Hope Opportunity Trust Annual Report and Financial Statement Charity Number: 1164043 01 05 22 to 30 04 23
Contents
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Overview
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Our values and how we work.
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Impact
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Charity structure, status & governance
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Some highlights from 2020 21
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Audit Certificate
1. Overview
HOT is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose mission is to change lives and transform the opportunities available for young people who have extraordinary talent and potential. Our students are young people who have been denied advantage and opportunity but have risen to life’s challenges in a unique and inspiring way.
We are offering students fully funded bursary places at some of the finest schools in the UK. These bursaries are funded by the Royal National Springboard Children’s Foundation (RNCSF)and some direct funding from the receiving/host schools. We are proud to be in partnership with the RNCSF and since 2013 this has realised over £10M of bursary place investment for over one hundred and twenty students with minimal operating costs.
Too many lives are blighted by disadvantage and too much potential is squandered through restricted access to opportunity and education. Every thwarted ambition and every unfulfilled talent diminishes and impoverishes our communities.
Our aims are clear and practicable, but their impacts can be incalculable. Our outputs are transformed lives: nurturing young citizens who will not only reach their potential but who are also enthusiastic about giving back to their communities and wider society.
‘The most significant impact of the bursary is that it has broadened my viewpoint of my future and the world. I was able to challenge myself amongst some of the brightest students in the country- something that the competitive part of me loved and continues to build on. My world has extended, and I have built a network of people I would never have met without the bursary. I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity and what it has enabled me to do for my community.’ - A HOT student
2. Our values and how we work
Collaboration
In meeting our formal objectives, we balance our responsibilities to our students, our school partners, and our communities, by working with state schools in a focused and supportive partnership, helping the whole school and its local community to raise aspirations and achievement.
Creating Opportunity
The student, their family and community are our most important considerations, and we do whatever is in their best interests to nurture talent that might otherwise be lost to society. We are not motivated by politics or ideology, but we were mindful of the history associated with boarding school education and the perceived culture of privilege. The chance to challenge and change that culture has been fully vindicated. We are also mindful of the obstacles and barriers that impact on the outcomes for young people who live and are educated in areas of high social disadvantage. Our programme prepares the students to overcome those barriers to ensure that our young people reach their true potential. It is the case that both the sending and receiving communities benefit from this initiative.
Making a Difference
It is the positive impacts we have witnessed and the personal stories of our students that drive us forward and inspire HOT to continue its mission.
‘As a parent, I cannot believe the opportunity that my daughter has been given and she has seized it with both hands. Through this programme, she was guided and supported to achieve amazing A Level results and a first-class degree. She is now forging a career and has a network of friends and colleagues that she would never have met without this opportunity.
As a family, this programme has changed us too. Anything is possible with hard work and the right direction. This has been life-changing for us all. ‘
'We, as a family, are extremely happy that Roya has been given such an amazing opportunity. This bursary has shown both Roya and her siblings that hard work does not go to waste, and is rewarded. Roya’s siblings are inspired, and they are hoping that in the future they may be able to get similar opportunities. This scheme has also helped Roya to keep up her hard work and her good grades as she sees that it is paying off and that she is getting a rewarding feeling from it.' – A Parent
How we work
HOT works through close collaborative partnerships with the Royal National Springboard Foundation, state schools, boarding schools, students, and their families.
The bursary students are identified in the four HOT Member schools by their teachers and Heads according to strict and consistent criteria of income, challenging family circumstances and the potential benefit to that student of a fully funded boarding experience. More than one hundred students have seized these opportunities.
We were the first charity in the country to work with state schools in this way, and all our partner schools provide testimony to the positive impact of their collaboration with HOT. Due to the impressive resilience of the students and consistent, personalised support from the HOT team, only two have withdrawn from a place since 2013. The profile of our students demonstrates our commitment to equality, equity, and access to the bursary programme irrespective of gender and ethnicity.
3. Impact
The most powerful testimony on behalf of our work is the stories of our students. Their words and achievements, and their lived experience can be more eloquent than mission statements or measurable outputs. They validate our fundamental conviction, that by radically changing prospects and opportunities for individuals, we can begin to deliver positive social change in ways we could never have predicted or imagined.
We have many stories to give but here are just two comments taken from much more detailed assessments by the students of their experience to indicate the impact.
From Marcel’s story
"The programme has shown me that life is a box of opportunities, and anything is possible with hard work and self-belief.’
From Amber’s story
"I cannot believe what happened to me. I am following a path that I didn’t know existed,’
4. Charity structure, status & governance
HOT is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This legal entity is specific to the charity sector and ensures that HOT follows all charity rules and regulations and is ‘safe’ to invest in.
Our objective is “the advancement of education for students from existing and emerging socially and economically deprived communities by providing ongoing support and bursaries to enable access to further education.”
History
The founding idea came from the CEO of a Cheshire-based housing association who saw no reason talented students from estates labelled as “disadvantaged” would not flourish if given access to schools such as Rugby, Cheltenham Ladies College, and Eton.
