2021-07-31-accounts - Czech School Berkshire

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

Period start date Period end date 01 08 2020 31 07 2021

From

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
GABRIELA THOMAS Treasurer 16.11.2020 – 31.07.2021 Board of Trustees
2
MAGDALENA SRBKOVA Treasurer 01.08.2020 – 15.11.2020 Board of Trustees
3
JAROMIR BILEK Trustee 16.11.2020 – 31.7.2021 Board of Trustees
4
LUCIE FALLA Secretary Board of Trustees
5
PETRA WOODWARD Trustee Board of Trustees
6
ZDENKA SVOBODOVA Trustee Board of Trustees
7
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)

Yvona Kantorova

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Section B Structure, governance, and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution adopted on 23.10.2015 Type of governing document (e.g., trust deed, constitution) CIO How the charity is constituted

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

APPOINTED BY Trustee selection methods

(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.

On the 15[th] November 2020 Mrs. Magdalena Srbkova, a Trustee and a Treasurer resigned from both roles due to personal circumstances. With effect from 16[th] November 2020 Mrs. Gabriela Thomas was appointed as a new Treasurer by Board of Trustees.

On the 16[th] November 2020 Mr. Jaromir Bilek was appointed as a Trustee of Czech School Berkshire by Board of Trustees.

The charity employs 11 teachers and the Managing Director. Czech School Berkshire has approximately 30 volunteers who play a 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

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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 of the Czech Republic, 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; Securiing suitable candidates for Trustees to cover all aspects of operations, management, and administrative tasks. Above identified risks were reviewed by Trustees and procedures are being established 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

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.

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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 Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s Guidance on
public benefit and concluded 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 inThe Oakwood Centre,Headley Road, Headley
Rd, Woodley, Reading RG5 4JZ andWoodford Park Leisure Centre,
Haddon Drive, Woodley, Reading,RG5 4LY.
Classes are open to all children willing to learn Czech language
regardless of 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.
The Czech and Slovak playgroup setting is open 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 atCoronation Hall,Headley Rd, Woodley,
Reading RG5 4JB.
Our playgroup is open to anyone with children in specified age group and
operates on pay as you go system.
Our Czech tuition classes for adults are open to any adults wishing to
learn Czech as a second language. The number of students is limited by
class capacity.
In the autumn of 2020, the adults’ classes took place atWoodford Park
Leisure Centre, Haddon Drive, Woodley, Reading,RG5 4LY.
During the lockdown period in 2021 the classes continued online in order
not to disrupt the continuity of learning. Later on both students and
teachers agreed that the adult classes should only continue online in the
future.
During the reporting period there were 3 adult 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 members’ 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 is/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.
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

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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:

17 teaching Sundays for 83 pupils
17 teaching classes for 21 adult students
9 playgroups
In October 2020 we organized a Halloween trail which took place at Loddon Hall, Twyford, Berkshire. The whole event was organized in accordance with the covid rules and restrictions valid at the time of the event. It was an evening of spooky fun for all our students and their siblings.
In December 2020 we organised our traditional St Nicolas party, albeit on a lower scale than usual due to coronavirus restrictions. The whole event was organized in accordance with the covid rules and restrictions valid at the time of the event. St. Nicholas is a traditional Czech & Slovak pre-Christmas celebration. This event was attended by approximately 100 members of our community.
In June 2021 our school together with the Slovak school Skolacik organized a traditional Children’s Day celebration - an outdoor event full of fun activities for children. The event was a great success and was attended by 120 children from Czech and Slovak community.
End of school year celebration took place in July 2021. We feel it’s very important to recognize our students’ hard work throughout the whole year. Therefore, every year we treat our students to a little gift in the form of a book or similar small gift along with an achievement certificate.
At the beginning of July 2020, we organised a weekend community camping trip, which was enjoyed by 18 families. The event brought members of our community closer together. We enjoyed sitting at the campfire, singing, and chatting. Together with our children we had a chance to get to know better other families from our school.

Due to restrictions related to COVID-19 the following planned events had to be cancelled:

Playgroup sessions Autumn / Spring Term 2020
School 5[th] anniversary February 2021
Masopust celebration February 2021
Easter celebration March 2021
Brookwood cemetery Memorial Service – May 2021

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Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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.

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

policy on grant making;

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’s library is also run by volunteers.

Our Trustees appreciate 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 programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main During the reporting period our school offered 7 Czech teaching achievements of the charity classrooms for children with total number of 83 pupils and 3 teaching during the year classrooms for adults with the total number of 21: - 17 teaching Sundays for 83 pupils - 17 teaching classes for 21 adult students - 9 playgroups By the end of July 2021, the charity employed 11 teachers and a 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 COVID-19 pandemic 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. Last but not least, our charity started a successful co-operation with Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. A university student joined the charity as an internship student through Erasmus programme and spent 4 months at our school teaching one of school’s younger classes as well as helping with general administration.

Section E Financial review

Although Trustees did not establish an official policy on reserves during Brief statement of the this period, they considered it crucial to set aside enough funds to cover charity’s policy on reserves the cost of at least one school term for all school operations. Details of any funds materially n/a in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

The charity activities for reporting period were mainly funded from tuition
You may choose to include fees collected from its students with small contribution from fundraising
additional information, where activities & small donations.
relevant about:  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 Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the following projects: Czech
supported the key objectives & Slovak Playgroup, Halloween celebration, St. Nicolas Celebration,
of the charity; Children’s Day celebration, Family Camping, End of Year Celebration
investment policy and and our project of children’s Czech library.

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objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Czech Ministry of Education supported our organisation with a grant for our school section.

Section F Other optional information

Future plans:

The Trustees intend to continue with their current strategy 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 another classroom for children aged 4 – 5 years who are starting a Reception class in September 2022, bringing the total number of classrooms to 10.

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 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 continue its co-operation with Universities across the Czech Republic to attract Czech university students to join the charity as internship students through a new internship programme replacing Erasmus+ programme (Since Brexit, which came into force on 31st of December 2020, the UK will no longer be participating in Erasmus+. From September 2021, the UK is replacing Erasmus+ with the Turing scheme, named after English mathematician, Alan Turing).

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Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.