SOFTPOWER EDUCATION.COM IA company limited by guarantee) REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JANUARY 2024 Charity number 1098936 Company number 04638390 SOFTPOWER EDUCATION.COM Financial Statements for the year ended 31January 2024 Contents Pa8e List of Acronyms....................................................................................................... Legal and administrative information Tru5tee5' Report ...................................................................................................... Independent Examinerfs Report to the Trustees .............................................. Statement of Financial Activities.......................................................................... Balance Sheet.................. Notes to the financial statements...................................................................... 10- 13 List of Acronyms AEC DEFRA Amagezi Education Centre Department for Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs Information and Communication Technology Information Technology Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Kyabirwa Children's Centre Kyomya Special Needs Memorandum of Understanding Millennium Development Goals National Social Security Fund Non-Governmental Organisation Pay As You Earn Performance Management Process Primary School South African Volunteering Experien￿5 Sub County Special Educational Needs Soft Power Education Soft Power Education.com Soft Power Health Teaching English as a Foreign Language Transporting Uganda's Sick Children Telephone United Kingdom Ugandan Shillings United Nation5 Universal Primary Education Uganda Revenue Authority United States of America Uganda Sign Language Uganda Wildlife Education Centre Village Savings and Loan Association IwrcF KCC KSN MOU MIDGS NSSF NGO PAYE PMP ps SAVE sc SEN SPE SPEC SPH TEFL TUSC TEL UK UGX UN UPE URA USA USL UWEC VSLA Legal and administrative information Constitution SoftPower Education.com is a company limited by guarantee (incorporated on 15 January 2W31 and registered charity (registered on 11 August 2LY131 governed by its Memorandum and Article5 of Association. Charity number.. Company number.. 1098936 04638390 Directors and trustees The directors of SoftPower Education.corn 1.the charity" or "the companrf, or "SoftPowerf'l are its trustees for the purpose of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as the trustees. The trustees are elected by a General Meeting of the board and Serve for a period of two years or more, subject to certain rotation provisions. The trustees serving during the year and since the year end were as follows.. Hannah Killingly Small (Chair of Trustees) Emma Oxnam Moira Oliver Sècretary James Warrender Bayne Registered Office 55 Guildhall Street Bury St Edmunds IP33 IQF Bankers HSBC plc Grosvenor Court 149 Whiteladies Road Bristol BS8 2RR Solicitors Russell lones & Walker Solicitors 324 Grays Inn Road London WCIX 8DH Accountants Knights Lowe Eldo House Kempson Way, Suffolk Business Park Bury St Edmunds IP32 7AR Trustees, Report for the year ended 31 January 2024 The trustee5 are ple35ed to present their report together with the financial 5taternents of the charity for the year to 31"Janu4ry 2024. The legal and administrative inlorrnatlon Set out on the preceding page form5 part of thi5 report. The financial statÈmÈnts ¢omply with Current statutory rÈ4uirÈments, the MÈmorandum and ArticlÈs of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practi¢e-Accounting and Reporting by Charities. Objects of the Charlty SoftPower Education is a non-religious Brit15h registered charity working closely within the local community of Jinja, Uganda. The objects of SoftPower are to.. Educate children and adults about culture5 Other than their own with a view to fostering tnutual under5tandin8 between people of different back8rounds, and Advance the education of children, mainly in the primary sector, in developing countries through the provision of teathers, equipment and the building of schools. SoftPowerfs origin317-year plan, which started in 2003 has been extended and is reviewed each year. The p13n is primarily aimed at refurbishinB, up to government standard, the 20 primary schools in the Jinja area. The schools are in varying states of disrepair and with the help of volunteers and donations that the charity receives it is able to build new c13ssrooms, refurbish old ones and assist with teaching programmes. Softpowerf5 programmesto achieve these objects are: Pre-school Education Our two pre-schools, for 180 children from the communities of Buwenda and Kyabirwa, provide free of Charge, high quality pre-primary education ensuring readiness for primary edutation. Over the past 20 years, our pre-schools have developed an outstanding track record through our fun and inter3Ctive approach to learning. Teachers from prim3ry schools often praise our graduates 3nd their re3diness for the next step in their education. Special Educational Needs ISENI Working across 5 therapy clinic locations we offer free of charge physiotherapy and occupational therapy to over families at Walukuba West Primary School, Kyomy3 Prim3ry School, St Francis Health Clinic Imbikol, Kyabirwa Speci31 Needs Clinic and Bugembe Clinic. In addition, we support 24 children with disabilities to access daily education at Kyomya Primary School by running a residential unit, ensuring they are c3red for by two full time matrons. School Infrastructure Programme ISIPI We partner with government primary schools to ensure pupils are learning in safe and conductive environmÈnts. Our work focuses on improving andlor building classrooms, pit latrines, water catchment systems, solar installations and teachers, accommodation. We are known as a trusted partner thanks to over 20 ye8rs of successful partnerships with local government. Pre-school Athievements 2023124 We continued to run our two pre-5choo15, providing free ol charge pre-school education to children in the communities of KyabiNfa and BuwÈnda, tlosing the yèar with 168 pupils. All children recelvedthe1rf￿e uniform of t.shirtand shorts, and wewere extremely proudto beabletocontinue offering porridge to all of the childrÈn on three mornings each week. The teachers continued to see the benefits of this free porridge with itnproved attendanie and ioncentration