Working with the CEO of Urban Hope and the then Head of Blacon High School Chester, the Hope Opportunity Trust Charitable Incorporated Organisation (HOT)
was launched at a partnership event held at Windsor Castle on 31st October 2012 with an aspiration to send at least one student to Eton College.
In 2013 two students from Liverpool attended Eton 6th form and since that time over one hundred students from five HOT Member schools in Merseyside have benefited from a boarding education in one of twenty-two schools throughout the UK.
Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation
In addition to established working relationships with the current four member schools and the increasing numbers of boarding schools, HOT is proud to have a longstanding partnership with the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation (RNCSF) www. royalspringboard.org.uk. Both organisations were founded around the same time and have enjoyed a fruitful and close relationship, enabling over one hundred and twenty young people so far to benefit from a two-year sixth-form boarding experience.
The HOT Team
HOT is a small team that has a unique range of skills and experiences, providing the knowledge, expertise, and networks to reach deep into northern communities and build relationships to ensure that the bursary programme delivers a positive ‘ripple’ effect into the wider community, that is evidenced through the outcome our joint working in Blacon, Cheshire and across Merseyside.
Trustees - Volunteers
Dr Martin Carey - Chair of Trustees:
The current lead on the regeneration of Everton on behalf of Everton FC.
John Denny – CEO and Trustee
Consultant & CEO of the Anthony Walker Foundation. City of Liverpool College Board member and Chair of Audit.
Sue Yates – Director of Operations and Trustee
The former head of Blacon High School, the founding school for the HOT initiative in the North West.
David Owen- Trustee
Barrister 1984-2013. Consultant, Trainer, and Independent Investigator since 2011.
Colette Wilkinson- trustee
The first project manager for HOT.
Colleagues
Sue Tedford, Project Manager – Part Time
Robin Oldman, Project Manager- Part Time Clare Hamm, Finance Manager – Part-time
5. Some highlights from 2022 23
In 2022-2023, the financial contribution made by Springboard to HOT along with the membership contributions from our member schools for the financial year has enabled the Hope Opportunity Trust (CIO) to continue:
Supporting Students:
HOT has supported fifty students from Years 12 and 13 / and students moving from Year 13 into university places or gap years. In addition, we support Year 10 / 11 students who are preparing to apply for places, and this is usually about twenty students.
In years 10 and 11, the support covers, one-to-one mentoring, group sessions on pertinent topics, guidance on securing grades, preparation for interviews, liaison with key personnel in boarding schools, accompanying students on visits and exam preparation and revision. Our programme managers have devised and delivered a planned programme in schools to support and build the confidence of our potential bursary students.
In the last year, seventeen students have secured bursary places.
In Years 12/ 13, the support includes mentoring from a student who was previously on the bursary programme. The programme rests on three weekly meetings focused on a carefully crafted personal development plan. The mentors and mentees are trained and receive ongoing help and guidance. They also provide feedback which has informed changes and amendments that we have made to our mentoring programme.
In the last year, sixteen students have been mentored through this programme and eleven students have been trained to begin mentoring next year.
In addition, our programme managers contribute to the work to support students, identified through the STEER process.
Our alumni are also supported. We maintain a directory of our alumni and make direct contact each year to maintain our links and to ensure that the profiles of our students are maintained and accurate. This year, we have linked with seventy alumni and added their progress to our directory.
Supporting parents/ carers and families
We offer a planned programme of support and guidance for our parents/ carers. This year, Sue Tedford has led this, one of our programme managers. Sue has delivered sessions on relevant topics but also has led a parents’ What’s App group. This has been very actively used and has supported parents/ carers with any questions or issues they have experienced. It has also been a vehicle for celebrating achievements and building resilience and confidence.
Our programme managers are the link between students, parents, and boarding schools. They provide uniform and financial information from the boarding schools to parents and with boarding schools arrange travel at exeats and half terms for example, as well as providing support as and when appropriate to students and parents. The impact of this aspect of the programme facilitates the transition of the student from home state school to the boarding environment. It also builds bridges between the student, parent/carers, and the boarding school to improve the likelihood of a more successful bursary for all involved.
Supporting our schools
This year, Sue Tedford and Robin Oldman continued to strengthen the role of the in-school coordinators of our member schools. They ensure that good practice is shared across our family of schools and from this, they continue to craft a process that will ensure that all schools have a strong and efficient equitable method of identifying and supporting potential bursary students.
Operational restructure
Last year, our funding and internal restructure enabled HOT to extend our staffing to have two programme managers and to secure a leadership structure in the charity that has enabled us to action our future development plan and build greater financial independence. This will ensure that our students, families, and their communities are supported more directly, and this will extend the impact of our work even further.
John
John Denny
CEO and Trustee
6. Audit Certificate
As a CIO HOT has a gross income above £25K but below £500K therefore only requiring an independent examination, the certificate for which is given below.
The reserves policy of HOT is to hold sufficient cash in the bank to ensure that all responsibilities to our students and partners can be fulfilled for two years, should the trustees of HOT find it necessary to cease operations.
Further financial details are available upon request.
Contact:
John Denny CEO at, john.denny2013@gmail.com
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