As you are aware, this year we have been asked to adopt a cashless system for fundraising events, in line with COVID safety, but also to trial how easy this would be in the future. The House staff and I are greatly looking forward to Track and Field returning this year, and it would not be the same without House fundraising stalls, but due to the changes they will run slightly differently.

How it will work

This year, the House stalls will operate on a ‘token’ system. Each House will run events/raffles and will charge however many tokens they feel appropriate, much like a funfair. Each token will equate to the value of £1, so prices should be reasonable (i.e. 1 token for 3 raffle tickets/ 1 token for a lucky dip).

In order for the system to operate efficiently, parents will be asked to purchase tokens for their child IN ADVANCE of the day itself. There will not be an opportunity to buy tokens/pay cash on the day itself. A JustGiving page will be set up for the event, and parents will be asked to donate however much money they wish, which will in turn reflect the number of tokens their child can spend on the day (£5 = 5 tokens etc).

It is imperative that parents state the FULL NAME and FORM of their child, so that the tokens can be given to the student on the morning of the event by their form tutor. If it is not clear who the donation is being paid on behalf of, there is a risk of students not getting their tokens. Please also ensure the donation amount is visible as this will inform how many tokens a student receives. Please note that the donations will be set up to go to Brentwood School (as a registered charity) and then the tokens will be counted for each House at the end of the event and the appropriate sum of money distributed to the House charities by the bursary.

For reference, the House charities are as follows:

North - Barrow Farm

South - St Francis’ Hospice and the Pachamama Project

Weald - Little Havens Hospice

East - Papyrus/Parkinson’s 

West - Essex Wildlife Trust

The JustGiving page will go live on Monday 14th June and will close at 12pm on Thursday 24th June. A list will then be drawn up which reflects which students have purchased tokens and how many. Students can choose to spend tokens on any stall they want, the tokens will look the same for each House, and they are all worth £1 each. 

The tokens will be bagged and labelled and given to Heads of Year on Friday 25th June. Form tutors should then collect the bags for students in their form and distribute them at registration on Wednesday 30th June. 

Many thanks for your support of this initiative.