2020-07-31-accounts - Czech School Berkshire

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**Trustees' Annual Report for the peri*od**

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Period start date Period end date
01 08 2019 31 07 2020
From To
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Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name CZECH SCHOOL BERKSHIRE

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1167861

Charity's principal address 12 STONEY ROAD

BRACKNELL

Postcode RG42 1XX

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

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Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled
Trustee name Office (if any)
year to appoint trustee (if any)
GABRIELA THOMAS Chairman Board of Trustees
1
MAGDALENA SRBKOVA Treasurer Board of Trustees
2
LUCIE FALLA Secretary Board of Trustees
3
PETRA WOODWARD Trustee Board of Trustees
4
ZDENKA SVOBODOVA Trustee Board of Trustees
5
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name Dates acted if not for whole year
n/a
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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

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Type of adviser Name Address
n/a
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Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

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Section B Structure, governance, and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution adopted on 23.10.2015

(e.g., trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

CIO

(e.g., trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

APPOINTED BY

(e.g., appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees.
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Our charity has currently 5 Trustees who are responsible for the overall management and control of the charity. The Trustees work closely with its Managing Director, teachers, assistants, and volunteers.

The charity employs 11 teachers and the Managing Director. Czech School Berkshire has approximately 30 volunteers who play very important role in our charity. Volunteers contribute greatly during our school operations and cultural events. All employed teachers, Trustees, Managing Director, and volunteers are subject to DBS checks where required/appropriate prior their involvement in our charity. Our charity uses services of an accounting & payroll company and a DBS check agency.

New Trustees are appointed in accordance with the charity’s governing document by ordinary resolution if the person is willing to act as a Trustee. New Trustees are appointed at our regular trustee’s meetings. New Trustees are welcome to join our charity at any time through the year. As Trustees are involved in all school’s operations and planning of additional events they meet regularly, at least once per 2 months during academic year. Urgent matters are dealt with by email.

The charity has adopted the following policies that are reviewed on a yearly basis:

Child Protection Policy Health and Safety Policy Volunteers Policy Equality and Diversity Policy GDPR privacy policy

Our charity cooperates with other Czech and Slovak schools in United Kingdom and is a member of Association of Czech and Slovak Schools in UK. Our school also closely cooperates with Czech Embassy in London, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Czech Republic.

The Trustees identified major risks to our school as follows: dependency on a set of 3 rental premises which are located very close to each other and where our school operations take place, cost of rental, possible future influence of Brexit on a number of pupils, departure of senior teachers, successful securing of qualified teaching members of staff, sufficient number of Trustees to cover all aspects of operations, management, and administrative tasks. Above identified risks were reviewed by Trustees and

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procedures are being established in order to manage the risks.

Managing Director’s responsibilities include mainly the overall management and supervision of the school’s operations, administration of all sections of the organisation, leadership and supervision of all employed staff and volunteers. The Managing Director participates in strategic planning with Trustee’s Board & implementation of agreed plans, attends and reports to Trustee’s Board as required.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)	The main purpose of Czech School Berkshire is to advance education for the public benefit in the language, history, geography, culture, and heritage of the Czech Republic.
	The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s Guidance on public benefit and consider that they fulfilled their duties in the light of that guidance. Czech School Berkshire was established on 23.10.2015. Our school opened its doors for enrolment on the 24.01.2016. Our first teaching day & playgroup was on 07.02.2016 Official Charity registration status was received on 27.06.2016 Our charity offers following: - Czech & Slovak Sunday Preschool playgroup for children from 0- 4 years old and their parents. - Czech Sunday school for children 4-15 years old - Czech Sunday tuition classes for adults - Czech & Slovak cultural events through the year - Czech children’s library Our teaching classes take place on Sundays, usually twice per month for 2 hours. Classes take place in The Oakwood Centre,Headley Road, Headley Rd, Woodley, Reading RG5 4JZ. Classes are opened to all children willing to learn Czech language regardless their level. Children need to be enrolled for the classes and classes schedule operates on school terms basis, the number of students is limited by classes’ capacity. During the reporting period there were 6 children’s classrooms available. The Czech and Slovak playgroup setting is opened for children from birth to 4-year-olds and their parents/carers. The playgroup is running at the same time as teaching classes. The playgroup takes place at Coronation Hall,Headley Rd, Woodley, Reading RG5 4JB. Playgroup is opened to anyone with children in specified age group and

