School Ground Sounds- Trustees. Annual Report For the period l Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025 Sertion A- Reference and administration details Charity Name School Ground Sounds (Trading name: Grounded Sounds) 1159676 RegiSte￿d charity number Principal Address Trustees 14 Henderson Road, London SW18 3RR Tom Keohane- Chairman (retired 31.12.20251 Charles Scott-Trustee & Treasurer Ichairman since 31.12.20251 Jack Keeling-Trustee Stephen Cartwright- Trustee Iretired 31.12.20251 Cristina Barone-Tru5tee (retired 31.12.20251 Tom Scott- Trustee lappointed 11.11.20251 Sharon Noble- Interim CEO & the Managing Director (to Oct 20251 Jess Loveless- Creative Director (March- September 20251 Senlor Leadership Section B- Structure overnance and mana ement Type of go¥ernln8 document How the charlty is constituted Trustee selectlon method Constitution Charitable Incorporated Organisation ICIOI Open advertisement, selettion and appointment by resolution of existing trustees. Sertion C- Ob'ertives and artivities Summary of the objects set out In SGS. governing document Summaryof main artivities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to the objects The advancement of musical education for the public benefit. in particular for young people from disadvanta8ed backgrounds by helping young people and school communities to access mlssical instruments and musical activities which develop skills and romote en agement. We confirm the trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's Euidance on public benefit. Our activwties include-. For 11- 16 year olds from lower income backgrounds- A programme of after-schoo5 song-writing and music-makin8 workshops for group5 of young people in schools (now known as School Ground Sounds) For 15- 17 year olds who are interested in considering further study and engagement with music but face barriers to doing so= A four-week programme of structured workshops, Seminars and practical sessions led by talented musician5 and industry professionals n the early summer after exams Iknown as Bridge) For 18- 24 year olds from lowèr income backgrounds with musical aspirations who are often NEET (not In education. employment or trainin A crash course in the music industry I'spotlight'l. with input from music industry professionals and opportunities to collaborate, perform and set goals and plans for the future One-to-one mentoring The provision of performance opportunities We also run the EP Accelerator programme to support early-career artists to write. record and release an EP, with songwriting development, l-l mentoring and music industry advice workshops. As well as engoging the young people in positive, worthwhile pursuits and developing their musical skills, all activities are intended to build participants. confidence, self-discipline. teamwork and ￿s111enCe. We also manage a fund. 'Ha￿S Fund., which doT)ates instruments to selected keen oung musicians who cannot otherwise afford them. Section D- Achieveme and erformance Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year Unfortunately. we had a very disappointing year and were unable to raise sufficient funds to deliver all the programmes that we wished to do. In accordance with our rese￿e5 policy Ibelowl, in September the trustees took the difficult decision to wind down the programme activities of the charity and to make the team redundant in an orderly fashion. Going forward we will be focussed on Hatt￿s Fund only, administered by the trustees directly, with no paid employees. In summary: We secured c. £92k of