OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2021-03-31-accounts

Charity Registration No. 1117679

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Trustees

G Barnett (Appointed 18/01/20) P Boyling (Appointed 18/01/20) H Chauncy R Sullam (Appointed 18/01/20) A P Wardle (Resigned 18/01/20) J Ayok-Loewenberg (Resigned 18/01/20) K Ayok-Loewenberg (Resigned 18/01/20) A Blaney (Resigned 01/08/2019) G J Phillips (Resigned 18/01/20) I R Sykes (Resigned 18/01/20)

Charity number

1117679

Principal address

2 Meredyth Road London SW13 0DY

Independent Examiners

TC Group The Courtyard Shoreham Road Upper Beeding Steyning West Sussex BN44 3TN

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

TRUSTEES’ REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

The Trustees: Geoffrey Barnett, Chair Peter Boyling, Treasurer Helen Chauncy Ron Sullam

The Trustees present their Report and the Financial Statements of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) for the year ended 31 March 2021. The Trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the charity comply with the Charities Act 2011.

Legal Status

The charity converted from a company limited by guarantee to a CIO on 12 November 2020. It is governed by its Constitution. Its registered office is at 2 Meredyth Road London SW13 0DY. The registered charity number is 1117679.

Objective

The main objective of the CIO is to restore and develop formal education for children, for the benefit of residents of Aweil South County, South Sudan.

Activities

The charity’s mission is to provide education for children, primarily girls, in a Christian context, in partnership with the local community of Malek, through construction and management of a school and to provide vocational and Christian teaching for adults.

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in S 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission when reviewing the charity’s objectives and in planning future activities.

At the end of a long civil war the charity built a school for girls in Malek-Alel, Aweil South county, South Sudan. It was opened in 2009. It has provided an opportunity for education for girls, whose parents were reluctant to allow them to attend mixed sex schools. Up to about 400 girls per year have attended, in the age range 6-15.

As well as academic teaching there is provision for older girls to receive training in sewing, in IT and in agronomy. Many girls leave school before the upper years, at the behest of their parents, but of those staying at school, a number have gone on to secondary school, and thereafter for training in careers.

In the year under report, the school was largely closed because of the Covid 19 pandemic. But the top year were able to return to school and took final year examinations, giving eligibility for further education. By continuing to provide income for the 36 teaching and nonteaching staff, and funds to meet running costs, through the year, the school has been enabled to continue to support these families, and to ensure that the school is prepared for the reopening to girls when legally permitted to do so.

During the year funds have also been provided to repair the solar power system at the school, obviating the need for carbon fuel generators to produce light and electric power.

Finances

The charity is funded by donations from supporters, mainly resident in England and Switzerland. During the year there was no concerted campaign to raise funds.

Total unrestricted incoming resources for the year amounted to £59,600 (2020: £53,592). Unrestricted resources expended amounted to £41,930 (2020: £27,536) comprising mainly funds sent to the school to pay their staff and running costs.

Net unrestricted income for the year was £17,670 (2020: £26,056). Total unrestricted cash reserves at 31 March 2021 were £61,108 (2020: £286,955).

The charity has a fund restricted to funding fees for girls attending secondary school after their education at the school in Malek-Alel. There was no income to the restricted bursary fund in the year and no spending. The balance

1

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

TRUSTEES’ REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

of the restricted bursary fund at 31 March 2021 was £15,076 (2020: £15,076). At 31 March 2021 the total bank balance stood at £76,184 (2020: £58,514).

Reserves

The trustees’ policy is to maintain a minimum unrestricted reserve of £12,000 to enable operations to continue temporarily if income unexpectedly drops, until new sources of income can be found. Unrestricted cash reserves at 31 March 2021 totalled £61,108 (2020: £58,514). The charity was acting in line with the reserves policy at the year end.

The trustees consider the charity to be a going concern. This conclusion takes into account the financial effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fixed Assets

The trustees have written off the £246,013 in last year’s balance sheet that was attributable to fixed assets. The reason for this decision is that the school’s fixed assets have no value that, in practice, could ever be realised by the charity. The principal fixed assets figure in the historic balance sheet was labelled freehold property (with an acknowledgement that it cannot be valued). In fact the figure was the amount spent (less depreciation) on creating the school buildings on land that was provided free because it was empty space in the bush. None of these buildings have any value that the charity could realise.

