Enquiries: johnsonannef@gmail.com www.everydaymagic.org.uk www.facebook.com/everydaymagicstorytelling twitter.com/EverydayMagic3 www.instagram.com/everydaymagicstorytelling/ Registered Charity No 1148659 ## _EVERYDAY MAGIC_ _Bringing Stories & Songs & Fun with Language_ _& Passing On Skills & Resources_ _To London Primary Schools_ Report & Financial Statements Academic Year 2024/25 ## In This Report |In This Report|| |---|---| |What we Offer London Primary Schools|1| |Our Artists & How we work with Schools|2| |Our Schools & Programmes of Work in 24/25|4| |Growing Our Special Offer to Early Years|6| |What the Schools Value|8| |Feedback on New Initiatives|9| |Finances, Funding & Looking Ahead
|10| |Governance & Financial Sustainability|11| |Independent Examiner’s Statement
|12| |Accounts for Academic Year Ended 31/8/25|13| ## Our Offer - We:  Are storytellers, musicians, writers & artists  Have worked in primary schools for 20 years - Share stories & songs from around the world - Inspire children’s attention & imagination - Grow their confidence in using & extending - their language, performing & having fun - Devise bespoke fortnightly programmes, - enriching the curriculum - Engage the school’s diversity of cultures, - languages & special needs - Actively involve teachers & TAs & run INSETS - each term,sharing interactive skills & resources - Create a bank of materials for schools: - videos of songs & stories & practical aids for teachers for stimulating children’s oracy - Make long term relationships with schools & - fundraise to make our programmes affordable Registered Charity No 1148659 - 1 - ## HOW WE WORK WITH SCHOOLS - Each term, each school prioritises 3 classes & topics for their half day, fortnightly sessions - Bespoke programmes are devised for each school & their selected classes (any age group from Nursery to Year 6) and then delivered by one of our storytellers every fortnight throughout the year - We create an ever varying range of interactive stories, songs, rhymes, riddles & language games - Teachers & TAs are actively involved & build between sessions & from September 2025 onwards, a termly INSET will be run to support them in developing their interactive skills - We support teachers with a bank of online original video resources, continuously developed - 100s of Original Songs, Rhymes, Poems for Class Topics + Story Videos + Training Videos **htps://www.youtube.com/ channel/ UCI2TMw590d5xA7k1_uhfnVA/playlists** ## OUR ARTISTS ## Storytellers Sound Recording, Singer & Storytellers Talk Box Instrumentalist Backdrop Facilitator _with national & international profiles - providing exciting role models_ & Social Media Artist Anne Kate Nell Sef Xanthe Michele Nella Louise Johnson Corkery Phoenix Townsend Tuup Gresham- Chowrimootoo NovyCielecki Knight Johnson - 2 - - 3 - ## Participating London Primary Schools in 2024/25 Ealing: ⧫ Dormers Wells ⧫ Durdan’s Park ⧫ Gifford ⧫ Lady Margaret ⧫ Perivale _(Autumn term only)_ Southwark: St James the Great ⧫ St John’s ⧫ Redriff _(one off)_ Greenwich: ⧫ Invicta (Deptford & Blackheath) ## PROGRAMMES OF WORK IN ACADEMIC YEAR 24/25 Nature’s Here in Town **In Autumn Term we completed the 3 year project, generously funded by John Lyons Charity in partnership with our 5 Ealing Schools. It has been a great opportunity for getting Early Years and Key Stage 1 closer to Nature by:** - **Bringing nature alive through stories & songs and role playing human and animal characters in the stories** - **Getting children looking at the natural world about them** - **Animating curriculum nature topics, ranging from: Minibeasts and Seasonal Changes to Nature Cycles and Light & Dark** - **It has also been an opportunity for Everyday Magic to include a nature theme in all its schools and programmes** Traditional Tales **These are the core of the stories we tell and** **also - as myths, folk tales and fairy tales – were increasingly requested by our schools in Ealing, Greenwich and Southwark, enabling children from Nursery to Year 3 and from different cultures and backgrounds to explore shared themes and life issues. As above, we told stories showing the importance of looking after nature & the environment. Stories promoting care, compassion and co-operation were specially requested - and have been since the isolating experience of Covid - through curriculum themes such as Friendship & Kindness, Family & Friends & People Who Help Us. Fairy tales often have fairness as a central theme: in the tales we tell the younger children, the young hero or heroine, who is often** **seen as the quiet one, or the not so clever one, takes on the challenges and wins through. Good always overcomes evil and it is important that it should be so for the younger child. There’s also magic, imagination, suspense & amazing characters in the tales we’ve been telling: mermaids, dragons, heroes and heroines. The characters may be fantastical but the problems & feelings dealt with are real and true to life, giving form to fears and dreams. Another essential feature of the stories we’ve told and put into song are their memorability – providing little jewels for children to hold throughout their lives.