Welcome to all parents and carers. The Friends of Waldegrave is a great way to make friends, meet other parents and support this fantastic school.
Friends of Waldegrave
At Friends of Waldegrave, our mission is to support and enhance the educational opportunities available to all students. We aim to achieve this by:
- Providing financial support for school programs and initiatives.
- Organising events and activities that promote parent involvement and engagement.
- Fostering a sense of community among students, parents, and staff.
- Recognising and celebrating the achievements of our school community.
The Friends of Waldegrave values your views and you can support us in lots of ways, such as:
- By coming along to monthly meetings
- Raise money from online shopping using www.thegivingmachine.co.uk, www.EasyFundraising.org.uk or www.smile.amazon.co.uk
- Give regularly and Gift Aid it by Clicking Here
- Coming along to social events such as the Quiz Night and Comedy Night
- Helping us provide refreshments at school events
- Donating raffle prizes
- Offering your talents such a careers advice, gardening, work experience, marketing
- Providing professional support to the PTA such as fundraising or accountancy advice
Ways to Donate
School Fund
The school fund is collected through the Friends of Waldegrave which is a registered charity (Charity Number 297288) so that we can reclaim gift aid at no extra cost to you. For every £1 you donate we can get an extra 25p in reclaimed tax if you are a UK tax payer, making your donation go even further. Thank you to those parents who have already donated to the school fund your generosity has enabled the school to provide the school planner, rewards, other extra activities and resources which cannot be funded from the revenue budget.
If you haven’t already donated and would like to please click here.
Donations and Gift Aid
The funds raised by us parents is essential. Together we can support our children’s school, by giving regularly through Kindlink. This allows the PTA to budget with these resources and support the outstanding work at Waldegrave constantly and with a long-term strategy and vision. This is a voluntary request. But please consider, for the price of a cup of coffee a week, we can, together, have a huge impact on the continued excellent schooling provided at Waldegrave.
Donate here. If you are a UK tax payer you can Gift Aid your donation which means the PTA can claim back the tax. You only have to fill it out once but you do need to let us know if your circumstances change.
You may have noticed that we no longer ask for standing order donations for the school fund. For efficiency and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance, we now use Kindlink which is just like other donation websites but with a big difference: Kindlink keep their fees to a minimum. You can elect to donate “regularly” or as a “one-off”. You don’t even need to be a parent to donate!
What’s in it for you:
- Stay anonymous (if you would like)
- You only need to put your address in once for gift aid
- You can keep your credit/debit card points or cash back
What’s in it for the Friends of Waldegrave:
- Less card handling fees
- Gift Aid automatically collected and settled every month
- No paper = No secure storage requirements = GDPR compliant
- Gift Aid declaration consent checked at donation = GDPR compliant
What’s in it for the school
- Less fees = more money to spend
- Frequent Gift Aid settlement = funds available quicker
- Less hassle for the school office to inform the PTA weekly of ParentPay payment details
- Less paper to store on behalf of the PTA = less storage costs
For ticketed fundraising activities, we will not be able to move away from ParentPay, but with your cooperation the gift aid process can be essentially cut out from the Treasurer’s workload. A VERY BIG thank you to all who already donate via Kindlink you are a star. If you never have or are contemplating it, please give it a try.
CASH4COINS
Here at Waldegrave School we’re busy fundraising by collecting old British or foreign coins and notes, even obsolete currency. Once all the currency has been collected we send it to www.cash4coins.co.uk who exchanges it into cash we can use. The bucket is at the school reception and will be there all year so keep it coming please. Over the last five years this has raised nearly £2000!
How is the money spent?
New Mini Bus
We have just taken delivery of a new minibus which will be used daily for school events, trips, sports fixtures and Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. The new minibus is OLEZ compliant.
Toilet Refurbishments
The school committed to refurbish all three main toilet blocks and to ease the financial cost of this the Friends of Waldgrave donated towards the refurbishment. This enabled the works to be completed early than planned and it has made a significant improvement to the well-being of all our students.
Other Items
We regularly purchase items for each department such as specialist science equipment, a second bandsaw for DT, sports kit and equipment and donations to visiting speakers.
We also meet regularly with the school’s senior leadership to ensure we support projects that benefit all students eg. wall art in the corridors, display cabinets, IT equipment and subscriptions.
