
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** 

## **From  1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025** 

## **Charity name:  The Rowdown Inspire to Aspire Foundation** 

## **Charity registration number: 1151220** 

## **Objectives and Activities** 

|**Objectives and Activities**|||
|---|---|---|
||SORP reference||
|Summary of the purposes of<br>the charity as set out in its<br>governing document|Para 1.17|The Rowdown Inspire to Aspire Foundation (the<br>"Foundation" or the "Charity") was established by Gary<br>Coy, Chair of Trustees, to support the gifted and talented<br>children at Rowdown Primary School in New Addington, an<br>area of high deprivation in the London Borough of<br>Croydon. Mr Coy was previously Chair of Governors at the<br>school. Following the success of the first few years, the<br>Foundation has expanded its remit, with the approval of<br>the Charity Commission, to include pupils from any of the<br>primary schools based in New Addington. The Foundation<br>makes financial commitments to provide lessons or club<br>memberships for individual pupils or small groups.|
|Summary of the main activities<br>in relation to those purposes<br>for the public benefit, in<br>particular, the activities,<br>projects or services identified<br>in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and 1.19|The Trustees regularly review how the Foundation is<br>meeting its objectives and how this is for the public<br>benefit. By providing children with opportunities to<br>pursue areas of talent that they would not otherwise<br>have been able to, the Foundation is investing in these<br>children's future which will be of benefit to the community<br>at large over the long term.  This is especially true of the<br>Foundation's Tuition Programme which seeks to enable<br>children from a low-income background to reach the best<br>selective grammar and independent schools to ensure<br>they can meet their full potential academically.|
|Statement confirming whether<br>the trustees have had regard<br>to the guidance issued by the<br>Charity Commission on public<br>benefit|Para 1.18|We are of the opinion that we satisfy the Charity<br>Commission's requirement of operating for the public<br>benefit.|





## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|Grants are made to benefit individual children in pursuit of<br>their talent.  Our main grant programme is to support<br>children that we have benefited from our Tuition<br>Programme to achieve places at independent and grammar<br>schools in order to recognise that some additional costs will<br>be incurred by their families.  Grants are only offered to<br>children from New Addington or those on Free School<br>Meals elsewhere in Croydon who have been part of our<br>Tuition Programme.  Grants are for between £500 and<br>£1,500 and can be used to help towards any school-based<br>cost such as uniform, lunches, school trips, equipment such<br>as laptops and residual fees to be paid.  These grants are<br>only offered annually, except in a few special<br>circumstances, and will be subject to the Foundation having<br>sufficient clarity of their funding for the period.<br>Grants are also offered to children that wish to pursue a<br>sporting or artistic talent.  Grants are only made against<br>recommendation from their primary school and any club or<br>tutor that is currently teaching them.  Grants are renewable<br>every year against a report from the teacher, coach or club<br>detailing progress, attendance and enthusiasm.|
|Policy on social investment<br>including program related<br>investment|Para 1.38|N/A|
|Contribution made by<br>volunteers|Para 1.38|We do not have any paid employees with all operations of<br>the Foundation undertaken by the Trustees who volunteer<br>their time without remuneration.|
|Other|||





