2023-08-31-accounts

Annual Report 2022/2023

AMBITION INSTITUTE[ |] ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023[ |] 1

Contents

Contents
Section one - Welcome
Welcome message from our Chair	3
Welcome message from our CEO	4
Section two - Strategic report
Our work	6
Our programmes	7
Our achievements	10
Our people	28
Section three - Financial performance
Our fnances	33
Independent auditor’s report	41

2[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Welcome message from our Chair

At Ambition Institute, we are privileged to work alongside excellent schools, multi-academy trusts, their teachers and leaders, as we work together to achieve the best possible outcomes for all children.

There is a stubborn gap between what children from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve at school, compared with their peers. It is a gap that widens throughout a child’s education to affect their prospects and future. The Covid-19 pandemic accentuated many challenges in the sector, including widening the attainment gap even further, and the education system is still dealing with the consequences.

Closing that gap is at the heart of our charity’s work. To meet this challenge, over the last 12 months we have extended the reach of our programmes, developed the breadth and depth of our partnerships, and strengthened our expertise in new areas.

We have also grown in size this year to support our aims, welcoming even more talented and mission-driven staff to the organisation. The Board of Trustees and I are incredibly proud of the work carried out by the whole team at Ambition, and grateful for their contributions to tackling educational disadvantage.

In the following report, you can read about all our work this year, and the stories of teachers and leaders dedicated to their development, to the evidence on what works, and above all to their pupils and communities.

Rich Jefferson, Chair of Trustees

3[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[ |] Ambition Institute

Welcome message from our CEO

We believe that developing the professional expertise of teachers and school leaders is the best way to improve the life chances of children from disadvantaged and under-resourced backgrounds. I am pleased to introduce this year’s annual report, reflecting our continued progress towards this mission.

Over the last 12 months, we have continued to deliver high quality professional development to tens of thousands of teachers and leaders. During 2022/23, we helped 52,700 teachers and school leaders become even more expert. Collectively, we have helped shape the futures of 4.1 million children.

We were pleased to receive an ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted for our Early Career Teachers programme, and to hear from teachers themselves about the positive impact our programmes are having on their skills and confidence. We are excited to be laying the foundations of our new Initial Teacher Training programme which will start being delivered from September 2024. This work remains vital as we support schools to attract, train and retain highly effective teachers.

We have continued to make the case publicly for the importance and impact of high quality, evidence-led professional development. A particular highlight of this year has been launching our new research team, which has helped push our collective knowledge forward as a sector and supported more people to have access to new thinking and evidence.

‘Keep getting better’ is one of our core values. It shapes everything from our approach to programme design and delivery, to how we operate as a charity. We hope to build on our success this year and continue to contribute to improving education outcomes in the years ahead.

Our partnerships are at the heart of all this work, from the teaching school hubs and Trusts with whom we deliver our programmes, to our strategic partners in the education sector and beyond, and the funders who help make this possible. Their collective experience, expertise and deep, contextual understanding of the communities they serve shape our actions and challenge our thinking every day.

We owe huge thanks to these partners, teachers and leaders for supporting our work, and for their continued commitment to giving every child access to the best possible education.

Hilary Spencer, Chief Executive Officer

4[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[ |] Ambition Institute

Strategic report

AMBITION INSTITUTE[ |] ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023[ |] 5

Our work

A great teacher changes the future every day.

Teachers are a critical factor in a child’s success, especially for those who have had a tough start in life. At Ambition Institute, we support teachers and school leaders at every stage of their careers, by delivering and advocating for high quality professional development to help them to keep getting better. As a charity, we develop the professional expertise and skills of educators — providing training and learning opportunities based on the most rigorous research and evidence about what really works. Together, we’re shaping the future of education to give every child the best possible chance in life.

What we do

We work with a range of educators: teachers, early years practitioners, specialists, and school and Trust leaders. We train them so that they can make an even bigger difference to the children they serve, especially those facing the most challenges.

We also work across the education sector and with policymakers to build understanding of the most effective approaches to professional development — carrying out research, collaborating with partners, and sharing what works to amplify evidence and practice that can help everyone working in education.

Why we do it

There is a stubborn gap between what children from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve at school, compared with their peers — and the pandemic has made this worse. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds start school on average 4.8 months behind their non-disadvantaged peers. This gap now typically doubles by the end of primary school to 10.3 months, and nearly doubles again to 18.8 months by the end of secondary school (Education Policy Institute, 2023). This gap means that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to end up in employment, education or training.

Our programmes are designed to equip educators to tackle the challenges they face. Our approach is based on the evidence of what really works, providing practical tools to help teachers make an even bigger impact, in the classroom and across the school.

Great teaching changes lives. The evidence is clear: the quality of teaching makes the biggest difference to what a child achieves. It has three times more impact than any other factor within a school’s control (RAND, 2019).

For a pupil, access to one of the best teachers in the system means learning in six months what it takes an average teacher a whole year to teach. With a less effective teacher, the same learning will take over two years (Wiliam, 2006).

The other critical factor is leadership. In schools with effective leaders, children do better, and teachers stay longer and are happier in their jobs. The research shows that professional development is the most cost-effective and sustainable way to help teachers and school leaders develop their expertise and practice (Zuccollo & Fletcher-Wood, 2020).

We know that investing in the expertise of teachers and school leaders makes the biggest impact on schools and pupil outcomes. As a charity, any financial surplus is reinvested into making our work more effective.

6[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Our programmes

In 2022/23, our programmes supported more teachers and school leaders than ever before.

From those taking their first steps as new teachers to those aspiring to be a headteacher or an executive headteacher, our programmes support the Department for Education’s ‘golden thread’ reforms. This continued professional development across the Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) enables educators to master evidence-based practice through the entirety of their careers.

Following our successful accreditation as an Initial Teacher Training provider in 2022, we have continued to mobilise and recruit — ready for delivery from September 2024. Over the last 12 months, we have welcomed 11 founding lead partners. Together, we aspire to bring even more ambitious and committed teachers into schools and provide the best possible start to a fulfilling career in education.

We believe that schools and trusts should think strategically about professional development and our popular suite of other high quality programmes continued to support this. These include the whole school improvement programme Transforming Teaching, Instructional Coaching, Curriculum for Senior Leaders, Master’s in Expert Teaching, and High Impact Teaching.

Working with teachers and school leaders, we have helped over 4.1 million children receive a better education and start in life.

Our Early Career Teachers programme received an outstanding judgement from Ofsted, which found that teachers in their first two years in the classroom are “exceptionally well supported by Ambition Institute and have regular opportunities to revisit learning and deepen their understanding.”

Our specialist and leadership NPQs helped more experienced educators to improve their practice and develop their skills and knowledge in key areas.

The programmes were delivered in partnership with a network of 45 multi-academy trusts and teaching hubs across England who bring crucial local knowledge and strong relationships in their communities and help to ensure the sector retains great people in teaching.

Our reach

In 2022/23, we worked with:

• 52,700 teachers and school leaders

• 9,000 schools

• 1 in 11 teachers and leaders from state-funded schools

7[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Rebecca’s story

Rebecca Underwood spent 21 years as a teacher and senior leader before becoming School Improvement Lead for Teacher Development at Avanti Institute. Set up in 2021 by Avanti Schools Trust, the institute’s aim is to enable teachers to thrive through professional development. Rebecca has supported over 50 teachers and leaders through National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) delivered by Ambition Institute and says they are key to retaining quality teachers and improving pupil outcomes.

8[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Rebecca says “Before we began engaging with Ambition’s NPQ programmes, there was a misconception of what CPD was. It was perceived as uninspiring and rarely led to positive change. Now, staff feedback linked to CPD opportunities has vastly improved. Staff are listened to and encouraged to access evidence-informed research linked to the range of NPQs available.

“There have been some excellent success stories from schools that have engaged with the NPQs. Avanti House Secondary comes to mind. They are now in the top 20 schools in London with grades higher than the national average and a Progress 8 score in 2022 of 1.17.”

A framework for future development

The institute has now tailor-made its own learning and teaching framework using a range of highly effective strategies and methods of research gained from Ambition’s NPQ programmes.

Rebecca adds: “We gather staff feedback from those who have participated in NPQs. We then select the active ingredients that resonate with us and incorporate them into our own CPD programmes.”

“The emphasis on cognitive science and the evidence available through the NPQs is very important to us and our educational strategy. Our new learning and teaching framework also incorporates many strands from the NPQ programmes.”

“NPQs help Avanti in preparing for future leadership transitions and, ideally, retaining staff across our schools. We really encourage them and provide support throughout their NPQ journeys.”

“Given the current challenges we all face with recruitment in education today, retaining staff and nurturing them is highly important to us.”

9[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Our achievements

Maintaining the golden thread

We are the largest provider of Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications programmes in England. In 2022/23 we continued to play an essential role in maintaining a coherent ‘golden thread’ of high quality, evidence-led programmes enabling teachers and schools to deepen their expertise, develop as professionals and progress.

