Priorities In 18/19, we would like to raise sufficient funds to fully complete our first two projects, and then look to identify further projects that will enhance our children’s school experience – the sky’s the limit!

Direct donations: Parents and local community

• Engagement and support from parents, friends and local community took off in our first year, and momentum has grown, as evidenced by all the incredible pledges that have been made, and the challenges and fundraisers that people are undertaking on behalf of the Thornhill Foundation. For example in September, Dan Jankowski, dad of Avery in Year 3, is cycling the length of Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Over nine days, he’ll cycle 980 miles through 23 counties, and climb (and descend) over 52,000 ft. He’s doing it for fun, but also to raise money for our new library. His fundraising page is at: Dan’s Big Bike Ride for Thornhill Foundation on MyDonate if you would like to support him.

• We’ll continue to build on this in the upcoming year – please see the back cover for ways that you can get involved and help us to make a difference.

• It’s great that 30 lunch donors have signed up to give back their children’s lunch money – in one year that has raised over £20,000 with Gift Aid. Given the profile of our parent community, we would love to increase the number of regular donors this coming year. Imagine the difference we could make if we received the lunch money of a third of our school’s children – in one year, we’d raise over £100,000! Let’s aim for another 30 donors in 18/19.

• Thornhill alumni is a group that we would like to target, and we will explore ideas here.

from top An early draft of the library interior design • Gareth Marriott of Jan Kattein Architects working with pupils on the library plans • The Outer Space building as it will be with our

new library on the ground floor • Tawhid shows us one of

the library boxes in a still from our fundraising film.

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above: Run Thornhill Run! was a huge success thanks to the dedicated team of parents who gave up their time to organise it, and all the fabulous runners and supporters on the day.

Grant applications and trusts

• For the library, we’ve identified a number of trusts to apply to for grant funding for the build and for books. Members of the Foundation Committee are applying for these now but the process can be long and uncertain. Fingers crossed, that some of these come up trumps!

• For the early years next phases, we’ll be seeking further grant funding opportunities.

Corporate partnerships and sponsorships

• This is an important area for further development in 18/19. We’ve laid the groundwork and established a number of relationships but would like to do more to engage businesses with our school – be it working with their CSR departments or finding ways to work together on sponsorships. We’ve developed a special promotional library brochure and video to send to potential corporate partners and sponsors.

• Parents can really help us here by speaking with their employers or good local business contacts, and generating leads and interest.

High-profile fundraising events

• Run Thornhill Run will take place again in Summer 2019, only be bigger and even better (is that possible, we hear you say!)

• We’ll also investigate possible major fundraising opportunities that appeal to the wider Islington community, as well as Thornhill parents.

Who we areThornhill Foundation Committee comprises:

• Jenny Lewis (Head teacher)• Jo Michaelides (Chair and

Parent Governor, direct donations)• Emily Bohill (Parent member, corporates

and local businesses, Run Thornhill Run)• James Evers (Parent member,

corporates and local businesses) • Natalie Farrelly (Parent member)• Buffy Sharpe (TSA Trustee,

grant research and applications)• Stephanie Somerville (TSA Trustee,

grant research and applications) • Chrysanthe Staikopoulou (TSA Treasurer)• Esther Wallace (TSA Trustee,

corporates and local businesses)

Committee members meet monthly and devote significant amounts of time in-between meetings to move forward campaigns and activities. Thank you for all the time that our dedicated committee members have given this last year.

Special thanks go to parent Kate Slotover for her energy, support and creative genius, working on our range of Thornhill Foundation materials, often at very short notice! Thanks also to Kate, her husband Ted and editor friend Tim Davis for creating our fabulous new library video.

For more details on the structure of the Foundation and our terms of reference please visit the Charity pages of our school website.

Thornhill Foundation and Thornhill PTA operate as the two commitees of the Thornhill School Association (TSA), a registered charity (charity number 1094597).

Its affairs are managed according to the Charity Commission’s regulations, as stated in the TSA Constitution 2017. Accounts are uploaded annually onto the Commission’s website.

The Trustees are Markus Morlok (Secretary), Sarah Adams, Stephanie Somerville, Isabelle Chatel de Raguet de Brancion, Buffy Sharpe and Esther Wallace. The Treasurer is Chrysanthe Staikopoulou.

For further information visit www.thornhill.islington.sch.uk

“ I did the 5k to raise lots of money for

the library. I really want our library

to be good.”

alexander miranda, year 2

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1 Joel and Tia Kitchen raised nearly £60 on their lemonade stand 2 Charlie and over 200 runners sprinting off from the start at Run Thornhill Run!, which raised over £16,000 (still counting) 3 Tom, Max, Luke and Ben of Mars Class raised £125 with their used book and toy sale 4 Dan Jankowski, dad of Avery in Year 3, is cycling the length of Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats 5 Jo Michaelides raised over £1,600 when she ran the Hackney Half Marathon 6 Susan Yen, architect of the nursery redesign, and Starck Yang in his incredible Minecraft costume at Foundation Day 7 Maddie and Martha Michaelides as Foundation Day zombies 8

Kate Slotover and Buffy Sharpe made over £300 selling secondhand books at the Cally Road Festival

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Participate: we need you Everyone can get involved and support the Thornhill Foundation – it’s for the benefit of all of our children. Here’s a quick summary of things you can do to help:

• Plan a fundraising event or challenge of your own, be it a sponsored swim, a readathon, a book sale – whatever your family wants to do. Creating a fundraising page is simple at www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/thornhillfoundation

• Ask your workplace if they might be able to help us – many companies are happy to help fund community projects or partner with a school as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme. They may consider promoting us as their Charity of the Year, or might be interested in sponsorship opportunities we present with our 300+ local families. Please share our library promotional materials (film and brochure) with them and tell them about our plans.

• Make a donation through our dedicated donation site (www.mydonate.bt.com/charities/thornhillfoundation) or speak to your workplace about matched giving or Give as You Earn schemes that they may offer. Join the lunch donors who are giving back the money they save from their children getting free school lunches each month, or make a one-off gift. Any donation, large or small, will make a huge difference, especially with the added Gift Aid.

• Spread the word: Thornhill Primary School Foundation is now on Facebook so follow us, like us and keep up to date with our progress @thornhillschoolislington. Tell friends and family, neighbours, alumni and local businesses about our goals and see if they can help us too.

• Speak to us: if you can spare some time and energy to help the Thornhill Foundation committee, or if you have fundraising ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us an email at fromthornhillfoundation@gmail.com. We’ll also be hosting an informal coffee morning in the Autumn term 2018 so please pop along for a chat.

1, 2 School Diners was a huge success with seventy guests sitting down to a delicious supper of grilled chicken and baked aubergines prepared by Chef Mark Lloyd and pupils from Year 6. 3 The evening’s menu 4 The children made fabulous table decorations for the event 5 Emilia, Martha, Georgina, Felix and Joel made just over £200 at their book and toy sale 6 Bella and Sanya raised over £50 on their bug stall at the PTA Summer Fair 7 Future School Diners chefs at work in the new nursery kitchen 8 At the new woodwork bench in the nursery

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