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← Standing In The Gap

2024-09-30-accounts

STANDING ' FKGAP the Svpportin9 ckildren to mana9e tkeir emotionf 2023-24 Annual Report (Year 7) Managing Managing fAnxiety in 4-11 year olds ftAnger in 4-11 year olds Starting flpprimary School Secondary School Managing in TLC • Grief The Lifeboat Centre Charity no: 11174627 www.standinginthegap.uk

Introduction

Welcome to our seventh annual report. This year has been key in enabling us to define our programmes and then work to promote these as effectively as possible to support as many children and parents as possible.

We have worked with and supported more children than any previous year, enabled by our best financial year to date.

We have expanded the amazing team of trustees, advisors and volunteers who support us and without whom, we couldn’t provide the support that we do. Thank you to all those who have supported us in whatever way this year. We do appreciate you.

Objectives and Activities

Standing in the Gap is an early intervention mental health charity which helps preschool and primary aged children manage BIG emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger and grief.

Our mission is to support children and families by providing tools to build emotional wellbeing and good child mental health.

Our vision is for all children to be emotionally healthy and to flourish.

Our values are integral to how we work: we support and promote emotional wellbeing and good child mental health in a safe and professional environment through empowering partnerships and by acting with kindness and understanding.

Our ethos is also important to us: The Founder / Clinical Director and trustees of Standing in the Gap are very much motivated by their Christian faith; we want to use the biblical principles of helping and supporting those in need. In our case that is children up to the age of 11 and their families. Running a small charity is hard work, all our trustees are volunteers and they do this because they feel, as Christians, Jesus wants us to love others and support those who need it. There is currently a huge need within children for mental health support and this is where we want to be effective.

We do:

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We do not:

Our Christian faith is like the oven that bakes the food. The food is the different projects, talks, workshops and support we offer. If we were a commercial kitchen our food would need to meet strict food standards to be safe and edible for everyone. We apply the same principle to our projects: they are professional, evidence based and safe. Our oven is the team who keep the wheels on behind the scenes, our trustees and Clinical Director.

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The objects of Standing in the Gap are to assist in the identification, provide early intervention, treatment and support children experiencing mental health difficulties:

To promote and protect the mental health of children up to the age of 11 through the provision of psychotherapeutic counselling services.

To advance the education of parents, teachers, school governors and school support staff in all areas relating to mental health issues experienced by children up to the age of 11, by the provision of professional training, support services and information.

Achievements and Performance

As a charity:

In line with our values, we ensured we were safe and professional, when we were able to formally employ Sam, our Clinical Director for 2 days a week from June 2024. To ensure we did this effectively we enlarged our team which also enabled us to work through ongoing empowering partnerships.

Our leadership team:

Our trustees are drawn from a wide range of professional backgrounds and are all passionate to see children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health improve. We did see some change during the year as Andrew Bird stepped down as a trustee and Michelle Jemade and Debra Elwyn became more established in their trustee roles.

Our advisors:

These are a really valuable group of individuals with a specific area of expertise or knowledge who link with us at specific points with specific information.

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Our co-ordinators:

We expanded our team to include our great co-ordinators

Our Volunteers:

These are fabulous individuals who support us at talks and community events, and by making up resource packs.

Our Prayer Partners:

As a charity built on a Christian ethos, we know the power of prayer. Our prayer partners receive quarterly updates and purposely pray for our work. Each year we have an annual prayer and praise celebration as we launch the Children’s Mental Health Week. We work with children and families of all faiths and none.

In 2023-24 we partnered with the following churches, along with many other Christians who pray for our work.

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We also built greater ties with schools and children’s centres and worked in partnership with the following:

The impact of our Programmes:

By the end of September 2024, we have supported 3289 parents and children through a range of different projects since we started as a charity in 2017.

We have created an update flm to show our impact in Year 7.

Managing Anxiety Workshops

This continues to be one of our most popular workshops as seen below:

When we asked parents about the Managing Anxiety workshop they told us:

Standing in the Gap 2023-24 Annual Report www.standinginthegap.uk

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Nice and clear explanations on why a child
Really informative and
may be anxious and the science behind it.
KxAnxietyin 4-11 year olds reassuring, I feel supported
Lovely, easy techniques to use and wasn't
not isolated. Thanks
overwhelming.
Clear explanations. Great
stories for the children to
follow and aid
understanding
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Managing Anger workshop:

This is our newest workshop which started in May 2023.

When asked how they would rate the workshop: 44% of parents said Excellent, 56% said Good. No one felt the workshop wasn’t helpful.

When asked why they would recommend it parents told us:

It is very simple in explanation for both parents and children. Accepting that we all have anger and how it feels and how we can deal with it is very well taught and understood. Having 2 different coloured Elves to represent Mental and Physical Health helps the child to know the difference. Looking for the Elves is a very good way to keep the children engaged as well!

