St Clement’s School ‘humbled’ to secure £23,700 for inclusive playground project
St Clement’s School has raised a whopping £23,700 as the winners of a Cash for Kids fundraising competition, for their new inclusive playground.
In June, the Dingwall special needs school took part in Cash for Kids’ Our School Challenge, where the pupils and teachers are given three weeks to raise as much money as possible for their school.
READ MORE ABOUT THE ST CLEMENT’S PLAYGROUND PROJECT HERE
Explaining more about how the Our School Challenge works, Cash for Kids charity manager Lyndsay Rose said: “Our School Challenge is a way of encouraging schools to raise funds for themselves while giving them the chance to win additional funds.
“The schools are invited to register and the finalists then have just under three weeks to raise as much money as possible for their school.
“All of the funds raised stay with their school.”
The 51-pupil St Clement’s school won the competition by a landslide, raising a colossal £17,711. As well as smashing their hefty fundraising goal, St Clement’s was also granted an additional £5000 from Cash for Kids, as the school who raised the most in the challenge.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Dingwall school also scooped an extra £500 as a prize for their Best Fundraising Idea and another £500 as a prize for their Best Social Media in the challenge.
St Clement’s School headteacher, Colin Masterson said: “Our winning fundraising idea was the Human Fruit Machine. I think three people had various fruits in boxes covered up — participants then pulled out fruit at random, and if you got three of the same fruit you win a prize.
“We took part in the Our School Challenge to raise funds for playground equipment — the response was truly amazing and humbling.
“Parents also organised a fun run, raffles and collections at Tesco, a pyjama day and a coffee afternoon in Culbokie. Frank Nicol donated a child’s quad for us to put in the raffle, and one woman even handed me an anonymous donation of £900 and walked away!
“We still need lots of money for the playground — the equipment is very expensive. But many local companies have offered support us generous support with materials and labour. As ever, we are truly grateful of the community support for St Clement’s which goes on all year, not just for this event.
“We intend to keep fundraising and hopefully we can get a new playground in spring 2025, fingers crossed!”