Early Career Teachers

The Early Career Framework provides an entitlement to two years of development for teachers at the start of their career. Through the Department for Education (DfE)-funded framework we have developed a carefully sequenced and evidence-informed curriculum for teachers and mentors which focuses on how teachers learn as well as what they learn. Importantly, this programme plays a role in supporting those new to teaching and encouraging them to stay within the profession.

What we did

We supported 34,890 individuals at 4,833 schools with over 2 million pupils across our Early Career Framework programmes.

Using instructional coaching and the professional learning platform, Steplab, we provided participants with bite-sized content and tailored feedback to help them keep getting better over time.

What we learned

• 87% of our Year 2 early career teachers said in May 2023 that they plan to stay in teaching.

• 90% of Year 1 early career teachers and 80% of Year 2 early career teachers told us that they are “more confident teachers” because of the programme.

• 96% of induction coordinators agreed that early career teachers can apply what they learned to their teaching.

10[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

‘Outstanding’ Ofsted inspection

In May 2023, our Early Career Teachers programme was inspected by Ofsted. The inspectors met with teams from across the organisation as well as our delivery partners, trainers and mentors. They also spoke to headteachers and our Early Career Teacher participants.

Recognising the enthusiasm and passion of all involved and the positive impact the programme is having, we were thrilled to receive outstanding grades across all areas of the inspection: overall effectiveness, quality of professional development and training, and leadership and management.

At Ambition Institute, everything we do is driven by our mission: to help teachers and school leaders serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds to keep getting better. We were delighted that this was recognised by Oftsed who said: “Equality sits at the heart of Ambition Institute. All parties involved in the programme share the same vision to train and develop educators who enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their very best. Early career teachers are exceptionally well supported by Ambition Institute. A culture of learning permeates at every level.”

Highlights from the report included:

High quality programme design, programme materials, and trainers:

Our programme is “meticulously planned with carefully considered design choices at all stages”. Quality assurance is “extremely strong” and “clear, transparent, and collaborative”. We recruit “high quality people” as trainers, and the quality of training is “exceptionally high”. We have “created a comprehensive range of exemplification materials”.

Data and insights:

We “gather an impressive range of qualitative and quantitative data” and use this to shape delivery and materials, utilising the “impressive range of information”.

Maths pilot

Currently, there is a shortage of maths teachers and disadvantaged pupils are more likely to have nonspecialist maths teachers. When pupils reach Key Stage 4, almost half of all maths lessons are taught by teachers without a science or maths degree. In order to strengthen maths teaching, from September 2022, we ran a maths-focused Early Career Teachers pilot programme. This unique opportunity was developed in partnership with David Ross Education Trust Teaching School Hub.

The impact on early career teachers and their workload:

Early career teachers are “exceptionally well supported by Ambition Institute” which enables them “to successfully build and apply their knowledge over time”. Their learning is “precise and impactful”, because of our “careful consideration of workload”.

Collaboration with delivery partners:

Our delivery partners “have a deep and consistent understanding of the curriculum”, whilst our approach to quality assurance is “clear and transparent and [involves] a collaborative process” and “[our] values encourage high quality relationships at all levels”.

Instructional coaching and support for mentors:

Our mentor training programme is “extremely well thought of” by mentors, and resources are “of a very high quality”. The use of technology supports mentors well. Instructional coaching is used “highly effectively”, so that mentors can tailor learning to each early career teacher’s stage of learning.

11[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Faizah and Tarek’s story

As teachers at Bristnall Hall Academy in the West Midlands, Faizah Hussain and Tarek Bilani are part of the first cohort of teachers to have completed their statutory induction period on our Early Career Teachers programme, which is led locally by Academy Transformation Trust.

12[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

“When I first started my PGCE, I was a bit quiet. I wasn’t confident about standing in front of 30 children,” Faizah says. “But in the last two years, my confidence has built. Now, I know what’s right for my pupils, I understand my strengths, and if there’s anything that I need to develop, I know I can.”

Faizah says that she was able to develop her confidence with the Early Career Framework and the additional support and training it provides, including regular coaching sessions from a more experienced member of staff, Debra Jones.

“I found it easy to speak to Debra and come to her with any questions I had,” says Faizah. “I’d just walk into her room in the morning and ask whatever I needed to know, no matter how stupid I thought it was. And I know that next year I’ll still be doing that.”

“I was getting quite annoyed at myself at first because I wasn’t seeing gradual improvement in my pupils’ work and some of my pupils weren’t able to construct a sentence. But now, I can see how the scaffolds that I’ve been able to put in place with Debra’s support have worked.”

Faizah has now noticed significant improvement in how her pupils are learning. “It’s so rewarding seeing the quality of work that they can produce,” she says.

“It’s been great watching her grow as a teacher,” Debra adds. “You can see that natural progression; that selfesteem and self-belief grow.”

Debra says that the framework and the Early Career Teachers programme have supported this progression. “It gives the early career teacher an area and then allows them the time to master that skill, before moving on to something else,” she says.

Much like his colleague Faizah, Tarek was nervous upon entering the classroom after his PGCE. Although it was challenging to work in a live teaching environment at the start of his first year, with his mentor Nicola’s encouragement, he soon began to develop his abilities. It was the support from the framework which reminded him that it was okay to be still growing as a teacher. “When you sign the contract and start teaching, you think they want the finished product,” Tarek says. “But the programme and the mentoring reminds you that you will carry on growing.”

In the four years she’s worked as a mentor, Nicola has seen how essential this support is for new teachers. “Early career teachers all come to schools in different places, having different training experiences. It’s important that mentors are available to identify their developmental needs and really help them get used to the work environment,” she explains.

Nicola remarks on how mentoring Tarek has inspired her own teaching practice too. “You can become a bit stale,” she says. “Tarek has reminded me to try new things. There have been loads of times where we’ll come across something on Steplab (the online platform used by Ambition for teacher professional development and instructional coaching) that I think Tarek has already learned.”

But he’ll say: ‘How about I try it this way and do something a little different?’ It’s been great to be reminded of the sort of mindset we should have, always wanting to try new things.”

Tarek says: “There were initial feelings of, ‘Okay, I’m alone in the classroom now. There’s no one sat in the back of the room in case anything goes wrong.’ And at the beginning there were some tricky classes.”

“But I began introducing certain behaviour strategies and saw the benefit. The learning and coaching experience and expert advice was really important in helping me to put those strategies into place.”

13[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

National Professional Qualifications

We remained the country’s largest provider of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in 2022/23.

Designed for more experienced teachers and school leaders, these highly flexible programmes combine insight and practice. They enable people to develop their knowledge and improve their skills in particular areas of practice and have a positive impact on pupil outcomes.

Our NPQ programmes allow teachers and school leaders to gain specialist qualifications, equipping them with the expertise they need to lead sustainable improvements across their schools. They are the:

• NPQ in Leading Behaviour and Culture, helping participants to build their understanding of behaviour management and discover how to create a school culture where staff and pupils can thrive.

• NPQ in Leading Literacy, helping teachers to become expert leaders in literacy and learn its importance in enabling young people to reach their full potential.

• NPQ in Leading Teaching, supporting participants to explore what outstanding teaching looks like and apply it to become a high performing leader of teaching.

• NPQ in Leading Teacher Development, helping participants to become an expert educator and learning how to successfully support teachers to improve their practice.

• NPQ in Senior Leadership, developing a leader’s knowledge and expertise to improve outcomes for teachers and pupils across a school.

• NPQ in Headship, helping participants develop the knowledge that underpins expert school leadership and apply it to become an outstanding headteacher.

• NPQ in Executive Leadership, supporting individuals to lead change and improvement across schools or Trusts.

• NPQ in Early Years Leadership, supporting individuals to become experts in early years leadership and helping to give all children up to the age of five the best possible start in life.

For those senior leaders stepping into their first roles as headteachers, we also offered an Early Headship Coaching Offer (EHCO).

What we did

During the year, through our multi-academy trusts and teaching school hubs partners and central cohort, we supported 19,407 individuals across our NPQ and EHCO programmes from 6,852 schools with over 3 million pupils .

These evidence-led programmes focus on what teachers and school leaders need to know — helping them to build their expertise and become more confident.

We worked with participants and partners to increase engagement and enhance quality through a datainformed approach to continuously improve our programmes and their impact.

Ensuring we help educators develop their practice through an enriching learning experience remains a priority for over the next year. We are looking forward to supporting the sector further and will start to deliver qualifications in Leading Primary Maths and for special educational needs coordinators in 2024.

What we learned

Our programmes continue to be received well:

• 92% of teachers and school leaders would recommend their Ambition Institute NPQ to a colleague.

What participants on our NPQ programmes say:

“The nature of the training we’ve received is easier to manage and applicable to lots of situations.”

“It is easily the best CPD I have ever had. I feel confident in my expectations and how to deliver training effectively because I am always mindful of staff, working memory, time constraints and the best way to utilise them for pupil progress.”