Summary of the objects of the
charity set out in its
governing document
Summary of the main
activities undertaken for the
public benefit in relation to
these objects (include within
this section the statutory
declaration that trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit)

The main purpose of Czech School Berkshire is to advance education for
the public benefit in the language, history, geography, culture, and
heritage of the Czech Republic.

The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s Guidance on
public benefit and consider that they fulfilled their duties in the light of that
guidance.
Czech School Berkshire was established on 23.10.2015.
Our school opened its doors for enrolment on the 24.01.2016.
Our first teaching day & playgroup was on 07.02.2016
Official Charity registration status was received on 27.06.2016
Our charity offers following:
-
Czech & Slovak Sunday Preschool playgroup for children from 0-
4 years old and their parents.
-
Czech Sunday school for children 4-15 years old
-
Czech Sunday tuition classes for adults
-
Czech & Slovak cultural events through the year
-
Czech children’s library
Our teaching classes take place on Sundays, usually twice per month for
2 hours.
Classes take place in The Oakwood Centre,Headley Road, Headley Rd,
Woodley, Reading RG5 4JZ.
Classes are opened to all children willing to learn Czech language
regardless their level. Children need to be enrolled for the classes and
classes schedule operates on school terms basis, the number of students
is limited by classes’ capacity. During the reporting period there were 6
children’s classrooms available.
The Czech and Slovak playgroup setting is opened for children from birth
to 4-year-olds and their parents/carers.
The playgroup is running at the same time as teaching classes.
The playgroup takes place at Coronation Hall,Headley Rd, Woodley,
Reading RG5 4JB.
Playgroup is opened to anyone with children in specified age group and

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operates on pay as you go system.

Our Czech tuition classes for adults are opened to any adults wishing to learn Czech as a second language. The number of students is limited by class capacity.

The adult’s classes take place in The Oakwood Centre, Headley Road, Headley Rd, Woodley, Reading RG5 4JZ and, also in Woodford Park Leisure Centre, Haddon Dr, Woodley, Reading RG5 4LY. During the reporting period there were 3 classes available offering range of levels from complete beginners to advanced level.

All our classes are closely connected and are designed to be available at the same time to suit all family member’s needs and very often involve participation of all members of individual families. Older children are studying in our children’s classes, while younger sibling/s are with one or both parents in the playgroup setting or alternatively one of the parents is involved as a volunteer at school or playgroup setting during its duration, or the non-Czech speaking family member (husband or wife) attends the Czech tuition adult’s classes.

We believe that attendance of Czech School Berkshire leads to strengthening of children’s bilingual abilities and promotes awareness of their Czech background and roots, which in future might be important for their relationship with their families and the Czech Republic as a country. Czech School Berkshire offers families support in teaching children or adults Czech language as a first/second language by providing them with the environment where Czech language can be used, promoted and learnt.

The school also provides other culturally rich activities & national celebrations throughout its academic year, as these events provide students and other members of the community with many opportunities to understand the fundamentals of the Czech Republic’s history, geography, and ethnic lifestyle.