** Nursery & Traditional rhymes **With words adapted to engage a contemporary urban child’s experience, these were woven into our storytelling and were a special session run for Nursery & Reception at the request of St James the Great. The rhymes are easy to learn and a good stepping stone to composing & enjoying poetry.** Talk Box **2 of our Ealing Schools have continued selecting small groups of children for sessions with drama trained actor, Louise Cielecki, providing children needing support with a safe space to develop their confidence and speaking at their own pace through conversation & play. This is an initiative we will be extending to other schools in our new programmes from September.** - 5 - - 4 - ## GROWING OUR SPECIAL OFFER TO EARLY YEARS ## Our Focus on Early Years This year our schools have wanted Everyday Magic to have a particular focus on Early Years, as an increasing number of children are starting school with very limited English and spoken language. Under the Department for Education’s Early Learning Goals, Communication & Language is a key priority, providing the foundation for children’s progress. But many Early Year’s teachers lack the confidence and haven’t had the teacher training for putting themselves forwards to be the one personally interacting with children, telling and acting out stories, singing songs, sharing poems, playing with rhymes and role play - key activities for getting young children engaged with language, speaking out & developing their vocabulary - all activities prioritised in those Early Learning Goals & all activities which Everyday Magic specialises in bringing to schools. Everyday Magic has always looked to involve teachers and T.A.s in the sessions it runs and is now looking to promote further initiatives to help Early Years teachers get those interactive skills & activities into their daily practice. ## This Academic Year we piloted: • INSETS with 2 Ealing schools, Gifford & Lady Margaret, which have been much appreciated, as illustrated in teachers’ feedback: “ _Thank you for providing lots of fun, engagement and practical ideas for_ _bringing storytelling to life_ ”. “ _The songs are very catchy & have ambitious vocabulary. I will definitely use them in class._ ” “ _The stories with repetitive refrains are perfect for our SEND group who need that repetition and rhythm to develop their language_ .” • Running a training session at Roehampton University for Year 2 students on the BA in Primary Education course leading to Qualified Teacher Status. We then provided school placements for them to see _Everyday Magic_ in action, with positive feedback: “ _I enjoyed watching you capture all the children’s attention and loved how engaged they were throughout_ ” “ _An eye-opening experience for me when thinking about developing strategies for teaching through storytelling_ ” Next Academic Year, starting September ’25 Thanks to funding from John Lyon’s Charity and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, passing on those interactive skills and activities to Early Years Teachers and running termly INSETS will henceforth be integral to our practice. - 7 - - 6 - ## WHAT THE SCHOOLS VALUE ## FEEDBACK ON OUR NEW INITIATIVES ## Oracy & Having Fun with Language ## Involving Parents _“Everyday Magic provide an experience that encourages children to play and participate in oral storytelling, playing with language, building prosody & developing confidence in a way that few other activities can.”_ _“The project gives our children the skills needed to enrich their language development and oracy skills, ensuring their creativity and imagination are developed at an early age.”_ ## Covering All the Bases _“The session yesterday was very engaging and the children were involved throughout. The different stages of the storytelling were all valuable (Listening, singing, acting, and actions), the pace was good and the content was accessible to all. The children were repeating lines from the story with great prosody, modelled for them, learning new vocabulary & enthusiastically joining in with singing & acting. They had lots of questions and were interested in the story and songs, especially when they saw links to our curriculum.”