Savannah Trustee's Report & Financial Statements 2021-22 SAVANNAH EDUCATION TRUST REPORT & FINAI¥4CIAL STATEMENts Year ended 5 April 2022 Charity name: Savannah Education Trust Address: 58 Appled0￿ Gardens Lindfield Wc5t Su5scx RH16 2EU Trustees: Paul Ramsbottom (Chair) Richard Cooper Howard Hicknian Stephen R2msEK)llom Charity number: 1104896 Website: TRUSTEES, REPORT Ob ecttves and artivities Governance The Savannab Education Tn￿ is a charitable trijst ooverned bv a tn￿ deed dated 23 June 2004. Apart from the foundcr Trustee4 any Truslees are appointed or reappoirjted for a temi of three years by a resolution of The work of the T￿￿ in Ghana 15 managed by Plstor Charles Karbo (who lead5 a small team b&sed in Lawrd).. and the Trust works in partnership with the local tribal leadership and district govcrnmenL The management of our schools is tbrough a Committee drawn from the church and the local village COTnmunity and the ongoing cost of teaching staff is fimded by the Gl)anaian goven]ment through the Gh2n2 Educatioll S¢￿iCe. Ob eciives The charity's objcctives ar¢ the advanc¢mem of educ&ion and the relief of poverty of people living in Ghan& In particular: the cbaTity provides an education for some of the most disadvantsged children in Upper West Region (Ghana's most impoverished region) by: building and rumiing Chrlstian primary schools in nral villages which currently have little or no access to educatio pro￿dIng ess¢ntial resourccs for schools which are not provtded by governmenL This includes physical resowccs (e.g. IK)rehole, books) and a targeted programme for tcacher5 (a teacher training prngraM￿ to ensure a steady supply of qualified teach- ers). educating Cvery cbild in each village in which thc T￿￿t WOTks. no matter how I￿r, whcther girl or boy, whatever their disadvantage or disability. tailoring. where possibl4 the education to suit the particular needs of chxldren in tbis region. The projects are mar￿ged at the local level by local people. Savannah Education TnLSt works in close collaboration with Ghanaian partners: the Baptist churcty the local Municipal Education Directorate, tiibal l¢adershkp and parents. The schoo15 are embedded within the Ghana Education S¢rvic¢ (GES), *lM) bave the Ongoing respK)nsibiIity for teachers, wages. basic school resourc¢s and instttting the quality of teaching. Savannah Education Trust is fully coromitted to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people with wholll it comes into conts¢L The schoo15 which we CF¢aie and run are government schools and the immediale reswnsibility for safeguarding therefore sits with GES. Our own staff are committed to these principles and work closely &ith government offieials and teaching staff tho have overall responsibility" for child protection issues. Our safeguarding FK>Iicy is publicly available. We have or(panis¢d safeguarding conferences for our staff (and other educational staff in the area). Acllvitie Th¢ villages ill which the charity works are in the savaunab countryside clustered around the market town of Lawra in Ghana's Upper West Regio￿ Our first Chrlstian PriTnary school was 0[￿ned in the village of Bagri during Autumn 2006 and we currently have nine schools, namely (in order of construction): BagrA, Gb¢ri, Pavuw Mcttokn KorlL Tungan-7.agkpee, Boo, Baapari and Danko-Burec. Following the challetlges creat¢d by the Covid-19 pandemic, the year in question returned to something approaching norn]al. The schools {&s with all schools across Ghana and in line with government guid8nce) reopened fully in January 2021. the subscqu¢nt continued rising osts over the Course of the year has put pressures on the already fragile commullities in which we work. Alongside the retum of th¢ day-to-day bUsi[￿sS of sch(KJl life the year ￿aS also one of excep- tional projects and continued building work. In last year's report we noted the construction work to build a school Tn the village of Danko- Buree. During the year this new sehool opened its door to pupils. This is a hugel)", significant developmcllt for the twinned communittcs of Datjko and Butee - villages ¥0 the north ¢ast of (on thc road to Er¢mon). Th¢ comEnunitics had already prevÉouslj tried to start a fledgling selM)01. 