**FRIENDS OF AMBLER - AGM REPORT 1[st] April 2023- 31[st] March 2024**
## **ABOUT US**
Friends of Ambler (‘FoA’) is a registered charity which supports Ambler Primary School and Children's Centre by raising funds for facilities, equipment and activities, and running fun events for the children and their families. Everyone involved does so voluntarily - contributing their personal time and skills.
Events range in focus from fundraising, entertainment for the Ambler children as well as their parents and carers, and also providing opportunities for all to discover more about the school and our community.
## **STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE**
Every parent and carer with a child attending Ambler Children’s Centre and Primary School is automatically a member of FoA. Everyone is welcome to join in as little or as much as they wish.
The main elected Committee members are required to be Trustees, registered with the Charities Commission, with associated legal responsibilities. We elected a new committee at the start of the school academic year and therefore there was a change mid way through the financial year.
The elected committee members registered with the Charities Committee from April 2023 to October 2023 were Nicola Dawkins (Chair), Jenny Chiu (Treasurer), and Emma Guirao (Secretary).
The elected committee members registered with the Charities Committee from October 2023 to April 2024 were Lucy Carraz (Chair), Tom Edwards (Treasurer), and Siobhan McKenna (Secretary).
The 2023/2024 Committee included: Dom Bouloux, Jeni Burt, Amy Colori, Lucy Carraz, Louis Carraz, Meriel Cartwright, Sorrel Challands, Nicky Dawkins, Asier Domaica, Gale Foster, Yvonne Halsey, Catherine Kenyon, Siobhan McKenna, Sultana Moosun, Illiana Ortega Alcazar, Lou Ramsden, Sayyeda Salam, Zalaya Simmons and Natalia Yanez-Stiel.
The Committee liaises directly with the school to make decisions on the timetable of events and expenditure of profits. In addition to regular Committee meetings, we hold occasional ad hoc open meetings for any
member to attend. These provide the opportunity to join in with event
planning, make suggestions and volunteer to do many other valuable tasks.
FoA has a Charities Aid Foundation bank account and is a Charity registered with the Charities Commission and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to which it files the necessary documents required by law.
FoA follows the School and Governing Body’s lead for safeguarding, the type of events run (and their timing) and the priorities for expenditure of funds or funding applications.
In addition, FOA supports **Amber Arts and Grow Ambler** , which are subgroups of FOA which focus on enhancing arts provision and improving the environment school-wide.
## **HIGHLIGHTS**
The 2023/2024 school year was extremely busy. We held discos for all year groups. A special thank you to Jack Baker and Rosie Baker for the excellent tunes and Jono Kenyon for arranging all the disco lighting. We also ran the Greetings Card Project, which we do annually, and organised a Silent Auction which was even more popular than the previous year. This was, once again, a huge community effort with many people donating their time and skills.
We also put on a Winter Day of Fun for the kids, which they all enjoyed. Stalls ranged from a golf game to face painting, to guess the name of the Reindeer. By doing it during the school day, it meant that every Ambler child got to be there. The school caterers then hosted a Winter Party at the end of the school day to include parents with festive music and hot chocolate.
We also ran a number of second-hand uniform give aways and a second hand Christmas jumper swap in order to create a culture of reuse at Ambler. Finally, we continued with the Ambler Community Fund, which is a separate fundraising campaign, where the money goes to support individual families in Ambler struggling with the costs of school trips and clubs.
Team members continues to liaise with the school on initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint, and continued to lobby the relevant authorities to
introduce measures to improve air quality, reduce pollution and traffic.
In February 2024, we put on four movie nights to cover all the year groups. The kids loved getting dressed in their PJs and watching movies whilst chomping on popcorn.
Whilst outside of the formal reporting period for the benefit of completeness of the academic year we note that in May 2024 we held an 80’s night for parents and carers to come and socialize and dance along to live music performed by the band of one of our school’s parents. We also had two fantastic parents organize a DJ Evening in July at the Worlds End Pub to help raise awareness of FoA.