“Every module has impacted my practice. Each week, small adjustments have positively benefited my role. It’s enabled me to engage with research whilst working, which I like.”

14[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Tim’s story

Tim Hopkins works at Humpty Dumpty Nurseries and Preschools in Staffordshire. Tim’s love of learning and child welfare led him to join our first NPQ Early Years Leadership cohort delivered in partnership with John Taylor Teaching School Hub. The training provides an evidence-based foundation for practitioners to become an expert in early years leadership. It is designed to help participants develop their expertise of what high quality early years education and care looks like. In doing so, it explores the factors that affect child development, such as the importance of a positive culture.

15[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

“I don’t actually hold a formal early years qualification other than my primary education degree,” says Tim. “So, the opportunity to do some extra study and get into the thick of what early years is, as a whole, was really great.”

“The material has been very carefully selected and was really enjoyable. I read everything that I could. It’s very well researched and looks at best practice within an early years setting which has been amazing.”

Tim says the pacing of the programme has worked well for him and he has found the workload manageable with support from his directors.

“I haven’t seen it as workload though,” he says. “I’ve seen it as something that’s been really enjoyable. I’ve been genuinely impressed with both John Taylor Teaching School Hub and Ambition Institute. I don’t think I could have wanted any more from the programme.”

Whilst only halfway through his NPQ, what he has learned from the programme has already helped Tim make important decisions in his role as strategic development manager. “Our very first module was all about implementation, which was something I had thought our teams did very well,” he says.

Tim focused his energies solely on the one he saw as most important – an initiative called My Happy Mind. The benefits of the project, which encourages selfdiscovery, are far more significant because of the time and space given to it, he says.

“I think it’s had a bigger impact on our children, their families and the staff teams than if we had tried to forge ahead with two projects,” he explains. “We were going to run another project at the same time. But then I started to learn more about cognitive load and implementation, and I realised that I needed to focus my staff’s efforts on one priority area at a time.”

“The impact will be even bigger for children because colleagues will find their own passions for the different modules and make their own unique explorations.”

He’s hopeful that the benefits will continue with other colleagues going on the programme in the future.

16[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Partnerships

We are proud and privileged to be working with an amazing network of multi-academy trusts and teaching school hubs. By building meaningful and collaborative relationships with our partners, we learn about the great work they are doing in their schools and share with them our curriculum design expertise and best practice.

In 2022/23, we also worked with key school partners including School Improvement Liverpool, the training division of Liverpool City Council, to develop the professional expertise of the city’s teachers and school leaders and create positive outcomes for its schools and pupils.

Local delivery partners

In 2022/23 we worked with 45 partners to offer our Early Career Teachers (ECT) programme and a suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) to teachers across the country.

Working with Ambition Institute means that our partners receive:

• High quality curriculum design drawing on the latest evidence and insights from teachers and school leaders.

• Access to a large, national network supporting partners to build on their strengths, grow their provision and develop a pipeline of teachers and educators.

• Continuity across the ‘golden thread’ with a cohesive curriculum which minimises repetition and reflects an understanding of teachers’ workloads, and the complexity of the learning experience.

• Expert support in areas such as recruitment, assessment, selection, technology and data monitoring.

“Ambition Institute has supported, strengthened and enabled our multi-academy trust vision to become a reality – ‘an organisation where everyone can flourish’. We believe in being ‘one team, with one mission, working as one family’ – Ambition are part of this. Our golden thread from Initial Teacher Training to ECT and NPQs enables all our colleagues to access high quality, evidence-based professional development to support and challenge them to be the best they can be, in whatever role they are in.”

Initial Teacher Training partners

Following our successful accreditation as an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provider, we built a network of partners who will work with us to bring ambitious and committed teachers into schools when our Teacher Training programme begins in 2024.

Over the year, we welcomed 11 founding partners who will help us develop this new training offer. Each partner contributes their expertise and experiences so that trainee teachers can begin their careers in the classroom feeling equipped and ready to start making a difference.

We also announced the appointment of Liverpool Hope University as our Higher Education Institute partner who will validate and award the Post Graduate Certificate in Education for this new programme.

“We are absolutely delighted to be working with Ambition Institute for ITT and look forward to extending our well-established footprint through this exciting new partnership. We see this as a tremendous opportunity to secure and train the very best entrants to our profession. In joining with Ambition, we will grow dedicated and fully committed teachers who will ensure the very best provision for all children and young people, impacting positively on their life chances. Our new colleagues will become fabulous teachers of today and remarkable leaders of tomorrow.”

Julie Yarwood, Chief Learning Officer Shaw Education Trust

“We are excited about this new collaboration with Ambition, which is strengthening our work on professional development, providing a path into teaching for local people, and creating a pipeline of highly skilled teachers for the area. Our aim is to inspire greatness. A key part of that is having the very best teachers in our classrooms, acting as role models for pupils and improving educational outcomes. With Teacher Training, we can make a positive difference to our students, our schools, and our community with high quality professional development, empowering new teachers right at the start of their careers.”

Ashley Izzard-Snape, Director of School Improvement Pathfinder Schools

Elliot Costas-Walker, Director of Learning and Partnerships, Forward as One

17[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Working in partnership with the City of Liverpool

Liverpool has above national levels of deprivation, with outcomes in numeracy and literacy in the bottom 10% in England, contributing to the challenges schools face in providing the best education for children. In response, the city-wide School Improvement Plan identified several priorities including the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers.

18[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Jane Holmes is the director of education services at School Improvement Liverpool, the training division for Liverpool City Council’s (LCC) schools. Since 2022, it has been working with Ambition Institute to make a lasting impact on schools and pupils in the region.

LCC knows its schools, and Ambition Institute knows its programmes and the powerful impact they can have. Working together to understand the region’s education landscape and objectives, Ambition Institute created a package of support to develop leadership expertise, curriculum and teaching knowledge and build sustainable improvement for schools in the city and their pupils. Instructional coaching is one of the best-evidenced forms of continued professional development for teachers. Across the city, 40 coaches are working with educators to improve their practice and become more confident because they receive feedback unique to their needs and classroom settings.

The 12-month Transforming Teaching programme takes a whole-school approach to achieving sustainable change. To date, 45 schools have been improving teaching and retention and supporting senior leadership to identify current teaching and learning practice gaps.

Eight experienced educators have been selected to join the two-year Teacher Education Fellows programme to develop informed and intentional approaches to the most important elements of teaching and make measurable improvements to pupil learning. Upon graduating, participants join Ambition Institute’s national network of fellows, a forum for sharing best practice supporting continued growth and progression.

Jane is already noticing the difference the partnership is making: “What’s having the most impact, I think, are the research elements and how hard our educators are having to think and their depth of knowledge about curriculum and leadership of the curriculum. The senior leadership teams and the middle leaders can work together to say ‘we’ve learned this; now, how is this impacting the work we do?’”

A mutual priority for LCC and Ambition Institute is special educational needs and disability and embedding equality, diversity and inclusion into Liverpool schools’ learning experiences and vision. This is already impacting one participant on the Future Heads programme, who said, “I want to audit our school’s priorities and curriculum with diversity and intersectionality in mind.”

Throughout all the activities, ensuring that the partnership keeps delivering LCC’s objectives has been crucial. Jane says, “It’s not just a contract for us; this is about our mission. We’re constantly looking and evaluating. Did this work? How and what changes can we make? For me, that’s a very strong ingredient for a partnership to work because we’re constantly checking in with each other to ensure our work is supporting Liverpool.”

With the sector facing a challenge to retain high quality headteachers, a key priority was establishing a talented pipeline of potential school leaders with the new programme, Future Heads, supporting this. Participants considered how leaders would tackle their schools’ persistent problems while developing their expertise to prepare them for headship. As a result, two participants have already been promoted to head teacher and a further to deputy head.

19[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Supporting schools with strategic professional development

Our popular suite of other high quality programmes allows us to work directly with teachers, school leaders and those who lead professional development in schools.

During the year, across these programmes, we supported 1,502 individuals from 707 schools with nearly 500,000 pupils .

We also piloted the Leading by Learning programme led by Professor Viviane Robinson and Jacqui Patuawa – enabling school leaders to engage in the theory and practice of instructional leadership.

Instructional Coaching

This programme is for experienced teachers who want to implement instructional coaching and develop teacher expertise across a school or trust.

“The training that I have received through this programme has been invaluable. The design of the programme has led to me having a clear understanding of the principles and practice of instructional coaching and its place in wider school improvement.”

Helen Fox, Denholm Primary School

• 175 teachers from 124 schools participated in our new Instructional Coaching programme.

• 95% of participants on our Instructional Coaching programme said it had improved their ability to train and develop others.

Transforming Teaching

This one year whole-school transformation programme empowers schools and Trusts, equipping them with the necessary tools to drive sustainable and measurable changes to teaching, learning and professional development.

What participants said about Transforming Teaching:

“It made me even more conscious of the way that I was delivering or teaching or talking to the children.”

