**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 FOR DRAMA EXPRESSIONS FOR CHILDREN** **CHARITY INFORMATION For the Year Ended 31 December 2022** **TRUSTEES: B. Friedrich E. Frankel S. Landau** **SECRETARY: S. Landau** **REGISTERED OFFICE: 59 Bethune Road London N16 5EE** **REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1145805** **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER: De Claron Ltd 3A The Vale London NW11 8SB** **BANKERS: HSBC 312 Seven Sisters Rd, Finsbury Park, London N4 2AW** **Drama Expressions for children is a registered charity (1145805) and is constituted as an unincorporated association. It operates within London. The charity is currently staffed by B. Friedrich, E. Frankel, S. Landau. Our trustees are a committed clan who care. They are a group of energetic and caring volunteers, some who are qualified counsellors and carers, who aim to improve the conditions of life. They are vibrant and vivacious, qualified and volunteers, younger and elder; the common denominator is that all share one desire; make the life of London`s children worth living. They grant our users the tools and opportunities to develop in to productive and content adults.** **The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2022. The trustees confirm that the annual report and the financial statements of the charity comply with the c u r r e n t s t a t u t o r y r e q u i r eme n t s , t h e requirements of the charity's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” issued in Jan 2015.** ## Message Of The Chair In unprecedented times, Drama Expressions has been agile, innovative, and responsive to the needs of our girls, in the communities which we work. We remain more committed than ever to helping girls feel confident, happy and safe and be a generation of leaders. You make this possible every day. We were coming into our office-home office dealing with more challenges and referrals than we have to cope with in a regular months. Referral rate trebled and complexity of our users' needs increased. This is all on the balance of increased costs and reduced initial funding, but we surged onward and forward and achievements speaks for itself. Third paragraph-please change to: Thank you to:. Forrester Family Trust St James Place Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation Edward Gostling Foundation West Hackney Parochial Charity Mrs Smith & Mount Trust Scott Badder Charity And all our donors for investing and believing in our work The future we are working towards will require strategic direction, forward thinking, and new paths of success and it will also require the continued generous investment of supporters like you. Thanks to your commitment, Drama Expressions is prepared for the challenge. **On Behalf of the board Signed:** 20/03/2023 Aim: Advocate for girls ensuring that their basic needs are met and, empowering them with safety and confidence to unlock their inherent values and ensuring that theirvoice is heard. Vision: Every passing day, more girls should have confidence. Girls will be Courageous. Girls will get Kindness. Drama Expressions aims to give a voice and safe space for girls who are affected by destitution. low self-esteem. complex family backgrounds. abuse. poor body image. underachievoment and social isolation. Wo operate by provisions of mentoring. a Saturday and Sunday Club, Holiday Club, skills development club, drama opportunities and recentlycrisessupport. We empower girls between ages 8-18 from low in¢ome families who are exhibiting signs of low self esteem, poor body image, abuse or emotional and mental health challenges infusing them with familial like support. comradeships. mentoring and fun and stimulating outlets encompassing, weekly get togothor, food and game packagos, bi- annual show and a summer retreat. 500 children enjoyed our services and forgot about their troubles. They once again savoured the flavour of plain solid fun that every child deserves. We also provide recreational and leisure facilities for young people who are in need of such provision because of their age. infirmity. poverty. social or economic circumstances. Our programme of extracurricular activities is designed to provide rich experiences to young people. They are all targeted towards the young people's interests and abilities. and we ensure that they experience all that mainstream children takeforgranted. We aim to teach the children new skills whilst at the same time empowering them with the self-esteem and self-confidence required to overcome their disadvantage. and to grow up as healthy individuals and productive members of society. All our projects are designed to give our users the opportunity to widen their social circles and make new friends. We also encourage young people to help lead our projects, thus they gain loadership skillswhichwill helpthem in thairfuture lives. OUR PROJECTS Confidence Code reached out to young people with emotional and mental health challenges who were suffering more than ever. Our Drama -Therapy Club offered weekly sessions for groups of (max) 8 young people. Drama therapy involved verbal and non-verbal work and made use of a range of theatrical and dramatic techniques. Drama therapy enabled service users to cope with change, deal with anxiety, come to terms with loss and develop strong