funding. compared to £196k in 2024 We ran the School Ground Sound5 programme in ljvo schoo15 throughout the whole year We ran the Bridge programme at the start ofthe summer holidays We completed the EP Accelerator programme for two early-career artists ThrouEh Hattws Fund, we delivered 8 musical instruments for young people and also funded 10 piano lessons In total we had over 80 young people participating in SGS activities At the end of the year Charles Scott took over as chairman of the trustees and each of Tom Keohane, Stephen Cartwright and Cri5tina Barone retired as trustees. We thank them. along with Sharon Noble, our Managing Director up to October, for their considerable efforts in steering the charity through a difficult period. WÈ enter 2026 with remaining funds of £18,896. Sertion E- Financial Review Brief ststement of the charitys policy on rese￿e$ SGS. aim is to build and maintain a level of reserves that will cover at least 4- 6 months, forward committed expenditure. We will never let the level of reserves drop below 3 months of forward committed expenditure. Income for the year was £92,093 and total expenses were £153.568, so the deficit fi)r the year was £61,474, funded from reserves. As explained above we had to wind down our activities so that we remained solvent and conforwned with our reserves policy. Closing cash funds were £18,896. Commentary OTr deficit Sertion F- Other O ional Information We would particularly like to thank all our funders, both private individuals and grant funders. The latter include: National Foundation for Youth Music PRS Foundation The Sheldon Trust Alburfs Charitable Trust Gowling WLG Charitable trust Ronnie ScotV5 Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation The Black Fund Asda Tesco We would also like to thank those organisations that have sUPPOrted the charity through monthly donations, fundraising events and offers of ro bono facilities or resources= Official Charts Company Soho House Raw Material, Media & Music Brixton Hill Studios Baltic Studios Nottingham Trent University Finally. we would like to thank all those who contributed to our Crowdfunder campaign, including Ninja Tune. All trusts and donors were informed in advance of the trustees. decision to wind down the programme5 and their fijnds were spent as agreed prior to the programmes stopping. Section G- Declaration The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees= Signature.. fv- Full name- Position: Date- Charles Scott Chairman of the Trustee5 l/t12o Re8krÈI￿1j￿rty N￿1.. 11596>6 Pwky1:IlaTr20Z5 ts31tv2025 SÈdK￿A.Re￿e￿ts3￿IP￿yrr￿Thts Alf*wesffl£ iatstFwh)d{12mothtsi3l￿202S) ljnrestrttrd RE5trthd Tcrfal PrknrpEr 31t*c2024 AIAtte¥YS 6rydntfu￿l￿g DDnationsfrom ￿¥tel￿d￿1¥1￿a 54545 59045 124,9 14,363 Hatty's Fundthnatron5 Ifkne31 22,991 QxpDtatedwibns FundrdiSingÈvEntincomE E3ttEd Income 950 332 6￿53 20 6257 InvtttmentintDm T¢ts11￿* tPJ3 WrA No A3 P&ym2rrt5 ctyeteaMpe￿Éos￿. sa1aryandpe￿￿rn£￿￿,1￿kndlnEtrx FreelIn￿(¢￿tract 39,652 96 iOy8 107.1 88,1 aoA47 146¢2 67.&19 39.652 Fr￿Qjan￿Contr3ttorg. nrTrcuotèarn PerfrAThitttfee5 SIUL*oJwiNkshwspa￿ hire ArtL5tfu v￿e0/photOgrdphyIlwÈstrÈxrnIfft Eouipmenthife 1andsupptrttechn￿a￿sI InstllJmentsforyoun8 pe¢￿e Sh(￿￿@t￿keti￿glee5 T[av&13[￿d￿rnQdarn￿ expenses Travelex￿￿se5fOrpa￿￿pa￿ts Pro1ettconsumablÈslstst￿Aèr¥ FtM)dl ￿fresh￿em5 Sonalmed&i& DE$￿tk5 ¥2,1 249 32J55 249 3N45 15 520 42fi19 15 520 1870 458 270 270 421 1.016 L016 l164 120 a56 299 r1rtctf￿drats1￿t0sts: FundraiSinBeventtosts onl1nefundrd￿IThS￿￿S 11671 133 7502 231 133 133J Geneialtyerheadk" OffKe5rydce wÈb5itE h05tsnB I￿￿tat￿P SCS/GS btsnded ￿rthbr￿￿e 55D 550 163 622 418 622 622 3512 Tra￿￿E&Staff￿w￿Y days StstiDnery {get￿TrI1 Equiwnent-IT, mOble4￿r 387 387 420 ￿5￿14aneI￿ eyThses 80 4,112 72 411Z Tot41Expewes 7L617 .9$1 155,56B IB9.IC 140 SwpWIOef¢hl A6 Openh)8 cashlunds TfdtbSferofun￿Styl￿￿0th I54.