TABS International Annual Report: April 2024 – March 2025
Overview
This has been another busy year for TABS International and the project in Kiandutu, the focus being around four different trips we organised throughout the period. The first in April 24, when one of our Kenyan Trustees – George came to visit us in the UK; the second was our hugely successful friends of TABS volunteer trip in June 24; the third was our super fundraising Mount Kenya climb in August 24; and lastly in February 25 a few trustees travelled out for the annual monitoring visit and joint trustee meeting with our sister charity TABS Kenya (more details on these trips are below). We also focussed on raising funds to start the much-needed Junior Secondary School block construction.
The project itself continues to go from strength to strength, with improved exam results again this year compared to last, and we had 574 children registered at the school at the end of March 2025 - all of this is only possible due to the ongoing faithful support of the school team in Kiandutu; our Friends of TABS network; and donors in the UK and Ireland.
Trips:
April 24 – visit from Kenyan Trustee George – we were delighted to be able to host one of our Kenyan partners for a change. George Karuku who is a trustee and treasurer of our sister charity TABS Kenya, came to the UK for a few weeks. We started off our visit in Bristol, then Bedworth, off to Bridlington, down to Silverton in Devon, then Swindon and finally finished off in Bedworth again. We were able to visit all the churches who currently support the charity to say a big thank you in person, and George joined us for one of our regular live piano fundraising soirees, which was also live streamed across the country and watched in Kenya! The trip was such a success, we aim to bring some of our Kenyan partners over again in the future.
June 24 Friends of TABS Volunteer Trip – was a huge success. We took 12 volunteers from across our church and support network, many of whom had never met before, but it was like we were all old friends. For 2 weeks we worked all day long beside our Kenyan friends and builders digging the foundations and laying the ground floor for the Junior Secondary block. We shifted stones, mixed cement, fixed benches, made new ones, dug a water soakaway, laid flooring, painted murals and much more. The partnership working was a delight to be a part of. We were able to fund this work due to a successful grant bid from the Kitchen Table Charities Trust; local fundraising in the UK; and a personal donation from a relative of our late founder Rachel Sanders.
A long-term supporter of TABS who is also a dyslexia and literacy specialist joined us on this trip, and she started in motion a long-held desire of TABS and the school to better support those children who are not making the expected progress in their education. This involved researching Kenya’s understanding and support systems already in place for dyslexia; observing the lessons for a few days; meeting with teachers and children to understand the difficulties; assessing many children and devising a recommendation plan for the school. This is now an ongoing piece of work we are embedding into the school, and it has already started to have a positive impact.
www.tabsinternatonal.org Registered Charity No. 1120418 info@tabsinternatonal.org
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August 24 Mount Kenya Fundraising climb – a group of 7 intrepid explorers from Ireland, including our Chair raised £17,000 climbing Africa’s second biggest mountain. This was a fantastic achievement and all 7 had the time of their lives, even though it was extremely challenging! This money is ring fenced for drilling and installation of a water bore on the plot of land that was purchased the year before. The land is about 50 mins drive north of Kiandutu and will become our upper secondary school and vocational training centre, as the site in Kiandutu is full, cannot expand, nor house anymore children. The aim is also to give the children an opportunity to see a life outside of the slum to enhance their motivation and aspirations for the future.
February 25 Monitoring visit – each February, a few TABS UK Trustees travel to Kenya for a week to spend time in the school with the leadership team and staff, meeting with our sister charity TABS Kenya and other partners in the area. This is a really important trip, it enables us to evaluate the achievements and challenges of the previous year, make sure we are on target for achieving our future goals and plan for the next few years of strategic development.
– Achievements on the ground Highlights:
Quality Educaton in demand - We currently have 574 children registered at the school, but the school also had to turn away upwards of 150 children at the start of the new academic year in January 25. The need in Kiandutu is very great as 2 other charity/mission schools have closed in the last year. The school is now the 2[nd] biggest and highest performing primary school in the area. Recent KEPS exam results for year 6 (end of primary) were very good with 63% rated as ‘met expectation’ which is actually above average and higher.
Excellent Local Reputaton – During the February 25 monitoring visit, we met with the Director of Education for Thika West prior to him coming to the school in Kiandutu and officially opening our Junior Secondary block. This was a real honour and shows that the school has a very good reputation both with the local authority and the community.
Employment in the local community - There are currently 20 staff employed by the school. TABS International is paying for 14 of these via our quarterly payments, and the remaining 6 are funded by income bought in by the project manager Moses through fundraising on the ground and by school fees. A new minibus driver and caretaker was also recently recruited
Junior Secondary Educaton - We now have the first 2 years of Junior Secondary (grades 7 & 8) up and running in the new Junior secondary school block, and will need to add another classroom for grade 9 in January 2026 (our Kenyan trustees feel this class can be accommodated in the exam hall if we do not manage to raise the funds to add another level on the JSS building by then). Secondary School fees are split into 2 types – those who are able and those who are not able. For those who can, we currently charge 2000 KES per child per term (£11.55), but for many children attending the school, their families cannot pay this, and for some of these children, the school is the only place they will receive any food during the day.
www.tabsinternatonal.org Registered Charity No. 1120418 info@tabsinternatonal.org
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SACCO (savings and credit co-operative) – During our June 24 volunteer trip, TABS Kenya put forward an idea to the board of creating a SACCO at the school. SACCOs are very common in Kenya – they are similar to a Credit Union. The teachers and staff commonly have financial difficulties (and as we are a charity, TABS wages for teachers compared to the government school salaries are lower) TABS Kenya wanted to do something to help. This had been requested by the teachers and the parents as the local community who would also be able to pay in and use the loans available. When we visited again in Feb 25 this had been fully established and people were already availing of the opportunities it brought.
