2023-12-31-accounts - Alliance Francaise D'oxford

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Alliance Française d'Oxford Annual Trustees’ Report for 2023

THE MISSION

The mission of the Alliance française d'Oxford is the promotion of the enjoyment of French language and francophone cultures in Oxford, for all ages and abilities. Despite the favourable socio-economic context of Oxford, many challenges remain, including the decline of French and modern languages as a choice for A levels and economic uncertainty.

OUR OBJECTIVES

We aim to teach French for all ages and abilities to the best standards, as well as organise cultural events which facilitate access to French language and intercultural dialogue.

We aim to reach out to schools & educational institutions to help promote French teaching in schools in the Oxfordshire area, in particular through the A Level scholarship initiative, and support individual students where possible.

TEACHING ACTIVITES

We were delighted to see so many students attend the classes and benefit from the activities of the Alliance this year. For adults, motivations for learning French are mainly for personal leisure and for teenagers, support in their studies.

Customer satisfaction remains high, with 90% of customers confirming they are making progress in their French language learning.

It was a record year for number of hours of French delivered, with 11 489 hours of French taught to 395 different students with an average of 6.75 students per class.

With the success of the previous year, another French Summer Camp was offered, with activities such as plant-hunting, patisserie-making, museum treasure hunts, and sports day, all in French.

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford

the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

Again in 2023, we were able to offer 9 levels of French for adults, making us the only language centre in Oxford offering such focused tuition. Themed workshops such as “French political songs”, “Talk wine like a sommelier” and French GCSE revision workshops were offered throughout the year.

HUMAN RESOURCES

The charity employs 4 people, 3 of them French teachers. 2023 was, again, a challenging year from the human resources point of view due to the consequences of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020 and the subsequent immigration barriers to hiring language teachers. Most Alliances Françaises in the UK face a similar issue: recruiting qualified French language teachers in the UK is very challenging, with larger educational establishments monopolising the existing pool of language teachers. The Alliance Française d'Oxford became a visa licence sponsor in 2021 but Skilled Worker visas are now completely unaffordable. In order to reduce record levels of net migration, the government announced that the basic salary for sponsored skilled workers would rise to 38,700 in December 2023.

Several self-employed teachers continue to work for the Alliance Française for a few hours a week and mostly online to meet the increased demand. Private tuition demand cannot yet be met.

The association continues to put a great emphasis on the quality of the teaching by providing 9 professional developments sessions were offered to staff in 2023

Volunteers have helped the association as Community coordinators in outreach and social media, organising social and educational activities in the local community, with schools and youth groups based around the benefits of language learning. They have helped contribute content to the social media output of the charity, write content for the newsletter and the website, help produce and distribute leaflets, brochures and information about the charity’s activities. They have also helped recruit new members for the charity at events, schools, in educational establishments and online.

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

EXAMS

The centre organised French Language Diplomas “DELF” exam sessions for 27 candidates.

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

577 people participated in our 34 events, 10 of which were free. The Alliance offers a regular high-quality book club, free online conferences and workshops for adults, children and teens. Partnerships were also developed with the rest of the Alliances of the UK to offer free online conferences and a free global competition

Some highlights were visits out of Oxford for the first time with a group visit to Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, Bucks, a French Renaissance-style chateau with an extensive royal French porcelain manufactory of Sèvres collection. The other group visit was to the V&A Museum in London to see the Coco Chanel exhibition.

OUTREACH

Perhaps the most important achievement of the year was the Trustee’s A Level French Scholarship, supported by a newly formed trustee committee for this purpose. Its core aims are to build a donor community, and develop student ambassadors.

The scholarship itself has generated a lot of interest and participation since it was introduced in 2020. In 2023, 13 students in year 12 applied from 7 different schools to the scheme, 4 of which from publicly funded schools. 2 full scholarships were attributed to state school pupils. They will have been receiving free tuition since January 2024 and will do so until their A levels exams in May 2025. The Trustees were delighted to receive donations totalling £2 520, helping to fund an additional scholarship for an A level student .

GOVERNANCE

2023 saw the successful renewal of the Board of trustees. Ms Isabelle Barber was thanked for her work and Ms Caitlin Kennedy stepped up from her role as trustee to become the new Chair. Three new trustees joined the team, Louise Brimacombe, Alicia Drake and Nicholas Paladina. The board wanted to ensure a smooth handover of treasurers, so Mr. Paladina will

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford

the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

take on the role of treasurer in 2024 from Peter Anderson. New financial procedures and processes, including online banking procedures, were put in place in 2023.

Finances

Income remained steady although net income was down compared to 2022 figures due to increased payroll expenses, recruitment costs post-Brexit and general inflation. Unrestricted reserves remained steady at £63,169 providing the AFO with a buffer of about half a year’s worth of operating spend.

The financial challenges ahead include the planned increase in rent and the increase in general costs, as well as likely salary increases to compensate for higher cost of living demands. Given the premises limitation on our potential to increase the volume of students in classes, the charity’s strategy is to increase revenue by introducing a price increase in private tuition packages, which is less sensitive to price increase than group tuition, while maintaining group tuition at an affordable price for most students.

The charity is in a position to meet its forward obligations in the event of any significant market disruption, with the reserves account at £40 683 at December 31[st] , 2023. The charity remains in a good financial position.

