Category: Charity

25th March 24

Our annual Parent Quiz raised over £4000 for the Sally Walker Fund, which underwrites our bursaries and partnerships.

The evening took place on Thursday 29 February 2024 and saw over 180 parents in attendance for ‘A Night in the West End’. Team names, such as ‘Finton of the Opera’ and ‘Book of Moron’, were imaginative as always. Rounds ranged from Food & Drink to Name That Musical, and there was a lively bar operated by a team of staff from Savills as well as a silent auction.

In between delivering quiz rounds, Miss India spoke about the Sally Walker Fund. We reflected on the year so far, laughing at the memory of children bringing in advent calendars twice their size for our Wandsworth Foodbank collection at Christmas and clapping at the fact that, since September, Finton House has contributed 1090.8kg worth of donations (equating to 2,597 meals for local families). The room listened to sobering statistics from Little Village, and saw photographs from the children’s ward at St. George’s Hospital… but broke out into smiles at the many images of Fintonians fundraising as Time for a Change Champions, delighted that the school is just under halfway to our £5k target in just a few months.

Miss India explained that the Sally Walker Fund doesn’t just support charities, but that it supports all kinds of partnerships across Cost of Living, Health and Wellbeing, Sport & the Arts and Outdoor Learning, alongside our bursary award. We reflected on the words “Open Hearts and Guiding Hands”, and agreed that this motto includes opening our doors to join with other schools and local organisations to share resources and experiences. She spoke about some of our partner schools, one of which has over 35% of children eligible for free school meals and another where a class of 30 is taught sport by one PE teacher. We saw photographs of cricket skills afternoons, reggae workshops, poetry mornings and more, all of which were organised for our pupils and shared with other schools thanks to donations to the Sally Walker Fund. Miss India also talked about our new Grandfriends over at Nightingale Hammerson, a local Jewish-faith nursing home, whom a group of children go to visit weekly.

Finally, Miss India explained that all of our partnerships and bursary awards are funded through donations and not school fees, and so they rely on regular donations to exist. We cannot plan for the months and years ahead without them. This means that any regular commitment that somebody makes to the school makes a huge difference. If 30 out of the 95 families in attendance signed up to give £20 a month then that would fund four partnership events a year. If every family in the room gave £20 a month, that would fund a bursary place in its entirety for a year. Anyone can sign up to give £20, £50 or £100 a month right now by clicking here.

Our deepest thanks go to Savills, particularly Robin Chatwin and Nicky Chambers, for their continued support of our bursary fund. We are also so grateful to our friends at Earslfield Kitchen, Astrid & Miyu, Monica Vinader, Fortnum & Mason, Demijohn and artist Shama Johns for donating prizes to our silent auction.

To read more about supporting Finton House’s charitable initiatives, click here.

16th February 24

Families at Finton House School have donated their pre-loved school uniform to a children’s day care centre in South Africa for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

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25th October 23

An adventurous crew of 31 Fintonians completed the Lidl Mudder in October and raised over £5000 for Microtia UK.

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13th October 23

On Monday 2nd October our Year 6 prefects joined a team of Finton staff to deliver the generous Harvest Festival donations from Finton families to Wandsworth Foodbank. (more…)

7th September 23

Beatrix Potter Primary School on Magdalen Road in Wandsworth is renowned for its warm community of 270 pupils. Lessons are built around the 5Es, ‘engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate’ so reading and all that books bring is at the centre of its ethos hence the motivation for their recently opened beautiful library. It is a stand out feature of the school and staff are building the collection of books with their PTA so that there is a good range for everybody.

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7th September 23

We are proud to have held a rewarding programme of outreach events last term which saw us sharing our resources with local schools.

Our partnership initiatives are made possible due to donations made by Finton families to the Annual Fund, which enables the school to reach into the local community and develop meaningful partnerships for the benefit of all children. To read more about these initiatives please click here.

On Wednesday 21^st June, to mark Make Music Day, our Year 4’s were joined by Year 4 pupils from Furzedown Primary School at Trinity Chapel for a big musical bonanza! “Children from both schools enjoyed an interactive workshop by Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, and specifically by Connaught Brass ensemble. The children were introduced to the different sounds of brass instruments – some of them even got the chance to conduct the ensemble!” says Miss Maria, Finton’s Head of Music. The event involved performances by the children from each school as well as a collaborative performance of the song “Let Love Shine Through”.

The sun shone down on Trinity Fields on the afternoon of Tuesday 23^rd May, when Year 3 pupils from Finton House and Earlsfield Primary School came together for an afternoon of cricket skills development. Pupils worked in collaborative groups under the instruction of cricket coaches from Spencer Cricket Club, alongside staff members from both schools. Four coaches worked with all of the boys and girls through a circuit of different activities, which they thoroughly enjoyed. It was reported that all of the pupils impressed the coaches from Spencer Cricket!

We were also delighted to host the inaugural Junior Trinity Shield on Monday 26^th June, in collaboration with Trinity Fields. Year 4 pupils from Finton and three neighbouring primary schools, Fircroft, Smallwood and Furzedown, were delighted to spend a fun afternoon together playing in a cricket tournament. All the pupils were excited to all go home with a medal and a huge smile on their faces.

A very big thank you to Miss Olivia (Assistant Head: Partnerships) and Miss India (Head of Marketing and Development) from the Finton community together with Miss Maria and Mr Anthony (Head of Games).

Click to donate now to the Annual Fund and make more of these partnerships possible!

10th February 23

Finton’s Wind & Brass Band, led by Miss Maria (Head of Music), performed at the Mayor’s Charity Gala at Wandsworth Civic Suite this week.

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24th November 22

Stephanie Baines said a huge “Thank you!” to Finton during assemblies this week for giving the gift of education by sponsoring a child at Green Pastures School in Nairobi.
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18th November 22

Finton families came together to support the charity Little Village this week by turning out their wardrobes and cupboards at home in support of local young families in need.

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18th November 22

It really was a royally Crazy Hair Day as pupils, staff and even some parents arrived at school with weird and whacky hairstyles for Thomson’s infamous annual charity event.
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