Friends of TABS
The principle behind Friends of TABS is to develop a network of supporters who raise funds, become prayer warriors, and offer any skills that are pertinent and relevant. We also commit to organising a biannual Friends of TABS Volunteer trip to the Project in Kiandutu so people who have supported TABS get an opportunity to see for themselves how their efforts are being utilised. The uniqueness of this initiative is that individuals experience first-hand the impact of their involvement and efforts and really feel they have an emotional connection to the Project. They then return home more deeply committed to what we are trying to achieve.
TABS International UK
As our Trustees are spread right across the UK and Ireland, we meet as a Trustee team 3 times a year online, coming together once a year face to face for our AGM. We were delighted to welcome 2 new trustees to the board this year – Clare Sanders (eldest daughter of our late founder Rachel Sanders) who has always supported TABS but now joins us in a more official capacity as our new treasurer; and Dean Murray. Dean came out on a TABS volunteer trip in 2011 as a young person and the experience had a significant impact on him. Dean (now a college lecturer in animal husbandry) reached out to the charity this year offering his support and was quickly snapped up to be a trustee!
Our website and TABS Facebook page continues to be the best place for supporters and others to find out what TABS is up to and focusing on.
Development Plan & Priorities for 2024-25
Current Speculaton for the Senior Secondary School - Discussions were held with our Kenyan Trustees in Feb 25, and we are realistically looking at a 3–5 year strategy for a senior secondary school to be up and running on our new plot of land. We will be able to filter out the students who finish grade 9 with us at the end of 2026 in Kiandutu to other local Senior Secondary Schools until then. Registering the Secondary School will be a lengthy process, especially as it will be a boarding school with a lot more legislation. However, we can start the thinking and planning around this now. 2-3 more acres have become available to purchase next to our site, so we are busy negotiating and fundraising for this now. This would provide all the land we need for our long-term vision of a TABS Volunteer Centre on site.
www.tabsinternatonal.org Registered Charity No. 1120418 info@tabsinternatonal.org
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We also met with a charity called Drilling for Life who we would commission for the water bore drill. This whole initiative is going to cost between £25-30K and needs to be done in stages. Due to the success of the Mount Kenya climb, we have enough to complete stages 1&2 and will get going with this as soon as is possible. We will then have water to start proper agriculture on the land to help feed the current students in Kiandutu and start teaching some practical agricultural skills to the children.
Next Volunteer Trip - We are planning our next Friends of TABS volunteer trip in June/July 2026 . The school will need completely re-painting by then, and if we have completed stages 1 and 2 of the water bore, there should be plenty of agricultural, landscaping & fencing work to do on the land.
Priorites in the school: – we will need to raise the funds to purchase the Grade 9 curriculum books by the start of next academic year – Jan 26. We also need to buy equipment to stock the laboratory as it is a requirement from the Education Ministry that all schools providing secondary education must have a functioning laboratory on site. Given our special circumstances and that we are a charity, the local education authority has given us a grace period and partnered us with another local school to use their facilities until we have our own laboratory. We also need to build 2 more classroom spaces on the Junior Secondary side of the site, for grade 9 and for the laboratory.
All this is going to take a lot of planning and fundraising and will take up most of our efforts for the coming year – so we’d best get to work!
Signed: Date: 10/01/2026 A[Cb]
Ellen Sanders
Chair of TABS International on behalf of the Trustee Board
www.tabsinternatonal.org Registered Charity No. 1120418 info@tabsinternatonal.org
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¥) FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
18 Receipts and payments accounts i 01/04/2024 31/03/2025 from
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CC16a
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CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
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26/01/2026
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Categories Details funds funds funds to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £ Total cash funds ols |ee | (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) ALOE t ue Unrestricted Restricted Endowment funds funds funds Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £ a = Details Fundasset to belongs which Cost (optional)P Current valueoptional —_ —= Details Fundasset to belongs which Cost (optional)P Current valueoptional B4 Assets retained for the ft f | —— ees ee Fund to which Amount due When due - —Details =liability relates optional =optional Signed by one or two trustees on , Date of behalf of all the trustees Signature Print Name anneal
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustoesl members of TABS International On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 Charity no (if any) 1120418 Set out on paga8 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"the Trust") for the year ended 3110312025 As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation Responsibilities and of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act basis of report 2011 ("the Acl"). 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. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ") in connection with the examination which gives me cAuse to believe that in, any material respect.. accounling records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement 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. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: 24th January 2026 Name: Helen Marsh Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (If any): Address: The Old Dairy Chilton Farrn Chilton Trinity TA5 2BL Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishe8 to disclose. IER October 2018