Southfield School Friends Association (Friends of Southfield School – FOSS) Registered Charity 1062790 Annual report 2024-25
c/o Southfield School Woods Avenue Hatfield AL10 8NN
| Contents. | |
|---|---|
| Trustees Report | 2 |
| Receipts and Payments Accounts | 6 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | 8 |
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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Trustees Report
The Trustees have pleasure in presenting their report for the year ended 31 August 2025.
About the Friends
FOSS – the Friends of Southfield School (legally the Southfield School Friends Association) is the Parent Teacher Association for Southfield School in Hatfield and is a registered charity.
Southfield is a primary school for approximately 109 pupils with learning difficulties including:
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autism;
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speech, language and communication needs; and
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global developmental delay.
FOSS was, after a period of inactivity during the Covid-19 pandemic, rebooted in September 2022, and this is the third year of the revitalised Friends.
Charitable Purpose
The object of the Friends is to advance the education of pupils at Southfield School. It does this by:
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developing effective relationships between the staff, parents and others associated with the school; and
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engaging in activities or providing facilities which support the school and advance the education of the pupils attending it.
Activities during the year
FOSS has undertaken a wide range of fundraising during the year.
The most significant financial contributions have been from raising grants from grant-giving charities, including from the Garfield Weston Foundation towards a new minibus, and from the Nineveh Charitable Trust and The Worshipful Company of Gardeners for an on-site forest school. A further grant was secured (and received after the year-end) from the Bernard Sunley Foundatio for the forest school. The Friends also received the remaining balance from the Co-op Foundation as one of their nominated charities in the last financial year.
The Trustees thank those parents, staff, friends and families who chose Southfield when shopping via EasyFundraising and Give As You Live (which raise funds at no cost to parents when they shop online or shop around for cheaper insurance or energy prices), as well as a number of parents, friends and family who gave direct cash donations to FOSS through JustGiving, whether for the sponsored scoot for the forest school, the minibus appeal, or directly.
Two raffles were held, raising a significant amount each; the Trustees were also grateful to local businesses who donated prizes, those who bought tickets, and to the parents who sought out donations.
Finally, the committee organised a number of fun events for children. Their aim was to give the children of Southfield access to opportunities they would not otherwise get – for example, by exclusive use of a soft play or film showing, allowing children with SEN to attend when normal public events might be overwhelming for them. These events also allowed parents to share time with each other socially, which
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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can also be hard, developing a community for parents alongside the sessions run by the school during school hours.
The FOSS committee also played a role as an informal sounding board for the Head and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) for discussing other school issues with the parent body, contributing towards the other objects of the charity.
Charitable expenditure
The major expenditure in the year related to donations to the school to finalise a new playground and sail shade. These funds were raised in the 2023 /24 year.
The majority of funds raised during the year will be contributed towards two major projects:
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an on-site forest school; and
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a new minibus for which the Headteacher has secured two-thirds of the funding for from the Variety Club.
Other donations to school funded a wide range of enrichment opportunities for the children’s education, including visiting musical groups, a contribution towards the panto, sports day, and an investment in the hall sound system.
Financial position
The financial statements are prepared on a cash basis (i.e., without accruing for spending commitments or income pledged but not yet received). The cycle of giving is such that we raise funds first, and then donate these to the school.
At the end of the year, the Charity held £26,369, £9,448 of which was restricted funds – money donated to FOSS but not yet spent where the conditions of funding meant that the amount could only be spent as specified by the donor. This included £4,000 relating to the Forest School project and £5,000 to the fund for the Minibus and the remainder of the locality budget for scooters, skateboards and training.
Unrestricted funds at the end of the year were £16,921, £16,155 of which was earmarked towards the forest school and minibus.
The funds raised during the year for the two projects are summarised below:
| Donations 2023/2024 Donations 2024/2025 Grants received 2024/2025 |
Forest school Minibus £4,332 £6,910 £4,913 £4,000 £5,000 |
|---|---|
| £15,242 £9,913 |
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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Reserves policy
A further grant of £5000 was secured during the year and received in September 2025 for the forest school taking the total raised to £20,242.
