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.