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Donations and Fundraising

As with all schools, The Lea Primary School & Nursery is facing unprecedented government funding cuts and we are concerned about the effects of these funding pressures on the quality of education provided to your children. The school has – so far – managed impressive levels of efficiency, with cost savings being made where they are least likely to have a damaging impact. However, given the current trajectory, further cuts will be necessary.

The total available money to spend on learning resources is only about £200 per child per year. When you consider that stationery and exercise books cost approx. £30 per child per year, subscriptions to learning resources cost £40 per child per year, and photocopying and printing costs cost around £25 per child per year, there really isn’t a great deal left for the ‘nice to haves’.

The Lea School Association is a registered charity (no. 1023309) and its aim is to raise additional funds for the school. These funds cannot cover teachers’ salaries or other operational expenses, but they can cover capital expenditure such as new computers, books for the library, or play equipment.  Donations are entirely voluntary and confidential.

Ways to donate:-

Online Donations – One-off or regular monthly payments can be made easily and securely online via KindLink.

Kindlink

Remember: if you are a UK tax payer, your donation will be more valuable to the school if you agree to gift aid. This adds an extra 25% to your donation at no additional cost to you.  Please tick the GiftAid box on KindLink.

Give As You Earn (GAYE) / Payroll Giving – If you would like to make a donation directly from your salary, please contact your employer to find out whether they operate a payroll giving scheme. Under these schemes, donations are automatically deducted from an employee’s gross salary before tax is paid.  If you are a higher rate tax payer this means that a £10 donation to the Lea School Association would only cost you £6!  It should simply involve filling in a form that your HR team provides, saying that you wish to donate to the “Lea School Association”, charity no. 1023309, and they will do the rest.

Employers Charitable Giving Policy – If your company has a charitable giving policy, they may be able to match your donations. Almost all large companies do this, and many small/medium companies also do, so if you do choose to donate directly, please check your company website or via HR first to find out their charitable giving / match funding policy. In some cases, they will match time as well as money, which we also welcome.

Cheque Donations – If you would like to write a cheque, please make it payable to “Lea School Association” and leave it in an envelope at the school office for the attention of the PTA Treasurer.

Bank Transfer – you can set up larger one-off payments and standing orders directly with your bank, either via online banking or in your branch. Please email leaschoolpta@hotmail.co.uk for our bank details and we’ll get straight back to you.  It would also be hugely beneficial to claim Gift Aid if it is applicable.
Gift Aid Declaration Form

EasyFundraising – Turn your online shopping into donations for the school – by logging onto the EasyFundraising site before you shop as normal, you can raise extra funds for The Lea.  It’s like Nectar, but instead of earning points, each purchase generates a donation to the school. It’s completely FREE to use and so far it’s brought in £2,724 for the school!  Go to www.easyfundraising.org.uk/theleapsa to register.

Your Ideas We do as much creative thinking as we can, but parents and children have great ideas. If you ever have thoughts on how we could better use resources, raise funds or improve the school’s profile we would love to hear them.  Constructive feedback is always welcome.

Your Time – We are lucky to have a collection of people who volunteer at the school. We couldn’t function without them, but there are always more opportunities and support we could offer the children. Please let us know if there is something you can help with.

If you have any queries, please contact the School Business Manager at sbm@lea-pri.herts.sch.uk or the PTA Treasurer at leaschoolpta@hotmail.co.uk.