The level of unrestricted funds is managed carefully by the Trustees. The Trustees’ reserves policy is to manage funds so that we can:
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afford to fund known future requests (typically those which we expect on an annual basis);
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earmark funds for planned major projects - typically a project will involve raising funds from more than one source, with the purchase or start of work needing to wait until it is known that enough money will be available to fund in full – see ‘Future plans’ below; and
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have sufficient funds to fund expenditure in advance for future events (e.g. to pay the deposit for a venue before ticket income is received).
The general cycle of raising funds to be donated to the school within twelve months means that the charity does not currently have an investment portfolio and therefore has no investment policy. The Trustees keep this under review; if significant funds will be held for a longer period, they will explore a deposit account or other form of safe, low risk investment.
Future plans
The Trustees and the FOSS committee, together with the school’s Headteacher and other members of the SLT, are continuing to look to fund the remainder required for a new Minibus, and discretionary IT improvements not covered by the local education authority that will improve the children’s learning experience. The priority for each of these is to support the children’s specific learning needs of a special school. The Trustees are actively seeking further grant funding, working in partnership with the school’s SLT and Governors.
Governance
FOSS is an unincorporated association, registered as a charity (1062790) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The Trustees who served during the year were:
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Sarah Lettis (School Director of Operations)
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Sarah Gillin (Parent and Treasurer)
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Jennifer Mould (Parent and Secretary)
A wider committee of parent volunteers runs FOSS including organising fundraising activities under the legal oversight of the Trustees. During the year this was chaired by Emily Berry.
Public benefit
In carrying out their activities, the Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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Safeguarding
The Trustees have adopted the School’s safeguarding policy in full, save that (as a matter of law), concerns must be reported to the Trustees rather than to the School. In practice, as Sarah Lettis (a member of the school’s SLT) is the Trustee nominated to deal with any concerns, this makes no substantive difference. The Trustees received no concerns in respect of safeguarding during the year.
Approved by the Trustees
Sarah Gillin Treasurer and Trustee 3 January 2026
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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Receipts and payments for the period 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025
| Parent fundraising events Miscellaneous Charitable income Easyfundraising and Give As You Live Parent Donations Corporate Donations Grants Charitable giving Donations to school Other charitable expenditure Governance expenses Parentkind membership including insurance premium, Small Lotteries Licence renewal, film licence and Grants4schools subscription Total |
Receipts £ 5,131.99 |
Payments Total £ £ -1,852.55 3,279.44 |
|---|---|---|
| 5,131.99 530.06 6,662.03 3,709.22 9,000.00 |
-1,852.55 3,279.44 - 530.06 6,662.03 3,709.22 9,000.00 |
|
| 19,901.31 | - 19,901.31 -26,287.19 -26,287.19 -311.05 -311.05 |
|
| -26,598.24 -26,598.24 - 462.45 -462.45 |
||
| -462.45 - 462.45 |
||
| 25,033.30 | -28,913.24 -3,879.94 |
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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| Balance sheet and movement on reserves | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opening balances as at 1 September 2024 | £ | £ |
| Bank | 30,226.52 | |
| Cash in hand | 22.80 | |
| 30,249.32 | ||
| Receipts | 25,033.30 | |
| Payments | -28,913.24 | |
| Closing balance as at 31 August 2025 | ||
| Bank | 26,333.58 | |
| Cash in hand | 35.80 | |
| 26,369.38 | ||
| Of which: | £ | |
| Restricted reserves: Forest School | 4,000.00 | |
| Restricted reserves: Minibus | 5,000.00 | |
| Restricted reserves: Balance of locality | ||
| budgets | 448.00 | |
| Unrestricted reserves | 16,921.38 | |
| Total | 26,369.38 |
Approved by the Trustees
Sarah Gillin Treasurer and Trustee 3 January 2026
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Southfield School Friends Association (registered charity 1062790) on the receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 August 2025
Responsibilities and basis of report
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 August 2025.
As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Rachael Lyon Chartered Accountant 3 January 2026
Friends of Southfield School – Registered Charity 1062790
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