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The information was given in a straight forward, concise way. A lot of useful tools and strategies for helping both children and parents deal with anger in a more positive and constructive way.

Really good information, child friendly. Sparked some interesting conversations with the children, enabling us to feel more confident bringing up these issues

Educational Transitions project

We know that children undertake key transitions as a rite of passage, but if these do not go well it can significantly impact their mental health and educational attainment. To help positive transitions we run a series of talks to support children and families. This year we had our biggest impact to date with an amazing total of

In our Starting Primary School talks:

This year we worked with Harriers Banbury Academy, Dashwood Banbury Academy, William Morris Primary School and The Sunshine Centre. It was our most successful year to date.

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When asked why they would recommend parents told us:

Other feedback included:

I can’t believe that free NHS eye tests haven’t been mentioned It was useful to know the expected amount of sleep for this age group before- a really good point.

In our Preparing for Secondary School talks:

This was our biggest uptake on these talks to date. We expanded and worked with four secondary schools; The Warriner, North Oxfordshire Academy, Wykham Park and Future

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Academy and Chenderit school. We met with each of the transition leads and ensured that the two talks offered to each secondary school were bespoke to them. All families were invited to the talks before they had their transition days at the new secondary schools.

When asked why they would recommend it parents told us:

I learned a lot from it and it was helpful to reassure my anxious child

Very informative and excellently It was very good at explaining delivered. Made us chat through some emotions surrounding the topics we’ve not yet thought transition and how we can about! Thanks so much! positively address them. It was reassuring and broke down the

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As one of our most established partners we worked with The Warriner school and Michael Rafferty, one of our trustees, delivered tutor group quizzes where parents and students could come together have fun at a quiz and also meet others who were joining The Warriner.

These raised £508 and connected a lot of families in this significant transition. They will be repeated in 2025.

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The Lifeboat Centre, our TLC programme

The Lifeboat Centre (TLC) is our programme of additional support for children and families. TLC uses the same principle as a lifeboat. We come out and support parents and children when they are struggling and there is a problem. We work with families to get back to firm ground by providing one-to-one bespoke support for children and parents. In the same way as a lifeboat comes out and changes the course of a situation, that’s what we do. Early intervention has been proved to be so effective in improving outcomes for children.

We have now finalised our pilot and have developed an effective model that is having a great impact on families and helping improve emotional wellbeing in children. By the end of Year 7 we had worked with a 20 families. Each child and parent work with Sam to complete an Outcome Star called ‘My Star’ at the beginning and end of the support programme. The star shows the strengths and also what areas need working on. The My Star is an impact measurement and when it is repeated again at the end of the support shows the change or improvement brought about by the TLC programme.

The outcomes, each point of the star, are measured on a 5 stage Journey of Change from 1, big concerns through to 5, things are good. It also takes into consideration eight areas of a child’s life, four of which focus on how well other people look after you: physical health, where you live, being safe and relationships. The remining four look at how you are managing: feelings and behaviour, friends, confidence and self -esteem and education and learning.

Below is a My Star outcome star we have completed with a child we have supported and we were able to celebrate the progress they had made. The stars are completed collaboratively with the children and parents and the children do enjoy seeing the progress they have made, having this as a picture helps reinforce the impact the work they have done.

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Following our support all parents rated the support as 5/5 and told us:

From identifying immediately a couple of changes we could make, things improved with bedtime very quickly. We built up a confidence of how to try and manage situations more easily and learnt how to support our child.

I was honestly amazed at the result these sessions had on my son. He’s talked so positively about the whole experience despite being very nervous to start with and didn’t really understand how this would help. The sessions have had such a positive effect and it’s equipped both myself and my son with the tools and understanding to work through difficult situations and manage his stress and anxiety

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Working with Sam was really useful for both me and my son. She helped us understand the big emotions and we worked through practical techniques to help manage his anger. It made a huge difference to our family life. Thank you.

Children’s mental health week: (5[th] -11[th] Feb 2024)

We created exciting content to help children manage their stress and promoted it through our connections and social media links for the Children’s mental health week https://standinginthegap.uk/childrensmentalhealthweek2024

Sam was interviewed by two radio stations and also appeared on That’s STANDING TV explaining the need for children’s mental health support and how we he GAP can help children not be overwhelmed by their feelings. Dashwood can help childrei aT P Children’s Mental Banbury Academy and William Morris school ran the Bi Health Week mM material with children during the week and also had non 5-11th Feb 2024 ° uniform days to help raise money for us. Local clubs like ur Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade also showed the cartoon film to their children. Bc

Events

We had our first Christmas tree event at The Hill Community Centre in Banbury. This enabled us to share with the public what support we offer to families. Debra Elwyn, one of our trustees, attended the Bloxham Boys brigade meeting and together they made paper elves, which we displayed on the Christmas tree:

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We had a stall at ‘Bloxfest’, our local village festival. Which was fun. We had a good number of volunteers and had games and activities to raise money and the profile of the support we can offer children and families.

