Concordia

Concordia Winter 2019 23 Concordia Winter 2019 22 https://development.mtsn.org.uk/supporting-MTS Development M any of our benefactors generously choose to support the Head Master’s Discretionary Fund, meaning their donations are directed to wherever the Head Master judges there to be the greatest need. For the last three years, we have used a portion of this Fund to directly support clubs and societies run by boys. Boys are able to bid for up to £5,000 for equipment or projects they would like to undertake, but do not have the budget for. This scheme is now a significant part of our fundraising programme. Since the fund was established in 2017, it has awarded more than £80,000 to pupil-led initiatives.The grants, ranging from £150 to £5,000, have supported nearly 50 projects throughout the school, across a range of areas. The fund has enhanced a number of academic clubs. It has provided grants for an iSandbox – an augmented reality sandpit – for the Senior Geography Society, a 5-day public speaking academy for boys in the Debating Society, and guest speakers for the History Society conference. STEM societies have been particularly popular. A grant from the Merchant Taylors’ Fund allowed boys to enter a competition to design, manufacture and test a remote control 4 wheel drive car. Having come second in the South East Regional Finals, the boys went on to complete in the National Final where they placed third, qualifying for the international leg of the competition. The judging committee went on to offer all five boys apprenticeship degrees by Jaguar Land Rover.The fund also supported boys who wished to take part in Rampaging Chariots – a STEM competition run by Leonardo Engineering that challenges teams to build a robot. We entered two teams, with the Senior Team winning the obstacle course and the JuniorTeam coming second. Our outdoor education provision has greatly benefited from the fund with the purchase of a fleet of mountain bikes and support for equestrian competitions. Our watersports programme has been transformed with funding for the repair of our flat-water kayaks and Canadian canoes, the purchase of new white-water kayaks and new equipment for kitesurfing. The fund allowed boys to extend their outreach activities by making a real difference to what our Divisions and Fifth Form boys are able to offer their guests at Phab Club.The club has recently received funding for a table football table to add to the karaoke machine and giant-sized games purchased with a grant in a previous funding round.The fund has also supported pupil-led outreach activities at four local primary schools. Boys established a choir at Bushey Heath Primary School with the Bushey pupils performing at our Music for a Summer’s Evening concert. Using monies from the fund, boys have set up a Latin Club and Chess Club at St Mary’s Primary School in Rickmansworth and run classes for robotics and coding at Eastbury Farm Primary School.The fund has also provided funding for a highly successful mentoring programme at Greenfields Primary School. The spirit of innovation is strong at MerchantTaylors’ and the fund has engendered the launch of several new clubs at the school. We have helped to fund a group of Third and Fourth Form boys who were keen to work with Arduino microprocessors to learn electronics and problem-solving together with some practical programming. We have supported student well-being with funding for equipment for the newly created Meditation Society. The fund has even benefited the clubs and societies of previous generations. We have made a gift to help digitise a collection of photographs, negatives and digital images (JPEGs and NEFs) donated to the MTS Archive by the school photographer, John Everitt, following his retirement. We now have a complete series of school photographs documenting all pupil sports teams and formal groups from 1972 to the present day. We are so grateful to those benefactors who choose to support the Head Master’s Discretionary Fund to make these awards possible. Boys are afforded many inspiring and valuable opportunities through these clubs and societies and many of the activities would not be able to take place without your generous support. We have just completed our fourth round of funding allocation and we look forward to sharing details of these new projects in the summer edition of Concordia. Merchant Taylors’ Clubs and Societies Fund E ach year, it seems more and more of you help the school in some way. For the last few years around 20% of OMTs either attended an event, volunteered for the school, or supported financially. Some of the 20% did all three! This year I thought it was worth celebrating the impact of volunteering at MerchantTaylors’. In 2018-2019, 231 OMTs, parents and friends (that I am aware of) volunteered in some capacity at the school. I expect there are many more whose efforts and help I have not seen or been told of. Among the 231, there are committee members, careers advisors, mentors, archivists, sports coaches and many more.These people give their time so willingly and we are very grateful. MerchantTaylors’ is able to offer the boys so much through its normal operations, but our volunteers really do put the icing on the cake. I have discussed the role of volunteering with other charities and I found that many were measuring this in financial terms, by applying an hourly rate depending on the level of expertise or skills each volunteer was bringing to their activity. I decided to apply this to our volunteering at Merchant Taylors’ and – while I perhaps erred on the low side in calculating hours and rates, and know that this won’t be the full picture of all of our volunteering – I was amazed to see that in 2018-2019, this amounted to £78,000 worth of support. We are so grateful to all of you, whether you attended a school trip, served drinks at an event, or mentored one of our boys through our careers programme. In 2020, we intend to invite you all to a thank you event in much the same way as we do for our benefactors. In the meantime, on behalf of everyone you have helped, thank you. If you would like to give your time to MerchantTaylors’, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at development@mtsn.org.uk . Volunteering at Merchant Taylors’ W e are seeking 13 callers for our biennial Telephone Campaign, which will take place this coming summer. Being a caller is a great opportunity to earn money and gain some excellent skills to put on your CV as well as help the school’s future by raising money for the Merchant Taylors’ Fund. TheTelephone Campaign will take place at MerchantTaylors’ between 20th July and 3rd August 2020. Look out for further information about how to apply, which will be sent out in the coming months. If you have any questions or would like to express your interest in the role, please contact the Development Office (development@mtsn.org.uk ). Seeking callers for our Telephone Campaign in July 2020 Development