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2020-08-31-accounts

UK Registered Charity No.: 1087726 Office: Flat 8, 45 Augustus Road. SW19 6LW http://www.breacc.org.uk

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2020

TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2020

OBJECTIVES OF BREACC

The objectives of BREACC are to disseminate the Brazilian culture by teaching Portuguese as a heritage language and to help children to understand and respect other cultures and different ways of living.

BREACC is a secular, voluntary organisation funded by members of the Brazilian community in the UK. The school meets at the St James’ School. 260 Stanley Road. Twickenham. London. TW2 5NP, on Saturday mornings during school term times. In 2015, we opened a new branch in Bournemouth, at the Littledown Youth Centre, Chaeside, Littledown, Bournemouth BH7 7DX and in September 2019 it has opened another branch in St Albans Garden Fields JMI School, Townsend Drive, AL3 5RL,St Albans

A full prospectus is available from BREACC’s website www.BREACC.org.co.uk; BREACC's official site provides information in English as well as in Portuguese.

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES OF BREACC

The following served as Committee Members, and hence as Trustees in the year ended 31 August 2020.

Katia Nogueira Moraes Peixoto Fonseca – Chairman

Fabiana Teixeira - Treasurer

Glayson Cunha – Secretary

All the above may be contacted c/o BREACC info@breacc.com or by post: BREACC, Flat 8, 45 Augustus Road. SW19 6LW.

2019 – 2020: REVIEW OF THE YEAR

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS REPORT

The financial health of BREACC remains strong, strengthening consistently since 2012. 2019 - 2020 saw BREACC’s income reach its highest levels, giving us confidence to expend and open our third centre in the UK.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we had to suspend our lessons in the school in March 2020 until September, but we managed to have online classes during this period, fortunately we never stopped our lessons. However we decided to cut the class length from 2 hours to 1 hour due to the pressures of the home schooling for both parents and children, This decision also allowed us to cut our membership price by half to assist our members. Despite the price cut, many parents cancelled their membership at all 3 Centres.

Another area that has impacted our finances in 2020 was the cancelation of our "Festa Junina" - Summer Fair, the main event that brings substantial funds to our institution every year.

We have been fortunate to have created a healthy financial fund that has allowed us to survive the pandemic without using all the available back up funds we carefully saved over the years.

Given the parallel increase in BREACC’s costs, it is important to control expenditures to ensure financial stability. Membership has continued to grow across the Richmond and Bournemouth and St Albans centres offsetting departures of a few members. Our community engagement and fund-raising events have helped generate vital extra income to counter the rises in costs.

The Chairperson, Katia Fonseca has stopped teaching in September 2019. since that she remains only as a Chairperson for BREACC.

OPEN DAYS

Our termly Open Days continue to provide an effective way of attracting new members. The effective utilization of BREACC's online administrative system (Sales Force) has streamlined the process and facilitated enrolment activities before, during and after new members’ visits. Each open day has on average thirty children from new families interested in joining our school. Over half of this number attends and about one third decide to join.

OUR OFFER

Continuing with its approach based on Piaget’s vision of constructivism, BREACC has furthered its commitment to developing a sense of identity in its children. This year, the annual theme was "A integração entre o homem e a natureza" (The integration of man and nature)

towards the future)

This was achieved looking at the balance of humans, nature and their habitat, the resources of the Amazon Forest through activities such as science, music, folk and books. We looked at the natural resources used by the native Brazilian people such as plants, herbs as medication, food and art.

To involve parents with our mission, we promoted talks about Bilingualism and others subjects related to the children’s educational development, Portuguese as Heritage Language and Brazilian culture.

We are offering Teacher training by bringing in other professionals to share their knowledge with the teachers. In partnership with the University of Kingston, BREACC promotes training courses for teachers who offer Portuguese as a Heritage Language at schools in UK. Part of our mission is to help other Brazilian complementary language schools and new initiatives to develop their work to meet the demand of the Brazilian community.

Unfortunately, this year we couldn’t offer any onsite training to our teachers and other schools because of the COVID pandemic restrictions that started in March.

Teacher training in this year:

Teachers from all three centres, Twickenham, Bournemouth and St Albans, attended

May/2020 - Modulo 1

May-June/2020 - Modulo 2

July-August/2020 - Modulo 3

Important Highlights

BREACC was the winner of the Brazilian Press Ward UK 2019. Category: Community Event (Brazilian Summer Fair/ for the second time)

Focus Brazil

The school hosted the Portuguese as Heritage Language Conference, part of Focus Brazil, and a Brazilian annual event. The event consisted on discussions of Education and Portuguese Language with Brazilian professionals from Belgian, Austria, Germany, Brazil and England.

POLH UK

POLH UK is an association created from the union of Portuguese as Heritage Language initiatives in England. It is a non-profit entity, which aims to help complementary and heritage language schools in the Brazilian community.

The president of BREACC is a co-founder of POLH UK registered association together with other directors of Portuguese complementary schools of Portuguese as heritage language. The Aim is to help the Brazilian schools in the UK.

CARNIVAL PARTY (FEBRUARY 2020)

This year, the Carnival celebration had a special theme, "Mãe Natureza - Fauna e Flora" (Mother Nature - Fauna and Flora).

The Teachers and children made their own costumes and participated in a samba school parade. The plot of the samba school was The Enchanted Kingdom of Mother Nature against Evil by the Salgueiro Samba School of Rio de Janeiro. Each class dressed in costumes representing the flora, fauna and folk characters of the Brazilian forest.

(Brazilian Carnival rituals are strongly related to the music, dance, and use of costumes in African culture. In the African Motherland, natural objects such as feathers, bone, grass, beads, shells, etc. were frequently used to embellish tribal masks and costumes).

