The Friends of Christ Church Infants

(Friendsocci) Charity Number: 1038487

Thank you for reaching out to learn more about the Friends of CCI. Our remit is to organise and promote activities to help build the school community and raise much needed funds to support and enhance our children’s first years of schooling. We want to ensure our school continues to be a happy, fun place to be, where memories are made for the children, parents, carers and staff team.

All parents and carers of pupils, as well as staff employed by the school, are automatically members of the Friends of CCI, as we believe we all have a part to play in nurturing the environment we want the children to thrive and grow in.

The Friends of CCI Committee are a voluntary group of parents and carers who are responsible for the organising of fundraising events and then working with the staff team to decide how the funds raised are spent to benefit all the children of CCI. Anyone is welcome to be involved with this group and it is a great way to meet new people and a rewarding way to get involved in and benefit the school community.

The funds we raise are used to supply activities or equipment that funding from the local authority is unable to provide either in part or fully. In recent years we have bought a whole new reading book programme, new signage for the outside of the school building, we assisted with a significant proportion of the recent playground development, funded theatre trips for the whole school, new trikes for the playground, swimming equipment and so much more!

There are lots of ways to be involved and we would love more support…

Perhaps you have regular time to give and would consider joining the committee; this usually involves a general termly planning meeting and then smaller meetings to organise the details running up to an event if you are able to be more involved in it. We also always welcome new fundraising ideas so even if you just want to suggest a one off event then this is a great place to be.

Or do you have a business or work for a business that could support us by donating raffle prizes, discounted products or services or could you provide advertising or printing for us? Some larger companies also offer match funding to fundraisers or have charitable grants available which you could apply to support our efforts. We would love to hear from you too.

Maybe you would be willing to help at events which your children will be at anyway, like school discos or fairs, but you don’t feel able to commit to the organising side? Help for these events is always greatly appreciated.

One of the best ways you can support us is by attending events with your children and encouraging them to take part in the many different fundraising and sponsored opportunities we organise throughout the year.

If you can help in any way, however big or small, then we would love to hear from you; please do get in touch either via an email to friendsocci@gmail.com or a message on our  Facebook page. Or look out for one of the committee around the school at drop off and pick up, hopefully we’re a friendly approachable bunch!

We currently have 4 titled roles within the committee, which helps us to keep on top of specifics, but are also legally required because we are a charitable trust.

Jenny Harrison (a Giraffe Mum) is our current Chair.

Vicky Harris (a Panda Mum) is our current Vice Chair.

Heather Van Dort (a Penguin Mum) is our current Treasurer.

Mark Bennet (a Zebra Dad) is our current Secretary.

What’s coming up in 2024?

• Cake Sales
• Teddy Bear’s Picnic
• Y1 and Reception Disco
• Ice Lolly sales!
• School tea towel project
• The Christmas Wrap
• Father Christmas visit
• Letters from Father Christmas
• An evening of Magic!
• Leaver’s discos
• Summer BBQ and social
• And more!

Other ways to help us…

As well as the events we put on, there are other simple ways to help us raise money which may just involve a simple change to something you already do…

Do you shop online?

Most of us do in some capacity, why not consider signing up via this link…

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/christchurchinfantsdownend

You only need to register once, select Christ Church Infant School Downend as your good cause and then download the donation reminder. When you are shopping on a site that will give us commission it asks you if you would like to activate donation – just tick the box. – That’s it. Easy! Doesn’t cost you anything (just 5 mins of your time to initially set up).

Amazon Smile also provides a similar charitable donation.

To sign up visit https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1038487-0

Amazon then donates a percentage to The Friends Of CCI, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is also available in the Amazon Shopping App to all Amazon customers using an iPhone or Andriod phone.

Donate old clothing and school uniform

If you have any school uniform you no longer need, then please bag it up and drop it into the office; school hold regular second hand uniform sales to raise funds.

If you have any other unwanted clothing, then please consider bringing it to the silver clothing bin in the school car park, this is another simple way to raise money for the school! Any unwanted clothing, paired shoes, handbags and belts accepted. We receive a donation every time the bin is emptied.

Please consider joining our school lottery!

For just £1 a ticket you can join our weekly lottery draw. Just follow this link: https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/lottery/school/christ-church-c-of-e-vc-infants-schools

There is a guaranteed winner from within our school community every week and the more people who join the higher the prize money! And by signing up you will also be raising money for the school!

Buy Stikins name labels

Click on the link below to order your stick on and stay on name labels (no sewing or ironing needed) and use our fundraising code when ordering to raise up to 30% commission for our school!

https://www.stikins.co.uk/ and use School Fundraising code – 35732