New Friends of Ashville - Ashville, Harrogate

ASHVILLE COLLEGE'S VOLUNTARY PARENT BODY

An invaluable link between parents and school.

At Ashville College we have a strong and supportive Friends group which you automatically become a member of when your child joins the school. Obviously, you can choose to give as much or as little time as you have available to support our activities.

We have an active group of members who:

Helps to organise events and activities
Fundraises to ‘add value’ to enhance the experience of Ashville for pupils of all ages
Runs the Pre-Loved Uniform Shop
Advocates and promotes Ashville College to current and prospective parents.

Our missioN

The New Friends of Ashville (NFoA), nurtures the relationships between our community of parents, teaching staff, and pupils, past and present. By engaging in activities which support the College and encourage us to become the best version of ourselves.

COMMITTEE LEADERS AND REPRESENTATIVES

Chair – Mandy Heywood

Treasurer – Michelle Lofthouse

Secretary – Helen Plowman

Year Representatives List 2026-2027

Acorns- Charlotte Schofield

Reception– Vacant

Prep 1- Kristin Simons

Prep 2– Hayley Hillary

Prep 3– Louise Cook

Prep 4– Anne McGinley

Prep 5- Vacant

Prep 6– Laura Melanas

Year 7- Rhiannon Petty

Year 8– Lisa Sandham

Year 9– Kemma Varley

Year 10– Mandy Heywood

Year 11– Corrye Rawlings

Lower Sixth– Vacant

Upper Sixth– Katherine Young

If you have any questions please contact your Year Representative or email nfoa@ashville.co.uk so we can put you in touch directly.

Get involved

We add information into the school newsletter on a termly basis and have developed a Facebook page to share more regular updates. We also have a SharePoint site that Committee Members can access, so we can exchange ideas and information and a WhatsApp Group for Year Group Representatives and for the Committee to share our updates.

Become a Committee Member

We have regular Committee Members who attend meetings, when they can, and give up their time to help at events. Many of us work full or part-time so the more people we have involved the more we can do. For major events we are always looking for people to help on organising committees, or just on the day. New Friends of Ashville is inclusive, and task focused, so we promise you a warm welcome if you want to come along to one of our meetings.

Committee members ideally attend at least 50% of our meetings. The committee meets twice a term for an hour, and minutes will be shared with all Committee Members. Our Annual General Meeting takes place at the College in Autumn Term.

We have three official Committee role available: Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. We plan to re-elect these posts each year, with most members taking them on for 1-3 years. The nominations process for these posts for the next academic year will start in January. If you are interested, please email secretarynfoa@ashville.co.uk.

Become an Active Member

Become a Year Representative

We have introduced a Year Representative system to help us get our message out and create social networks of parents in a particular year group. We will put out a request annually for people to volunteer for these roles, they can also be shared between two parents. If you have an interest in becoming a Year Representative for one of our vacant or temporary slots, please email us at nfoa@ashville.co.uk.

In becoming a Year Representative you will have agreed to us sharing your contact details with parents in your year, especially those new to the College.

Your role will involve:

Administering, or contributing to, the year group WhatsApp as a tool to organise social events or exchange useful information. You are encouraged to refer anyone who has concerns or queries about any aspect of the College’s operation not to use the group for that purpose and provide them with the contact details for an appropriate member of College staff.
Reading the minutes of monthly meetings, which we will send you by email – you do not have to attend the meetings but should keep up to date on what we are working on.
Communicating with other parents in your child’s class, gaining feedback on events and ideas and acting as a conduit for information back into the Committee– how you do this is up to you, playground chatter, email, we would just like to hear from you.
Supporting the organisation of, or helping at, NFoA’s events. We always need people to plan larger events. You might have a particular talent for creative ideas, marketing or just be a good planner. If you cannot make that commitment, then we would just love you help to staff one of our events or to help represent the parent body at a College Open Morning.

If you would like to get involved in one of our roles, please fill out the form below and we will be in touch.

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Data submitted in this form will be used provide you with further details about NFoA. We would also like to keep in touch with you with news and information about Ashville College.

