South Oxford Adventure Playground
CIO Reg number: 1157509
Annual Report 2020 (January 1[st] – December 31[st] )
Address: Whitehouse Road, Oxford OX1 4QH
Trustees on date when the report was approved : Bob Price, Pippa Sandford, Naomi Waite
New trustees may be elected at the AGM
Committee on date when report was approved: Megan Douthwaite (Co-Chair); Naomi Waite (Co-Chair); Jill McCleery (Vice Chair); Phil Doubtfire (Treasurer); Pippa Sandford; Catherine Unia; Pat Smith; Jen Lockie, Kai Tabacek; Tamar Shirely; Tom Currie; Sophie Bowell.
Reserves policy: £2,500 shall be kept in reserve, for emergency repairs/renovations and to cover 3 month’s running costs for utilities and services.
The charity’s trustees have had due regard to the Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
Purpose according to SOAP’s constitution: To provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of children and young people in the St Ebbe’s, Grandpont and New Hinksey area of the city of Oxford who have need of such facilities with the object of improving their conditions of life.
Changes to the management committee & trustees in 2020 : 2020 was a challenging year for SOAP. First, Ann Poulter, a long-serving Trustee, holiday play-scheme lead and active volunteer, died in March 2020. Ann is very much missed, and has left a huge hole in our team. Second, two other active committee members reduced their involvement in SOAP due to ill health and caring responsibilities. At the AGM in June 2020 Naomi Waite and Megan Douthwaite were elected co-chairs; Phil Douthwaite elected as treasurer; Kai Tabacek, Tamar Shirley, Jen Lockie and Tom Currie joined the committee. Naomi Waite stepped down as Secretary and the position has been rotated since the AGM.
Provision and activities during 2020: In addition to the significant changes to the volunteer management committee referred to above, the COVID-19 emergency created a series of major challenges to SOAP in 2020 The pandemic added a layer of complexity to our operations that required a significant increase in volunteer time for the planning and oversight of our activities compared to previous years.
In compliance with the legal provisions relating to the pandemic, SOAP remained closed until July 2020. The site was in regular use between March & July free of charge to the local primary school to help with the requirements for social distancing. At the AGM in June the committee agreed to employ a full-time manager on a 3 month contract to oversee delivery of the day to day sessions through the summer, and to support the committee in delivering sessions at SOAP that were covid safe, and complied with the changes in government guidelines. We implemented major changes to our site and adapted our provision In summary these included abandoning open access; limiting sessions to 2 hours; adopting a pre-booking system based on school year bubbles with the aim of keeping children in consistent groups; and limiting access to
South Oxford Adventure Playground Trustees Report 2020 1
unaccompanied (7+ yr olds), local children only. We also installed outdoor sinks and all weather shelters. Sessions were all outdoors, with indoor access only for the toilets. The number of staff and children on site was limited to 15 children in each bubble, and 2 staff. We physically divided the site into two to allow 2 discrete groups of children / young people access at any one time.
In total we were open on 71 days between late July and December 2020, down from 136 in 2019. The table below summarises the number of days for holiday, after school and youth club sessions. The best attended sessions were those for 11-14 yr olds averaging around 20 young people per session (max 30 in December 2020). The total number of child visits was 906, down from 7,916 in 2019. The average number of children attending overall per session was 17. We registered a total of 220 children & young people for the period July-December, and the average age was 9.
Number of sessions, days open, timings & child visits, South Oxford Adventure Playground 2020
| Term & holiday opening | Opening times | Days/Sessions per week |
Hours open per session |
Days open |
Number of child visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easter holidays | CLOSED DUE TO COVID-19 / NATIONAL LOCKDOWN (site used by local primary school) |
||||
| After school(April-May) | |||||
| Summer half-term | (site used by local primary school) | ||||
| After school(June-July) | |||||
| Summer holidays | 2 sessions per day 10am-12pm & 2–4pm |
10 | 2 | 25 | 410 |
| After school(Sept-Oct) | 3.15 -5.15pm | 4 | 2 | 24 | 149 |
| Evening youth club (Sept- Oct & Nov-Dec) |
6-8pm (Sept-Oct) 2-4pm (Nov-Dec) |
2 | 2 | 17 | 244 |
| Autumn half-term | 2 sessions per day 10am-12pm & 2–4pm |
10 | 2 | 5 | 103 |
| Total | 71 | 906 |
Eight staff were employed through the summer with 4 staff attending each session. Three days of training were provided prior to opening in July. We ran 3 Saturday sessions in October with one staff member and a volunteer committee member present to ensure social distancing was adhered to. These were extremely popular with the local community and we reached our agreed capacity of 30 very quickly.
Use of the site by external groups was limited and weekend party hire was paused from March onwards, having a significant impact on non-restricted revenue.
South Oxford Adventure Playground Trustees Report 2020 2
Funding: We are immensely grateful to the local community for their financial support during 2020, and were fortunate in securing funding from Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Community Fund, and St Aldate’s Church.
South Oxford Adventure Playground Trustees Report 2020 3
Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl membors of South Oxford Adventure Playground ISOAPI On accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020 Charity no lif any) Set out on pages 1&2 Respe¢tlve The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Acll and that an ndependent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to.. examine Ihe accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5llbl of the Charities Act, and to stale whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given examlner's statement by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. 11 also includes consideration of any unusual Items or disclosures in the accounts. and seeking explanations frorn the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as lo whether the accounts pr8sent a 'true and fail view and the report is limited to those matters sel out in the statement below. Independent In connection with my examinalion, no matter has come to my attention oxaminer's statement 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe Ihal in, any material respect. the requirements.. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities A have not been mel- or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Slgned: Date: 2 November 2021 Name: R Smith Relevant professlonal qualification(s} or body {if any): IER March 2012
Address: 5Th8Ley Woodslod( Oxon OX20 1 UX Section B Disclosure Onty Com0t8 rf the 8xamin8r needs to hhlIght matedal problems. IER March 2012
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2019 804.00 4J97.36 271.02 2J62.63 9235.01 Cash Bal8rKeatHS Bal3we3tBardays BalarIn P6ypalaccoJ Ti)tsICurtBrtA55ets 549.55 20A19.88 7.33 3AIIO.71 25fi17.47 OEdit(y5. Party DeWJSf hd TOtslthrrerrtilatx'tIes 63L21 63L21 NetA55* 317.47 fteprsented by.. Ba&rrf% blfv 6A4& 2.160.00 60180 16,713.67 2¥317.47 Bala1clI