In class. The yearly average attendance for the whole year was 87% across the two pre-schools. Buwenda P￿-s¢h(￿)I IBPSI Top Class had an average attendance for the year of 88%, with Term 3 having the best attendance of 92% for the term. BPS Middl@ class had 88% average for the year and BPS Baby Class had an average of 87%. At Kyabirwa Children's Centre IKCCI. Top dass had gIYA average attendanceforthe year, Middle Class had 87% 3nd Baby Cla55 had 84%. In February 2023, we were pleased to host aJolly PhonicsTraining Course with an external facilitator. In addition to training our own pre-school team and SEN team, we also welcomed teachers from the SOUL Foundation Pr School and sever31 Pl teachers frorn local government primzry schools. Our children benefited from thi5 renewed enthusiasm for Jolly Phonic5 znd we held two Jolly Phonics Days focusing on Specific sounds for each cla55. The activities ranged from popcorn making to dinosaur sensory bin5. Each Jolly Phonics Day had new and exciting activities Wlth homemade resources & 5nack5 that related to the soundsl An additional trainingse55ion was also delivered by our Special Needs Teacher concerning appropriate language and howtotreat children with SEN in the classroom. The teachers again learnt a lot on the training but could do with an additional training to further their knowledge. New PTA and SMC members were voted in during the year and tho members supported us in all decisions involving the pre-schools. Regular meetings were held throughout the year and an 'Expectations Agreement. was agreed between the PTA/SMC and SPE to ensure clarity of expectations from both sides. The new members were delighted to receive t-shirts and all members received an end of year gift of essential items such as so3p, sugar and rice. As an incentive and a showof appreciation to our children, atthe end of Term l and Term 2 we gave a certificate and a prize to 6 children in each class. The 6 categories included best attendance & time keepin& highest S5e55ment 8rade. most irnproved, m05t helpful and great participation. Gifts such as cups, plates, bow15 and water bottle5 were joylully received. The teachers continued to actively monitorthe performance of each child through continuou5 a55essment5 and end of term 35se55rnents. Parents were always updated through end of terrn reports and horne visits conducted during the school holiday5. In 2021, following a visit frorn our partners at Dentaid, we introduced a daily tooth brushing progratnme to encourageoral hygiene amongst thÈ pupils. Wewere dÈlightÈdtowel¢ome Dentaid again in 2023 and theywere encouraged to See the p051tive itnpart of the daily programme with very few of our pupi15 needing dental treatment. We celebrated Teacherfs Day on (ktober 5th knrith a cake to saythankyou to our teachers forthe hard work and dedication they put into teaching the children at the pre-schools. They were very happy to be appreciated and &njoyed the cake. Our top-cl855 pupils were also delighted to mark the end of their three years with us at the end of year graduation party. We were very proud 3nd happy to see thern graduate 8nd re3dy to take the next step in their education journey. We gave each Top-Cla55 child a pack of scholastic resources to help them with the Pl requirements. We were also honored to welcome the Keshwala Group, who gave each Top-class Parent a hotne package containing rice, sugar soap etc. 5¢hool Infrastrucwre Programme Achlevements 2023124 It was wonderful to welcome back some volunteers in 2023. Groups from Latymer Upper Schoo1, John Conroy and Dean Jacobs came with voluntÈÈrs and contributed to the School Infrastructure ProgrammÈ. John's group, alongside our own team, painted the two-¢lassroom block that we built at Busiya I Pa￿nts, Primary khool. Students from L3tymer Upper School painted some incredible teaching aids on the walls, completing that project. ThÈ team from The UnivÈrsity of Nebraska with Dean Jacobs provided some crucial man power as we &mbarked on our final building project- the complete renovation of Buwenda Prtrschool. We had hoped to build a new building for the pre-school but unfortunately this was not possible once the decision to close SPE in Uganda had been made. Building the Buwenda Pre-school wa5 the first building project of SPE over 20years ago so It seerned fitting that the renovation should also be the last project. A donation from Gulf for Good, enabled us to completely transform the building with the demolition and rebuild of the baby cla55room, the removal and replacement of the roof, the replacement of all wooden doors and windows with metallic versiQn5 3nd new plastering acr055 the entire building. In addition, a new pit latrine wa5 built and the fence around the compound was completely replaced. Special Needs Programme Achievements 2023124 Throughout 2023 we continued to offerfree of charge physiotherapy and occupation31 ther3PVto children living with disabilities through our therapy clinics in 4 locations across Jinja. In October 2023, we celebrated World Cerebral Palsy Day and welcomed families from our programme to come together to celebrate their children. Motivational speaker5 from both the parents and healthcare professionals joined the celebration5. We continued to operate the Kyomya Residential Unit at Kyomya Primary School providing subsidised places to We have previously partnered with BISS Bakeries enabling sorne of our parent5 to take part in their bakery training programtne to give them a sustainable livelihood. We were thrilled when two of our parents were able to joln a further 2-week training course. On behalf of the Trustees. E Omnam Director Date.............................................................. Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of SoftPower Education.com I report on the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 January 2024 which are set out on pag&s 13 to 18. Respertive responsibilities of trustees and examiner The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company lawl 3re responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144121 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subjettto audit undertompany law and is eligible for independent &x3min3tion, it is my responsibility to.. examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 A