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By ticking this box you are agreeing that Ashville College may contact you via email through our automated email marketing system (our current provider is Mailchimp). On occasion, where you have provided us with a phone number, we may also contact you via SMS message or by telephone. You reserve the right to change your contact preferences and withdraw consent at anytime and can opt out by emailing communications@ashville.co.uk or unsubscribing via emails you have received from us. Further information on the use of your data is provided in the Privacy Notice (https://www.ashville.co.uk/privacy-notice-and-cookie-policy2)

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Pre-loved Uniform shop

We offer the opportunity for parents to buy good quality second-hand branded uniform items at a fraction of the price of new. We run pop-up sales and parents can request stock.

Complete the uniform request form and email nfoapreloved@gmail.com.

We are happy to receive donations and consignment drop-offs off at any point in the year. This will help us to keep the store well-stocked and running for everyone. Please drop off your donations at the Senior School Reception. The success of the service depends on a steady stream of donations, especially high-value items such as blazers and the latest sports kit.

We accept donations or will sell on your behalf for a 50% share of the sale price. If you would like us to sell on your behalf please complete the uniform request form and email nfoapreloved@gmail.com with your order (each item must be labelled with your name and contact details) and add it to your bag.

Terms of service

Terms of service

We accept donations of new style clean, pre-loved uniform in good saleable condition. Unfortunately, we cannot currently take shoes, or other items of non-branded uniform that are not on the list due to storage constraints. If you are unsure what items are currently on the uniform list then you can view it here or on the School Blazer website.
Please wash clothes before donating and remove any name labels (where possible).
You can request a 50% return from any sales. Please label each item for which you wish to have a return with your name and contact email, please ensure it is securely attached by a safety pin, or stitch or use an adhesive label. Any unlabelled items, or those contain only your child’s name label, will be considered to be donated.
All monies due to you for uniform sold will be paid at the end of each half-term. We will contact you by email to arrange payment by BACS.

NFoA Calendar

Term	Date	Venue	Time
Autumn 1 - AGM	Monday 14 September	Sixth Form Centre	4.15pm
Autumn 2	Monday 2 November	Richardson Room	4.15pm
Spring 1	Thursday 14 January	Richardson Room	4.15pm
Spring 2	Wednesday 10 March	Richardson Room	4.15pm
Summer 1	Thursday 13 May	Richardson Room	4.15pm
Summer 2	Wednesday 16 June	Richardson Room	4.15pm

Projects we have funded

Last academic year (2025-2026), your contributions have funded events for every academic year group throughout the school (Acorns to Sixth Form), as well as purchased ‘wishlist’ items requested by different year groups and departments.

Events included:	Wishlist Items included:
Acorns Summer Party	3D Printer
Prep School Cultural Day and Summer Fair	Drum Kits
Years 7-8 End-of-Exams BBQ Party	Prep Brass Instruments
Years 9-10 Summer Celebration Party with Inflatables	Music Folders
Year 11 Prom	Robotics Kits
Sixth Form Ball	VR Headsets
	Prep School Sheds
	Bird Boxes

Suggestions for fundraising and social events are welcome and all parents are actively encouraged to get involved in helping to plan and organise events. If you have an idea, please get in touch – contact your Year Representative or email us at nfoa@ashville.co.uk.

Funding and charity status

Funding

NFoA is a registered charity (Registered Charity Number: 1203750). Fundraising is not the central purpose of the NFoA, but any profits we do make from an event go into funding Wishlist proposals approved by the Committee and suggested by staff, parents and pupils.

From September 2022, we introduced a small fee of £5 per term onto school bills to support the work of the NFoA. There is option to ‘opt-out’ of this fee contribution on an annual basis, should you choose to. This enables us to fund/subsidise an annual year group event or activity. The format and timing for each event will be chosen by pupils, teachers, and parents at the beginning of the academic year.

Shop Online and Raise Funds

The Parents’ Association launched a new service which will help us raise valuable funds for the school and it won’t cost you a penny. It’s very simple – just visit easyfundraising to register. Every time you visit the site and shop online, our cause, NFoA, earns money. Over 2000 well known retailers such as Amazon, M&S, John Lewis, Boden, Ocado, Sainsburys and eBay will pay our cause a percentage of the value of goods you purchase online. If everyone uses the site and spends just £250 per year online through registered retailers, we could raise thousands for the school.

Stikins

Make sure your uniform finds it’s way home by adding name labels. We’ve registered the NFOA with Stikins who offer personalised clothing name tags that stay on through washing & drying with durable black print that never fades. Any labels bought through their website quoting our unique reference 36879 will earn 30% commission for the NFOA.

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