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We were also one of the charities who were supported by Great Bourton Open Gardens which raised £232

Finance and Grants

We have diversified our income streams to help us remain stable and grow: We received grants from the following organisations to support our work.

We received financial support from St Francis church as their community partner and we received a contribution from schools towards the Managing Educational transitions programme.

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We have a good number of regular donors who support us each month and sales of resource packs and tickets to the workshops raised £3315

Our total income this year was £29.367 a nearly 80% increase on the previous financial year. The accounts are available for review and we have appointed an independent examiner to review our accounts, as per the charities commission requirements.

We moved to employee our Clinical Director, Sam Game, 2 days a week and have set up the appropriate mechanisms and policies to support this.

Governance and Management Structure,

Standing in the Gap is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Trustees are selected in accordance with the trustee policy and procedure-

Trustee Name
Office
Dates acted if not for full year		 Trustee Name
Office
Dates acted if not for full year		 Trustee Name
Office
Dates acted if not for full year
Michael Rafferty
Finance trustee
Full year
Georgie Knight
Trustee
Full year
Melanie Rogers
Safeguarding
trustee
Full Year
Andrew Bird
Trustee
Stepped down in Nov 2023
Debra Elwyn
Trustee
Full year
Michelle Jemade
Trustee
Full Year
Corporate trustee
N/A
Sam Game Clinical Director Full year

No funds are held by custodian trustees for Standing in the Gap.

There are no exemptions for disclosure .

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above Signed on behalf of the charity trustees:

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Signatures AAS | Full names Michelle Jemade Melanie Rogers Trustee Trustee Positions 22.03.2025 22.03.2025 Date: ~~——~~ Standing in the Gap 2023-24 Annual Report www.standinginthegap.uk

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Annual Accounts Year 7 Standing in the Gap For the year ended 30 September 2024 Account 2024 Income Amount Donations and Legacies One off donation Pay il fO￿ard Workshop ticket donations Easyfundraising One off donors- not known to us Recycle4charity Donattons through Justgiwng One off donors- Known to us Regular donor NO gift aid ular donors Total 14 27 45 104 136 822 926 1,110 7,158 Charltable Actlvlte8 Mental Health week school actlvity donations Fundraising event - organised by us Gift Claim Managing Educational Transitsons school contrtbutions Grants- unrestricted Grants- restn'cted Total 128 535 1,325 1,595 3.000 18,866 Other tradlna Sales in person- known lo us Workshop lickels- Preparing for Secondary School Sales paid online Tshirtl hoodie5 Workshop tickets- Starting Primary School Workshop tickets- Anger Workshop tickets- Anxiety Sales in person- events Sences to other organisations- privale workshops Services lo other organisations- TLC paid package Sales via online sho Total 30 50 75 122 209 600 750 1380 3,315 Investment8 Interest Income Totsl 28 28 Totsl Income enditure Employee C08t8 Anger Project Staff payment Anxiety projecl staff payment Contractor payment HMRC payments Managing Educational transitions project staff cost Pensions Costs Restricted grant stsff payment TLC Pilot Salaries Total Amounl 1,365 1,960 5,430 1,314 490 501 1,853 18,531 Sales Co8t8 Direct materials for packs Direct matenals T shirtsl hoodies direct materials- ink to print packs Direcl matenals- love in the Gap hearts Postage of sales 571 270 159

Total 1,141 Admlnlstrative Costs Admin- Insurances Admin- Eventbrile subscription Adminth fees and subscriptions ICO AdmiTr Fliers, posters and bookmark5 Admin- general postage AdmiTr Star online registration Admin- Stationary Bank Charges CAF Bank Fundraising events costs Fundrai5ing- Regulator fee Govemance Governance Room rent Govemanc& leaving gift for truste88 IT Subscnpts'on IT- haTdward cost5 inc mobile IT- web hosting and domain names Libety Account charges Mobile- sim cost Royally Payments Safeguarding DBS Fee Safeguardinq registralion fee Xero accountin char es Total 474 18 40 157 125 32 460 13 10 40 321 824 283 93 3.441 Total Ex endltu Account reviewed and verified by trustees at AGM on 16th November 2024 Signed.. Date.. IL Iiill Pnnted.. mf Lti 4 C Finance Tru8t88

Independent examSner's report to the trustees of St8ndlng In the Gap Charitable Incorporated Organlsation ('the CIO,) I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 30 September 2024. Responslbllitles and basis ot report As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in 8ccord8nce with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111'the Act,). I report in respect of my examination of the CIO'S accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act. In carrying out my examination I h8ve followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llb) of the 2011 Act. Independent examlner'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 sectlon 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those record8. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection wlth 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: Name: Moira Iver Relevant professional qualiflcation or membership of profession81 bodies lif 8nyl: Not required Address: 10 Longfellow Road, Banbury, OX16 9LB Date: 1513125