School Voluntary Fund

St Jude’s School Fund – Statement of Intent

Purpose of the School Fund:

The funds are to be used to benefit the pupils in the school from monies donated, raised or collected. 

Intention of the School Fund:

The object of the school fund is to advance, promote and enhance the education and experiences of pupils by providing educational and recreational facilities over and above those supported by public funding. School does this by providing resources, material and equipment or by financing extra-curricular activities e.g. Christmas parties, pantomimes, extra curricular trips etc. 

 Income to the fund is generally obtained from donations, voluntary contributions and fund raising.  It is therefore important that the school fund is not used for inappropriate purposes. Any school fund expenditure must be incurred to benefit the pupils of St Jude’s.

The School fund account may be used to make payments to external charities e.g. Children in Need, NSPCC, The Book Trust. The amount collected will be passed wholly to the charity for which it was raised.

General Management and Day to Day Procedures:

The School Voluntary Fund is not covered by the Local Authorities VAT Registration therefore, VAT incurred cannot be recovered and may not be charged.

 As far as possible, different people should be involved in ordering, invoicing and preparing payments, in order to reduce the risk of fraud.

 Two signatories are required on payments, in line with the bank mandate.

 Regular bank reconciliations should be performed (at least once every three months).

 Governors delegate the day to day operations and the approval of any expenditure incurred from the school fund to the Headteacher.

Auditing:

Annually the school fund documentation and bank statements will be audited by an independent person, approved by the governors. The audit of the school fund must be done within 6 months of the year end.

 The auditor is responsible for:

• Agreeing the entries on the Summary of Accounts Statement to the Cash Book and

Bank Statements, adjusted for unpresented transactions

• Checking the arithmetical accuracy of the Summary of Accounts Statement
• Checking that the opening balances brought forward into the current year agree with the closing balances carried forward from the previous year’s audited Summary of Accounts Statement.

Once the audit has been finalised an Audit Certificate is required to be completed. If an auditor has any doubts concerning a particular area but does not consider that it will affect the production of satisfactory accounts then the certificate can be completed with any reservations shown in the space provided or clearly appended.

Statement of Intent Approval:

Agreed at FGB meeting 10th July 2023