Classroom teacher

“My delivery is clearer. I’m more prepared. I know what I want to get over to staff.” Middle leader

“Transforming Teaching has made us look in a granular way at what is the highest leverage thing we need to improve first.”

Senior leader

High Impact Teaching

This one-year professional development programme is designed to improve teaching, boost retention and support career progression. It develops foundational knowledge, expertise and a shared understanding of effective teaching and learning approaches.

Curriculum for Senior Leaders

We work with curriculum leaders to create a ‘vision of intent’ for their whole school or trust and develop clear cross-subject curriculum frameworks by providing the latest research and high-quality examples and models across subjects and stages.

Two new cohorts started on our Curriculum for Senior Leaders programme and feedback continues to demonstrate impact:

Master’s in Expert Teaching

This Master’s degree helps teachers to develop evidence-informed and intentional approaches to drive improvements in teaching and pupil learning.

Our 2021 cohort completed their study on the Master’s in Expert Teaching programme, delivered in partnership with Plymouth Marjon University. Thirty-eight teachers were awarded a Postgraduate qualification in Expert Teaching, including thirty-two who received a Master’s degree (MA Expert Teaching).

“I found the course extremely inspirational. It helped me to create strategic action plans and inspired me to ensure our school was offering the best curriculum possible to our children.”

Curriculum for Senior Leaders participant

20[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Katie and Cat’s story

Katie Pattinson is the deputy director of Academy Transformation Trust’s Institute. Alongside her colleague, the Institute’s director Cat Rushton, Katie is responsible for helping as many teachers and school leaders as possible access coaching. The Institute itself works with schools in the trust and beyond as a “vehicle for professional development” for teaching staff, non-teaching staff and support staff.

21[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Both Cat and Katie joined our Instructional Coaching programme to develop their trust-wide instructional coaching work. The programme was an opportunity to enhance their theoretical knowledge of coaching and practical knowledge of its implementation ahead of developing the trust’s coaching offer to be accessed by all of its staff.

Katie understands the benefits of pursuing continuous professional development and recognises that it is the best way for her to support staff.

“I have already completed my Master’s in Educational Research which focused on deliberate practice and instructional coaching,” Katie explains. It was this, paired with completing one of Ambition’s previous programmes, that sparked her interest in teacher education and the possibility of pursuing this further.

“The programme helped me and Cat to start to think about our plans moving forward. This academic year we will be launching leadership coaching, instructional coaching and teaching assistant coaching across Academy Transformation Trust; this has come out of the discussions that we’ve been having about instructional coaching on the course.”

“It’s allowed us to refine what we’re doing and then look at how we do that at scale,” Katie says. “The programme has had an impact on our thinking already and will continue to do so as we see our Institute coaching plans come into fruition.”

On the programme, they had the opportunity to network with their peers during conferences.

“Coming from the Institute, my setting was quite different to that of others on the programme, so that networking was really useful for me,” says Katie.

In each of the three programme conferences, attendees discuss common problems they may be experiencing in their different settings. For Katie, the breadth of expertise on her cohort meant that she was able to meet with people who were implementing strategies she hadn’t considered before.

“Some people on the programme were from a single school, some were from small multi-academy trusts and others were from teaching school hubs. It was beneficial to have a diverse network. I was able to take a step back, listen to others and then work out what the Institute wanted to do as an organisation. Collaboration was important to that.”

“Developing a coaching implementation plan made us stop and think. Because we’d done that depth of thinking and planning beforehand with colleagues at the Institute, we were confident about what was the right thing for us in our setting,” Katie says.

Providing structure and direction also supported staff buy-in by providing them with clarity on how coaching will work at different points in the school year and why. “Having a plan gives staff an understanding of where they’re going to be by a certain point in their instructional coaching journey,” Cat adds.

“This meant that we didn’t start on a journey and then have to change direction midway through. As we were putting the coaching plan into practice I could refer to the objectives and ask; ‘are we where we thought we were going to be, or not? And what do we need to do about that? Is there a reason behind that?’. This puts us in an excellent position as we roll out coaching further across the trust.”

22[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Fundraising

The generosity of our partners continues to support our work towards an education system where every child can thrive, no matter what their background.

To deliver our mission, we undertake a range of fundraising activities, working with corporate supporters, trusts and foundations who support our mission.

Thanks to our donors, we piloted innovative ways to deliver our teacher development programmes, with a particular focus on maths and schools in special education settings.

All of our fundraising is conducted in line with the Charities Act 2011 and the Fundraising Regulator’s best practices and requirements, with a view to achieving the highest possible fundraising standards.

We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and committed to the Code of Fundraising Practice. Ambition focuses its fundraising activities on corporate partnerships, trusts and foundations and major donors. All of Ambition’s fundraising is managed in-house, without the involvement of third-party agencies, nor paid or volunteer fundraisers. We have not received any complaints about our fundraising activities.

For the first time, Ambition delivered a pilot to test how Transforming Teaching — our whole school transformation programme — can be tailored to support special schools. As we build on this initial work, we are really looking forward to continuing to support these schools and sharing our findings with the sector.

In response to changes to teacher training and induction, in 2022/23, we also developed mathsspecific materials for teachers and mentors on the Early Career Teacher programme, supporting newly qualified teachers over the first two years of their careers. As this programme progresses, we are excited to understand the impact tailoring content for maths teachers has on their experience, satisfaction and expertise.

23[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Adding value to the sector

Throughout the year, we made significant contributions to wider conversations in the education sector, helping educators to become more expert and raising the profile of some of the key challenges facing teachers and school leaders today.

In 2022/23, colleagues from across the organisation joined thousands of people at Wellington Festival of Education, Confederation of School Trusts Annual Conference, researchEd and other major events. At each, Ambition Institute and our partners shared research findings, insights drawn from our programme delivery and proposals for positive change by participating in panel discussions, presentations and debates on topics which matter to educators including:

• Rethinking Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

• Training teachers in virtual reality classrooms.

• Instructional coaching: refining questioning when coaching more expert teachers.

We continued to publish content of interest to educators on our website, including our popular ‘Expert Edits’. Over 4,000 people downloaded these collections to access the latest thinking around teaching, school leadership and best practice.

Launching our research team

Evidence is at the heart of everything we do. This year we launched our research team headed up by Dr Sam Sims. This new team’s focus will be on high impact research with the intention of answering the most important questions faced by teachers and school leaders. We aim to demonstrate the value of an evidence-informed approach and help the sector address educational disadvantage.

In February 2023, we published our first piece of research, ‘Modelling evidence-based practice in initial teacher training: causal effects on teachers’ skills, knowledge and self-efficacy’, which looked at ways in which simulators could enhance the quality of professional development undertaken by new teachers.

Over the next 12 months, we will be undertaking further research projects exploring: the role of ‘advance organisers’ in helping programme participants retain learning; the professional development approaches of higher-performing and lower-performing schools working in areas of high deprivation; and the value of intensive practice for trainee teachers.

Improving Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision

Building on last year’s collaboration on the paper ‘A good life: towards greater dignity for people with learning disability’, in 2022/23 we held a series of roundtables on SEND with the Confederation of School Trusts.

Developing the rich conversations, experiences and presentations from these sessions, we jointly published a paper called ‘Five principles for inclusion’. The paper gives school leaders guiding principles and practical ideas around how they can influence positive change in their own environments.

This is an important contribution to the debate about how better to meet the needs of children with SEND. We look forward to building on this work over the next year and beyond.

24[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Supporting racial equality in the teacher workforce

At Ambition, we are deeply committed to taking action that will strengthen equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the education workforce, for the pupils they teach, and in our own organisation. Our mission is to tackle educational disadvantage, and we believe that every child deserves access to a great education, regardless of their background or circumstances.

In the past year, we have continued to focus on taking a proactive and evidence-led approach to our EDI work. We were pleased that this progress was recognised in our recent Ofsted inspection, which reported that ‘Equality sits at the heart of Ambition Institute’.

However, we are not complacent, and we know there is still more to do.

During the year, we established a new EDI working group to further embed principles into our thinking, training and curriculum.

We analysed our participant data to better understand and improve diversity on our programmes, adapting and improving our application processes and diversity targets. By doing so, we want to make our participant recruitment as fair as possible, eradicate unconscious bias and ensure that we are reaching the widest possible talent pool of educators.

As we develop our Initial Teacher Training programme, we are embedding diversity and inclusion both through the recruitment and selection process and in the design of learning opportunities.

25[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Phil’s story

Phil Leaney is the deputy head of Birch Wood School, a special school in Leicester catering to pupils aged four to 19 with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). Inspired by a Department of Education green paper revealing that less than half of teachers feel confident about teaching SEND students in mainstream schools and influenced by a paper coauthored by the Confederation of School Trusts and Ambition Institute, Phil established the SEND and Inclusion Hub. Set up in January 2023, it is now the lead SEND hub for Rutland and Leicestershire.

26[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Embracing a range of the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) has been at the core of the approach taken by Phil and his team.

