Where the Spare Change Went: A Line-by-Line Look at Our 2026 Fundraising
Photo: Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
On the last Friday of the autumn term, a small group of us will sit in the school hall with a tin of biscuits, a calculator and a slightly crumpled spreadsheet. It is the least glamorous job in fundraising. But it is also where the cake tins, coin jars and quiz-night raffle tickets finally turn into something you can see: books, tools, playground markings and a coach seat to a museum.
The headline number, minus the fog
This year’s community fundraising grossed £6,842.37. After £612.84 of direct costs, the net total was £6,229.53. That is not a typo and it is not a rounding-up exercise. It is the sum of a lot of small things: 20p coins pushed into jam jars, a rain-soaked quiz night, three cake sales and a sponsored walk that began in drizzle and ended in sunshine.
Every figure below has been checked against bank statements, receipts and the little cash book that lives in the office safe. If you spot something that does not add up, please tell us. Transparency is easier when everyone can see the sums.
| Income line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cake sales (three across the year) | £1,145.20 |
| Coin jars and spare-change pots | £438.67 |
| Quiz night, including raffle | £1,260.00 |
| Sponsored walk | £1,890.45 |
| Summer fair | £1,502.10 |
| Preloved uniform sales | £315.95 |
| Other donations and collection tins | £290.00 |
| Gross total | £6,842.37 |
Where the costs went
Direct costs came to £612.84. Nobody took a fee, but events are not free to run. Hall hire for the quiz night was £90. Printing posters, tickets and signage came to £84.50. Baking supplies that were not donated added £73.20. Fair equipment hire was £160, card processing fees were £45.14, event supplies were £95, thank-you resources were £25 and sundries were £40.
That leaves a net total of £6,229.53. The word ‘net’ matters. It is the figure we can actually spend on pupils, not the one that looks best in a headline.
What the money actually paid for
The 2026 total has been allocated to a handful of practical things. A new reading-corner shelving set and books came to £1,850. Forest school tools and waterproofs for group sessions were £1,200. Playground markings for the top playground were £950. A set of music instruments for classroom use was £780. Reception role-play resources came to £650, and £500 went towards coach transport for a museum trip.
That is £5,930 accounted for. The remaining £299.53 is held as a contingency for delivery charges, replacement parts and the small surprises that always turn up when you order things for a school. It is not a slush fund. It will be reported in the next update.
Some items arrived in September. Others are due after Christmas. We will share photos when the last box is opened, partly because we like seeing the evidence and partly because the children deserve to know what their spare change built.
The people behind the coin jars
Fundraising looks like a spreadsheet. It is actually a rota.
Priya coordinates the coin jars. She empties them, counts them and resists the urge to spend the lot on new jar labels. Tom runs the quiz night, which involves booking the hall, writing questions and politely pretending that the winning team did not have a ringer. Elaine leads the cake sales and has a gift for making a tray of fairy cakes look like a community event. Year 6 helpers bag up preloved uniform, sort donations and keep the whole thing moving.
No one is paid. The biscuits are usually donated. The thank-you notes are written by children, which is why some of them include careful drawings of cake.
The awkward bit: cash is fiddly
Small donations are lovely and administratively annoying. Counting coins takes time. Card fees nibble at the edges. Cash handling needs two adults and a secure box. None of that is a reason to stop; it is a reason to be honest about costs and to say thank you properly.
It also explains why we are not chasing a single big sponsor. The school family works best when lots of people can join in at the level that suits them. A 50p coin in a jar is not a small thing if 400 people do it.
So what next?
We have a shortlist for the next small project, and we would like families to help choose it. The options on the table are a set of buddy benches for the top playground, a mud-kitchen refresh for Reception, a small audio library for reluctant readers, or a repair to the hedgehog gap that the Prickle Patrol has been asking about.
If you have a view, email the school office with ‘Small Project’ in the subject line or catch a Friend at the gate by Friday 27 November 2026. We will publish the decision in the next community newsletter. No long speeches, no formal ballot. Just tell us where you think the next round of spare change should go.
