£50,000 boost to Sevenoaks Primary fundraising appeal from FM Conway

Kent-based infrastructure services company, FM Conway, has donated £50,000 to Sevenoaks Primary School as part of its commitment to helping the school raise £750,000 to fund the construction of a new state-of-the-art building.

Sevenoaks Primary School has recently received approval from the Education Funding Agency and Kent County Council for the new building, after being placed on the Government’s Priority Schools Building Programme due to deficiencies with the overall condition of the existing building including the heating system and pipework.

As the largest primary school in the area, Sevenoaks currently caters for 570 pupils. However, this figure is anticipated to rise to 630 over the next three years. Designs for the new building aim to create a future-proofed, state-of-the-art school able to provide for both the needs of pupils already in attendance and for those of children joining the school in the years to come.

More than 50 clubs and activities extending beyond the traditional school day already use the facilities at Sevenoaks Primary, including childcare groups, the Kent Music School and the Lightning School of Gymnastics. It is hoped that the new building will allow these additional activities to flourish while also providing opportunities for greater use of the school facilities by the wider local community.

The donation to Sevenoaks Primary School was made through the Conway Charitable Foundation – a charitable trust established in 2013 by FM Conway’s chief executive officer, Michael Conway, his wife Kim Conway, and FM Conway central services director, Joanne Garwood. The Foundation donates £100,000 from FM Conway’s profits to worthy causes every year.

The new building will be an invaluable asset, not only to the school’s pupils, but also to the wider local community.

FM Conway’s Chairman, CEO, said: “We are proud to have been able to support Sevenoaks Primary School towards reaching its fundraising target. The new building will be an invaluable asset, not only to the school’s pupils, but also to the wider local community. FM Conway has a long history in the Kent area, having been based in Dartford for many years before our recent move to a modern, new head office in Sevenoaks. This donation cements our ongoing commitment to support the local area and the communities in which we operate.”

As part of the school’s fundraising efforts, on Friday 28th April 2017, head teacher Alan Duffy will set off from Putney Bridge having challenged himself with walking 25km across London. His route will zigzag across some of the city’s most iconic bridges and take him on a tour of ten historic landmarks before reaching the finish line at the top of the Shard.

Mr Duffy commented: “This is an incredibly generous donation and I would like to thank FM Conway profusely on behalf of the children, staff, parents and governors at Sevenoaks Primary School. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver a school for the future and thousands of children will benefit from the extra resources that the contribution will support.”

FM Conway is responsible for constructing and maintaining roads, buildings, structures and public spaces across London and the South East. In any given week, its teams can be resurfacing roads in the West End, building new Cycle Superhighways, lighting bridges on the Thames or creating civic squares for London’s town centres. The company has long-term maintenance contracts with many of the London boroughs, Transport for London and a number of major private sector clients.