“The aim is for all pupils to be properly supported and ambitiously enabled to achieve their personal best and to establish a broader vision of success. A lot of the work I do with the hub is centred on the training we’re going to provide to achieve this,” Phil says.

“The quality of the courses is really good. We’ve got a range of staff across different roles and subjects, typically middle leaders and up, and the greatest range of development need you could imagine.”

“The NPQs have led to positive change and have enabled us to provide a common language for professional development and school improvement, because we’re all engaging in similar things.”

Whilst much of the development of the SEND and Inclusion Hub has NPQ learnings at the core, Phil and his team have to apply these learnings in different ways when compared with mainstream schools to meet the needs of his pupils.

He says some pupils including those with SEND “need to revisit information more frequently than others to make those strong connections. We might need to really dive into cognitive load and really strip back things for a young person with autism to help them focus.”

Ultimately, the aim is to make all teachers equally comfortable and capable of working with all children. The SEND and Inclusion Hub can be an important part of this picture. Phil is surprised by just how much interest there’s been in the hub, having been approached by lots of schools looking for help.

“There’s such a level of interest. We’re offering lots of training days and bespoke support for schools. And they might come into Birch Wood to see how we do things.“

“We’ve found that’s a powerful way of engaging mainstream schools, opening the doors on special schools and really targeting that need.”

27[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Our people

We have committed, passionate people from all walks of life and professional backgrounds, adding to Ambition Institute’s vibrant and collaborative culture. Our teams design the programme content, share insights, research and run events to support teachers and school leaders helping them to keep getting better. They champion the needs of the sector and enable the organisation to operate effectively and deliver our mission.

A year of growth

We have grown significantly this year to expand our programmes to more schools and trusts and increase the difference we make to the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Establishing new teams and welcoming colleagues with further skills and knowledge means we can deepen our expertise and expand our practice in data and insights, research, policy and practice influencing, early years education, SEND and initial teacher training.

A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

In the past year, we have continued to focus on taking a proactive and evidence-led approach to our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work and ensuring Ambition is a diverse and inclusive place to work.

This year we:

• Implemented new training so that all staff have the skills and knowledge needed to help us tackle inequality.

• Expanded the work of our staff affinity networks through new initiatives designed to share experiences and raise awareness of issues.

• Brought together colleagues from across the organisation for an EDI away day, to map out Ambition’s upcoming work in this area and set goals for the future.

• Collated and analysed new demographic and diversity data across our workforce to inform future recruitment.

We are not complacent, equality sits at the heart of our mission and we know there is still more to do. We are currently developing an EDI strategy which touches all aspects of the organisation including our people and programmes as well as our work within the sector.

28[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Our people strategy

We set out a new people strategy at the start of the year. We have made good progress on making sure we have the right people, in the right places, supported and developed to do the right things.

This year we:

• Introduced more systematic workforce planning capturing projected staffing needs, making sure that we have the skills required, and supporting teams to manage their workloads.

Our headcount has grown

2021/22 266

2022/23 346

• Established a new salary framework to make our reward structures more transparent and broadened our benefits package.

• Introduced a core induction programme to support new colleagues to onboard effectively and contribute to our mission.

• Defined our core principles and expectations for effective line management and designed a programme of training and support to help managers to keep getting better.

69% of our staff identify as female

12% of our staff identify as black, Asian or minority ethnic

14% of our staff identify as LGBTQ+

29[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Spotlight

Affinity networks

Our affinity networks are an important part of Ambition Institute. We take great pride in what they do and the work they carry out to promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across our charity. Led and driven by passionate individuals working across all areas of the organisation, their activities ensure that we remain a welcoming place where colleagues of all backgrounds and lived experiences can bring their whole selves to work.

30[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

In 2022/23, these staff networks remained an essential part of our infrastructure, channelling feedback from diverse perspectives into top-level discussions helping to shape Ambition Institution’s culture.

Leads from each network represent their groups at the EDI steering group which is attended by our chief executive officer with representatives from HR and other teams.

Each group gives colleagues the chance to connect, come together and help us to keep getting better. They produce blog content throughout the year and set up events to educate and enrich the whole organisation.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to be involved in the invaluable EDI work happening in Ambition Institute. Both the steering group and affinity networks have strengthened my relationships with colleagues across the organisation and enabled me to see how EDI theories and ideas come alive in practice. In workplaces, this work is crucial as it amplifies voices which can be marginalised; celebrates difference; and prioritises the inclusion of all identities.”

Inga Filipiak, LGBT+ Network Co-Lead and Co-Chair of the EDI Steering Group

“Helping to create an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work is a major focus for Ambition Institute, our work and culture. The group and networks play a significant role in influencing, advocating and challenging and it’s amazing to a part of this. They are the forums where essential conversations happen and new ideas develop – helping the organisation achieve its goal to keep getting better.”

Emma Sherwood, Co-Chair of the EDI Steering Group

31[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Financial performance

AMBITION INSTITUTE[ |] ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023[ |] 32

Our finances

Our audited financial accounts are included in this report. They show that we have had a strong year, generating a surplus position. Our increased revenue has helped us to reach ever more teachers and leaders delivering impact across the sector. Our costs continued to be controlled and our reserves mean we are in a strong position to continue to deliver our charitable aims.

The result shows a surplus of £465k (2022: £538k). This continues the performance from the previous financial years and helps us to build our reserves in line with our organisational growth.

Our general reserves are £4.0m (2022: £3.8m). General reserves are defined as unrestricted reserves less designated reserves and restricted reserves. These reserves are to safeguard the charity against financial risks including working capital, recruitment to programmes, loss of income and loss of staff. Our reserves policy is to maintain three months expenditure, equating to a target of £5.7m. As at year ended 31 August 2023, our general reserves stood at £4.0m (2.10 months). The target will be reviewed each year to ensure that we have adequate general reserves.

The 2022/23 academic year was an important year for the large-scale delivery of our two major Department for Education (DfE) contracts: the Early Career Framework and the reformed National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). We secured these contracts in 2020/21 and started delivery in 2021/22. Our focus has been on embedding high quality delivery as we saw the first cohorts successfully complete their programme with us.

Designated reserves were £4.8m (2022: £4.9m). Designated reserves are amounts set aside which relate to the carrying value of the charity’s fixed assets that are necessary for our day-to-day activities, therefore are not considered available to meet our day-to-day finance needs. In addition, designated reserves include the carrying value of the long-term loan made to Absolute Return for Kids in support of the Education City development (more information regarding this loan is included in our independent auditor’s report on page 55). Due to this not being readily available it is excluded from the calculation of general (or free) reserves.

The contracts had a positive impact on our finances with a £9.1m increase in our total income compared to the previous year taking it to £30.2m. Over the same period, we saw a slight decrease of £349k in our school fees, associated with the increase in schools taking up the fully funded NPQs. Our philanthropic income grew by £93k and other income grew by £110k.

During 2022/23 we scaled up our delivery for the two DfE contracts and continued to deliver our existing programmes. As part of this scale up we increased our costs across all areas, but most notably in our programme design and delivery which grew by £7.6m (56%). We continued to invest in our systems and technology to support programmes with an increase of £1.3m (41%) and programme marketing and recruitment £328k (9%). As a result, our total expenditure increased by £9.2m to a total of £29.7m.

Restricted reserves as at 31 August 2023 stood at £490k (2022: £183k). This fund represents the unspent fundraising income which the organisation plans to spend in 2023/24 in accordance with the donors’ wishes.

33[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Risk management

We maintain a robust approach to managing our risks and responding to our risk drivers. We have a clear framework for managing and reporting risk through our leadership and governance structures.

Our Board of Trustees has overall accountability for our risk register and management, with the full Board and the three committees of our Board reviewing elements of our risk register routinely throughout the year.

Risk management is embedded within the charity’s day-to-day operations, with structures and specific roles responsible for risk reporting and mitigation. As part of our risk management, we consider likelihood, impact, mitigations and any ongoing actions required to manage or close risks.

Top-level risks are considered at Board level, and operational risks are reviewed regularly and managed by teams across the organisation.

The Board reviews our risk appetite annually, setting out the risk approach and tolerance level. We have six categories that reflect the core elements of our work. These are:

• Programme quality and impact – our programme quality is one of our defining characteristics. We pride ourselves on demonstrating our impact to ensure every child can thrive through excellent teaching and education leadership and our Education and Impact Committee oversees this.

• Reputation – our reputation is built on the quality of our programmes. We carefully consider who we work with to sustain our reputation in the sector as well as demonstrating our own impact to the wider professional development landscape. Our reputation risks are overseen by our Education and Impact Committee.

• Partnerships – our work with partners is key to our success across our work in schools with teachers and school leaders, and with our delivery and lead partners. Our partnerships are overseen by our Education and Impact Committee.

• Our people – as our workforce grows with the scale of our delivery, we continue to develop our people strategy to drive forward our approach to reward, recognition and culture. This will help create a working environment that supports and brings out the best in our current staff, retains and develops them in the organisation, and attracts new talent. Our staffing risks are overseen by our People Committee.