Fundraising
Raise money by shopping online
If you shop online regularly via the website thegivingmachine.co.uk there will be no cost to yourself but the companies will make a small donation to the school. All the major supermarkets and shops are there from Amazon to B&Q. It is easy to sign up as follows:
- Go to thegivingmachine.co.uk
- Click on Join and then click Join as a Giver
- Click Find Beneficiaries and then enter Waldegrave and search
- Click choose next to Waldegrave School and then SAVE
- You will then be asked to enter your details i.e. name, email, postcode and a password to register.
- You can then go shopping!
You can also sign up to www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ or on Amazon, https://smile.amazon.co.uk/, select Waldegrave School as our chosen charity and start shopping!
Quiz Night
Around £2000 is raised at the annual Quiz night which is usually held in March. Many thanks to all the volunteers who help to make the evening happen and to those parents and teachers who attend, whom without there would be no event.
Comedy Night
Comedy Night is always a roaring success. This is an 18+ event that takes place in the Autumn term. The comedians raise the roof with (raucous) laughter and this year we managed to raise over £3000 for the school. Many thanks to all of you who attend this event, supporting the school whilst enjoying an evening out and even more thanks to our Comedy Night co-ordinator and wonderful team of volunteers.
Christmas Tree Sale
In December we hold our annual Christmas tree sale, selling top quality non-drop Nordmann Fir trees, we also sell festive goodies and treats. 25% from every tree sale goes directly to the Waldegrave School fund.
Bingo
The Friends of Waldegrave presents Bingo Nights in September exclusively for the new Year 7 families, and acts as an icebreaker and an opportunity for newbies to Waldegrave to meet. These are fun, family evenings open to students and their parents.
Summer and Christmas Raffles
The Friends of Waldegrave usually hold raffles at Christmas and again in the Summer, these are hugely popular and fabulous fundraisers.
Refreshments at School Events
The Friends of Waldegrave provides drinks and snacks for students and parents at school events such as the Primary Induction Evening, Y7 Welcome Afternoon, Summer and Christmas concerts and Parents’ Consultation Meetings and other School Open Evenings. All profits go towards PTA projects.
Contacts and Legal Bits
Friends of Waldegrave Contacts
If you would like to get in touch to raise any issues or ask any questions, please contact the Secretary via FOW@waldegravesch.org
AGM
The AGM is held in Spring usually at the end of February. A small but perfectly formed group of parents and teachers attend for the purposes of the Chair’s report, the Financial report from the Treasurer for the past financial year and confirmation of the Committee roles for the next financial year. Existing Committee members may choose to continue in their roles but nominations for all the posts are welcomed and voting takes place at the meeting. Minutes of the last meeting are below.
Data Protection Privacy Policy
Data Protection Privacy Policy
The Friends of Waldegrave is the Parent Teachers Association of the Waldegrave School located in Twickenham, London. We are a registered charity, number 297288. This privacy policy outlines how the Friends of Waldegrave collects, uses, and protects personal information. Personal information is data that can be used to identify you, such as your name, address, email address, or phone number, and that is not otherwise publicly available.
What Information We Collect
We may collect and process the following types of personal data:
- Name
- Contact details (e.g., email address, phone number, postal address)
- Donation and Gift Aid information
- Event or meeting attendance
- Communications with us
- Lottery or raffle participation details
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our purposes.
Why We Collect Your Data
We collect personal information to:
- Facilitate donations and claim Gift Aid
- Administer charity lotteries and fundraising activities
- Record attendance at events and meetings
- Communicate with parents and supporters
- Fulfil our legal and charitable obligations
Legal Basis for Processing
We process personal data based on one or more of the following legal grounds:
- Consent – where you have given explicit permission (e.g., to receive updates or be contacted).
- Legitimate interest – to support our charitable activities and communicate with our supporters.
- Legal obligation – such as maintaining Gift Aid records required by HMRC.
Sharing and Disclosure
We do not rent, sell, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.
We may share your data only:
- With trusted service providers who help us operate the charity (e.g., payment processors or secure email platforms).
- When required to comply with applicable laws or regulations.
All third parties are required to handle your data in accordance with data protection laws.
Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.
Data Retention
We keep your personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. For example, Gift Aid records must be retained for at least six years.
Your Rights
Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
- Request deletion of your data, where appropriate
- Object to or restrict how we use your data
- Withdraw your consent at any time (where applicable)
To exercise your rights, please contact us using the details below.
Children’s Data
We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. Any personal data relating to children is handled with particular care and only collected where necessary.
Policy Updates
We may update this policy from time to time. Any significant changes will be communicated via a prominent notice on our website or by email where appropriate.
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests about your personal data, please contact: FOW@waldegrave.org.