_ ## Total Absorption! _“Reception love Everyday Magic . The way children are engaged in the stories is incredible. The children remember the games and songs and they build upon these each session. The children wait on their every word and you can see they are following the stories with their imaginations. They are transfixed on the storytellers for the entire session. It is always a highlight of our week.”_ _“The parent sessions went extremely well and the parents were delighted by the stories. A couple of mothers asked if they were invited to come all the sessions! ‘Is it every 2 weeks then?’ they asked!”_ _“A number of our parents have been keen to find out about the songs and stories we have covered and links to their own cultures. We have been able to encourage the children to practice the songs and re-tell the stories at home and school, helping us to further develop their language development.”_ ## INSETS for Early Years Teachers _"Thank you for providing lots of fun, engagement and practical ideas to bring storytelling to life. It is clear to see how these opportunities for oracy will build the children’s confidence. I look forward to engaging with your resources in my classroom.”_ _“Inspirational fun. Lots of brilliant and creative ideas to promote oracy and engagement in students. Nice range of online resources. Thank you.”_ ## Placements for BA Primary Education QTS Students _“A highlight of our storytelling focus was when students on the BA Primary programme benefitted from an opportunity to go into schools and see storytelling in action courtesy of Anne Johnson from Everyday Magic.” –_ Roehampton University Newsletter ## Nurturing confidence _“Everyday Magic provide an experience for children which fully involves them. They ask the children questions and always respond positively to their contributions which instils confidence and self-worth. Children are encouraged to offer ideas which are then included in future lessons. The school’s oracy leader reported “The children absolutely love EDM & children who are sometimes hard to engage are also captivated.”_ - 8 - - 9 - ## FINANCES, FUNDING & LOOKING AHEAD Our Financial Focus This Year 3-year funding from John Lyon’s Charity for our _Nature’s Here In Town_ programme ended in December ‘24. The Charity has been a terrific funder for _Everyday Magic_ for over a decade and had asked us to take a break. So our focus has been to look ahead to obtain multi-year funding for new programmes starting with the new Academic Year ‘25/’26 in September ‘25. Over the year, in lieu of grants, we’ve drawn on our reserves to supplement the termly fees from our 8 regular schools to continue running our programmes with them through Spring & Summer terms ‘25. 24/25 Finances So without any new grant funding over the year (last year £30K) and to meet our Expenditure of £49K (last year £65K) we relied on (i) £10K of grant funding from John Lyon’s Charity carried over from Academic Year 23/24 (ii) £24.5k income from schools (£33K last year) and (iii) £14.5K from our reserves (£2K last year). Expenditure on schools & schools income was lower than last year due to 2 schools ceasing to be in the programme and 2 schools having to halve their number of sessions due to financial restraints. As in previous years, funding was expended on artists working in schools, the ongoing creative development of programmes and the creation of a resource bank of recorded stories and songs for teachers and parents. Funds carrying forwards at the end of the year were £23K of unrestricted funding _(last year £38K)_ plus £49,500 from 2 grants in advance, received at the end of the year _(see below)._ With New Programmes & Funding Starting September ‘25 we are extremely grateful to John Lyon’s Charity for 2-year funding for our 4 Ealing Schools through their Cultural Capital Fund and to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation through their Arts Based Learning Fund for 3-year funding for 6 other primary schools (2 of them new & 5 in south London) for Years 1&2 and for all 10 schools in Year 3. ## GOVERNANCE We have 3 trustees all of whom are experienced educationists - two headteachers & a recently retired head - who act in a voluntary capacity & hold a meeting with the Director once a term. At those meetings the activities, finances, policies, strategies, feedback and impact of the charity are reported & reviewed and fresh programmes & projects agreed for the coming term. The trustees are satisfied that the activities undertaken by _Everyday Magic_ during the year have been in furtherance of its charitable objectives and complied with the duty in Section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission. ## FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Thanks