• Financial – we continually monitor our income and expenditure. This relates to maintaining our income through programme recruitment and controlling costs through careful management. We manage this risk through strong financial controls, and our Finance and Risk Committee oversee these risks.

• Operational – there is a group of risks relating to compliance and our ability to operate. This includes our compliance with legislation such as GDPR and operational security against all types of fraud, as well as health and safety. Our Finance and Risk Committee oversees our operational risks.

34[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

We consider these six risk categories against a series of risk drivers, monitoring and responding to the results. The risk drivers most prominently affecting our risks are:

• Political – we deliver high quality professional development programmes across the teaching sector including through two major government contracts. We continue to advocate for the benefits of effective professional development to help tackle disadvantage in schools and for this to remain a government priority for the long term.

• Economic – cost of living and inflationary pressures continue to impact both charities and individuals. We continue to monitor the impact of this closely on the organisation, our staff and the sector we operate within.

• Teaching workloads – there is discussion across the sector around time and workload pressures on teachers and we need to make sure we deliver professional development in ways which best meet our participants’ needs.

• Hybrid working – in our organisation, hybrid working has become commonplace over the last couple of years. We have found this to be a strong employment offer when attracting and retaining staff from across the country to deliver our mission. We continue to monitor and evaluate our hybrid operations to ensure we collaborate and coordinate effectively.

35[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Governance and management

Ambition Institute is a charitable

company. We are led by our Board of Trustees, who serve as Directors under company law.

Our main governing document is our Memorandum and Articles of Association, which was last amended in November 2016. This sets out how Directors and Trustees are appointed, and how stakeholder and Trustee meetings are conducted. Details of related party transactions are provided in note 16 of our financial statements.

The Board of Trustees is Ambition Institute’s highest decision-making body. It is ultimately responsible for the decisions and actions of the charity. The Board has strategic oversight over the organisation and of issues for which they are legally responsible. Day-to-day management is delegated to the chief executive officer and the Executive Committee, who are held to account for the management of the organisation by the Board.

The Board has three committees that consider and report on specific issues.

• The Education and Impact Committee monitors the integrity and quality of our programmes by holding the Executive Committee to account for key areas of programme design and delivery.

• The Finance and Risk Committee monitors our financial and operational effectiveness. It provides the Board with assurance about the in-year financial performance and longer-term financial sustainability of the organisation. Additionally, it monitors the integrity of the risk process, including risk appetite, risk management and risk culture.

Several Trustees joined a committee with the remit to oversee and contribute to the work to develop a new strategy for the organisation. This involved receiving reports on progress and providing input and feedback as the strategy was developed.

The Board annually reviews its performance through one-to-ones between the Chair and each Trustee. This process highlights key strengths in existing practice, areas to enhance, and identify skills and expertise we would wish to consider in recruiting additional Trustees.

How we provide public benefit

Our mission is to help teachers and school leaders serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds to keep getting better.

Evidence shows that improving the quality of teaching and school leadership is the best way to ensure that every pupil, regardless of their background, gets the education they deserve.

Through our programmes we want to ensure there are expert teachers in every classroom being led by exceptional school leaders at all levels.

Our charitable objectives are to advance education for the public benefit, particularly (but without limitation) by promoting and encouraging high standards in teaching, pedagogy and education leadership.

Our Executive Committee and Board of Trustees have had due regard for the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising our duties. They also ensure that we deliver our charitable objects through the programmes we deliver.

• The People Committee monitors the culture of the organisation and staff, including remuneration and recruitment of Trustees.

36[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Key management personnel

The Trustees consider that they, together with the charity’s Executive Committee, are the key management personnel of the charity, and are responsible for directing, controlling and managing the organisation on a day-to-day basis.

Executive Committee (2022/2023)

Hilary Spencer Chief Executive Officer

Natalie Dixon Executive Director of ECF and NPQ Programmes (from June 2023) Tom Glover Chief Financial Officer

Marie Hamer Executive Director of Strategy and Impact

Line managers have regular one-to-ones with their direct reports and all new joiners to the organisation join a virtual coffee session hosted by the chief executive. We also run regular employee surveys to track employee engagement and wellbeing. We have a range of affinity networks including Faith and Belief, Mental Health, LGBT+, Parents, Race Equality, and Women’s Networks.

Employees also receive regular updates on our strategy and operating plan and individual employee objectives are linked back to it. Directors within the organisation also meet weekly and key information is cascaded across the organisation.

There are a range of ways Trustees engage with employees including attending organisation events and providing expertise across the organisation. Trustees receive updates on our staff surveys and reports on employee engagement including information collected from new starters and exit interviews.

Stephen Jones Executive Director of Partnerships

Tom Rees Executive Director of Programmes (until June 2023)

Trustees give their time freely and no Trustee received remuneration in the year. The Board of Trustees approved the renumeration of the chief executive officer as recommended by the People Committee.

Employee engagement

We published a statement as part of our recruitment policy stating that we welcome applications from as wide a range of candidates as possible. These from part of our Equal Opportunities Policy.

Employees are kept up to date with information about the charity and delivery of our mission through a wide range of mechanisms. These include regular team meetings, an opportunity to ‘Ask Anything’ of the senior team (with answers published on the staff intranet) and a bi-weekly all-staff session covering key current topics. Recordings of the all-staff session are made available so that anyone not able to join does not miss out.

37[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Trustees’ statement of responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Account Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial period, which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity and the excess of income over expenditure for that period.

In preparing those financials statements, the Trustees are required to:

• Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently.

• Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.

• State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statement.

Each of the Trustees confirms that:

• So far as the Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charity’s auditor is unaware; and

• The Trustee has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditor is aware of the information.

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information on the charitable company’s website.

Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statement may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

• Prepare the financial statement on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue its activities.

• Observe the methods and principles in Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records, which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

38[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Charity information

Company Registration Number 07984030 Registered Charity Number 1146924

The Board of Trustees

The members, who are also Trustees have the right to appoint fellow Trustees, and these appointments are indicated in brackets in the list below.

The following Trustees served on the Board of Trustees during the year and up to the date of approval of this report (except as indicated):

Bankers

Lloyds Bank plc 95 George Street Croydon Surrey CR9 2NS

Solicitors

Bevan Brittan LLP Kings Orchard 1 Queens Street Bristol BS2 0HQ

Richard Jefferson (Chair)

Celia Berenguer Rebecca Boomer-Clark Sam Freedman James Fulton Ian Hale Cecilia Harvey Jo Morgan Rachna Patel Jon Temple

Independent Auditors

Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Chief Executive Officer

Hilary Spencer

Company Secretary

Tom Glover

Registered Office

2 Bridge Wharf 156 Caledonian Road London N1 9UU

39[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Looking to the future

All children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, deserve to be taught by great teachers. Their pupils are not only more likely to achieve better grades – but are more likely to go on to further study, benefit from increased earnings in future jobs and live healthier, happier lives.

We will continue to make the case that high quality, evidence-led professional development must be prioritised – because investing in the expertise of our educators is the best way to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable.

As part of our commitment to help the sector to keep getting better, our original research will generate new evidence and drive innovation to tackle persistent problems. We will seek to form deep, missiondriven partnerships to strengthen local and national collaborations – collectively, we will be a powerful champion for the sector.

Our impact and reach will further increase as we start delivering Initial Teacher Training from September 2024. Alongside our excellent partners, we will keep looking at how to deliver our programmes effectively – finding new ways for educators to make a lasting impact at every stage of their career.

Several challenges continue to compound the disadvantage gap which begins early and only widens over time. Yet teachers in schools serving the most disadvantaged communities are twice as likely to report that their department is not well-staffed with suitably qualified teachers.

Nearly four out of ten children are recorded with a special educational need or disability at some point during school, and we must ensure that all teaching and learning is designed to meet the needs of all learners.

Children eligible for free school meals are less likely to reach the expected communication and language skills level by the end of their reception year. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are essential for a child’s learning, while their ability to use maths has implications long after their education ends. Facilitating the development of strong literacy and numeracy skills is crucial as it allows pupils to access the wider curriculum and achieve their full potential at school and later in life.

In classes in England where 60% of pupils are disadvantaged, 18% of lesson time is lost in disruption and reducing challenging behaviour can accelerate pupil learning by four months. Welcoming and keeping great teachers is essential.

Therefore, we shall be prioritising those areas where we can play a crucial role in helping to close the disadvantage gap, including behaviour, early years, literacy, maths, special educational needs and disabilities, and retention and recruitment.

We are proud of what we have achieved so far. Millions of pupils have benefitted because of our work supporting tens of thousands of teachers and school leaders to become more expert. Closing the disadvantage gap remains the beating heart of our mission. We look forward to working with trusted partners across the sector to develop the educational workforce of the future – supporting and empowering educators to give every child the best possible start in life.