We held our Summer Fair on 6[th] July and had an amazing turnout. This was despite the crazy weather and a number of other events happening at the same time. We had a new International Food Stall which we plan to expand next year to really reflect the great diversity of our school and community.
## **Ambler Arts**
Ambler Arts helped organize and fund screen printing with Sarah Pimenta for Children’s Centre and Reception to Y6. They also held the Summer Exhibition and bunting workshops and ran the crafts stall at the Summer Fair. Ambler Arts sponsored materials, provided art expertise support and have already organized a Graffiti workshop for Y6 already this term.
A big thank you to Illiana Ortega Alcazar, Natalia Yanez-Stiel and Sorrel Challands for continuing to lead Ambler Arts events and nurturing creative talent and showcasing the wonderful artistic pieces created by our Ambler community.
**Grow Ambler** Grow Ambler hoste d two very successful
gardening days where families volunteered and helped to do tasks such as planting, weeding and maintaining the planters, spreading woodchip in the
forest, and tidying up the school grounds. A local professional gardener joined the first session. Families brought a picnic, and everyone enjoyed a fun, relaxed and sociable day.
Grow Ambler leadership also changed during the reporting period. Louis Carraz, Al Hutchinson and Katie Watson took over from Carolyn Payne and Barbara Rainbird. We thank all those who have led and continue to lead this really important part of our Ambler community and give all families a chance to learn how to grow fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers and experience the mental and physical benefits of gardening.
## **FINANCES**
**FoA funding decisions are guided by the school’s requests and needs** for fundraising and expenditure, regularly liaising with the Management team to establish where the funds can make the most valuable difference. This helps to ensure that the school is able to deploy funds where they are most needed.
**Raising money is an important way FoA can support the school** , particularly with the recent cuts to school budgets. FoA and the school carefully consider how to make trips and extra-curricular activities affordable for all pupils. FoA looks to raise money creatively, and to strike a balance between asking Ambler families to contribute and looking for sources of funding outside of the school community. We know this will be even more important in the year ahead as we tackle the impacts of the cost of living crisis.
It has been agreed that FoA accounts will be drawn to coincide with the school’s
annual financial year-end (not the School academic year). It has also been agreed that the School Auditors can on request audit the FoA bank
account and records, giving assurance to the stakeholders of FoA.
While events were the main source of income for FOA, we also raised money throughout the year via commission-raising collaborations including estate agent board sponsorship with Winkworth Estate Agents.
We have been fortunate to benefit from generous payroll giving as well as funding from several parents’ donations via the Benevity platform. These contributions make a significant difference to fundraising levels and are greatly appreciated.
|**In the 2023-24 financial year we were able to**||
|---|---|
|**fund:**||
||£1,21|
|Wonderdome|5|
||£1,98|
|Graffiti project|4|
||£1,89|
|Bookstairs (all)|6|
||£1,40|
|Arts week (all)|6|
|First aid course|£974|
||£1,69|
|Yoga|5|
||£2,75|
|Reception resources|0|
||£2,00|
|Year 1 resources|0|
|Reading roadmap (all)|£3,22|
||5|
|---|---|
||£8,40|
|Trips (all - £20 per pupil)|0|
|Anti-Bullying Workshop|£700|
||£1,29|
|ACF Transfer|5|
|Movie night licences (all)|£182|
||£27,7|
|Total|22|
|**Headline for the year ending 31 March 2024**||
|**are:**||
|Income:||
|Commissions|£606|
||£8,68|
|Corporate|1|
||£4,34|
|General Donations|8|
||£8,22|
|Community Fund Donations|4|
||£21,6|
|Fundraising Income|20|
||£1,99|
|Year 6|6|
|Interest|£49|
||£2,02|
|Gift aid income|5|
||£47,5|
|Total|49|
|Expenditure:||
||£27,7|
|CCA|22|
||£3,02|
|Fundraising Costs|3|
|Running Costs|£220|
||£30,9|
|Total|64|
||£32,3|
|Closing balance|50|
## **SPECIAL THANKS**
Thanks go to Mrs McNicholl and all the School and Children’s Centre staff and Governors. In particular the office staff, all the Class Reps, and Maira and Paul for all their support.