supportive relationships. Respite 4 U: This is our respite programs which takes place bi-annually. It's a sleep away program in the British countryside, for children from inner city areas. This summer and winter camps is their only opportunity to let go, have fun and be kids. We provide nutritious meals, which is not necessarily a daily fare for some of our users. We offer fun, educational and inspirational activities entertainment. The most adventurous side to this program are the trips to waterparks, amusement parks, snow tubing, hikes and beaches. This goes hand in hand with our on-site activities which includes including ice cream parties, sports competitions, camp fires, fruit carving and cake decorating sessions. We also arrange some evening programs where we offer educational and fun entertainment. We present various films, have discussions and games. All in all we nurture children by infusing them with thoughtful, well planned and exciting opportunities and experiences. Our campers leave with lovely memories and wish to return. Awards Scored is the highlight of our work. We select teens at risk to lead some of our projects where we offer full support and guidance. Thus they gain leadership skills as well as experience in working and dealing with people. They invest effort, and derive great satisfaction from their achievements. Being positively occupied, stimulates and satisfies them, ensuring they don't feel drawn to engaging in anti-social behaviour, including gangs and crime. As a reward for their unpaid efforts, we treat them to an annual overnight retreat in the countryside, where we offer educational and fun activities. We arrange our volunteers in groups, and give them the responsibility for arranging different parts of the project. This exciting program encourages young people to further volunteer and help the community. Above that all, As a further benefit their self-esteem improves significantly, they feel good with about themselves. **OUR PROJECTS** Talent Express program is our annual user-led showcase performance for the wider community, which is always a sell out! Incredibly enough, our volunteers do it all: They sew costumes, create backdrops, collect props, write the script and arrange the choirs, dances and drama. Our users thrive with the opportunity to develop their talents, enhance their social lives, and work in unity. They enjoy the chance toglow in the spotlight. BEAT is a weekly club where underprivileged children experience a thrilling and fun packed Saturday afternoon out. We encourage our users to 'Bring Everyone Along Today'. Children are treated with the utmost sensitivity and care. We provide a range of exciting activities, games and discussions. Every age group has a voluntary leader who leads the group. They aim to portray a positive aspect of life and do this via organised workshops and fun activities. We serve light refreshments during our activities, in order to enhance the atmosphere. RUN-ABOUT is designed to ensure that our users have equal opportunities to that of mainstream children. We enable children from the inner city areas to explore the outer natural world through stimulating and educational trips. They enjoy outdoor trips like lakes, leisure centres and amusement parks. At Run-About they experience the serenity of a beach, the beauty of nature, and the thrill of a roller coaster. ## Our projects have been a major success, impacting hugely on the self-image of vulnerable children. ## IMPACTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS ## **The grants and donations received this year were used towards our projects.** This year: - 45 new mentoring arrangements arranged - 210 children learnt new practical skills, cake decorating, gift arranging and fruit carving. - 350 children learnt drama skills-singing, dancing, acting etc. - 55 young people gained leadership skills - 300 children gained skills for life- social etiquette, social skills etc. - 300 children met weekly and enjoyed themselves. - 200 children explored the great outdoors and broadened their knowledge - 250 young people experienced the warmth of sing in unity, and connecting to each - 300 young people enjoyed the thrill of performing in the limelight - 450 young people widened their social circles **In short, 500 young people have better chances succeed in life and grow up to be productive members of society. We thank all our donors for supporting us in our mission.** ## FUTURE PLANS RESERVE POLICY It is the policy of the charity to maintain unrestricted funds, which are the free reserves of the charity, at a leveL which equates 10 approximateLy three months unrestricted expenditure. This provides sufficientfund5 to cover management, administration RISKASSESSMENT The trustees have assessed the major rislis to which the charity is exposed. in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charity, and are satisfied that Systems are in pLace to mitigate their exposure to majorrisks. STATEMENTOFTRUSTEES'RESPONSIBILITIES Charity law require5 the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financialyearwhich give a true and fairviewof the state of affairs of the charity and of the profit or loss of the charity for that period. In preparingthosefinancialstatements Select suitabLe accounting policies and then apply them consistently- .Mal