CHILTON Foliat Primary School is working in partnership with a new community charity, the Chilton Foliat Community Association, which has launched a fundraising campaign to raise £85,000 to build a multi-purpose building, to house both a new classroom and a new Community Club House.

While government funding has been secured to build the new classroom portion of the project, a further £85,000 is needed to fund the club house.

The new building will provide the school with a classroom for older children while other clubs and groups such as a childcare group, the Early Birds Club, the After School Club and Holiday Club. It will replace a mobile classroom due to be demolished soon.

The project to raise the cash is registered with The Good Exchange, a fundraising platform matching potential grant donors and community projects. The Greenham Trust has awarded a match funding which means that every £1 donated via The Good Exchange will be matched with £1 from The Greenham Trust.

Meanwhile children at the school kicked off their fundraising efforts with a ‘Grow Your Fiver’ initiative where each child received £5 that they were encouraged to ‘grow’. Designed to inspire entrepreneurship and to ‘get them involved’, the children hosted cake sales and made crafts to sell at their ‘Grow Your Fiver’ Pop Up Shop. Their collective profits came to over £1000 demonstrating an extraordinary effort and the huge support for the community project.

Headteacher, Mrs Katie Turner, said: “It’s an exciting time at Chilton Foliat Primary School. The enthusiasm from both the school and village community is infectious and we are hugely optimistic that we will reach our £85,000 target; creating a fabulous building to benefit all our children and the wider local community, and continuing to build on our already positive relationships”.

The Community Club House, will be run by the newly formed Chilton Foliat Community Association.