Annual Fund 2011-12

The Annual Fund is a key part of the Foundation Appeal. It has a unique role in that it offers the chance to make an immediate difference to the lives of pupils at the Foundation Schools and an opportunity for every gift of whatever amount to make an impact. These projects are made possible purely through the generosity of parents and former pupils, so please do consider funding, or part-funding, a project that interests you. You don't have to do it all in one go either; contact us if you would prefer to spread your donation over the course of the year.

Please click on a project below for more information or to make an online donation:

1. Seating in the grounds: Several wooden benches have already been installed around the beautiful grounds of the Foundation thanks to donations to the previous two Annual Funds. This year the initiative continues to allow even more pupils, staff and visitors to enjoy the Mill Hill estate. The Mill Hill School Council will be investigating the possibility of an alternative material for the seating itself.
Cost £600 per bench

Grimsdell Projects

2. Authentic African Djembe drums: Teaching children about African music broadens their cultural horizons and gives them important perspectives on world music. One of the best ways to teach children about African music is through learning the African drums.
Cost £590 (overall target 10 drums at £84.30 per drum – 3 drums already generously funded)
3. Storyteller’s chair and seating circle: This will provide an opportunity for the children to experience story times outside during the warmer months of the year. It will also allow Grimsdell staff to fulfill aspects of their outside learning for Early Years Foundation Stage pupils. This chair and accompanying seating circle will be used alongside carefully chosen stories to help inspire our pupils as well as instill a love of reading.
Cost £1,872
4. Teacher cameras: New cameras for teachers would be used to assess and document the pupils’ progress using photography, especially in the early years. The current cameras are in need of updating so the purchase of new, state-of-the-art digital cameras with rechargeable batteries would be a valuable resource.
Cost £1,200 (target 12 cameras at £100 per camera)
5a. 88 piece early years equipment: Hollow blocks are a valuable early years resource. They provide open ended learning opportunities across all areas of learning and throughout the Foundation stage and beyond. Children can manoeuvre them easily, arranging, building and stacking them in various ways.
Cost £2,200
5b. Carry cart for early years equipment: A dedicated carry cart for the 88 piece hollow blocks set.
Cost £350

Belmont Projects

6. Mobile practice cricket net cage

This mobile cricket net can be transported on and off the first team wicket, allowing pupils to spend more time practicing on a proper playing surface. It is suitable for both bowling and batting practice.

Cost £1,700

7. Tents for Belmont Leadership Challenge

The Belmont Leadership Challenge is a progressive award that starts in Year 5 and finishes in Year 8. Pupils are awarded a level at the end of each year depending on their involvement and written summary of their contributions towards the scheme. The plan is to develop this scheme further so it really brings Leadership and Teamwork skills to the forefront of the pupils thinking. These skills will allow a far more rounded individual to move onto the senior school.

As part of the Belmont Leadership Challenge pupils will take part in a challenging 24 hour camp in the magnificent Belmont school grounds at the start of Year 7. At present the school has an ageing set of tents which struggle to accommodate the pupils. In order to improve Belmont Leadership Challenge we would like to update our provision of tents.

Cost up to £2,000 (target 20 tents at £100 per tent)

8. Nature cams

The Belmont grounds are a wonderful natural resource and this project aims to use modern nature cameras to enable pupils and staff to record wildlife events that occur there:

A GardenWatch camera will enable time-lapse photos to be taken (e.g. of the seedlings planted by the Gardening Club; autumnal leaf changes; the growth of mushrooms, fungi and vegetables; as well as the natural process of decay).
A BirdWatchCam which comes with a variety of mounts will enable automatic monitoring of a number of nesting sites around the school.
A StealthCam will enable photos/videos to be taken not only during the day, but also at night as it is fitted with an infrared emitter and motion detector (e.g. the deer and other mammals that visit the pond in the Poon Nature Reserve).

All 3 devices are portable and will be used by several school clubs including: Eco; Gardening; Nature Detectives and Digital Photography. They can also be used within lessons to demonstrate first-hand such natural phenomena as seed germination; the growth of chemical crystals and seasonal changes.

