Supporting the Community
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Preston School Supporting the Community
We are a community school in the truest sense of the word. As such, we play an important role in both developing young people as responsible and mature young people and also engaging with a full range of community partners. The more that we engage with the community, the more our young people benefit from the opportunities that this brings. In addition, as a large school we are able to offer a lot to the community in return and this document seeks to outline just some of the charitable ways in which we will do this:
School Meals
It is well-publicised recently, students who are entitled to Free School Meals (FSM) do not receive these during school holidays. Especially in the current pandemic this places a huge strain on many families and has a knock-on effect to their learning and well-being. As well as us supporting them as a school, many people have been in touch to ask if they can contribute to our Free School Meal fund, due to the well-publicised decision to not fund meals of student's during school holidays. If you would like to donate to our FSM fund which is being used to provide food vouchers for families, please use the voluntary 'Payment request' within School Gateway. The amount of £3.00 per day is provided as a voucher per child. You are able to donate as little or as much as you wish and the donation does not need to be in multiples of £3.00. Any donation will remain anonymous and is voluntary. Likewise, if you would like some extra support with food over the school holidays then please do email community@prestonschool.co.uk or another member of staff that you trust. This is not exclusively for students who are eligible for FSM, so if your children do not receive these but you would like some help, please do get in touch.
Christmas Hampers
Each year for the last 5 years our staff have donated hampers filled with food, toys and money (anonymous to the staff) to a few of our carefully selected families. These are always very much welcomed by the families and we receive some lovely comments each year. Since publicising this many people have asked if they can contribute and the obvious answer is “yes, of course”! From next week there will be a box in reception for you to leave non-perishable food, unwanted (new) gifts and toys if you would like to. If you would like to leave money to contribute towards toys and Christmas decorations then please leave this with reception in an envelope marked ‘Christmas Hampers’. Please make sure that any food will not go off and/or be out of date by Christmas Day!
Lord’s Larder Food Collection
In addition to our other regular charity work we also regularly collect for the Lords Larder, a local charity who collect and donate food to those in need in the community. There are collection points in all of the major local supermarkets and we are adding another one to our reception area. Therefore, students, families and staff will have somewhere where they can regularly donate if they should wish. Again, please make sure that the food that you donate is non-perishable and not going out of date very soon.
There is also a link to the Lord’s Larder website here:
https://www.ycstyeovil.org.uk/help-us/
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) @ St John’s Church
CAP are based at St. Johns Church but very much work closely with other churches in Yeovil and the surrounding areas. Their work focuses upon supporting those in debt and the worries and issues that this can bring. They also run their free ‘Budget, Save, Spend’ course which helps people manage their finances through the help of trained, friendly people. For more information please see:
https://www.sjyeovil.org.uk/GET-INVOLVED/CAP-CENTRE
School in a Bag (SIAB)
We have worked closely with SIAB since it’s inception as a charity ion 2005. We raise money each year for the good causes that they support and education that they offer to students in areas that need it the most. To find out more about their amazing work, or to donate, please see their website:
Of course it goes without saying that all donations are absolutely voluntary and anonymous. There is no compulsion to donate and you should only do so if you are able to. Every penny and item of food that we get will be passed on to someone who will benefit from it. If you are able to contribute, thank you – you will make a big difference to OUR local community.
Preston School Staff & Governors