Summary of activities organized during reporting period:

11 teaching Sundays for 78 pupils
12 online teaching Sundays for 64 pupils
11 teaching classes for 21 adult students
12 online teaching classes for 21 adult students
11 playgroups
In November 2019 we coordinated another attendance of Czech and Slovak families from our community at the Memorial Service in Brookwood (which takes place 2 x per year) marking the end of the World War I. in Europe. Children from our school and wider community performed Czech songs during the service. They also made a beautiful piece of art (a large picture with planes and poppies) to mark the occasion. For that they were awarded the 1[st] prize in an art competition.
In November 2019 a Czech theatre company Viola visited our school as part of their UK tour. In our school theatre they performed 2 plays in Czech language – an afternoon one for children audience and an evening on efor adults. The event was a great success.
In December 2019, together with Slovak school Skolacik in

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Bracknell, we organised our traditional St Nicolas party, which is a traditional Czech & Slovak pre-Christmas celebration. This event was attended by approximately 400 members of our community.

In February 2020 we celebrated our 4th school anniversary with all our students, parents, volunteers, staff, and members of our community. Children at school and playgroup received small presents and celebrated the occasion with a cake.

Due to coronavirus crisis the following planned events had to be cancelled:

Easter celebration April 2020
Visit from Czech theatre company (Mr. Jiri Labus)
o Brookwood cemetery Memorial Service – May 2020 o Children’s day celebration – sports day – June 2020 o End of school year celebration – July 2020 o Family camping event – July 2020

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

Our volunteers form a very important part of our charity. During the reporting period we had approximately 30 volunteers, who contributed to running of all parts of our charity. Our playgroup setting is entirely managed by volunteers. Volunteers also carry out an important role of teaching assistants in the individual classes. Volunteers support our teaching staff in the reception area and supervise safety of our students in the rented premises. Our children library is also run by volunteers. Our Trustees are confident to say that without support and huge contribution of our volunteers we would not be able to organize any of our cultural events which are attended by large volume of people.

policy on grant making;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main During the reporting period our school offered 6 Czech teaching achievements of the charity classrooms for children with total number of 78 pupils: during the year - 11 teaching Sundays for 78 pupils - 12 online teaching Sundays for 64 pupils - 11 teaching classes for 21 adult students - 12 online teaching classes for 21 adult students - 11 playgroups - our Czech & Slovak playgroup setting was visited by 20 to 30 families on average. By the end of July 2020, the charity employed 11 teachers and the Managing Director.

Trustees believe that through the devotion and energy of all Trustees, Managing Director, teachers, volunteers, students, and their parents, together we managed to establish a well working team. Many students made progress in their learning and continue to strengthen their relationship with the community.

Trustees are especially proud to have been able to continue the teaching during the coronavirus crisis in spring & summer 2020 online via Microsoft Teams. The school management & teachers quickly and effectively aimed all their skills and resources at online teaching. Due to common effort the school successfully managed to provide its services to pupils and adult students during the part of spring term 2020 & summer term 2020.

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Although Trustees did not establish an official policy on reserves during this period, they considered it crucial to set aside enough funds to cover at least one term cost for all school operations.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

n/a

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

The charity activities for reporting period were mainly funded from tuition fees collected from its students with small contribution from fundraising activities & small donations.

the charity’s principal During this reporting period our organisation received restricted grants sources of funds (including from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education of Czech any fundraising); Republic.
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported our project of Czech & supported the key objectives Slovak Playgroup, St. Nicolas Celebration, visit of Czech theatre of the charity; company Viola, Brookwood cemetery memorial service and our project of  investment policy and children’s Czech library. objectives including any ethical investment policy Czech Ministry of Education supported our organisation with grant for our adopted. school section.

Section F Other optional information

Future plans

The Trustees intend to continue their current strategies to maintain and improve the quality of provided education. The teachers and Trustees would like to develop structured methods for individual classes to ensure the curriculum followed is appropriate for all students and their individual level.

The Trustees would like to open a new classroom (Veverky) for children aged 4 – 5 years who are starting a Reception class in September 2020, bringing the total number of classrooms to 7.

The Trustees will continue searching for new sources of finance to strengthen the financial position of the charity. The charity would like to attract more volunteers and teaching staff in order to offer its services to a larger volume of students and widen the areas of activities it provides for the community. Finally, the charity would like to start co-operating with Universities across the Czech Republic to attract Czech university students to join the charity as internship students through Erasmus programme.

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