## **Achievements and Performance** 

||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the main<br>achievements of the charity,<br>identifying the difference the<br>charity’s work has made to<br>the circumstances of its<br>beneficiaries and any wider<br>benefits to society as a whole.|Para 1.20|Our Tuition Programme continues to be successful.<br>Including the forthcoming September 2025 entry to<br>secondary schools, we have helped a total of 92 children<br>from low income Croydon families reach prestigious local<br>grammar and independent schools.  This represents a life-<br>changing opportunity for these children who will benefit<br>from excellent academic learning in addition to a vast array<br>of extra-curricular activities not on offer at their local<br>comprehensive schools.  This document provides a full<br>impact assessment of the Tuition Programme.<br>https://www.rowdownfoundation.org.uk/wp-<br>content/uploads/2025/05/Rowdown-Foundation-Impact-<br>Assessment-Sept-2024.pdf<br>We have five young graduates of our programme now at<br>universities including Cambridge and three of the top<br>colleges of London University.  Whilst this in itself does not<br>benefit “society as a whole”, we fully subscribe to the belief<br>that offering social mobility opportunities will have long-<br>lasting benefits on society and make the country more<br>inclusive.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|Achievements against<br>objectives set|Para 1.41|The 2024 Tuition Programme saw the usual number of 10-11<br>year old children benefiting from the tuition provided by<br>Trinity School but the results were disappointing when<br>compared to previous years, principally due to a reduced<br>number of financially-supported offers from independent<br>schools as they struggled with the impact of VAT on school<br>fees.<br>https://www.rowdownfoundation.org.uk/wp-<br>content/uploads/2025/05/Class-of-2024-Results-<br>Analysis.pdf<br>Whilst the outlook for independent schools remains unclear,<br>we appreciate the support that our Foundation receives<br>from the major Croydon-based schools and look forward to<br>continuing successes in the future.|
|---|---|---|
|Performance of fundraising<br>activities against objectives<br>set|Para 1.41|Fundraising remains difficult for small charities generally and<br>we are no exception.  We have a group of regular donors<br>that give us some visibility going forward and also receive<br>one-off donations from individuals.  Supporters sometimes<br>run competitions etc to provide us with donations.<br>Our main fundraising focus remains charitable trusts.  This is<br>a thankless task for a small charity without the human<br>resources to write endless applications, many of which are<br>never even replied to.  We therefore focus on a small<br>number of trusts that have donated before recognising that<br>this is somewhat risky should those trusts choose not to re-<br>donate.  We regularly update a database of trusts to review<br>the ones that best fit with our objectives.|





|Investment performance<br>against objectives|Para 1.41|N/A|
|---|---|---|



## **Financial Review** 

|Review of the charity’s<br>financial position at the end of<br>the period|Para 1.21|The Foundation ended the financial year with £13,138 of<br>cash resources, of which £4,649 was restricted funds.  This<br>represented a cash outflow of £5,251 in the year.|
|---|---|---|
|Statement explaining the<br>policy for holding reserves<br>stating why they are held|Para 1.22|Our reserves policy states the charity should hold between<br>35 and 50% of annual expenditure as reserves.  The<br>£13,138 cash reserves equates to 33.3% of 2024/25 annual<br>expenditure, slightly outside the policy.<br>We believe it is acceptable to include restricted funds<br>within this policy as such funds are largely expendable<br>within a twelve month period and therefore form part of<br>our overall cash budgeting process.|
|Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£13,138|
|Reasons for holding zero<br>reserves|Para 1.22|N/A|
|Details of fund materially in<br>deficit|Para 1.24|N/A|
|Explanation of any<br>uncertainties about the charity<br>continuing as a going concern|Para 1.23|As with any charity, fundraising is unpredictable. By<br>maintaining cash reserves at about one third of annual<br>expenditure, fundraising shortfalls could lead to an inability<br>to meet our stated aims.  However, this does not represent<br>any risk to the Foundation as a going concern as we only<br>make short term commitments and make no guarantees on<br>longer term grants for the families we support.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|The charity’s principal sources<br>of funds (including any<br>fundraising)|Para 1.47|In 2024/25 we received around £30,000 in donations.  Of<br>this £11,000 was from regular monthly or annual donations<br>by standing order or direct debit.  We also received around<br>£1,500 of one-off donations from individuals.  The<br>remaining £17,500 was received from three charitable<br>trusts:<br>£5,000 Garfield Weston Foundation<br>£10,000 Hargreaves Foundation<br>£2,500 Grace Trust|
|---|---|---|