The annual report was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by Richard Jefferson:

Chair, Ambition Institute

40[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Independent auditor’s report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Ambition Institute (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 August 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Conclusions relating to going concern

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

• the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or

• the Trustees’ have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the charity’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 August 2023 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for the opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

41[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• the information given in the Trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the Trustees’ report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specific by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• the Trustees were not entitled to take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the Trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement set out in the Trustees’ report, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

42[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the FRC’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s members as a body in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s members as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Shachi Blakemore (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Date:

43[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Statement of financial activities (including income and expenditure) for the year ended 31 August 2023

	Notes	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
		funds	funds	funds	funds	funds	funds
		2023	2023	2023	2022	2022	2022
		£	£	£	£	£	£
Income from:
Charitable activities	2	29,314,662	538,219	29,852,881	20,718,815	241,000	20,959,815
Investment income		165,123	—	165,123	32,229	—	32,229
Other income	3	144,899	—	144,899	35,060	—	35,060
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Total income		29,624,684	538,219	30,162,903	20,786,104	241,000	21,027,104
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
- Ambition Institute
programmes	4	29,466,613	**231,424 **	29,698,037	20,091,312	397,991	20,489,303
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Net income/
(expenditure) and net
movement in funds		158,071	306,795	464,866	694,792	(156,991)	537,801
Balance brought
forward at
1 September	13	8,663,805	182,750	8,846,555	7,969,013	339,741	8,308,754
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Balances carried
forward at	13	8,821,876	489.545	9,311,421	8,663,805	182,750	8,846,555
31 August
		==========	==========	==========	==========	==========	==========

There are no recognised gains and losses other than those shown above. All of the charity’s activities are derived from continuing operations.

44[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Balance sheet as at 31 August 2023

		2023	2022
	Notes	£	£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	8	1,307,132	1,382,722
Investments	9	3,500,000	3,500,000
		------------------------	------------------------
		4,807,132	4,882,722
Current assets
Debtors	10	6,085,108	2,141,066
Cash at bank and in hand		5,981,518	5,814,016
		------------------------	------------------------
		12,066,626	7,955,082
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	11	(7,562,337)	(3,991,249)
		------------------------	------------------------
Net current assets		4,504,289	3,963,833
		------------------------	------------------------
Net assets		9,311,421	8,846,555
		==========	==========
Unrestricted funds
General	13	4,014,744	3,781,083
Designated	13	4,807,132	4,882,722
Restricted funds	14	489,545	182,750
		------------------------	------------------------
		9,311,421	8,846,555
		==========	==========

The notes on pages 47 to 58 form part of the financial statements.

These financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Rich Jefferson, Chair of the Trustee Board

Date:

45[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 August 2023

	2023	2023	2022	2022
	£	£	£	£
Cash fow from operating activities
Net expenditure as per the statement of fnancial activities	464,866		572,187
Adjustments for:
Depreciation	216,942		116,481
Interest income	(165,123)		(32,229)
Net (increase) in debtors	(3,944,042)		(68,892)
Net increase in creditors	3,571,088		232,289
	------------------------		------------------------
Net cash provided by operating activities		143,731		785,450
Cash fows from investing activities
Proceeds from the redemption of investments
Interest received	165,123		32,229
Purchase of tangible fxed assets	(141,352)		(853,977)
	------------------------		------------------------
		23,771		(821,748)
		------------------------		------------------------
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents		167,502		(36,298)
		==========		==========
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
and changes in net debt
	At 1 September 2022	Cash	fows	At 31 August 2023
	£		£	£
Cash in bank	5,814,016	167,502		5,981,518
	------------------------	------------------------		------------------------
	5,814,016	167,502		5,981,518
	==========	==========		==========

46[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

1 Accounting policies

The following accounting policies have been used consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the financial statements.

1.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies below or the notes to these financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP FRS 102) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011.

Ambition Institute meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest pound.

1.2 Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

Preparation of the financial statements requires the Trustees and management to make significant judgements and estimates. The items in the financial statements where these judgements and estimates have been made include:

• the estimates of the useful economic lives of tangible fixed assets used to determine the annual depreciation charge;

• the provision required for any bad or doubtful debts which has been determined following an assessment of the likelihood of recovery on long-standing debts; and

• the estimates and judgements used in determining the value of any contractual or programme related income which may need to be deferred.

1.3 Assessment of going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The Trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate and have identified no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The Trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of the financial statements.

1.4 Fund accounting

Unrestricted general funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the charitable objectives of Ambition Institute. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds comprise funds received with restrictions imposed by the funder or the donor.

47[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

1.5 Income

All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income can be measured reliably.

Income from grants and donations which are not linked to performance related conditions or where there are no explicit or implied terms that require the funds to be spent in a future period are recognised in the period in which the charity has received notification of the award and where the value of the award can be measured reliably.

Grant income which is subject to performance related conditions is recognised to the extent of delivery under the contract, and provision is made where the delivery is below the level expected from the contract, and it is probable that the funds may need to be returned.

Fee income from the delivery of programmes is recognised as income evenly over the duration of the length of the programme.

Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity to the extent that this can be quantified and recognised when receivable. It has not been possible to quantify and value some donated services received during the year, such as facilities provided free of charge by schools; however, these amounts are not material to the financial statements.

1.6 Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is inclusive of any irrecoverable VAT.

Costs of charitable activities are all expenditure directly relating to the objects of the charity.

Support costs represent indirect expenditure incurred in delivering the charity’s objectives and are allocated across the following categories of expenditure on charitable activities at the same ratio as the direct costs:

• Programme design and delivery

• Programme marketing and recruitment

• Systems and programme management.

Governance costs are all costs attributable to the management of the charity’s assets, organisation, administration and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

1.7 Operating leases

Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

1.8 Pension

The charity has a defined contribution pension scheme for all eligible members of staff. Pension costs charged in the statement of financial activities represent the contributions payable by the charity in the year.

48[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

1.9 Fixed assets

Assets with a cost in excess of £5,000 intended to be of ongoing use to the charity in carrying out its activities are capitalised as fixed assets, depreciated as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
||| |---|---| |Leasehold property|25 years on a straight-line basis| |Leasehold property| |improvement|10 years on a straight-line basis| |Furniture, fixtures| |and fittings|4 years on a straight-line basis| |IT equipment|3 years on a straight-line basis|

----- End of picture text -----

1.13 Financial instruments

The charity only holds basic financial instruments as defined in FRS 102. The financial assets and financial liabilities of the Trust and their measurement basis are as follows:

Financial assets – accrued income, other debtors are basic financial instruments and are debt instruments measured at amortised cost.

Cash at bank – classified as a basic financial instrument and is measured at face value.

Financial liabilities – accruals and other creditors are financial instruments, and are measured at amortised cost.

1.10 Investments

Investments are in respect of amounts loaned to third parties. The balance is carried on the balance sheet at the value expected to be repaid. It has not been discounted on the basis that there is no fixed repayment profile.

1.14 Tax

The charity is exempt from income and corporation tax on income and gains to the extent that they are applied for its charitable objects.

1.11 Debtors

Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for non-recoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid.

1.12 Creditors

Creditors are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.

49[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

2 Income from charitable activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
2022/23	funds	funds	2023	2022
	£	£	£	£
Department for Education	28,103,286	—	28,103,286	18,953,872
School fees	1,211,376	—	1,211,376	1,560,502
Donations and/or voluntary funds	-	538,219	538,219	445,441
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
	29,314,662	538,219	29,852,881	20,959,815
	==========	==========	==========	==========
		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total funds
2021/22		funds	funds	2022
		£	£	£
Department for Education		18,953,872	—	18,953,872
School fees		1,560,502	—	1,560,502
Donations and/or voluntary funds		204,441	241,000	445,441
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
		20,718,815	241,000	20,959,815
		==========	==========	==========

3 Income from other sources

2022/23	2023	2022
	£	£
Lettings income	5,840	34,560
Department for Education Grant	25,000	—
Consultancy/research	39,235	—
Assessment fees	59,950	—
Apprenticeship fees	12,000	500
Other	2,874	—
	------------------------	------------------------
	144,899	35,060
	==========	==========

50[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

4	Expenditure on charitable activities
			Allocated
			support	Total	Total
		Direct	costs	costs	costs
	2022/23	costs	(note 5)	2023	2022
		£	£	£	£
	Programme design and delivery	19,654,975	1,604,054	21,259,029	13,667,230
	Programme marketing and recruitment	3,687,150	300,910	3,988,060	3,659,635
	Systems and programme management	4,115,111	335,837	4,450,948	3,162,438
		------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
		27,457,236	2,240,801	29,698,037	20,489,303
		==========	==========	==========	==========
				Allocated
				support	Total
			Direct	costs	costs
	2021/22		costs	(note 5)	2022
			£	£	£
	Programme design and delivery		12,535,071	1,132,159	13,667,230
	Programme marketing and recruitment		3,356,480	303,155	3,659,635
	Systems and programme management		2,900,469	261,969	3,162,438
			------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
			18,792,020	1,697,283	20,489,303
			==========	==========	==========

5 Support costs

	2023	2022
	£	£
Staf costs	1,931,458	1,490,146
Payroll administration	20,465	15,666
Insurance	42,116	30,950
Depreciation	216,942	116,481
Governance costs (note 6)	29,820	44,040
	------------------------	------------------------
	2,240,801	1,697,283
	==========	==========

Support costs represent indirect expenditure incurred in delivering the charity’s objectives and are allocated across the various categories of expenditure on charitable activities at the same ratio as the direct costs.