Policies

The trustees have policies for financial control, due diligence, conflicts of interest, safeguarding, and social media. These were reviewed and where appropriate adjusted during the year.

Financial control

The financial controls and procedures policy reflects adjustments made by the trustees to confirm the systems they adopted in the light of Charity Commission concerns about controls operated by the previous board of trustees up to 2019. The Treasurer prepares monthly statements of receipts and payments. All expenses, including all purchases at the school in Malek-Alel, are supported by receipts, held on paper or in electronic form. Transfers of funds to the school are made via the money transfer service Dahabshiil. Periodic checks are made to ensure that this means of transfer provides a competitive exchange rate.

Staff

The CIO has no employees. However a proportion of the periodic payments to meet school expenses is spent in support of the school staff. Eight of the twenty teachers are state-employed. The remaining 16 non teaching staff are responsible for running everything outside the classroom. The head teacher, who has been in post since the school was set up formally and is himself employed by the state, is responsible for all school activities. Owing to runaway rates of inflation in South Sudan the purchasing power of the teachers’ state salaries is small, always assuming that they are paid at all.

Independent Examination

The Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts, which are not required to be audited. Accordingly they have been the subject of a report by an independent examiner, whose report is set out on page 4 of this document.

Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the accounts

The Trustees of Under Tree Schools are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard FRS102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’. Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that year.

2

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

TRUSTEES’ REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

……………………………………

Geoffrey Barnett, Chair

Date 3 July 2021

3

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

TO THE MEMBERS OF UNDER TREE SCHOOLS

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Under Tree Schools

I report on the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 March 2021, which are set out below.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Charity are not required to be audited and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed the 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 matters have come to my attention in connection with the examinationgiving me cause to believe:

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.

Jonathan Aikens ACA, DCHA for and on behalf of TC Group

The Courtyard Shoreham Road Upper Beeding Steyning West Sussex BN44 3TN Dated: 5 July 2021.

4

UNDER TREE SCHOOLS UNDER TREE SCHOOLS UNDER TREE SCHOOLS 1117679
Receipts andpayments accounts
For the period
from		 01-Apr-20 To 31-Mar-21

CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments Section A Receipts and payments Last year
to the nearest £
53,592
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
53,592
-
-
-
53,592
24,731see note 1
2,754
51
-
-
-
-
-
-
27,536
-
-
-
27,536
26,056
-
32,458
58,514
A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest
£
59,600
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
59,600
-
-
-
59,600
38,521
3,409
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
41,930
-
-
-
41,930
17,670
-
43,438
61,108		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
15,076
15,076		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total funds
to the nearest £
59,600
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
59,600
-
-
-
59,600
38,521
3,409
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
41,930
-
-
-
41,930

17,670
-
58,514

76,184
Donations(incl Gift Aid) 59,600
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total(Gross income for
AR)		 59,600
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
-
Sub total -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
Charitable activities - S.Sudan 38,521
Charitable activities - UK 3,409
Raisingfunds -
-
-
-
-
-
-
**Sub total ** 41,930
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
-
-
**Sub total ** -
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
17,670 - -
17,670		 26,056
- - - - -
43,438 15,076 - 58,514 32,458
61,108 15,076 -
76,184		 58,514

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

02/07/2021

5

Section B Statement of asset5 and liabilities at the end of the period UnT￿nCted fvnd5 Restricted Endowment funtls Categories Details B1 Cash fund¥ 61.1 14076 Toral ¢￿h funds 61.IfAI 15m6 $11 B2 Oth•r monètsry amets B4 A￿ets retslned forth• ¢haiity'S OWII U BS Liabllltl•s Dof Svwaluie Pr#rt Nay b8hf ofaH the th￿tte$ 21 Note 2. During ts year the tharityfec￿Y £2.CrfJQ Ltsty rlUTS is 8 trusiee12020.. £4.566 01ff)712021 CCXX R6 ISSI