Development Fund

Godstowe is mindful of continual assessment and progress. We are always looking for ways to improve, still further, the quality of our provision and the Development Fund has been established to cater for our exciting plans over the coming years.

Since joining Godstowe in September 2006, I have been determined to examine the best ways to drive the school into the future and ensure we provide the very best opportunities for our children to excel. Mindful of our school’s long established motto, Finem Respice – look towards your goal, I have been preparing plans for major further development.

For some time, I have had in mind where I thought the school should look towards its own goal and, in order to reassure myself of the feeling among parents, staff, children and the governors, various studies have been undertaken. We commissioned a comprehensive parental questionnaire, which was highly supportive and positive. The staff have been frequently asked for their wish lists and suggestions for priority developments and even the girls in the main school have made their feelings clear.

Without doubt, the consensus among us all is that our focus for the next few years should centre around sports and performing arts. These, too, were my own early conclusions some time ago.  As a result, we are now embarking on an exciting, organised programme of development, in three phases.

• Firstly; we want to build a full-sized, multi-purpose, indoor Sports Hall allowing for tennis, four badminton courts, netball, basketball and indoor hockey. Upstairs will be a dance/ballet studio, a function room, kitchen facilities and a double balcony looking in and out to the lacrosse pitch. There will be offices and changing rooms under the balcony area and an entrance hall.

• Secondly; having liberated the JK Hall from its multi-sharing demands, we can create a dedicated Theatre and Drama Studio, with new lighting and sound equipment, modular staging/seating and a surround-sound cyclorama.

• Thirdly; we will redevelop the lower pitch and install improved Tennis and Netball pitches, with additional parking and lighting.

This is all very exciting indeed and will provide a central focus for our desire to ensure the children at Godstowe do, indeed, get the opportunity to look towards their goals in every sense. Personal development is more important to us than anything else and we must look to the future to make certain we all fulfil our aim, not only as individuals, but as at school.

The Development Fund is critical to the likelihood of us realising this aim. As distinct from the Annual Fund, we are looking to secure substantial funding to allow for our plans to take shape.  We estimate the need for £2.5m to complete the three phases of our development.

Godstowe will inject a significant sum into the fund to establish its foundation and we hope to raise the balance with the help of parents, friends, benefactors and investors. Indeed, very generous donations have already been pledged from some founder contributors and others are currently being considered.

I do hope that our campaign will excite you and I look forward to telling you more as our plans unfold. I would be very happy to discuss the above with anyone interested in wanting further information now or perhaps considering a contribution to the Development Fund.

David Gainer, Headmaster.