Liverpool-based King David primary school in Childwall currently counts over 425 pupils among its ranks, with longstanding ties in the local community. Tracing their roots back to 1841, the PTA has regularly run annual fundraisers to make sure every child can make the most of every opportunity, regardless of the financial cost. But in recent years, despite government funding increases, per-pupil funding has struggled to keep up with rising costs. And in light of the cost-of-living crisis, PTA chair Lucy McLaughlin is leading a campaign to get more parents raising for the school as they shop online, via easyfundraising.
Schools in need of funds
According to Schools Week, UK primary and secondary schools are running a deficit of around £250 million this year. A recent report estimated over one in ten schools in England and Wales were in the financial red, with a warning that this number is expected to grow in the coming years (Schools Week). PTAs are a crucial part of any school’s fundraising efforts, but events and campaigns can require a lot of pre-planning, resources and support which isn’t always readily available.
Lucy explains: “At the PTA, our role is to essentially bring families and the school together, while raising funds to provide extra opportunities and experiences for every child where the school budget will not stretch. So, we try to fundraise as much as possible.”
The easyfundraising campaign
King David joined easyfundraising over 8 years ago, but until recently had amassed only small amounts. With different PTA members over the years, their presence on the platform had been largely overlooked. During one meeting, a parent told me we were signed up to easyfundraising and after learning what the platform does, I asked why we aren’t pushing this more?” Explained Lucy.
In the months since Lucy and team started pushing easyfundraising to parents and guardians, King David has grown its annual fundraising total on the platform from £16 to over £400 – in completely free donations. With a total of just shy of £2,000 raised in total.
Lucy has spread the word to parents as much as possible, especially at the start of the new term. “I’ve advertised our easyfundraising page on WhatsApp groups, social media, chatting on the playground to parents, I mention it to family, really wherever I can. We understand it can be hard for people to find the time to put aside and get involved with the PTA, but with something like this, it’s a great way to passively support the school simply through your everyday shopping.”
How has the funding helped?
With the help of easyfundraising and other fundraising efforts, last year the PTA managed to raise just shy of £9,000, helping provide 14 iPads, British Sign Language workshops, and a brand-new sensory garden to help students create memories to last a lifetime.
The PTA team are determined to bring the entire community along in their fundraising mission. Lucy explained: “We try to involve the kids as much as we can, to make it a real community effort with events like the winter disco and silver coin challenge where kids bring in as many 5ps, 10ps, and 50ps as they could. All this funding enables the school to offer things like our new sensory garden and give the children all the opportunities possible.”
How you can support the King David Primary PTA
Despite the PTA’s amazing progress, their fundraising mission is far from over. If you would like to support their efforts for free each time you shop online, you can do so via easyfundraising. You can sign up as their supporter here.
If you’re connected to a school or PTA that could benefit from extra funding, register a new cause here.
