We are a single form entry primary school with around 210 pupils.
Since our PTA re-formed 3 years ago, we have held a coin trail each Autumn as our first fundraising event of the academic year.
On the day of the coin trail, children bring in loose change from home. Most of the coins are coppers but we also get a fair amount of silver coins and sometimes £1 or £2 coins as well as the odd USD and Euro cent. This year we even had some Indian rupees!
Volunteer parents get to school in the early afternoon and draw pictures in chalk all over the school playground. Children then come out to the playground in their classes and place the coins they have brought in over the chalk pictures to make coin drawings. If the weather is good, they look really good in the sunshine.
The children spend around 20 minutes completing their coin pictures and then return to class. The volunteers then pick up all of the coins which are counted and banked.
For the first three years, we were lucky enough to have dry and sunny weather, but this year was a wash out. We quickly agreed a change of plan with the headteacher. Our school building is arranged with classrooms coming off a corridor around a central, covered courtyard. We challenged the children to make a continuous line of coins all around the corridor so that the end of the trail joined the start. They completed this challenge with the addition of some "freestyle" coin designs in the dining hall. We also drew some chalk pictures on the floor of the covered courtyard for the children who wanted to make coin pictures.
For the first three years, we let parents know about the event by putting a letter with a coin bag attached in each child's book bag. This year, to reduce our environmental impact, we decided to advertise through posters in classroom windows, posts on the school's website, a text from school, posts on the PTA facebook page and through committee members promoting the event in their class Facebook and WhatsApp groups. We also suggested that children bring in their coins in a purse or re-used envelope rather than a plastic bag.
Each year this event raises between £320 and £420 and the children really enjoy it.
Written By Hester James Norton Free C of E Primary (Sheffield)
Norton Free C of E Primary (Sheffield) is an affiliate in The PTA Rewards Scheme! Have you heard about The Stamptastic PTA Rewards Scheme) In 2018, Stamptastic paid out over £16,000 in commission and handed out over £20,000 in fundraising vouchers! If you would like to find out more please click here If you would like to write a blog post for us in return for a £30 fundraising voucher for your PTA please join our Stamptastic PTA and Schools Facebook Group to find out more!)
