As the old African proverb goes “It takes a village to raise a child” and the Friends of Ardvreck (FOA) are the community of parents, grandparents, guardians, brothers and sisters who are attached to each child at Ardvreck School.

They are represented by a committee of parents who meet a couple of times a term to dream up exciting events to raise money for all the extra things which make this school so unique. More importantly, it is at these events parents get a chance to meet the friends of their children and experience a little bit of the fun that makes this school so magic.

New members with fresh ideas are always welcomed to the committee and meetings are generally held before Exeats and holidays to enable boarding parents to get involved.

The parent body at Ardvreck is incredibly diverse and with that comes a broad range of expertise. This means if committees are not your thing but fishing is – you can help catch ducks from the river on Sports Day. Some parents come in and speak at Friday evening Lantern Lectures, some share their homes for school camping trips. One year some parents even made a brightly coloured papier mache elephant and the whole school helped make tissue paper flowers for the Bolly Hoolie. Regular events run by the Friends are the fabulous Balls, the Ard Challenge, a Quiz Night, the tea tent at Sports Day and the Ardvreck Rugby Sevens.

If your child has a bright idea for something that would make the school a better place and the committee agrees, they’ll make it happen! Their job is to raise funds for the bottomless wish list from the staff and children:

In the last few years the Friends have purchased rock climbing equipment, toboggans a barbecue for the forest school, lane ropes, clock, pennants and water polo balls for the swimming pool, a projector for Mac House, a Cello, the licence for the school play and contributed towards the spectacular firework display. On top of that there are new cricket nets, a mobile pizza oven, cosy bean bags for the new library, canvas bell tents, Little Ardvreck visibility vests, drum harnesses for the pipe band, tennis ball machine, booster seats for Little Ardvreck outings and some picture frames for the library. Not forgetting the climbing tree and new playground.