OBJECTIVES

Three core objectives for the next three years are the following:

1) Improve stewardship of past, current, and prospective learners to ensure retention and loyalty.
2) Increase income by diversifying the offer and increase private tuition fees to meet increased cost but maintaining group tuition at an affordable price for most students
3) Expand the AFO’s cultural programme, including celebrating the 10-year anniversary with a festival and partnerships.

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford

the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The charity trustees are responsible for preparing a trustees' annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, of the Charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the applicable Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures that must be disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the CIO will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the applicable Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations, and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Charity and financial information included on the Charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.

We are the Alliance française d'Oxford the charity whose mission is to promote French language and culture in Oxford

30 Polstead Rd, 1[st] Floor, Oxford, OX2 6TN

www.af-oxford.org

Charity Registration No. 1163206

ALLIANCE FRANGAISE D'OXFORD INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023 l pOrtIO thetrustees on my examination of the financial statements ofAlliance Franpise d'oxford Ilhe charity,) for the year ended 31 December 2023. Rgspon$ibiliti•s and basis of report As the trustee of the charty you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 1.the A¢l'l. I report in respect of my examination of the charity's financial statements 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 14515){bl of the Act. Independent examlnerfs stst•ment I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matter5 have come to my attention in connectr'on with Ihe examination giving Th cause to believe that in any material respect.. aceounb'ng words were not kept in respect of the ¢harity as required by section 130 of the Act.. or the finan¢ial statements do not accord wilh those re¢ords,' or the financial statements do nol comply with the applirable requirements conceming the form and content of accounts sel out in the Charitses (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fairf view which 15 not a matter Gon5idered as part of an independent exarninalion. I have no concems 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. A Churchill Stone FCA DChA Mercer Lewin Ltd Chartered A¢untants New Barclay House 234 Botley Road Oxford OX13HA 7m March 2024

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Alliance franfja15e doxford 1163206 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forth8 period from 0110112023 3111212023 Section A Receipts and payments Unre5trirtpd funds tothe raresl Restrlcted funds Endowment funds tothp rwafOSt £ Total funds Last year to Ihe nearest £ to ts Narest É to the rnar•Jt È A1 Rècei ts SALES INu01 CH4fdTABLE ACMVIIIES 197.240 197,240 187,013 8ANK IFttEREST RECEIVED Grant Fr9nch GDV8mQtn8nt tbnalion- A Lev81 Studies 1.67 100 1.670 10D 2.88$ 1,200 Sub totalfGross income forAR) 197.83S 1.770 199,805 201.152 A2 Asset and Invèstment sales, see table . Sub total Totalre¢oiPts 197,835 1.770 199.605 201.152 A3Pa mènts COST OF SALES EMPLOYEE PAYROLL REWAL EXPEEs %IVE8SITE AND IT COSTS TR4VEL 37.299 118.3eo 23,519 1,300 38,59 118.380 51,285 92,690 20,990 2,864 3.952 1.059 ADvERSING PAYROLL SERVICESI LEGAL. PROFESSIONAL AND OTFER SERVICES 1140 4.5TB MEALS ENTERTAIWENT AND STAFF GIFrs 1,426 OFFICE GENERAL ADMINISTPAMVE EXPENSES PRINTITr, PHOTQ(X>PIER, POSTAGE AM) STAMONARY OTHER Office refurb15hn1 o¥pen$e$ Brèxit spon¥¢r#hip IlcÈrtsè and Visa 1,537 1.347 1,537 1.387 1,347 COVID rala1 èxpfrnsfrs Sub total 20D.a2 201,$9Z 186,B35 A4 Asset and investment puhase$. (see lablel Audlvlsual equlpment furnlture IT and otherfurnltu 1.670 1,670 609 Sub total 60 2.279 945 Totalpayments 200.901 2.970 203,871 197.779 Net of re¢elpts/(paymènts) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end 3.066 1.200 4,266 3,372 66,235 63,169 1,200 67,435 63,169 64,063 67.435 c&46thfyrf14iwar end

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period urect0d funds RÈstrietèd funds Endowrnent funds to nfrartst £ Categories Details to noarost£ r•1 £ B1 Cash funds Barl( . r1eTht A¢ctyJnt 19,0 Bar- resee6 Account Pty thsh 18 UrKlèpositèd paynpntsl 2.773 Total cash lunds 63.169 Unr•$trictqd funds to rarest t RoStrl¢t•d funds Endowrn•nt fund$ to n•ar•st £ Details FLd to wmrh aM•t b19$ Cwrent valup lopti(all Detailg Rmdto wNth a•t bplong> Lknre5trtGlod Cwrer•l valu• lopllwall Details ALDIOVISUAL EQUIPEMEr Cost (oFall B4 Assets rotsined tho charlty's own use 9,749 FUFIMTURE LknreGlrfcled 7,154 ITd crther Lk*gstrfGIBd 2,171 120 lo wN¢h lialIty rela1¢8 Arnount Details 85 Liablllti?s Sunpd by one Ort Irustoes on b8haWof 81 Ihe tru$1Èè8 SbJnature Prlit Name D8te of hpproval CCXX R2 8CfA)Ullts ISSI Nicholas PAladina