Maintenance Fund

St Paul’s Maintenance Fund

St Paul’s is a voluntary-aided school which means the school needs to contribute money towards the upkeep and repair of its buildings and infrastructure. As a church school, our school buildings are held in Trust for the school by the Diocese of London. The school pays an annual contribution to the London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS), who help us maintain the building. The annual contribution is like an insurance policy and gives us access to funds to pay for bigger projects like roof repairs or upgrading the
heating system.

What are parents asked to do?

All families with a child at St Paul’s are asked for an annual voluntary contribution to the maintenance fund, which is managed by the school Governors. We do not ask for a specific amount, but ask that parents give what they can afford, with the hope that everyone will participate according to their means.

Why are parental contributions so important?

As you will probably have seen in the news, schools are under a lot of financial pressure at the moment and St Paul’s is no different. We need support from parents now more than ever. The school must make the annual contributions to the LDBS and pay for all the small, regular maintenance items that schools require. If we don’t receive enough parent contributions, the money will have to come from the main school budget, which means less money to spend on things like staff training and classroom resources.

What has the Maintenance Fund paid for recently?

The Maintenance Fund paid our contribution to the LDBS fund last year and the LDBS paid for 90% of the essential work done on the toilets and the roof. The Fund also paid for the refurbishment of the creative space, transforming it from an old computer room into a lovely, bright, multi-functional space.
Some of this work was prioritised for health and safety reasons, and some of it was done to improve the learning environment for the children.

How can you contribute?

You can pay by cash, cheque, bank transfer or set up small regular payments into the Governors bank account. Please see the form ‘Maintenance fund – how to pay’ for more details.
Cash and cheque contributions can be handed into the school office. Please put them in envelopes marked ‘Maintenance Fund’.

Gift aid

If a member of the family pays tax, their contribution can be gift-aided, which allows the school to reclaim all tax paid on such gifts (currently 25% of the donation). It doesn’t cost you anything but boosts the value of your contribution. Please complete a ‘gift aid form’ and return it to the school office.

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