2021-08-31-accounts - Greek School Of St. Nicholas Liverpool

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ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΟ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΙΚΟ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΗΣ ΘΥΑΤΕΙΡΩΝ & ΜΕΓ. ΒΡΕΤΑΝΙΑΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ & ΚΥΠΡΙΑΚΗ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΙΚΗ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΑΡΟΙΚΙΑΚΟ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟ AΓ. ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΥ ΛΙΒΕΡΠΟΥΛ GREEK SCHOOL OF ST. NICHOLAS LIVERPOOL

Aims

The aim of the Greek School of St. Nicholas Liverpool is to strengthen the community by bringing children and adults together to teach them the Greek language, traditions, customs and Greek Orthodox faith.

Objectives

The objects of the Greek School of St. Nicholas Liverpool are:

1) to advance education of the public, particularly but not exclusively among the Greek people in the United Kingdom, concerning Greek culture, traditions, language and history
2) to advance education by operating, supporting, expanding and developing a Greek orthodox school and in particular that known as the Greek School of St. Nicholas Liverpool
3) to advance religion in accordance with the Greek orthodox faith.

Activities

The Greek school of St. Nicholas was established in the middle of 1960’s by parents / members of the Greek and Greek-Cypriot community of Merseyside and North Wales as part of the group of schools of the Central Educational Council of Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Their vision was to establish an educational setting that will help their children to learn the Greek language and maintain their heritage. Its name illustrates the fact that the school is an integral part of the Greek Community of Liverpool, Merseyside and North Wales.

The school changed various forms and locations and since September 2021 it takes place on Saturdays during term time at Childwall Sport Academy, Queens Drive, Liverpool, which is our main location. Classes are also available in Chester. In all our locations we hire classes and facilities from third parties.

The locations are:

LIVERPOOL: Childwall Sports and Science Academy Fiveways, Queens Dr, Liverpool L15 6XZ

CHESTER : The Unity Centre,17 Cuppin St, Chester CH1 2BN

The school is officially a member of the Liverpool supplementary schools network and the National Resource Centre of Supplementary Education. It is recognised and supported by the Greek and Cypriot Ministry of Education that set the curriculum. This is tailored to the students that learn Greek as a second language (in a ‘parikiako’ school) while they attend a full time English school and it is not an exact match of the full-time educational system in Greece or Cyprus.

It accepts school age children mainly of Greek and Greek Cypriot origin. However, children of any other background with an interest in Greek language and culture, as well as adults are welcome to join.

We provide classes from Reception to GCSE and A-level, for children from 5 to 18 years old, and adult’s Greek language classes. We are proud to represent over 84 students and 23 adults that currently attend the school.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to July 2021 the school managed to convert most of his classes to online lessons and successfully carried on the teaching activities regardless the lock down. During the academic year 2021-2022 we returned all our children classes in the classrooms and 2 adults groups while we maintained some adult groups at online lessons.

Administration & Teaching

The school is part of the Central Educational Council (Κεντρικό Εκπαιδευτικό Συμβούλιο – ΚΕΣ) of Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain group of schools (http://www.kes.education/).

The school is a non-profit organisation and since April 2016 has been registered with the UK Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

It is managed by unpaid committee members as described by the rules of school committees and our constitution. Three members are pupils’ parents elected by the pupils’ parents, while the rest are members of the Greek Church of St. Nicholas committees and members of the Greek Community with an interest in educational matters assigned by ΚΕΣ. The head teacher and the local priest of the St. Nicholas church of Liverpool are honorary members of the committee.

The main body of the committee is composed of the Chairman, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The above members are elected directly from the school committee members.

The teaching staff currently consists of (6) teachers and (1) teaching assistant. 4 of them are paid directly by the Greek School mainly for the Saturday classes while one staff member is sponsored and paid by the Cypriot Ministry of Education and one member is sponsored and paid by the Greek Ministry of Education. The Cypriot and the Greek Ministry of Education and the Archdiocese support the school with books and educational material.

The current committee consist of:

Trustees

Chairman - Panagiotis Maropakis

Treasurer – Olga Bakatsi-Cooke

Secretary – Anna Katsara

Member – Theoulla Haralambous

(Representative of the church benevolent committee)

Members (not trustees)

Member – Father Stavros Kasinos

(Priest of St. Nicholas Church Liverpool)

Member – Mrs Katerina Patera

(Cypriot Educational Mission head-teacher)

Accreditation & Partners

Our school follows the laws, rules and guidelines as set by the UK Government, the Local Educational Authority, ΚΕΣ and the Education Ministries of Greece and Cyprus.

We are members of:

Central Educational Council of Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain,
Liverpool City Council Supplementary Schools Network
National Resource Centre of Supplementary Schools

At the start of the 2015 academic year, we achieved the Bronze Award of the National Resource Centre Quality Framework scheme, while in April 2016 we succeeded in the Silver Award and in August 2017 the Gold Award. This is a UK wide recognised accreditation and shows that in addition to the basic policies and procedures, the supplementary school provides a well-organised learning environment with straightforward teaching, record keeping and resources that support children’s and young people’s achievement and raise their self-esteem.