￿9) 127.4061 161A741 80270 7.032 73338 27.241 Se￿ r*te 2 ,370 SÈÈ p&y¢3 148Y6 l AcLwnts a￿9rewredrl13 recdpts and wyments bÈ54 kE. ￿(ashin3[￿(35h￿xJÈ Since.atth￿S￿ge.Wea￿rWwu￿eaI￿cU5tomertrwo￿s3￿We alffl to￿¥ 5uprA*rinvo*esas s￿￿3S tFwarÈre￿PIed.thts8r￿ES8n¥¢WtsteVIÉWDfts￿r￿3￿aIt￿5ffton. 2 5omespendooproieasfor%vhthwehave resbttedfutmling ￿fUn￿e￿fv0MUTr￿5tt￿thfU￿dS. Alexpend￿re￿tt￿5eDrl￿d5 tsSFtswnLTh1er￿$tr5cled funding. Total res￿￿{e&fundS attu31￿ u5edhas ￿eTh£S4.710. Thèam￿rt0fU￿rESknttedlyn￿sYSeOOnIh￿e pr￿eLtsh3SèeeftE27.24I. 3 o￿l￿vn￿tAttedfUndSdfft dÈsiÉthitedftr'H3tty'5 Fund-5etuptowrth?5ernu5ic3linstrumeDtsforsekctedy¢w llEedofswrt SettknB.A55etsar*ktkn*iv*e￿(￿the￿ LaÈ%tF*rKxll12mcotstollDÈc2025) Trtal Pfbr *r 12rnthro Bl HSECAicwnt 9S 80370 I.￿0 BZ Otsbimtsryo￿ets None Nts N¢* B4 None see thte4 B5 LoLth5 r•r 4 Ouracmunlng ￿to￿￿at￿￿3se0fe￿￿ment1elsth8nE3J￿1E.g. otnera.recordlng e4￿[￿É￿(laK#Dp.lPadSld5aDeVrn1e. SGS/GS branthd methandÈe ￿ ￿V8htf¢rp[U￿oty)n￿1 wwe5TrthÈr￿￿￿fQr5apdsQ5 ThXtreatedasanasseL S%naknrÈ Pfirtted Tr*me eLd£&tt- 7141202 OL4RLEsscort School Ground Sounds- Trustees. Annual Report For the period l Jan 2025 to 31 Dec 2025 Sertion A- Reference and administration details Charity Name School Ground Sounds (Trading name: Grounded Sounds) 1159676 RegiSte￿d charity number Principal Address Trustees 14 Henderson Road, London SW18 3RR Tom Keohane- Chairman (retired 31.12.20251 Charles Scott-Trustee & Treasurer Ichairman since 31.12.20251 Jack Keeling-Trustee Stephen Cartwright- Trustee Iretired 31.12.20251 Cristina Barone-Tru5tee (retired 31.12.20251 Tom Scott- Trustee lappointed 11.11.20251 Sharon Noble- Interim CEO & the Managing Director (to Oct 20251 Jess Loveless- Creative Director (March- September 20251 Senlor Leadership Section B- Structure overnance and mana ement Type of go¥ernln8 document How the charlty is constituted Trustee selectlon method Constitution Charitable Incorporated Organisation ICIOI Open advertisement, selettion and appointment by resolution of existing trustees. Sertion C- Ob'ertives and artivities Summary of the objects set out In SGS. governing document Summaryof main artivities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to the objects The advancement of musical education for the public benefit. in particular for young people from disadvanta8ed backgrounds by helping young people and school communities to access mlssical instruments and musical activities which develop skills and romote en agement. We confirm the trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's Euidance on public benefit. Our activwties include-. For 11- 16 year olds from lower income backgrounds- A programme of after-schoo5 song-writing and music-makin8 workshops for group5 of young people in schools (now known as School Ground Sounds) For 15- 17 year olds who are interested in considering further study and engagement with music but face barriers to doing so= A four-week programme of structured workshops, Seminars and practical sessions led by talented musician5 and industry professionals n the early summer after exams Iknown as Bridge) For 18- 24 year olds from lowèr income backgrounds with musical aspirations who are often NEET (not In education. employment or trainin A crash course in the music