51[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

6 Governance costs

	2023	2022
	£	£
General overheads	320	20,715
Auditor’s remuneration
Statutory audit services	29,500	23,325
	------------------------	------------------------
	29,820	44,040
	==========	==========

7 Employee remuneration

	2023	2022
	£	£
Wages and salaries	13,081,743	9,402,809
Social security costs	1,412,192	1,045,033
Pension costs	1,416,524	1,000,454
Other staf costs	53,552	152,976
	------------------------	------------------------
	15,964,011	11,601,272
	==========	==========

Wages and salaries above includes £21,233 (2022: £nil) of redundancy costs.

The average monthly number of full-time equivalent persons employed by the charity during the year was:

	2023	2022
	No.	No.
Management	6	5
Support	319	237
	------------------------	------------------------
	325	242
	==========	==========

52[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

7 Employee remuneration (continued)

The average monthly number employed by the charity during the year was:

	2023	2022
	No.	No.
Full time	278	212
Part time	47	30
	------------------------	------------------------
	325	242
	==========	==========

The number of employees who received remuneration in excess of £60,000 p.a. during the year was:

	2023	2022
	No.	No.
£60,000 - £70,000	16	4
£70,001 - £80,000	10	8
£80,001 – £90,000	5	—
£90,001 - £100,000	1	4
£100,001 - £110,000	4	—
£110,001 - £120,000	1	1
£130,001 - £140,000	—	1
£140,001 - £150,000	1	—
	------------------------	------------------------
	38	18
	==========	==========

The key management personnel of the charity consist of Trustees of the charity and the senior leadership team. The Trustees did not receive any remuneration during the current year (2022: nil). The total emoluments paid to the senior leadership team in the year were £730,927 (2022: £672,383).

None of the Trustees (2022: nil) were reimbursed expenses during the year (2022: £nil).

53[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

8 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fxed assets
		Leasehold	Ofce
	Leasehold	property	furniture and
	property	improvement	IT equipment	Total
Cost	£	£	£	£
At 1 September 2022	850,000	618,270	596,265	2,064,535
Additions	—	—	141,352	141,352
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
At 31 August 2023	850,000	618,270	737,617	2,205,887
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 September 2022	287,463	20,325	374,025	681,813
Charge for the year	34,000	61,827	121,115	216,942
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
At 31 August 2023	321,463	82,152	495,140	898,755
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Net book value
At 31 August 2023	528,537	536,118	242,477	1,307,132
	==========	==========	==========	==========
At 31 August 2022	562,537	597,945	222,240	1,382,722
	==========	==========	==========	==========

During the year ended 31 August 2023, we spent £141,352 on IT equipment and office furniture, fixture and fitting which were capitalised in the year. This increased our tangible assets before depreciation to £2,205,887.

54[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

9 Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments
	2023	2022
	£	£
Long term loan (see note below)	3,500,000	3,500,000
	==========	==========

During the year ended 31 August 2017, the charity provided a long term loan of £5.5m to Absolute Return for Kids (Ark) for securing leasehold office space in their Education City new build development. In the financial year 2019/20, £2m of the loan was repaid to the charity. The terms of the agreement states that Ark agrees to pay interest to Ambition Institute at a rate of 0.25% above the Bank of England Base Rate. Ark may repay any portion of the loan at any time. Ambition Institute may recover any part of the loan after providing no less than three months’ notice. In the year ended 31 August 2023, £nil (2022: £nil) of the loan was repaid to the charity.

10 Debtors

Debtors
	2023	2022
	£	£
Trade debtors	4,879,010	1,386,765
Prepayments	498,689	470,041
Accrued income	706,709	284,260
Other debtors	700	—
	------------------------	------------------------
	6,085,108	2,141,066
	==========	==========
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
	2023	2022
	£	£
Trade creditors	1,134,577	354,414
Tax and social security	1,795,312	1,034,752
Deferred income (note 12)	974,545	1,077,444
Accruals	3,435,195	1,283,012
Other creditors (see below)	222,708	241,627
	------------------------	------------------------
	7,562,337	3,991,249
	==========	==========

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

55[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (continued)

Other creditors is mainly the balance for the defined contributions pension scheme that the charity operates. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. Included in other creditors above is a balance of £175,548 (2022: £122,972) owing to The Pension Trust and Scottish Widows Pension scheme. The funds held on behalf of third parties for NPQ programmes funding mechanism was fully paid in the year (2022: £71,936).

12 Deferred income

	2023	2022
	£	£
Balance brought forward at 1 September	1,077,444	1,002,070
Amounts released during the year	(939,181)	(1,002,070)
Total income received during the year to be deferred	836,282	1,077,444
	------------------------	------------------------
Balance carried forward at 31 August	974,545	1,077,444
	==========	==========

Deferred income carried forward comprises the income received for programmes that relates to the following period.

13 Unrestricted funds

	General	Designated	Total	Total
	funds	funds	2023	2022
	£	£	£	£
Balance brought forward	3,781,083	4,882,722	8,663,805	7,969,013
Net movement in funds	233,661	(75,590)	158,071	694,792
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Balance carried forward	4,014,744	4,807,132	8,821,876	8,663,805
	==========	==========	==========	==========

Funds totalling £4,807,132 have been designated by the Trustees. This represents fixed assets as at 31 August 2023 and funds loaned to Ark for their Education City new build development (see note 9).

56[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

14 Restricted funds

	Balance as at			Balance as
2022/23	1 September			at 31 August
	2022	Income	Expenditure	2023
	£	£	£	£
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Restricted funds	182,750	538,219	(231,424)	489,545
	==========	==========	==========	==========

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have been able to continue investing in the enhanced capacity of our learning design team, and in staff helping to recruit and deliver our programmes across the country. Furthermore, our donors have funded pilot interventions in SEND and Maths, the further development of our digital training platforms, as well as several programmes to support teacher, school leader and whole-school development.

We would like to thank our legal partners and all our funders for their support.

	Balance as at			Balance as
2021/22	1 September			at 31 August
	2021	Income	Expenditure	2022
	£	£	£	£
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
Restricted funds	339,741	241,000	(397,991)	182,750
	==========	==========	==========	==========

15 Analysis of net assets by funds

2022/23	Tangible fxed assets	Investments	Net current assets	Total 2023	Total 2022
	£	£	£	£	£
Restricted funds:
Restricted	—	—	489,545	489,545	182,750
Unrestricted funds:
General	—	—	4,014,744	4,014,744	3,781,083
Designated	1,307,132	3,500,000	—	4,807,132	4,882,722
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
	1,307,132	3,500,000	4,504,289	9,311,421	8,846,555
	==========	==========	==========	==========	==========

57[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023

15 Analysis of net assets by funds (continued)

Analysis of net assets by fund	s (continued)
	Tangible		Net current	Total
2021/22	fixed assets	Investments	assets	2022
	£	£	£	£
Restricted funds:
Restricted	—	—	182,750	182,750
Unrestricted funds:
General	—	—	3,781,083	3,781,083
Designated	1,382,722	3,500,000	—	4,882,722
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
	1,382,722	3,500,000	3,963,833	8,846,555
	==========	==========	==========	==========

16 Related party transactions

Ian Hale who serves as a Trustee is also a Trustee of the Credit Suisse EMEA Foundation. Credit Suisse EMEA Foundation is also a philanthropic partner of Ambition. Ambition Institute received fundraising gift totalling £299,999 (2022: £nil) through the Credit Suisse EMEA Foundation during that period.

None of the Trustees were reimbursed expenses in the year ended 31 August 2023 (2022: £nil).

Certain Trustees are also involved with organisations that are customers of Ambition Institute. All such transactions are at arm’s length in both the current and comparative period. There were no other related party transactions or balances to report for the year ended 31 August 2023.

17 Lease commitments

At 31 August, Ambition Institute was committed to making the following payments under non-cancellable operating leases:

operating leases:
	Land and	buildings	Other
	2023	2022	2023	2022
	£	£	£	£
Less than 1 year	147,348	147,348	2,254	—
2-5 years	589,392	589,392	9,016	—
	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------	------------------------
	736,740	736,740	11,270	—
	==========	==========	==========	==========

The slight increase in the operating lease commitments in 2022/23 is due to the equipment leases at our three offices. Total payment under operating leases in 2022/23 was £149,602 (2021/22: £367,601).

58[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

59[|] Annual Report 2022/2023[|] Ambition Institute

Keep up to date

 ambition.org.uk @Ambition_Inst

 Ambition Institute

Contact

 [e-mail]

 020 3846 5828

© Ambition Institute 2024. Ambition Institute is a registered charity, number 1146924.