|||All three have donated before and we would like to thank<br>them for their continued support of our objectives to<br>improve social mobility in Croydon.|
|---|---|---|
|Investment policy and<br>objectives including any social<br>investment policy adopted|Para 1.46|N/A|
|A description of the principal<br>risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|The two key risks within the Foundation relate to<br>safeguarding of children and financial matters. With regard<br>to safeguarding, the Foundation has little direct contact<br>with the children that receive our support and such contact<br>is always in the presence of parents or school staff. If<br>any Trustee or other person appointed by the<br>Foundation were to have sole, unaccompanied contact<br>with children, we require them to have the appropriate<br>checks in place. The Chair holds a current enhanced DBS<br>check.<br>Given the increasing income of the Foundation and the<br>greater influence of external funding, it was decided during<br>2020/21 to establish a finance committee to oversee all<br>financial aspects of our operations. The Chair and<br>Treasurer are members of this committee along with<br>three other Trustees. The committee sets financial policy,<br>approve any spending over certain limits and<br>recommend actions to the Board of Trustees as per its<br>Terms of Reference. The Finance Committee also reviews<br>movements across the bank account on a monthly basis<br>and is provided with a reconciliation to the management<br>accounts. The risk of the misappropriation of funds is<br>minimal.<br>All commitments are short term in nature, requiring only<br>one month's notice of cancellation with the exception of<br>the several grants of £500-1,500 which are committed<br>for the current academic year but budgeted on the<br>basis of likely amounts claimed. For one such grant, there<br>is a commitment of £1,500 per annum for five years.  The<br>Foundation's liquidity is checked at least weekly and the<br>risk of maturing liabilities exceeding available cash is<br>negligible.|
|Other|||





## **Structure, Governance and Management** 

|Description of charity’s trusts:|||
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document|Para 1.25|The governing document of the Foundation is its trust deed<br>dated 24th January 2013 as amended on 7th July 2018.|
|How is the charity constituted?|Para 1.25|We are a registered charity|
|Trustee selection methods<br>including details of any<br>constitutional provisions e.g.<br>election to post or name of any<br>person or body entitled to<br>appoint one or more trustees|Para 1.25|The board of Trustees is made up of nine individuals all of<br>which have relevant experience of supporting children,<br>finance or charity work. The board of Trustees has<br>responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the<br>Foundation and for approving and monitoring all financial<br>aspects. They will also regularly review risk and<br>governance issues. In running and governing the<br>Foundation, the Trustees have regard to guidance<br>issued by the Charity Commission and endeavour to<br>follow best practice principles.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|Policies and procedures<br>adopted for the induction and<br>training of trustees|Para 1.51||
|---|---|---|
|The charity’s organisational<br>structure and any wider<br>network with which the charity<br>works|Para 1.51|The day-to-day running of the Foundation is delegated to<br>an Executive Committee made up of four Trustees. The<br>Chair undertakes the majority of marketing, fundraising,<br>liaison/co-ordination tasks with financial management<br>shared with the Treasurer and administration shared with<br>the Secretary and Treasurer. The Chair produces updates<br>for the Trustees which are circulated by email on a regular<br>basis.  The Deputy Chair offers liaison with the local<br>community in particular.<br>The Trustees are cognisant of balancing demand for the<br>Foundation's support with its financial and human<br>resources. It reviews governance and management at each<br>Annual General Meeting to ensure proper procedures are<br>in place whereby it can maximise the benefits to the<br>community it is serving without overstretching its current<br>resources or put in place plans to increase resources.|
|Relationship with any related<br>parties|Para 1.51|N/A|





## **Reference and Administrative details** 

|Charity name|The Rowdown Inspire To Aspire Foundation|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses|The Rowdown Foundation; RITA|
|Registered charity number|1151220|
|Charity’s principal address|Operating Address:<br>Brasted, Westcott Road<br>Dorking, Surrey RH4 3EA|





## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** 

|1<br>2<br>3<br>4<br>5<br>6<br>7<br>8<br>9<br>10<br>11<br>12<br>13<br>14<br>15<br>16<br>17<br>18<br>19<br>20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not**<br>**for wholeyear**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**<br>**to appoint trustee(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Gary Coy|Chair & Member of Finance Committee|||
||Marion Burchell|Deputy Chair|||
||Janet Parsons|Treasurer & Member of Finance Committee|||
||Melanie Hartley|Secretary|||
||Martin Bibby|Chair of Finance Committee|||
||Kathryn Gee|Secretary of Finance Committee|||
||Jill O’Neill|Member of Finance Committee|||
||Paula Greenwood||||
||Sarah Nias||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
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## **Declarations** 

**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** 

**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** 

|**Signature(s)**<br>**Full name(s)**<br>**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**<br>**etc)**<br>**Date**|||
|---|---|---|
||Gary Coy|Jill O’Neill|
||<br> Chair||
||||
||||






**THE ROWDOWN INSPIRE TO ASPIRE FOUNDATION 1151220 CC16a Receipts and Payments Accounts For the period from Apr-24 to Mar-25** 

