Funding Policy

Introduction

This policy establishes the conditions and prioritisation of how the PTA funds projects.

Funding Request Process

The PTA tracks projects to fund via funding requests.  Funding Requests may be made by any school staff member or buy anyone in the school community (student, parent, etc).  

Funding Requests initiated by school staff are sent to Curriculum Area Managers (CAM's) who assess the funding request and then if approved, send these to the School nominated PTA liason who provides these to the PTA.

For funding requests initiated outside of the school staff, funding requests are submitted to the PTA.

All funding requests include:

  • Requestor Contact (Name & Email)
  • Department (Beneficiary)
  • Description of the Items
  • Cost ex VAT
  • Benefit to the Students
  • Impact - how many students, how often, for how long
  • Justification - why should the PTA fund this
  • Date - when the funding decision is required by

Funding requests will be assessed by the PTA according to this policy and prioritised accordingly. The PTA will set annual budgets to raise funds based on the funding needs represented by the funding requests.  The status and prioritisation of funding requests will be shared with the school community.

Funding Prioritisation

This policy is draft - comments are welcome.

The prioritisation of funding requests is based on the following principles:

  • Does the funding request meet the objectives of the Charity?
    "To advance the education of pupils in the school by: 
    • developing effective relationship between staff, parents and others associated with the school and, 
    • engaging in activities or providing facilities or equipment which support the school and advance the education of pupils"
  • Are restricted funds raised against the funding request ?  
    If so, restricted funds should be applied against that funding request at the earliest practical opportunity.  This does not impact whether unrestricted funds are also allocated to the funding request.
  • Does the funding request related to ordinary school expenditure which is ordinarily funded under the Education and Skills Funding Agency (Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) ? e.g. General Annual Grant (GAG), pupil premium and other grants 
    Whilst the PTA does not have an opinion on the way funding is allocated within ElmWey Learning trust, or within each school, there is a reasonable expectation that government funding is sufficient to meet statutory learning requirements.  Prioritisation is increased where the funding will create heightened educational experiences from the baseline.
  • Funding requests will be classified in to small, medium and large categories.  Large will mean a funding size that is likely to require multiple years of funding to achieve. e.g. >£10,000 Small funding requests will be less than £1,000.  All other funding requests will be classified as medium. 
  • The PTA will set a budget each year based on the number of students enrolled at the school, the amount of funding requests and taking in to account and known funding/income. The budget will include amounts allocated to small, medium and large projects. For the current year, the unrestricted funding will be allocated 60% to small & medium projects, 20% to large projects and 20% to build a reserve. The charity is required to have a reserve policy to demonstrate it can continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due.  This funding allocation will be reviewed annually.
  • This policy will seek to maximise the impact to pupils by prioritising funding requests according to the following formula:
    Impact = (Students Impacted x Impacts per Year x Impact Value) - Cost per Year.  Impact Value will require judgement which is at the discretion of the PTA but made with best estimates.

This policy will be revised annually and updated as required.
Last reviewed & adopted by the PTA: 7 June 2024