Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
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Annual Report and Accounts
for the year ended 31[st] March 2024
Annual Report prepared by
Michael Bastable, Trustee Assisted by Ian Kemble, Director of Schools Work
Accounts prepared by
Claire Lim, Treasurer
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
M. Bastable
Michael Bastable - Chairman of Trustees
Date: 28/6/24
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358 Trustees Michael Bastable (Chair) Sally McMahon Christine Drew (Resigned 31 July 2023) Joan Dewhirst Jeffrey Fair Nicholas Higgs Paul Hamilton (appointed 10 May 2023) Isabel Helen Burgess (appointed 10 January 2024) Timothy Barfoot (appointed 27 March 2024) Address Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust 49 Coxtie Green Road Pilgrims Hatch Brentwood, Essex CM14 5PS Independent Examiner Nicholas Tavener Bankers Lloyds Nationwide Hampshire Trust Bank
In this report:
Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust, Charity Reference Number 1005207 is referred to as BSCWT.
Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust, Charity Reference Number 1172358 is referred to as BSCWT CIO.
This set of accounts is for BSCWT CIO.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
The Trustees have pleasure in submitting the Report and Accounts for the period ending 31 March 2024. The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's Public Benefit Guidance published in February 2014.
Objects of BSCWT CIO
BSCWT CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by its constitution. It is a Local Mission Partner of Scripture Union. We are supported by churches in the Brentwood area, 20 of whom have signed an agreement to support and have assented to the Basis of Faith of the Trust.
The Object of the CIO is, for the public benefit, to advance the Christian faith in Brentwood and other areas, in accordance with the Statement of Faith, by teaching and promoting the Christian faith in schools and other educational institutions or establishments and in such other ways as the Charity Trustees shall think fit.
Our mission is to serve school communities by providing Christian learning and support. This includes providing lessons, pastoral care, assemblies, lunch time groups and prayer spaces, and developing positive relationships with the schools and pupils we serve. We also encourage local churches to become more involved in their local schools.
Our Core Values are:
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A relational approach
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A prayerful spirit
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A servant heart.
Organisational structure and management
BSCWT CIO is administered by its Trustees, elected at Trustee meetings. We seek to be as representative of the local church community as possible. The Trustees meet bi-monthly and are responsible for the legal and financial affairs of the Trust.
During this period the following changes occurred in the Trustees. We were pleased to appoint three new Trustees, Paul Hamilton appointed May 2023, Isabel Helen Burgess in January 2024 and Timothy Barfoot in March 2024. We would wish to thank them for being willing to join the trustee team. Christine Drew resigned in July 2023, we thank Christine for her many years of dedicated service with the Trust, including a time as chair of Trustees. She will continue to be a part of the Trust in other roles.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
In line with Charity Commission guidelines the Trustees ensure that the Trust has a Reserves Policy to cover its legal liabilities should the CIO be wound up. The Trust retains an amount of £55,000 to enable the payment of wage bills based on notice periods, national insurance, pension and redundancies as well as rent and other known expenses. This requirement has been met in 2023/24.
The reserve level is reviewed periodically and was increased for 2023/24.
As stated above, the Trustees have continued to meet bi-monthly, this has mostly been by a hybrid of in person and conference calls (zoom meetings). This is largely due to one of our Trustees now being based in Norfolk making meeting in person for him difficult.
The work in schools by the Trust has continued in many areas during the year. To give a feeling for some of this work, during the Christmas period the Trust delivered 15 ‘Darkness to Light’ Christmas lessons for Years 1/2 and 17 ‘Christmas Wonder’ prayer spaces for Years 5/6 in schools. We have also presented 36 of our ‘Sadness to Joy’ and ‘Love Easter’ sessions for primary schools some in local churches. Lunchtime clubs are running in four schools and we hope to start another with the possibility of new Associate Workers. We are also continuing to lead assemblies (67 in the Spring term) in Primary, Secondary and specialist schools. The demand for pastoral support continues to increase from our local schools and we are currently supporting children in eight schools. A more detailed description of the work in schools can be found in the review of activities later in this report.
