The BIG BUILD
Rowledge school are excited to have launched our ‘Wellbeing Hub - BIG Build Fundraiser’.
As a small village school in a traditional setting, space within the school building is at an absolute premium. Each year group has their own classroom and the school has a traditional hall which is the only space available for assemblies, lunches, PE lessons and after school activities. There is a outdoor summerhouse that is constantly in use, facilitating small groups of up to 5 students. While staff and students make the most of the space we have, we would love to do so much more.
The school would like to add to our existing facilities by constructing a new Wellbeing Hub - an additional classroom sized building on the edge of our large playing field. The new building will act as a modern, purpose-built, multifunctional space for numerous activities and purposes, including:
- Counselling and well-being support for individual children and small groups
- Further development of our SEND provision
- Intervention groups and targeted teaching to enable all children to continue to thrive
- Dedicated space for music, drama, dance and art
- Essential meeting space for staff and external agencies /advisers / providers
- Training facilities for ongoing staff development
- Space for community use during evenings and weekends
- Autonomous space for after school clubs and holiday clubs separate from the main school building
Why do we need the space?
There are several reasons why we need the additional space offered by the proposed Wellbeing Hub, but all stem from the same place – we simply want to do more for our children. Over recent years we have given our children a variety of exciting opportunities as part of the curriculum and through our extra curricular provision but we could do so much more. For instance, we would love to see musicians within the school performing as part of an ensemble or an orchestra but the school's current configuration makes this impossible.
The staff at Rowledge School pride themselves on making sure that the needs of all pupils are met by the school, which firmly believes in 'achievement for all', but it is now at the stage where we are in desperate need of an additional year-round indoor space. Over the past 5 years the school has seen a significant increase in the number of pupils who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This increase is reflected both locally and nationally and we want to continue to provide an inclusive and nurturing community both now and in years to come.
We are keen to build a modern, multi-functional space which is available to the wider community outside school hours and for longer periods during school holidays. We would love to offer a selection of diverse programmes, clubs and activities in the safe and secure location which the school grounds provide. Examples of activities could include; art classes, private music lessons, gaming groups, chess clubs, youth groups and holiday clubs.
The Proposed Project
We hope to install a permanent classroom sized building on the forest side of the playing field (located next to the PE and FORS sheds) which would seat 32 pupils, include a fully fitted bathroom, heating and all other amenities. We anticipate that the costs of seeing our vision come to life - from initial plans, through planning consent and to completing the build - will cost in the region of £350,000.
We are in discussions with several external funding bodies and anticipate submitting applications for a large proportion of the funding needed in the near future.
The project already has funding pledges from the following organisations:
1. Binsted Parish Council have agreed to commit £1,600 of Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy funding to the project;
2. The ‘Friends of Rowledge School’ PTA have pledged to raise and contribute £20,000 to the project.
3. The Rowledge School will contribute £10,000 from capital reserves.
How Can you help?
In order to submit a successful funding application we will need your help. To show the project has community support we would be grateful if you could complete the relevant forms below and write us a letter of support:
1. If you are a volunteer or member of staff at the school, a family member of a pupil at the school or a member of the local community, please complete this short online questionnaire to let us have your thoughts.
2. If you are (i) a provider of extra-curricular activities for children and would potentially be interested in using the external teaching space to run activities or clubs for the pupils or (ii) are a member of the local community and would like to potentially hire the classroom for regular or one-off use, please complete this short online questionnaire.
3. If you support the plans to install the new Wellbeing Hub, please write us a brief letter or email of support telling us so! These will be used to support our applications for funding as it is vital that we have, and can evidence, the support of the community to justify public funding for the project.
(Please note that your letters will be shared with local funding bodies such as EHDC and Waverley Borough Council. Please do not include any personal information in your letter which you are not happy for us to share with third parties.)
Please drop letters of support (addressed to Sarah Womersley or Sarah Oliver) to the school office or post them to us using the address below. Alternatively you can email your letter of support directly to Sarah Womersley at sarah.womersley1984@gmail.com
Fundraising team, Rowledge Primary School, School Road, Rowledge, Farnham GU10 4BW
Without your completion of the questionnaires above and your individual letters of support we will not be able to get this incredible project off the ground so we'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you in advance and we will look forward to sending you progress updates very soon.
Please do let us know if you would like more information about this project, or if you are able to support us in any other way we would love to hear from you via the contact information above.