The party, which was open to members only, allowed the groups to show their learning, celebrate and socialize across the whole school.

SUMMER FARE (JULY 2020)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we had to suspend the Summer Fair in July, but we offered the children an online experience of this traditional celebration. (Festa Junina)

Festa Junina is the annual Brazilian celebration which takes place in the middle of winter (in the southern hemisphere) and is mostly associated with the Brazilian North-Eastern area, but which is celebrated in the whole of Brazil, mainly on the days following the Catholic

feasts of St Anthony, St John the Baptist and St Peter. These popular festivals not only coincide with the rainy seasons of most states in the northeast but they also provide the people with an opportunity to continue the tradition of giving thanks to St Peter and St John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and the harvest, and feature typical clothing, food, dances (particularly the "quadrilha", which is similar to square dancing), and music. It’s a very important festival in the Brazilian calendar and it’s full of folklore, which makes the party very popular in England particularly amongst children.

The event is also a chance to attract new families to join BREACC.

GCSE RESULTS

BREACC students continue to excel in their exams: one of our students who took their Portuguese GCSE this academic year passed with grade 8.

COMMUNICATIONS

Our communication channels continue to work well in connecting with existing and prospective members. Our BREACC page on Facebook has more than three thousand two hundred followers and our Instagram page has more than a thousand followers. Through our website (www.breacc.org.uk), prospective families subscribe to attend our open days. Registered members are kept informed via the weekly newsletter bringing them information about events, calendar activities and homework tasks for the children. In addition, the BREACC tube, our channel on U Tube, is back to life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to our projects and events this year, small or large, because every contribution is extremely important to BREACC.

We offer a special thank you to the Committee for their voluntary teamwork to maintain the standards of BREACC.

We would also like to thank all our existing members and welcome the new ones who have been supportive of our activities.

FUTURE PLANS

BREACC will continue to focus on the linguistic and cultural development of children, promoting training for teachers and the engagement of families in Brazilian culture, organising the most popular parties, such as Carnival and Festa Junina (the Summer Fare), as usual, while continuing to investigate new ways of raising funds to ensure our financial health so that our plans can be delivered.

Our main goals are to continue to protect and expand BREACC’s financial health and profile.

RESERVES

At 31 August 2020 Breacc had reserves of £29,982 equivalent to 5 months of recurring expenditure (2019 figures: £31,781: 9 months). All funds raised and contributed are held for the benefit of the pupils of the school

RISK ASSESSMENT

The process of identifying the major risks, to which the charity is exposed, as identified by the Officers and Trustees, continues. The Officers and Trustees are committed to continuing this review of risks identified, and to making sure that their systems established to mitigate those risks are improved, where necessary.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

BREACC’s activities are open to all. The Trustees are of the opinion that everyone may benefit from a greater understanding of Brazilian culture, of the Portuguese language, and from an increased understanding of different cultures and ways of living.

Katia Fonseca Chairman 28 May 2021

Breacc – Brazilian Educational and Cultural Centre

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Breacc – Brazilian Educational and Cultural Centre (registered charity 1087726)

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of Breacc – the Brazilian Educational and Cultural Centre for the year ended 31 August 2020.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

As charity trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”). The trustees are satisfied that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the 2011 Act and have chosen instead to have an independent examination.

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 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 giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not comply with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a “true and fair” view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Robert Ashdown Chartered Accountant

75 Brookville Road, London, SW6 7BH

28 May 2021

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 August 2020

2020 2019
(Unrestricted) (Unrestricted)
Income from
Charitable activities 57,735
47,361
Total incoming resources 57,735 47,361
Resources expended
Charitable activities 59,534 43,077
Total resources expended 59,534 43,077
Net (expenditure)/ income (1,799) 4,284
Reconciliation of funds
Net funds brought forward at 01/09/2019 31,781 27,497
Total funds carried forward at 31/08/2020 29,982 31,781

Balance Sheet at 31 August 2020


Current assets
Cash at bank

Petty cash

Total current assets

Liabilities falling due within one year
Net assets

The funds of the charity
Unrestricted income funds

Total charity funds
 31/08/2020

29,695

287
29,982
0

29,982
29,982
29,982		 31/08/2019
31,685
96
31,781
0
31,781
31,781
31,781

The Notes to the Accounts form part of these Financial Statements.

Approved by the Trustees on 28 May 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Katia Fonseca - Trustee

Fabiana Teixeira - Trustee

Notes to the accounts

  1. The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 and the Charities Act 2011.

1.2 The trustees consider that the charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102 and consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

2. Charitable activity expenditure includes:

2020 2019
Faculty Fees
 36,155 23,129
Fund raising 1,701 4,309
Rents
 10,945 9,490
Materials and Administration 4,615 1,944
Teacher’s training 1,894 1,459
Storage 2,015 1,586
Other 2,209 1,160
_ ______
59,534 43,077

3. Cash at Bank

Deposit at CAF Bank 29,695 31,685

  1. Liabilities falling due within one year: No unpaid liabilities were known at the end of each year.

  2. Transactions with Related Parties: in the year two Trustees received £2,408 and £192 respectively for their services as faculty members. These amounts were paid at the same rate as received by other faculty members. In the year two Trustees received reimbursement of a total of £1,204 of expenses incurred on behalf of the Charity.

Notes to the accounts (continued)

6. Prior period comparative statement of financial activities:

2019 2018
(Unrestricted)
 (Unrestricted)
Income from
Charitable activities 47,361 41,163
Total incoming resources 47,361 41,163
Resources expended
Charitable activities 43,077 35,694
Total resources expended 43,077 35,694
Net income 4,284 5,469
Reconciliation of funds
Net funds brought forward at 01/09/2019 27,497 22,028
Total funds carried forward at 31/08/2020 31,781 27,497