‘Our lottery has raised more than £3,000 for our school improvement fund’

Chase Terrace Technology College made £3,063 so far from running their own school lottery

‘We launched our school lottery just over a year ago, as part of a broader fundraising campaign to improve our facilities and provide enrichment activities for our students. Our SIF (School Improvement Fund) wishlist includes £50,000 for a replacement DDA lift to help disabled students access higher floors in our main building, £15,000 to extend our Accelerated Reading programme for all Year 8 and 9 students, and £35,000 to renovate our main building.

So far, the lottery has raised £3,063, with projected annual funds of £2,850. The first winner was our assistant headteacher, who generously donated her winnings back to the school. Since then, the lottery has gone from strength to strength – we now have 93 supporters and 56 winners (receiving £2,291 between them). It’s lovely to see a mix of teaching and support staff, parents, carers, families and friends all supporting this initiative. We are starting to spread the word further now, with the launch of our school lottery and fundraising Facebook page.

The lottery, which is run through Your School Lottery, is open to anyone aged over 16 in our community. People can sign up for as little as £1 a week and the more players that take part, the bigger the prize and the more money raised, with 40% of ticket sales going to our school.

We promote the lottery through our school website, quarterly newsletter, Facebook page, flyers at events, X (formerly Twitter) and word of mouth, and around 137 tickets are sold each week. There’s a guaranteed cash prize every week, and players are also entered into a separate national draw to win a weekly £25,000 jackpot. The lottery is easy to play: you simply log on, choose your numbers and select either direct debit or pay-as-you-go. The draw is made every Saturday evening and the winners are announced on our school website and Twitter feed.

So far, our SIF fundraising campaign has reached £22,000, thanks to a range of different initiatives, including a Christmas raffle, a JustGiving page, and fundraising activities led by our fantastic staff.’

Nicola Mason, head of school, Chase Terrace Technology College, Burntwood, Staffordshire (1,375 pupils)

Your School Lottery is part of the Gatherwell lottery group, which is certified by the Gambling Commission. To apply, go to yourschoollottery.co.uk/enrol-my-school/apply

‘Our lottery has raised more than £3,000 for our school improvement fund’

Chase Terrace Technology College made £3,063 so far from running their own school lottery

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