industry I'spotlight'l. with input from music industry professionals and opportunities to collaborate, perform and set goals and plans for the future One-to-one mentoring The provision of performance opportunities We also run the EP Accelerator programme to support early-career artists to write. record and release an EP, with songwriting development, l-l mentoring and music industry advice workshops. As well as engoging the young people in positive, worthwhile pursuits and developing their musical skills, all activities are intended to build participants. confidence, self-discipline. teamwork and ￿s111enCe. We also manage a fund. 'Ha￿S Fund., which doT)ates instruments to selected keen oung musicians who cannot otherwise afford them. Section D- Achieveme and erformance Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year Unfortunately. we had a very disappointing year and were unable to raise sufficient funds to deliver all the programmes that we wished to do. In accordance with our rese￿e5 policy Ibelowl, in September the trustees took the difficult decision to wind down the programme activities of the charity and to make the team redundant in an orderly fashion. Going forward we will be focussed on Hatt￿s Fund only, administered by the trustees directly, with no paid employees. In summary: We secured c. £92k of funding. compared to £196k in 2024 We ran the School Ground Sound5 programme in ljvo schoo15 throughout the whole year We ran the Bridge programme at the start ofthe summer holidays We completed the EP Accelerator programme for two early-career artists ThrouEh Hattws Fund, we delivered 8 musical instruments for young people and also funded 10 piano lessons In total we had over 80 young people participating in SGS activities At the end of the year Charles Scott took over as chairman of the trustees and each of Tom Keohane, Stephen Cartwright and Cri5tina Barone retired as trustees. We thank them. along with Sharon Noble, our Managing Director up to October, for their considerable efforts in steering the charity through a difficult period. WÈ enter 2026 with remaining funds of £18,896. Sertion E- Financial Review Brief ststement of the charitys policy on rese￿e$ SGS. aim is to build and maintain a level of reserves that will cover at least 4- 6 months, forward committed expenditure. We will never let the level of reserves drop below 3 months of forward committed expenditure. Income for the year was £92,093 and total expenses were £153.568, so the deficit fi)r the year was £61,474, funded from reserves. As explained above we had to wind down our activities so that we remained solvent and conforwned with our reserves policy. Closing cash funds were £18,896. Commentary OTr deficit Sertion F- Other O ional Information We would particularly like to thank all our funders, both private individuals and grant funders. The latter include: National Foundation for Youth Music PRS Foundation The Sheldon Trust Alburfs Charitable Trust Gowling WLG Charitable trust Ronnie ScotV5 Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation The Black Fund Asda Tesco We would also like to thank those organisations that have sUPPOrted the charity through monthly donations, fundraising events and offers of ro bono facilities or resources= Official Charts Company Soho House Raw Material, Media & Music Brixton Hill Studios Baltic Studios Nottingham Trent University Finally. we would like to thank all those who contributed to our Crowdfunder campaign, including Ninja Tune. All trusts and donors were informed in advance of the trustees. decision to wind down the programme5 and their fijnds were spent as agreed prior to the programmes stopping. Section G- Declaration The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees= Signature.. fv- Full name- Position: Date- Charles Scott Chairman of the Trustee5 l/t12o Re8krÈI￿1j￿rty N￿1.. 