**Section A Receipts and payments** 

|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**14,175**<br>**3,361**<br>**503**<br>**202**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**16,000**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**Total funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**30,175**<br>**3,361**<br>**503**<br>**202**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**Last year**<br>**to the nearest £**|
|Donations|**14,175**||**16,000**||**-**||**30,175**||**41,207**|
|Fundraising|**3,361**||**-**||**-**||**3,361**||**2,259**|
|Gift Aid|**503**||**-**||**-**||**503**||**4,100**|
|Other Income|**202**||**-**||**-**||**202**||**50**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**18,240**||**16,000**||**-**||**34,240**||**47,616**|
||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**|||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).**||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**<br>**A3 Payments**||||||||||
||**18,240**||**16,000**||**-**||**34,240**||**47,616**|
||**1,195**<br>**21,504**<br>**278**<br>**60**<br>**720**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**15,735**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||**1,195**<br>**37,238**<br>**278**<br>**60**<br>**720**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**|||
|Cost of Generating Funds|**1,195**||**-**||**-**||**1,195**||**470**|
|Grants|**21,504**||**15,735**||**-**||**37,238**||**34,175**|
|Insurance|**278**||**-**||**-**||**278**||**268**|
|Bank Charges|**60**||**-**||**-**||**60**||**60**|
|Independent Examination Fee|**720**||**-**||**-**||**720**||**480**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**23,756**||**15,735**||**-**||**39,491**||**35,453**|
||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**||**-**<br>**-**|||
|**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see**<br>~~**table)**~~||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**<br>**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**<br>**A5 Transfers between funds**<br>**A6 Cash funds last year end**<br>**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||||
||**23,756**||**15,735**||**-**||**39,491**||**35,453**|
|||||||||||
||**-           5,516**||**265**||**-**||**-           5,251**||**12,162**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**14,005**||**4,384**||**-**||**18,389**||**6,227**|
||**8,489**||**4,649**||**-**||**13,138**||**18,389**|





## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** 

|**Categories**<br>**Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all**<br>**the trustees**<br>**B5 Liabilities**<br>**B3 Investment assets**<br>**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use**<br>**B2 Other monetary assets**<br>**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||CAF Bank||**8,489**||**4,649**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||Signature<br>**Details**<br>**Details**<br>**Details**<br>**_Total cash funds_**<br>_(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))_<br>**Details**||**8,489**||**4,649**||**-**|
||||_OK_<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**<br>**Fund to which**<br>~~**liability relates**~~<br>Print Name||_OK_<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Amount due**<br>~~**(optional)**~~<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**||_OK_|
||||||||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**-**|
||||||||**When due**<br>~~**(optional)**~~|
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
||||||||Date of<br>approval|
||||Jill O'Neill||||25/09/2025|
||||Gary Coy||||25/09/2025|





**Independent examiner's report on the accounts** 


## **Section A                        Independent Examiner’s Report** 

|**Report to the trustees/**<br>**members of**<br>**On accounts for the year**<br>**ended**<br>**Set out on pages**<br>**Responsibilities and**<br>**basis of report**|Charity Name<br>The Rowdown Inspire To Aspire Foundation|Charity Name<br>The Rowdown Inspire To Aspire Foundation|Charity Name<br>The Rowdown Inspire To Aspire Foundation|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
||31stMarch 2025|**Charity no**<br>**(if any)**|1151220|
|||||
||1 to 12<br>(remember  to include the page numbers of additional sheets)|||
||I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above<br>charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended**31/ 03 / 2025**.<br>As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the<br>accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011<br>(“the Act”).<br>I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out<br>under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I<br>have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission<br>under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.|||



**Independent** I have completed my examination.  I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or 

- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or 

- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. 

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

|**Signed:**<br>**Name:**<br>**Relevant professional**<br>**qualification(s) or body**<br>**(if any):**<br>**Address:**<br> <br>||25thSeptember<br>2025|
|---|---|---|
||||
||James Bray||
||||
||FCCA||
||||
||Constable Court||
||62 Dene Street, Dorking||
||RH4 2DP||



**Oct 2023** 

1 

**IER** 



## **Section B                           Disclosure** 

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). 

**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** . 

**Oct 2023** 

2 

**IER** 