We are pleased to have the opportunity, alongside two other groups, to partner with the Chelmsford Diocese and Prayer Spaces in Schools in a project with the aims to help better understand how we can develop an ongoing practice of prayer among children and young people in schools and beyond. Under the banner of ‘Prayerfully Learning Together’ the project is looking to explore the link between school, church and household in the faith formation of children. This is an 18 month project with funding provided by Chelmsford Diocese.
While the Trust currently has a healthy level of assets it continues to run a negative operational budget with our regular payments exceeding our regular receipts. The difference is currently covered by previous legacies and a large gift from a local church that we have received in the last few years. These legacies and the large gift are held in one unrestricted fund and money transferred to the General Fund throughout the year as agreed in the budget to cover the projected deficit. The Trustees continue to regularly monitor these transfers and the depletion of this fund. In order to maintain the current level of work in future years, it will be necessary to increase our income from donations and grants.
We are very pleased to see that regular giving from individuals and churches has increased this year and was nearly £15,000 more than we had budgeted. The Trustees have therefore budgeted for a slightly higher level of regular giving from individuals and churches for 2024/25.
Office-Base
We have now been in our new accommodation at 49 Coxtie Green Road, Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood for nearly two years and have settled in well. We have made good use of the various rooms for a range of
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
activities including training events and our regular Team Prayer meeting attended by staff, volunteers and supporters. We wish to thank Trinity Church for their continued support.
Salary Pay Scales
Following a review of salaries and a benchmarking exercise as part a Strategic review in 2021/22 the Trust now mirrors the Local Government Pay scales for its staff. This has simplified and given some structure to the process and has worked very well. The Trustees currently plan to continue to use this method of setting salary pay going forward.
Staff Organisational structure
The introduction of two new posts, Lead Schools Worker and Operations Manager, were implemented in May 2023. This has worked very well and helped with the sharing out of workloads and given a structure for day-to-day reporting and leadership.
We thank all our many donors for their ongoing prayer and financial support this year.
Without your prayers and financial support, the team would not be able to carry out as large a Christian witness in the schools of Brentwood.
We also want to thank our staff for all their efforts during the period.
The Trustees would also like to thank the Associate Workers (AW) who have continued to support the Trust during this period. We are pleased that new AW’s have continued to join the team during the year. Without the support of AW’s, the Trust would not be able to deliver many of the projects that we run in so many schools.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Review of Activities
The year from 1[st] April 2023 to 31[st] March 2024 provided many fantastic opportunities for us to continue providing Christian learning and support to local school communities in the Brentwood area. We are immensely grateful to everyone who makes this work possible, including our staff team, our volunteers and all who support this ministry.
Assemblies / Collective Worship
Over the year, our team has had the privilege of leading nearly 200 assemblies in 31 schools. In primary schools and specialist schools, these assemblies have included sharing various Biblical stories from the lives of Moses and Jesus under the titles: God’s Second Greatest Rescue Plan and God’s Greatest Rescue Plan! Pupils have been invited to reflect on themes such as forgiveness, Easter, God’s love, guidance and new starts.
In secondary schools, we have given pupils the opportunity to reflect on various questions including: What does it mean to be successful?, How important is it to be loyal?, How curious are you?, How do we respond when life gets tough?, What does it mean to respect one another?, Is it ridiculous to believe in the resurrection?, How important is it to serve others?, What’s our purpose in life? and How can we cope with the stress of exams? We also had the privilege of being able to speak at a GCSE awards evening.
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“We always
look forward
to your
assemblies.”
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One teacher commented recently: “We always look forward to your assemblies – they are always good ones!”