to the generosity of charitable trusts, whenever we can, we make our programmes affordable to schools and provide a 50% subsidy. With minimal overheads _Everyday Magic_ has in-built flexibility to grow or contract, according to available funding from fees from schools and grants from trusts. All artists are engaged on a freelance basis, there are no office or premises costs or employer liabilities & the charity’s admin, financial management & fundraising are carried out on an unpaid voluntary basis. As its reserves policy, _Everyday Magic_ aims to hold a minimum of one term’s funds and fee commitments to ensure continuity in its ability to plan and deliver its programmes and activities. As its risk management policy, _Everyday Magic_ budgeting is done on an annual basis with programme commitments only made for the following term where school fees have been confirmed and all necessary additional funds have been secured to ensure a positive working balance will be achieved. - 10 - - 11 - ## STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES ## END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025 **In accordance with their responsibilities, trustees have:** |END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025|END OF YEAR ACCOUNTS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING 31/8/2025| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**INCOME**|||||**2025**||**2024**| ||||||**_£_**||**_£_**| |**Charitable Trusts**|||||||| |John Lyon’s Charity|||||18,000.00||30,000.00| |Paul Hamlyn Foundation|||||31,500.00||-| ||||||**49,500.00**||**30,000.00**| |**Fees, Commissions, Sales & Donations**|||||||| |Fees from Schools|||||**24,500.00**||**33,240.00**| ||||||||| |**TOTAL INCOME**|||||**74,000.00**||**63,240.00**| ||||||||| |**EXPENDITURE**|||||**2025**||**2024**| ||||||**_£_**||**_£_**| |
Artists in Schools|||||29,275.90||46,997.90| |Creative Development/School & Artist Liaison/Evaluation/|||||||| |Feedback/Reports|||||10,575.00||8,725.00| |Projectpromotion,recording,website,materials|||||8,682.48||8,812.80| |Independent Examiner|||||612.00||360.00| |**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**|||||**49,145.38**||**64,895.70**| ||||||||| |**Excess of Income Over Expenditure for Period**|||||**24,854.62**||**-1,655.70**| |**Funds Carrying Forwards at 31st August '24: -****_Restricted_**|||||10,000.00||13,600.00| ||||**_- Unrestricted_**||37,617.04||35,672.74| |**TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARDS**|||||**72,471.66**||**47,617.04**| |of which:|||||||| |**_- Restricted Funds:_**John Lyon's Charity|||||18,000.00||10,000.00| |||Paul Hamlyn Foundation|||31,500.00||| |**_- Unrestricted Funds_**|||||22,971.66||37,617.04| ||||||||| |**REPRESENTED BY:**|||||||| |Cash at Bank at 31st August 2025|||||**74,593.52**||**47,617.04**| |Latepayments|||||-2,121.86||| ||||||**72,471.66**||| |**Approved by the Trustees on 3rd September 2025 and signed on their behalf by**
**Jessica Finer, Chair**|||||||| - **Prepared a financial account and statement for the charity’s financial year which fairly represents the receipts and payments for the period and are on a going concern basis.** - **Selected suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently.** - **Made judgements & accounting estimates that are reasonable & prudent.** - **Ensured proper accounting records are kept and internal controls to ensure their accuracy.** - **Regularly reviewed financial and operating performance.** - **Made available to the charity’s Independent Examiner all the charity’s accounting records & related information necessary to carry out his work & made a full disclosure of all relevant information.** **This report was approved by trustees on 3/9/2025 & signed on their behalf by:** **Jessica Finer, Chair** ## RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES & EXAMINER **I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of** _**Everyday Magic**_ **for the period ended 31 August 2025. The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act).** **I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.** ## INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS’S STATEMENT **I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:** - **accounting records were not in accordance with section 130 of the Act; and** - **the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.** **I have no concerns & have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.** **Approved by the Trustees on 3rd September 2025 and signed on their behalf by Jessica Finer, Chair** **Tom Wilcox, Counterculture LLP 23 St Leonards Road Bexhill-on-Sea Date: 4th September 2025 East Sussex TN40 1HH** - 12 - - 13 -