We are very grateful for the amazing support from local businesses and from Arsenal football club.
Of course, we also thank **every parent, carer and child** who has volunteered, donated to, attended and supported our events throughout the year. Without these vital volunteers lending their skills, displaying estate agent boards, contacting local businesses, passing on ideas and so much more we could not have had such a successful and fun year!
## **GETTING INVOLVED**
## **We are always looking for more people to volunteer their time and skills!**
We welcome all volunteers, positivity, enthusiasm and suggestions. If you would like to join the Committee, or are able to take on a smaller more discrete role, please do let us know. We need your skills and ideas to help support Ambler.
Get in touch at any time by speaking to a Committee Member, leaving a note with the School Office, emailing friendsofambler@gmail.com or contacting us via our Facebook or Twitter (@FoAmbler) pages. Please look out for text messages/WhatsApp messages/School Gateway app messages, email and our social media pages. We hope everyone will find an opportunity to be involved!
Thank you to all the Ambler pupils, staff, teachers, carers and families for a wonderful year. The 2023/2024 financial year was a great one. As this was my first year as Chair, a final personal thank you to the previous Chair, Nicky Dawkins, and the fantastic committee for helping me navigate my first year.
_Lucy Carraz, Chair, Friends of Ambler_
||**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**No (if any)**
**Friends of Ambler**
**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01/04/2023
31/03/2024
**To**
**For the period**
**from**
~~a~~|**CC16a**
~~_~~|**CC16a**
~~_~~|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**||**Last year**|
||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|
|**A1 Receipts**||||||||||
|Commissions|**606**||**-**||**-**||**606**||**-**|
|Corporate|**8,681**||**-**||**-**||**8,681**||**-**|
|Donations|**4,348**||**-**||**-**||**4,348**||**-**|
|ACF donations|**-**||**8,224**||**-**||**8,224**||**-**|
|Fundraisingincome|**21,620**||||**-**||**21,620**||**-**|
|Year 6 leaver activities|||**1,996**||**-**||**1,996**||**-**|
|Interest|**49**||**-**||**-**||**49**||**-**|
|Gift Aid|**2,025**||**-**||**-**||**2,025**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_||||||||||
|_AR)_|**37,329**||**10,220**||**-**||**47,549**||**-**|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**37,329**
**10,220**
**-**
**47,549**
**-**
~~——————~~||||||||||
|**A3 Payments**||||||||||
|Contribtions to meet charitable aims|**27,722**||**-**||**-**||**27,722**||**-**|
|Fundraisingcosts|**3,023**||**-**||**-**||**3,023**||**-**|
|Runningcosts|**219**||**-**||**-**||**219**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**30,964**||**-**||**-**||**30,964**||**-**|
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Total payments_**
**30,964**
**-**
**-**
**30,964**
**-**
~~——————~~||||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|**6,365**
**10,220**
**- 16,585**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,765**
**-**
**-**
**15,765**
**-**
**22,130**
**10,220**
**- 32,350**
**-**
~~———_———~~|||||||||
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
21/10/2024
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
CAF Account
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Cash float held
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**32,350**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**32,350**
**-**
Agreement Error
Agreement Error
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**200**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||||
|||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
21/10/2024
2
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's report on the
accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trustees
Friends of Ambler
On accounts for the year
ended
Charity no
(if any)
3110312024
1157725
Set out on pages
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity ("the Trust") for the year ended 3110312024.
Responsibilities and
basis of report
As the charity's trustees, you 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 Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I
have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent
examiner'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:
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
conceming 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:
Date:
2210112025
Name:
James McDonald
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
(if any):
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Address:
30 Crown Place, London EC2A 4EB
IER
Oct 2018