2tthouLJh predominantlv und¢r trccs attd ￿thout proper Lcachers. During the year consttuclion work was undertaken to create a new school in thc vill￿e vf Lyssah. Lyssah is a remote villagc, eTren for this Tcgion of scattered Tural settlements. It is on the northern edge of Lawra municipality and hence this school - which will be our tenth - will be the furthest awa}. from the market iown of Law￿ HeaTry rains during the yw made the start of building work slower than anticipate￿ but th'e are thankful to report that the build- ing work w&q COEnpleted after the year end (i.e. in f￿2￿claI year 2022-23). In our existing school at Baapari there w&s a need to provide a Junior IIigh School (i.e. loosely similar to what in the would be called senkor school, runni￿ from age I I to 14). By the end of the vear, the buildiDg work bad reached roof￿￿ level. Across all of the Savannah school& there is an ODgoing maintenance programme of paint- ino and of rewiring,. A project for impro￿]ng and mechanising thc borehole at Bagri (our first school) was instigated during the Year. A novel del'elopment for SaTrannab- noted in the report last l'ear - been the construction of a new teacher traiiiiDg and confereDce ¢entre in LaTYra. Building work continued during the year, and Wds near completion b)" the cnd of the year. It is already having significant IEnefits as a central fackIit! for all of our teachers 2nd headteachers. Life as a teacher in a N'illage school can often be lonely. This will be a gathering place for sharing cxperi¢nces and for mole fonnai learning. It will also hold resources - both digital and traditional - to help staff. It will forni an important clement of our ambition to maintain a high SL￿dard of ¢ducation in our schools and provÉde support to our teaching and ancillaT5' Staff. The muiti-purwpse facility is also being uscd as a sav￿ ofyice for our staff. In January 2021, our staff moved tnkn th¢ nevi building and in Spring 2021 we h¢ld our fwst teacher training session. Alonuside the centre we arc constructing a small number of bedrooms which we hope will be useful for the centre. but may also be a source of income in the future (giv¢ll the general lack of accommodation available in this remote area). To accompany the physical infrastr￿tt￿e. we were able to appoint toward the end of the finaneial year a School ImprovemeTrt oifi¢cr and werc in active conversation with anothcr major UK NGO about various in]aginative way.s to keep iEnproving the quality of education at the schools. We hope to report fw1her on this in ftrture annual reports. God wtlling. A feeding programme. providing a meaI for cach schoolchild each day has been an im- portant part of our activities since we started. In this region. child￿ll are used arouDd the home and in the fields to help with domestic chores and farniing. A meal helps to e￿ acute pressure on families. and en¢ourages them to release children from this type of work Incr￿& ingly. the Ghanaian goverE]ment is taking over the responsibility of this element of our worL Lunch for children attending Junior High Schools has until now not been part of the govern- ment's programme and so remains th¢ responsibilit! of the cl]arity. The Trnst is supporting the schools (and ind¢¢d th¢ whol¢ district) through a teacher train- ing programme. Many schools. particularly in ruraE locations, struggle to attract qualified teachers. This is compounded by the fact that many qualifi￿ teachers choose to work in more atlluenÉ ar￿ of GI]a￿ The scholarships have Ixen givell on the understanding thaL once training ts complets￿ the tea¢her will retum to work in IAwTa Municipa]ity. Upper West Re- gion. It is the intention that the new teach￿ training c¢lltre will complement this progranmie, not least with continuing professionaI development. This has been another challengints year. YeL more tban a decade after the work started. the villages in which M'e Work are being transfoTmed. li remains verv moN'ing to h¢ar of stories of indiTriduai lives transfornied. One exaDiple is Oliver who was only a small child when our first school opening in Bagri. Living in a simple mud hul neither of his parents had enjoyed ally education. He was part of the