Over the past few years the BWSPA has helped kit out the new cookery room. There have been new chairs and curtains for the chapel along with enhanced ICT within the room to aid presentations. The library has benefited from new books, audio books and annual magazine subscriptions year on year. There have been tennis rackets, rugby and basketball kit and water bottles for the PE department and we have bought flutes for the music department to encourage beginners to try the more exotic sitar and tabla drums as seen in the photos below.
The next challenge for the BWSPA is to raise funds for a new school Minibus! At present Bishop’s has two 17-seater minibuses which can only be driven by drivers certified for D1 vehicles on their licence. This category is automatically held by anyone who passed their driving test before 1997 (20 years ago!) and sadly at Bishop’s that number is dwindling. Special minibus driver training and testing is required for those who passed their driving test after 1997 before they are certified for D1 vehicles, but training is expensive and time-consuming. Because the school can only use the small number of eligible drivers, we have to call in supply teachers or cover supervisors for lessons the drivers would otherwise be teaching, and over the last three years this has averaged £4,000 p.a.
The remedy is for the school to purchase a 16-seater ‘Minibus Lite’, which weighs less than 3.5 tonnes, so can be driven by anyone over 21 who has had a driving licence for more than two years. Therefore people organising trips or activities off-site can drive the minibus themselves, which would not only mean more people are able to drive minibuses, but more boys could enjoy a greater range of off-site trips and extra-curricular activities. The cost savings in supply teaching and cover would be significant too. In a nutshell it represents a virtuous win-win situation: the wider educational experience of the boys would improve as more staff would be able to offer their own extra-curricular skill set to the mix of available activities, alongside significant cost savings!
The school’s preferred make and model is the Peugeot Boxer variant (pictured below) which can be purchased outright at £25,500 (outright purchase means we’re not beholden to the myriad of small-print traps involved in a leasing option).
Our aim is to have fun whilst raising money for this appeal, as at June 2017 we have £9,000 towards our target, please see below and the News/Events page to see how you can help...
Whenever you buy anything online - from your weekly shop to your annual holiday - you could be collecting free donations for Bishop Wordsworth's School Parents Association – Salisbury (BWSPA).
There are over 3,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation, including Amazon, John Lewis, Aviva, thetrainline and Sainsbury's – it doesn't cost you a penny extra!
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...
Does the company you work for have a Charity Fund Matching scheme? If you work for an employer who operates a matched giving scheme, you may be able to help us almost double the amount of money the BWSPA raises for the school.
Matched giving is an arrangement between a company and its employee where the company will pledge a sum of money relating to the amount their employee has raised for the charity of their choice. Some organisations match pound for pound, and others may have an upper limit.
Most employers will expect their employee to approach them in the first instance, to provide details of the event and charity they wish to support. We would be delighted to liaise with your employer should you wish to get involved.
Please contact us at bwspa@bws.wilts.sch.uk if you would like details on how to make a one-off or regular personal donation to the BWSPA.
We were delighted to be able to fund some additional modular seating as requested in the Library in 2018 – Encouraging more boys to make sure of this fantastic resource in comfort.