Policies & Procedures

The school maintain and updates the following policies and procedures, and they are available on request:

Description of supplementary school Statement of aims
List of Management Committee
Home – School Agreement
Equal opportunities statement
List of staff and volunteers
Staffing and volunteer policy
Child protection policy
Safeguarding policy statement
DBS checks
Health and safety policy
Offsite procedure
Complaints procedure
Registration form for children

Registers of attendance
Financial rules
Certificate of Public and Employers Liability Insurance
E-Safety Policy
Privacy Policy
Zero Tolerance Policy

Planning / Evaluation

The Education Offices of Greek and Cypriot Embassies in London set the goals and objectives for each age group/level and a standardised approach in documents / templates and procedures for scheme of work, lessons planning, and evaluation is followed. Our students participate in GCSE and ‘A’ Level exams in Modern Greek language as well as ‘Elinomatheia’ (Learn Greek) exams run by a Greek organisation that lead to a recognised qualification in Greece. There are also visits for support and evaluation from the responsible persons in the Education Offices of the embassies and the mentor from National Resource Centre of Supplementary Education (NRCSE). The school also runs classroom observations and peer-to-peer observations and the parents receive an update on pupils’ progress from teachers twice a year at he first term and near the end of the academic year.

Training

The Greek school of St. Nicholas Liverpool organised and supported teachers to attend training/seminars run by local training providers and the education offices as well as working in registering teachers with an education on-line training service provider.

Community events and activities

This year the Greek school of St. Nicholas organised and run the following events:

Greek School Christmas celebration / arts workshop
‘28[th] October’ celebrations
Greece/Cyprus Independence Day celebrations at Greek church
‘Καθαρή Δευτέρα’ / Clean Monday celebrations (κούλουμα-χαρταετός)
Easter celebrations

Goals and Targets

At the beginning of the academic year the below goals and targets were set:

❑ Post-pandemic smooth transition back to the classroom for the students and focus on their educational, emotional and general welfare needs - On going
❑ Relocate school to Childwall Sports Academy school classrooms – Completed
❑ Expand ‘Ellinomatheia’ program and ‘KLIK’ books in most classes – Completed
❑ Maintain allocated hours from the education office of the Cypriot embassy – Completed
❑ Organise and run adult classes in Greek Language in classroom – Completed
❑ Organise and run online adult classes in Greek Language – Completed
❑ Maintain class in Chester area – Completed
❑ Run Parents Survey – Planned for July/August 2022
❑ Maintain School website - On going
❑ Use support and opportunities from local authorities through the Supplementary Schools Network to achieve a certain level of quality standards for the provided education - On going
❑ Support continuous learning and development of the teachers through the educational office in the embassies, online training and the Supplementary Schools Network - On going
❑ Use latest social network means (i.e., email newsletter, Facebook, twitter etc.) to communicate news and events to teachers, parents, and students - On going
❑ Investigate opportunities for funding from local authorities through the Supplementary school’s network – 4 funding applications submitted
❑ Maintain and develop activities for fundraising - No progress this year
❑ Develop parents’ activities - No progress this year

Challenges

Building / facilities
Recruitment of skilled/experienced teachers that meet school requirements - (Negative effect of Brexit)
Increasing the members of the school committee / trustees
Small size community school but with all requirements, challenges and difficulties of an English state school

Finances

The Greek School of St. Nicholas relies on a minimum contribution towards the lessons paid by the parents, donations, and fundraising events/activities. Overall, the year finished with a surplus due to the fee from the adults’ classes. The overall financial results for the 2020-2021 have been submitted to the Charity Commission website.

Greek School of St. Nicholas

Financial accounts overview 2020-2021

All Branches

Income Liverpool Fees £7,595.00 Chester Fees £600.00 Fundraising Grants £473.00 Donations £15.28 TOTAL £8,683.28 Adults Income Fees £4,979.00 Fundraising TOTAL £4,979.00 Overall Income £13,662.28	Expenses Liverpool Teachers £3,870.00 Chester Teachers £0.00 Liverpool Rent £1,620.00 Chester Rent £60.00 Miscellaneous £1,874.93 TOTAL £7,424.93 Year End £1,258.35 Expenses Teachers £1,740.00 Rent £0.00 Miscellaneous £0.00 TOTAL £1,740.00 Year End £3,239.00 Expenses £9,164.93	Expenses Liverpool Teachers £3,870.00 Chester Teachers £0.00 Liverpool Rent £1,620.00 Chester Rent £60.00 Miscellaneous £1,874.93 TOTAL £7,424.93 Year End £1,258.35 Expenses Teachers £1,740.00 Rent £0.00 Miscellaneous £0.00 TOTAL £1,740.00 Year End £3,239.00 Expenses £9,164.93
	TOTAL Year End	£4,497.35