Penn School delivers excellent education for students with communication difficulties. Our aim is to provide an even better education for them. However, providing more costs more.

We are an independent, non-maintained school. This is not the same as a private school where fees are decided by the school and charged directly to parents. Instead Local Authorities pay fees to Penn school for students who need our specialised services. The fees we receive are mostly used for the operational costs of the school, so to provide more for our students we continually need to raise extra funds.

As explained in our School History page, in 1998 to avoid closure of the school, a charity - Rayners Trust - took over the school from Camden LEA. The cost to Rayners to keep the school open was immense; a seven figure mortgage plus interest which is still being paid. And furthermore, whilst the buildings and grounds provide an excellent learning environment for the students, old Victorian houses require extensive and on-going repairs and maintenance which adds further significant costs. Having to cover these large and regular payments limit our ability to develop and implement new initiatives to enhance our students' education even further which is what we strive for.

Many individuals and organisations have already helped us to help out students by making generous donations. For example the Variety Club of Great Britain who provided a minibus, BBC Children in Need and St James's Trust who both made substantial five figure donations for a new activity/playground centre.

We are a registered charity and so if you tick the "Gift Aid It" box on the downloadable form (obtained by clicking here) we can claim tax relief from the Government which increases the value of your donation. (You will need Adobe Reader software, freely available to download from here, in order to open and print the form if you do not already have it on your computer).

There are lots of ways you can donate.

• Fundraising through Sponsored Events

  Very often individuals and/or groups undertake tasks and events for which sponsorship opportunities exist, often using on-line websites for people to sponsor/donate their contributes. This also means Gift Aid is automatically claimed thus increasing the value to the school. On-line donations by credit card/debit card are made possible through the JustGiving website which is a safe and secure way of donating money and sponsoring events and/or individuals. The PennSchool pages of all our events can be found on the JustGiving website at www.justgiving.com/pennschool.

  New events have been added (and more will be announced shortly), and some have been completed but are still "open" for donations and sponsorship.

  Ms Carrie Allen, one of our Trustees, embarked on a sight-seeing tour of London by taking to the streets in this years London Marathon on April 25th. You can still make on-line donations and "after the event" sponsorship via our JustGiving website, please http://www.justgiving.com/cazpennschool to make an on-line donation by credit/debit card to thank Carrie for all her efforts in completing this long and gruelling run.

  Mr Bill Edwards, one of our Trustees, went on an 84 mile "stroll" along the entire 84 mile length of Hadrians Wall in May 2010. You can still make on-line donations and "after the event" sponsorship via out JustGiving wesbite, please go to http://www.justgiving.com/bill-edwards to make an on-line donation by credit/debit card.

  On Sunday 27th June 2010 the Clare Foundation in Saunderton are hosting a sponsored mass ramble through the Buckinghamshire Countryside and Penn have been invited to take part. We hope that parents and students (and their friends and families) will join in the 5 or 10 mile course and hopefully gets lots of sponsors to encourage them. Further details can be obtained by contacting the Penn School co-ordinator for this even by email at fund@pennschool.co.uk. On-line sponsorship and donations can also be made on the JustGiving website by clicking http://www.justgiving.com/red-kite-ramble.

  On Sunday 11th July 2010 a team of runners will take part in the London 10k fun run. If you would like details, please email us on fundraising@pennschool.co.uk. General donations and specific individual runner contributions can be made on-line by going to www.justgiving.com/pennschool.

  On Saturday 9th October we have a dual event at the Bell House Hotel, Beaconsfield. It is a "White Tie and Tiara" event to celebrate that fact that 10 years ago we were threatened with closure but amazing efforts by many people meant that we were able to remain open and grow and develop. To celebrate this, and also to launch the next phase of the development plan - to raise a large amount of money to further develop our existing Post 16 capability, the Ball will be our third such event and include food, auctions, casino, dancing and lots of other fun and surprises. More detailed information will be sent home with students however information can be obtained from Sally, the organiser, by calling the school office or by email (fund@pennschool.co.uk). Donations on-line can also be made on outr JustGiving website at www.justgiving.com/penn-school-ball.

• Fundraising through the Friends of Penn School

  The Friends of Penn School, a registered charity (number 1089483), are a group who raise funds for specific student benefit projects, for example Smartboards to assist learning. They raise funds by organising a variety of fun activities.

  Please contact the Friends of Penn Secretary - Jenny Freeman - on 01494 812139

   

• On-line Donations (Regular and/or one-off payments)

You can make donations on-line via credit/debit either as single and/or regular contributions. Please access the general donations page at www.justgiving.com/pennschool which is a secure payments website. Gift aid is automatically claimed from the Government providing you are a UK tax payer.

• Postal donations

If you would like to donate by cheque, please make cheques payable to Penn School and send them to

The Bursar

Penn School

Church Road

Penn

Bucks

HP10 8LZ

Please remember to print out, complete and then return the "Gift Aid It" form with your cheque.

• Standing Order Donations

You can set up regular payments from your bank account by standing order. Please download, complete, sign and return the Standing Order/Direct Debit mandate, available by clicking here, and send it to us at the address shown above. We will then set everything up. Please also return your Gift Aid Declaration.

• Payroll Giving

Payroll Giving is operated by many employers and allows you to make tax efficient donations to us directly from your salary. You do not pay tax on the amount hat you donate through your payroll as it is tax deductable. And your employer can get Government grants to set up and run Payroll Giving schemes. Further details can be found here.

• Leaving a Legacy

You can leave a Gift in your will which can make a real and significant difference to our students.

Your legacy will be exempt from any inheritance tax thus reducing the total amount of inheritance tax due on your estate. You can leave as much or as little as you like.

To make a bequest in your Will simply contact your solicitor or a Will writing service and name Rayners Special Educational Trust as your chosen charitable beneficiary. If you have already made a Will but would like to amend it, you can simply ask your solicitor to add a codicil to your existing Will.

For additional information and advice on making a bequest to charities, please visit www.charityfacts.org.