11596>6 Pwky1:IlaTr20Z5 ts31tv2025 SÈdK￿A.Re￿e￿ts3￿IP￿yrr￿Thts Alf*wesffl£ iatstFwh)d{12mothtsi3l￿202S) ljnrestrttrd RE5trthd Tcrfal PrknrpEr 31t*c2024 AIAtte¥YS 6rydntfu￿l￿g DDnationsfrom ￿¥tel￿d￿1¥1￿a 54545 59045 124,9 14,363 Hatty's Fundthnatron5 Ifkne31 22,991 QxpDtatedwibns FundrdiSingÈvEntincomE E3ttEd Income 950 332 6￿53 20 6257 InvtttmentintDm T¢ts11￿* tPJ3 WrA No A3 P&ym2rrt5 ctyeteaMpe￿Éos￿. sa1aryandpe￿￿rn£￿￿,1￿kndlnEtrx FreelIn￿(¢￿tract 39,652 96 iOy8 107.1 88,1 aoA47 146¢2 67.&19 39.652 Fr￿Qjan￿Contr3ttorg. nrTrcuotèarn PerfrAThitttfee5 SIUL*oJwiNkshwspa￿ hire ArtL5tfu v￿e0/photOgrdphyIlwÈstrÈxrnIfft Eouipmenthife 1andsupptrttechn￿a￿sI InstllJmentsforyoun8 pe¢￿e Sh(￿￿@t￿keti￿glee5 T[av&13[￿d￿rnQdarn￿ expenses Travelex￿￿se5fOrpa￿￿pa￿ts Pro1ettconsumablÈslstst￿Aèr¥ FtM)dl ￿fresh￿em5 Sonalmed&i& DE$￿tk5 ¥2,1 249 32J55 249 3N45 15 520 42fi19 15 520 1870 458 270 270 421 1.016 L016 l164 120 a56 299 r1rtctf￿drats1￿t0sts: FundraiSinBeventtosts onl1nefundrd￿IThS￿￿S 11671 133 7502 231 133 133J Geneialtyerheadk" OffKe5rydce wÈb5itE h05tsnB I￿￿tat￿P SCS/GS btsnded ￿rthbr￿￿e 55D 550 163 622 418 622 622 3512 Tra￿￿E&Staff￿w￿Y days StstiDnery {get￿TrI1 Equiwnent-IT, mOble4￿r 387 387 420 ￿5￿14aneI￿ eyThses 80 4,112 72 411Z Tot41Expewes 7L617 .9$1 155,56B IB9.IC 140 SwpWIOef¢hl A6 Openh)8 cashlunds TfdtbSferofun￿Styl￿￿0th I54.￿9) 127.4061 161A741 80270 7.032 73338 27.241 Se￿ r*te 2 ,370 SÈÈ p&y¢3 148Y6 l AcLwnts a￿9rewredrl13 recdpts and wyments bÈ54 kE. ￿(ashin3[￿(35h￿xJÈ Since.atth￿S￿ge.Wea￿rWwu￿eaI￿cU5tomertrwo￿s3￿We alffl to￿¥ 5uprA*rinvo*esas s￿￿3S tFwarÈre￿PIed.thts8r￿ES8n¥¢WtsteVIÉWDfts￿r￿3￿aIt￿5ffton. 2 5omespendooproieasfor%vhthwehave resbttedfutmling ￿fUn￿e￿fv0MUTr￿5tt￿thfU￿dS. Alexpend￿re￿tt￿5eDrl￿d5 tsSFtswnLTh1er￿$tr5cled funding. Total res￿￿{e&fundS attu31￿ u5edhas ￿eTh£S4.710. Thèam￿rt0fU￿rESknttedlyn￿sYSeOOnIh￿e pr￿eLtsh3SèeeftE27.24I. 3 o￿l￿vn￿tAttedfUndSdfft dÈsiÉthitedftr'H3tty'5 Fund-5etuptowrth?5ernu5ic3linstrumeDtsforsekctedy¢w llEedofswrt SettknB.A55etsar*ktkn*iv*e￿(￿the￿ LaÈ%tF*rKxll12mcotstollDÈc2025) Trtal Pfbr *r 12rnthro Bl HSECAicwnt 9S 80370 I.￿0 BZ Otsbimtsryo￿ets None Nts N¢* B4 None see thte4 B5 LoLth5 r•r 4 Ouracmunlng ￿to￿￿at￿￿3se0fe￿￿ment1elsth8nE3J￿1E.g. otnera.recordlng e4￿[￿É￿(laK#Dp.lPadSld5aDeVrn1e. SGS/GS branthd methandÈe ￿ ￿V8htf¢rp[U￿oty)n￿1 wwe5TrthÈr￿￿￿fQr5apdsQ5 ThXtreatedasanasseL S%naknrÈ Pfirtted Tr*me eLd£&tt- 7141202 OL4RLEsscort ## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report** **Report to the trustees** Charity Name School Ground Sounds **On accounts for the year** 31 December 2025 **Charity no** 1159676 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 1 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31 December 2025** . **Responsibilities and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** 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 carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission 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 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: Date:** 02/06/2026 **Name:** Edmund Massey **Relevant professional** ICAEW **qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:** 4[th] Floor, One Strand London WC2N 5HR 1 ## **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** . 2