Bursar's Blog
My name is Andrew Medhurst and I am the School Business Manager (Bursar).
Through this section of the website it is my intention to keep you all informed of developments at the school and to make you aware of any new initiatives.
I hope you will find the following interesting as well as informative and if you have any questions in this area I would welcome an email to amedhurst@tbgs.torbay.sch.uk
Shiphay Manor. (posted Feb 2010)
Those of you who have visited the school over the years cannot have missed the Manor House at the end of our drive. Shiphay Manor is an iconic building with a colourful history.
Built in 1883 the building was originally the home of the Kitson family.
In 1929 the local council bought the manor and from the 1930s it was a popular hotel before becoming in the 1970s a night club of some notoriety a period which included a murder in the grounds.
In 1980 the council gave the manor over to Torquay Girls' Grammar school who used it for their 6th form centre for many years, sharing some of the facilities with TBGS 6th Form.
When in 2008 the girl's school built a new 6th form centre within their own site the manor lay empty and unused and inevitably started to deteriorate and become the target of vandalism.
In late 2008 TBGS succeeded in acquiring the manor and the school considered the huge task of renovation.
Firstly we had to establish what needed doing. A number of surveys were carried out and it was decided that the manor needed:
A new roof,
New windows,
Re-pointing all of the walls,
Rewiring throughout and upgrading the plumbing,
Remodelling of the inside area.
All of this at an estimated cost of around £750 000! Nevertheless the governors resolved to carry out the necessary works.
Working closely with our architects, LSN of Newton Abbot, the school put together a design for the new interior and it was decided by the governing body that the building would be converted into an 'Arts and Media' centre for the school that could also be used by the local community.
Work finally started in September 2009 and is on target to be completed in time for the new school year commencing September 2010.
Work is progressing well at time of writing and the picture shows the re roofing in progress.
Funding for the renovation is as ever an issue. The sale of a small area of unused land at the back of the school raised £500 000 which has made the project viable with the school resolved to raise the additional £250 000 over the next few years to carry out the interior adjustments.
If anybody wishes to help with the renovation project please contact me at amedhurst@tbgs.torbay.sch.uk
PARENTPAY (posted Feb 2010)
Many of the banking institutions have stated that in the near future they would cease using cheque books, moving instead to ‘chip and pin’ technology with debit cards. The school receives tens of thousands of pounds in cheque payments from parents each year for items such as school dinners, paying for trips, exam re-sits etc.
It was therefore decided last year to trial ‘Parentpay’ an internet based payment system whereby parents can log on to the school website, www.tbgs.co.uk, and make payment safely and securely from their debit or credit card direct to the school.
The trial was successful and we now hope to convince ‘All Parents’ that Parentpay is the way forward.
All parents will have been assigned a unique ‘log in’ and password to the system. Letters were sent home in the autumn term 2009 with the details but if you have lost the copy please email me at amedhurst@tbgs.torbay.sch.uk and I will send you another copy.
The take up to date has been very good and the reduction in cash and cheques has already produced savings in efficiency as well as possibly saving a few trees!
Ideally we would now like to move forward to a ‘cashless’ system in the school so I ask you to please consider using Parentpay next time you go to write a cheque to the school..
There are great advantages to using Parentpay as the money is credited direct to the school rather than sit in a student’s pocket until he remembers to hand it in!
For ‘Dinner Money’ this means it is credited direct to students’ powercards within 24hours of entering the detail on the Parentpay website!
When you pay for a trip you can instantly see that the Parentpay software displays to you;
How much you have paid,
When you last paid,
What any outstanding balance is for the trip.
In the next few days we will be bringing online items from the school shop so you will be able to purchase school equipment online and students can collect the items next day in school.
The shop will also be the outlet to purchase GCSE Revision Guides and tickets to our annual musical which this year is ‘Guys and Dolls’.