Lessons, Projects and Prayer Spaces
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In the summer term of 2023, we were delighted to provide our It’s Your Move project to 25 local schools. The project involves taking lessons to help Year 6 pupils to prepare for their move to secondary school. As part of the lessons, and with the help of local churches providing sponsorship, we were able to give copies of Scripture Union’s It’s Your Move book to more than 850 pupils.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
During the year, we were excited to deliver our seasonal Christmas and Easter projects. In addition to helping pupils in Years 5 and 6 to explore the Biblical Christmas and Easter stories through our Christmas Wonder and Love Easter projects, we provided our Darkness to Light and Sadness to
"Sadness to Joy" Joy lessons for Years 1 and 2, also exploring Jesus’ birth and death/resurrection respectively. Through a total of 68 sessions
“The events that you have run with our children have been amazing.”
of these projects, nearly 1,000 pupils at Christmas and over 1,050 pupils at Easter were able to engage in learning about these important seasons in the Christian calendar. We are grateful to the ten churches who were involved in hosting some of these sessions. One member of school staff said about our Christmas projects: “The events that you have run with our children have been amazing. The children have loved taking part in them.” And at the end of one of our Love Easter sessions, another member of school staff commented: “The children and adults really enjoyed it – we loved how reflective it was.”
During the Spring Term 2024, we were delighted to provide six question and answer lessons to classes at a local secondary school to help them prepare for their Religious Education GCSE exams. And we have taken 40 OT/NT Mini (formerly Bible Explorer ) lessons in 5 primary schools, helping pupils to develop their understanding of the Bible.
We are encouraged that our prayer spaces work continues to develop, providing many opportunities for pupils to reflect interactively on big questions of life and faith. In the summer term of 2023, we ran our LifeSpace event for a whole day for about 200 Year 10 students, giving them opportunities to reflect on various aspects of their future. And
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"Love Easter"
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at one primary school in the autumn term, we spent two full days helping pupils to explore ideas relating to Jesus’ parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like. At a local secondary school, we also set up two ‘pop-up prayer spaces’, for one week at a time, through which students were able to engage on subjects related to the assemblies we had taken there.
In addition to all this, we launched a new outdoor prayer space venture, called Curiosity Trails , in the playground of a primary school, offering pupils opportunities to reflect on themes such as the wonderful world around us. We are also very pleased to be partnering with the Diocese of Chelmsford and Prayer Spaces in Schools in a project called Prayerfully Learning Together , which aims to equip churches to support local schools by creating chances for pupils to explore prayer and to nurture their spiritual formation in school and beyond.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Pupil support
Our team of Chaplains has been warmly welcomed in schools, as they continue to provide support and care to pupils dealing with a wide variety of challenges including family breakdown, self-harm, low self-esteem, anxiety, bereavement, friendship issues, bullying, eating disorders, body image, unsafe online behaviour, fear and more.
We have had the privilege of providing a listening ear to over 120 pupils through one-to-one sessions in 8 schools, including two specialist schools. One pupil wrote to one of our Chaplains: “You gave me stability at a time when I couldn’t predict one day to the next. I really will be eternally grateful for the support you’ve given me.”
“I really will be eternally grateful for the support you’ve given me.”
In addition, we have been able to provide three workshops on Coping with Exam Stress for selected pupils preparing for major exams and we have also been involved in a school careers fair to support pupils considering their futures.
Clubs
During the past year, we have been able to run lunchtime clubs in four schools. Our primary school clubs have included sessions focussing on people who met Jesus after the resurrection, what God is like and the life of Jesus. As well as supporting a small Christian Union group in one secondary school, we have also been running, in another secondary school, our Wonder Space club, where pupils are encouraged to engage in a variety of reflective activities on themes of life and faith.
These clubs are open to all and provide opportunities for pupils to develop spiritually and find out more about Christian faith. We continue to be on the look out for more volunteers to join us as Associate Workers so we can offer new lunchtime clubs in other schools.