third cohort of students proudly to walk to our new school in Bagri every day. Having colljpleted his %hooling: he took a plumbillg CoU￿C - and now works helping to a small plunthing business in Lawr& Different locat stakeholders have different (although complementary) motivations for supporting the worL For the chuTGIL one of their prayers b&s long been that the schools will help 5UPPOrt their local churches. It is therefore very Mo￿1£ to atlend Bagri ChurclL 2rkl to see largc nLunkns of ¢ducated l'oun￿. people. This is personified by Olii'er, who takes the early morning Bible Study - and (OD one recent occasion wh¢n trustee5 attcnded) gave an excellent talk speaking fluently in both Dagaari and English. Thc Savannah Education Trust is &¥tr¢melv grateful to supporters have generously funded its work during the Isst year. Without this supw)¢ our ongoing activkties would not l)avc bccn possible. It b&8 been a source of much encouragemcnt to tnjstees and the executive tcam during the ye8r. We continue also to acknowledge, with gratitudc: the kind voluntsry belp that ￿e have received. Income in the ycar totalled £471:125 the majority of which was voluntary income. We also note, with thalty the generous provision of a legacy. We find regular, pledged income througb direct debits particularly helpfuI in planning future activities. We are also very gratefid to have received a number of grants from graut-m3kiDg cbarities during the y￿. The level of SUTplus or deficit varies year to year. larEely d￿ndIng on the capitaI infrastructure investment in any given )'ear. We thaDkfvl to be able to report a surplus for the year of £204.244. Reseryes oli IopLf Tru5te¢s have reviewed the charity s need for reserves in line with the guidanc¢ issued by the Cl]arity ConunissioD. The reserves are held for three purtK)ses. Firs¢ TTh￿eeS deem it p￿dent to hold contingency funds to cover the costs of the future tnaintenance of schools and associated building5. There is therefore a growing need as our school network expands to tcn Sch(￿15. Seo)ndly. we have the ambition of expanding into f(mhcr villages (including. for the year ahea￿ the completion of a n¢w school in Lyssah). Tbe speed of expansion into Dew villages will be dictat¢d to a considerable extetLt by availability of fimds, particularly &s funding is also needed to continue the work in existing villages. Thirdly, as well as planned and potential Capital projects, the ch￿lty continues to have considcthlc ongoing costs, particularly for the f¢eding and t¢acher training prograromc& We arc very co￿lOuS that the annual recurrent costs are in¢rea5ing year by year, not le2St &q the schools reach pupil capacity. It is helpful to hold at least one year's worth of the charity's core costs {i.e. staff and core programEllCS} in reseTre. Ile key project planned for the next fllwlcial ycaT (2022-2)).. if the Lord wilL is the complc- tion of a new school in Lvssah. This will be our tenth school. We are a]so activel!, considering the possibility of a major ncw project: a TcchniLal HÈgh School. capital costs and a similar sum towards maintenal￿e costs. On 5 April 2022 th¢ charity h¢ld reserves (net of the funds nominally designated for eapitaI projects) of £327.137. Approved by Trnstees aDd signed on their behalf Date: 31 D¢cembeT 2022 Independent eiaminer's report to the trnste I report on the aecounts of the T￿￿t for the year endcd 5 April 2022, which are set out on pages 11 to 17. Respecltve responsibilities oftn&ttees and examiner The charity's tr￿Ste¢S are ￿sponsible for the prepamion of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not rcquired for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 {thc 2011 Act) and that an independent exan11t￿on is needed. It is my responsil)iIity to: cxamRne the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 ACL to follow the pn)cedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity CommÉ&sion under section 145{5)(b} of the 2011 Act; and to slate whether particular matters have come to my attentio Basis ofindependent examiners report My exan]tnation was carried out in accordance wilh the general dircctions giTren by the Charity Conllnission. An cLqmination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with thos¢ records. It also iticludes consideration of any unugual items or disclosures in th¢ accounts, alld 5ccking cxplanations fronl you as trustees concerning any such ￿￿tte[s. