La Moye students 'growing' funds for leaving party

Saturday 22 April 2023

Year Six students and parents at La Moye School are hoping to ‘grow’ funds for their leavers party by selling tomato seedlings and plants – along with a ‘crop’ of other initiatives.

The school is pulling out all the stops to make sure the leavers have a series of events to celebrate their final term in primary school.

However, there are concerns that the rising costs of the leaving party – which parents usually contribute towards – could create unnecessary financial strain during the cost-of-living crisis.

Heidi Davies, whose daughter Ffion will be leaving La Moye this year, said: "We used a local venue for a party package last year, and we contacted the venue again this year, hoping to do the same package, but the quote was almost double what each parent paid last year.

"This year, we are using a different venue and trying to keep the costs to parents as low as possible. Like so many things at the moment, costs are so much higher!"

Pictured: La Moye student Ffion with the tomato plants, which she is hoping to sell on Saturday.

She added: "We have only just begun with fundraising efforts, but we are really hoping to keep the contributions from parents down. We are trying to do this definitely more so than in previous years, because times are hard for many at the moment. 

"Some might not even consider themselves to be struggling that much, but the transition from primary to secondary school can be an expensive time, so we don't want financial pressures to be a consideration at that important time in their child's life."

The idea to sell tomato seedlings at a roadside stall sprouted when Heidi saw the number of plants she had spare.

She explained: "My daughter and I have always loved growing lots of vegetables. Usually, I end up giving away lots because I grow too many, but I thought that this could be my contribution, this could be an honesty stall. That's our little contribution to the project."

On Saturday, Heidi and Ffion will be taking their stall to the communal square area at Clos D'Avoine.

There are several varieties on offer for £2 each, including Hundreds & Thousands, Cherry Falls, Costoluto di Parma, and Gigantomo.

Pictured: The different varieties of tomato that Heidi and Ffion have on offer.

Parents who are perhaps not so green-fingered are turning to other ways to raise money, such as selling football fundraising cards and collecting loose change in empty Smarties tubes.

This Saturday, some of La Moye's Year Six students will even be bag-packing in Marks and Spencer.

Heidi said: "The kids are very much pitching in as well with this. This is for their benefit, so we want them to do the work."

She added: "It is all to ease the burden, and it can be quite expensive at the beginning of the summer holidays, with paying for activities and holiday clubs, even if you're not going off the island, all while preparing for the set up at a whole new school.

"If our efforts can make one parent think, 'Oh great, I don't have to worry about affording to pay for that', that can mean a lot."