And finally…
The vital work of praying for our local schools has continued in lots of different ways, not least at our weekly Team Prayer Meetings. We have also encouraged our local churches to pray for schools, including during Pray for Schools Fortnight (in May), on Back to School Sunday / Education Sunday (in September) and on Schools Work Sunday (in February). In addition, we have continued to provide video updates about our work to local churches and our termly newsletters, termly prayer calendars and weekly prayer updates provide further information to those who receive them.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Throughout the year, we have been involved in regular inter-school information-sharing meetings and we have continued to equip and support our team of staff and volunteers via termly ‘Quiet Mornings’ and training events.
We are immensely grateful to all our volunteers serving as Trustees, Associate Workers, Church Reps, Support Team members (including our Treasurer) and our Panel of Reference members. And we are hugely thankful for everyone who makes the continuation of this important work possible through their prayers and financial support. And, of course, our appreciation also goes to our devoted and hard-working staff. In September 2023, we were delighted to welcome Evie Bartlett to our staff team as our new Project Administrator.
We are also thankful for other local Christians who partner with us in serving local schools. These include Good News for Everyone , Open the Book teams, DRCC Youth and many other individual Christians, churches and groups who support schools in many different ways. We continue to be very grateful to Trinity Church for providing us with our office base.
Last, but certainly not least, we thank God for continuing to sustain and guide us and for giving us so many wonderful opportunities to serve our local schools.
Ian Kemble, Director of Schools Work
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
REPORT OF TREASURER
Basis of the accounts:
These accounts have been prepared on a “receipts and payments” basis in accordance with section 133 of the Charities Act 2011.
Financial Review:
On 15[th] March 2017 a new CIO charity was set up namely Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust Charity Reference Number 1172358. These accounts refer to this charity.
Between 1[st] April 2023 and 31[st] March 2024, a number of donations were received by BSCWT, which were transferred to BSCWT CIO bank account.
General Fund receipts for BSCWT CIO 2023/24 were £72,648 and General Fund payments were £120,528 giving a net deficit of £47,880.
An amount of £74,864 was budgeted and transferred from the Legacy and Gifts Unrestricted Fund to the General Fund to cover the deficit.
The Current Assets are held in four separate bank accounts.
Lloyds current account for day-to-day receipts and payments.
Lloyds deposit account where surpluses from the current account are transferred and earn a small interest.
Nationwide 90-day account
Hampshire Trust Bank (where the Reserves funds are kept)
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Restricted Fund
There is one Restricted Fund set up to manage donations made for specific purposes. Records are kept to confirm the money is spent on the specified purposes.
Mulberry Trust Restricted Fund
There was a small balance of £186 brought forward which was allocated against salaries during the course of the year.
Unrestricted Fund
Legacy and Gifts Unrestricted Fund
A balance of £118,283 was carried forward from 2022/2023. A gift of £50,000 was received from a local church during the year. Generous donations of £15,000 in total were made by two individuals. £74,864 was transferred to the General Fund during the year leaving a balance to be carried forward of £108,419.
Legacy and large Gift Policy
Legacies and Gifts of £5,000 and above are held within either a Restricted or Unrestricted Fund. Legacies under £5,000 are put into General Fund unless there is a restriction to their use.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
General Fund (Unrestricted)
| General Fund (Unrestricted) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| BSCWT | BSCWT | Notes to the | |
| CIO | CIO | accounts | |
| 2023/2024 | 2022/2023 | ||
| Receipts | |||
| Individuals | 34,588 | 31,547 | |
| Transfer of General Funds from BSCWT (Individuals) | 454 | 503 | |
| Churches | 23,797 | 16,277 | |