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evldence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is giv¢n &s to whether the accounts present a 'truc and faTI view and the rewrt is limiled to those matters s¢t out tn the statement below. Independellt eraminer's statement In ¢onnection with my examinatioffj no matter h&s come to my attcntion: (l) wblch gives me reasonable cauqe to believe tbat in any mat¢rial resp#t the following requirements bave not been met: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 201 l Act; and to prCpa￿ accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply witb thc accounting requTrements of the 2011 A¢L or {2) to wht¢M in my op1n1o￿ attefflion should be drawn 11] order to enable a proper iinlierstanding of the aG￿nts to be leache41 Relevallt professional qualification or bixty." Address.. tLi LvrT 6* Date rEitsw4S L V F 4- natAODS. legacies a[￿ grdnts ar¢ recognised on receipt. Income ks onlv def¢￿ed •knen the donor strcifies that the grdnt or donation rnust only be used in futllre accounting periods or the donor has imwsed eonditions which must be n￿t before the clwity has unconditional entidemcnL c) Volunteers and don2ted Sery1￿ and facilities The value of services provided by volunteers is llot incorporated into these financtal statetnents. We acknowledge, with grat¢fi￿ thank4 the significant contribution madc by volunteers (both in the UK and Ghana). d) Resources expended LiabÈliti¢s are recognised as resources expended if there is a legal or COT￿ctive obligation committmg the charity to the expenditure. The iTrec0v￿blc amount of VAT ts included in the ex￿ to vthich it reld¢s. e) Depreciation During 2011-12 IÉ was decided that depreciation should be provided to write off th¢ cost, less estimated residual valuek of assew oveT their expKcted u5¢ful lives. Depreciation is calGulat¢d on a straigbi-line b&sis at 2) /0 per annunL The charity docs not Ldpltaiise iTems with a c05t below £500. g) School buildings and related &ss¢ts School buildings and r¢latcd equipment are not capitalised in the fir￿DelaI statements as they are not considered to havc any realisable value by the charity. In the event that the charity was not able to ¢OTrtinue operations, thc illtcntion would be for them to 13 continue as governn]ent schools and with the same goven]ance structure (albeit not supported by the programmes pmvTded by the charity). h) Funds struc The cbarity h&$ historically l￿d a smatl numlKr of Icstrictcd illcome funds to account for sttuations wbere a donation has been S￿lfIed for a particular purpose. All other funds are uDrestrictcd income fimds. Jnierest Trceived (£s) 21122 52 2021 61 UK accounts Gllanaian aecount 52 61 Building projects (£s) 2022 2021 Conferenceltrainin8 centr¢ Baapari JHS Korh JHS Dallko-Buree Lyssah Electricity (Jnprovements 18280 34,514 45.273 1,811 55,106 13.225 34.624 14 100.643 102204 GhanaAdmin expenses (£s) 2022 2(121 6,200 6.972 64,292 52.532 10.492 59504 Staff ci)sts 14 UK Admin expenses (£5) UK Admin 2022 186 787 Bank charges Website Admin Consultancv CAF fees 162 812 455 1,245 1.616 4.2 2,350 1,499 5,231 Tangible r￿ed assets Fixed assets are staled at cost less accumulated depreciatio The new pick up has been given a residual vaIue of £1.500. The Kia truck h&$ given a residual valuc of £1,500. A new tippeT truck was purchaKd in 2021, which will k depreciated over 4 years with a re- sidual value of £5.000. 15 Ncwpick up Tipper Cost6.4.2021 16,125 40231 67.639 Additions Di%r Co515.42022 16.125 11283 40231 1 67ffj39 Ekptwiatson 6.42021 14,625 9.784 24.409 twreciaiioll fnryr 48OB 8.808 Dwecthiion 14ffj25 i.4.2022 33217 Wriitrudom 1,5(M) 1.499 40231 43230 value 5.42021 lJ(K> 1.499 31.423 34.422 value 5.42022 16 Cash and bank baIaDces 2022 2021 COIF deposit account UK cuttent account Lloyds savings accout Cambridtre & Counties Redwood Cash at bank and in haud in Ghana Cash io transit to Ghana 11,026 22.722 35.803 284.335 229.303 85,000 85.000 14.045 12,953 502.137 289.085 17