Helping Out Fund
FOSP has a Helping Out Fund that has been set up to help families that may find themselves in financial difficulty for whatever reason. It is there to help with things that are to do with the education or school life of a child, so it may be able to help with a new piece of uniform or shoes, school trips or anything else that may help ease the burden. This can even include paying gas and electricity bills – we know that having a happy home life is more likely to mean a happy school life.
It is completely confidential and FOSP will not even know the names of applicants as all applications must go through the headteacher. If you have a need for the Fund, please speak to Miss Wilding in complete confidence.
We really do encourage people to use this – if you are finding things hard right now as we are going through a tough economic climate, then you can use it to pay for a residential trip instalment, swimming lessons or whatever it is that is playing on your mind as yet another cost you have to think about. It can be hard when a letter comes home asking for payment when you haven’t budgeted for it. This is exactly what the Helping Out Fund has been created for.
Some FAQs about the Fund:
How the Fund is funded
While each year we raise money for the school through activities such as our Fireworks Night or Inflatables Day, we raise money specifically for the Helping Out Fund through our popular 100 Club.
All of the funds from the 100 Club go into a separate bank account specifically to be used for any Helping Out Fund requests.
Who decides on spending for a Helping Out Fund request?
There are two ways in which the Helping Out Fund can be used – either Miss Wilding or another member of staff identifies a need, or a pupil or their family can approach Miss Wilding. You don’t need to wait to be asked, instead we do encourage people to come forward and make a request.
FOSP has no role in any requests other than to pay the money for a request to the school.
What can the Helping Out Fund be used for?
There are no set criteria for making a request – it might be that there is a school trip coming up, or your child wants to join the after school gymnastics club, or they need new football boots. We didn’t want to make it hard to understand if your request might be approved or not, and we didn’t want someone to find themselves in a unique situation that didn’t meet a particular definition. The Fund is simply there to help.
How much money could a request be for?
As we have no set criteria for a request, we also have no set spending limit! However, we do want to ensure that the Fund can be used by as many people who need it, so requests do need to be reasonable. For example, if it is for new clothes for a pupil to join the after school dance club, then these don’t need to be designer.