| Charitable Trusts | 3,000 | 3,000 | |
| Transfer of General Funds from BSCWT (Charitable Trusts) | 0 | 0 | |
| Other organisations | 858 | 20 | |
| Income Tax Recovered | 5,383 | 3,611 | |
| Bank interest paid (Lloyds and Nationwide) | 3,396 | 1,215 | |
| Bank interest paid (HTB) | 213 | 213 | 1 |
| Amazon Smile donations | 42 | 44 | |
| It’s your move contributions | 917 | 688 | |
| Legacies | 0 | 5,500 | |
| Total income | 72,648 | 62,618 | |
| Payments | |||
| Office and Admin | 7,303 | 5,693 | |
| Staff salaries and pensions | 107,455 | 91,411 | |
| Staff activities | 2,159 | 1,825 | |
| Staff support and training | 294 | 139 | |
| Subscriptions and donations | 645 | 1,145 | |
| Equipment, computers, software and website | 1,464 | 4,139 | |
| Premises Improvements | 0 | 10,543 | |
| Bank charges and Interest | 120 | 107 | |
| Professional fees | 1,088 | 912 | |
| Total payments | 120,528 | 115,914 | |
| Surplus / (Deficit) | (47,880) | (53,296) | |
| Transfer from unrestricted funds | 74,864 | 41,000 | |
| Surplus / (Deficit) after transfer of unrestricted funds | 27,984 | (12,296) | |
| Balance brought forward | 114,359 | 126,655 | |
| Balance at year end | 141,343 | 114,359 |
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Summary of Restricted and Unrestricted funds
| Summary of Restricted and Unrestricted funds | ||
|---|---|---|
| BSCWT | BSCWT | |
| CIO | CIO | |
| 2023/2024 | 2022/2023 | |
| Mulberry Trust Restricted Fund | ||
| Receipts | 0 | 6,000 |
| Stafftraining,Resources,Activities and Salariespayments | 186 | 10,350 |
| Surplus / (Deficit) | (186) | (4,350) |
| B/F balance | 186 | 4,536 |
| C/F balance | 0 | 186 |
| Legacy and Large Gifts Unrestricted Fund | ||
| Receipts | 65,000 | 76,565 |
| Payments | 0 | 0 |
| Surplus / (Deficit) | 65,000 | 76,565 |
| Transferred to General Fund | 74,864 | 41,000 |
| B/F Balance | 118,283 | 82,718 |
| C/F Balance | 108,419 | 118,283 |
Summary of Receipts, Payments and Transfers in 2023/24
| General Fund | Mulberry Trust Fund | Legacy & Gifts Fund |
Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts | 72,648 | 0 | 65,000 | 137,648 |
| Payments | 120,528 | 186 | 0 | 120,714 |
| Surplus / (Deficit) | (47,880) | (186) | 65,000 | 16,934 |
| Transfers to G/F | 74,864 | 0 | (74,864) | 0 |
| B/F Balance | 114,359 | 186 | 118,283 | 232,828 |
| C/F Balance | 141,343 | 0 | 108,419 | 249,762 |
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
Assets
| ssets | ||
|---|---|---|
| BSCWT | BSCWT | |
| CIO |
CIO | |
| 2023/2024 | 2022/2023 | |
| Interest from Nationwide | 307 | 202 |
| Lloyds current account | 19,252 | 11,879 |
| Lloyds deposit account | 60,203 | 50,746 |
| Nationwide savings account | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Hampshire Trust Bank | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Total assets | 249,762 | 232,827 |
Fixed Assets
BSCWT CIO owns computers and other equipment used in its work. The insured value of general contents is £52,220 and computer equipment is £10,446.
Reserves Policy
In line with Charity Commission guidelines the Trustees ensure that the Trust has a Reserves Policy to cover its legal liabilities should the CIO be wound up. The Trust retained an amount of £55,000 to enable the payment of wage bills based on notice years, national insurance, pension, redundancies as well as rent and other known expenses. This requirement was met.
Notes to the Accounts
-
Hampshire Trust Bank issue a statement in April after the year end confirming the interest earned from savings in the period covered by these accounts. Interest figure given is that for the previous financial year.
-
No payments were made to the Trustees.
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Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust
Registered Charity Number 1172358
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of
Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust (charity 1172358)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust (the Trust) for the year ended 31 March 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts 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 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns 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.
Signed Nicholas Tavener
Name: Nicholas Tavener
Address: 15, Shenfield Place Shenfield Brentwood Essex CM15 9AG
Date 4 July 2024
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