Cost £700

9a. Ceramics equipment: Pugmill

Mr James McNulty (Belmont Head of Art) is trying to revive the use of Ceramics within the Foundation. At the moment it is difficult to reclaim old, hard or used clay. A pugmill will allow him to recycle used clay. The clay is fed into the mill with a little water; blades mix the clay so that it can be reused. A pugmill will allow none of the clay the Foundation buys to go to waste and as a result better quality clay can be used.

Cost £1,300

9b. Ceramics equipment: Slab roller

James would also like pupils to be able to make their own tiles and slab built pots. A slab roller would allow children to roll out large, even slabs of clay. This would be a real time saving device and allow children to make more adventurous work.

Cost £500

10. Greenhouse for Eco Garden

The Belmont Eco Society would like a polycarbonate greenhouse to maximize the potential of seed cultivation and to protect growing plants at all times of the year. This would form part of the drive towards maintaining the School’s Green Flag status.

Cost £500

Mill Hill Projects

11. Inter-House Challenge Cup

The pupils would like to have a memorial that is presented on an annual basis to the House that gains the most points over an academic year through inter-House competitions (academic, sporting and cultural). The School Council believe that pupils feel passionate about their respective Houses so the idea of having an overall Inter-House Challenge Cup is one they find particularly exciting. It would also build on the Inter-House Merit Cup that was initiated by Mr Nick Gregory last year.

Cost £400

12. Table tennis tables x 6

Table tennis is currently a very popular activity within both day and boarding houses. It appeals to a wide range of students, including those who may not choose to pursue our major sports. It is a fast and exciting game which allows players to develop excellent levels of hand-eye coordination, improved reaction times and tactical awareness whilst being accessible for a wide ability range.

New tables would enable us to run table tennis activities at lunchtimes and after school for between 12 and 24 students at a time and provide another option for the PE curriculum at GCSE and A level.

Cost £1,800 (target 6 tables at £300 per table)

13a. Eco furniture (bench)

The Eco-Society would like to purchase some eco-furniture made from recycled plastic; this furniture would be sited in the Eco-Garden. In the event that additional furniture can be purchased, it would be installed at other strategic locations.

Cost £250

13b. Eco furniture (picnic table)

To complement the eco-furniture above, a picnic table would make a welcome addition to the Eco-Garden.

Cost £300

14. 19th Century Correspondence

21 letters and one memorandum, totalling 35pp in 4to and 28pp in 12mo. Written by a total of fourteen individuals, including three of the school’s headmasters (Bartlet, Priestley and Weymouth), three chaplains (Crump, England and March), two treasurers (Coombs and Piper), a school secretary (Rolt) and a committee member (Binney).

With the exception of four items (Bartlet, March, Weymouth and the first Priestley letter) the correspondence dates from 1842-1847, with the majority of the letters addressed to the school secretary Rev. Algernon Wells (1793-1850; also Secretary to the Colonial Missionary Society).

A detailed and valuable correspondence, providing a unique insight into the day-to-day running of one of England’s most distinguished educational establishments at one of the high points in its history: the period of the headmastership of the ‘Arnold of Mill Hill’, Thomas Priestley (inexplicably absent from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Six letters from Priestley are present, casting light on his capable, considerate and modest character. Of particular interest among these is one in which Priestley discusses the repercussions following the expulsion of a boy for night-time drinking. Topics in the rest of the correspondence range from corporal punishment to complaints over the edibility of school meals to repairs to the leaking school roof. The original character of the establishment, as a ‘Protestant Dissenter Grammar School’, is emphasized in much of the correspondence, with concerns expressed over the sufficiency of the religious education provided, and the tensions caused by Priestley’s ‘Church & Tory principles’. Many of the letters contain information relating to nominations for admission, with three fathers (Roberts, Sewell and Thurgood) writing regarding their sons, and a fourth (Baker) giving the reasons for withdrawing his boy from the school.

Cost £1,500

We trust that parents and former pupils will continue to give generously and support the Foundation Schools into the future. It is the aim of the Annual Fund 2010/11 to increase the numbers of participants significantly. You can do this quickly and easily online by CLICKING HERE.