OUT OF CLASS
Charity Commission no. 1177441
TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE
YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2025
Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From 1[st ] April 2024 To 31[st ] March 2025
Charity name: OUT OF CLASS
Working names: Equi-zen Stable Minds
Charity registration number: 1177441
Address: Out of Class C/O Spicer and Co Staple House 5 Eleanor's Cross Dunstable LU6 1SU
Trustees: Katarzyna Sotek (Chair) Nicola Mary Singleton (Treasurer) Artemis Vergou (from 28/08/24) Lisa Marie Ord (from 30/10/24) Daria Ivkina MacDonald (to 28/08/24)
Objectives and Activities
Out of Class aims to help young people who are academically challenged or disadvantaged to advance in life by providing equine-assisted programmes that develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature and responsible individuals and advance in education and employment. In the year covered by this report, improvements continued to be made to the site, with a view to increasing the services that can be delivered there. The programmes provided continued to be of two main types: 1 to 1 equine-assisted therapy (Equi-zen); and group sessions to develop self-esteem and team working. In addition, we established a steering group in order to involve young people who have experience of our services in our plans for service development
This year the number of Trustees was increased to four, broadening the skills and experience available to the Board, and the board continued to review governance procedures and support the CEO’s work to expand the services offered and to diversify funding sources. The position of the charity at the end of the year is a positive one and provides a sound basis for continuing development in service provision going forward.
Achievements and Performance
This financial year was one of consolidation, following the upheaval of the previous year associated with the move to a new site, but also saw the beginnings of a new phase of service development and expansion to take advantage of the potential that this new site offers.
Equine-assisted therapy remained a core part of the services the charity provided, with courses consisting of 10 one-to-one sessions being provided. At the end of the previous financial year, we received a large donation from the national lottery for the provision of equine-assisted therapy which was largely provided in the 2024-25 financial year. In addition, both the Milton Keynes Community Foundation and the Northamptonshire Community Foundation funded courses for young people living in their areas. In total, we provided one-to-one courses for 40 young people in FY2024-25, a similar number as in the previous year.
Also in FY2024-25 we ran group Equine-facilitated learning (EFL) projects in conjunction with Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation, involved taking our ponies into schools in Luton and working with children, mainly from ethnic minority backgrounds, who have difficult home lives. In addition, thanks to a donation from the Connolly foundation we ran an EFL project in conjunction with Oakbanks School for underprivileged and neurodivergent children. Overall, we were able to give 40 children the opportunity to take part in EFL during the year.
Following some improvements to our stables to provide some space to allow us to work with groups on site as well as the one-to-one sessions, we piloted the provision of skills workshops for young people who have completed a course of one-to-one equine-assisted therapy but would benefit from continued less-intensive support. Alongside this, In order to ensure our services continue to meet the needs of young people, we established a steering group which allowed us to involve 8 young people in the organizational developments.
To provide greater financial stability we began the process of diversifying our funding streams and seeking more unrestricted income to support the development of new services. For example, we started sales of Equi-zen for adults, sales of Christmas cards and Sponsor-a-pony in a limited way and will seek to expand such initiatives going forward. In light of the developments in our service provision in recent years, it was decided that the adoption of a working name that reflects the therapeutic nature of much of the charity’s work, would be helpful for the promotion of our services to both funders, beneficiaries and supporters of the charity. To that end we have registered both Equi-zen and Stable Minds as working names with the Charity Commission.
Financial Review
GENERAL FlNANCIAL SUMMARY
From the perspective of finances, this financial year has been one of consolidation and the establishment of a secure basis for future growth and diversification. Receipts were at a similar level to the previous year, but with a slight shift away from donations and grants towards more direct purchasing of our charitable services by Local Authorities and schools. Activity levels were maintained and the range of services offered expanded as described above. Expenditure was slightly higher this year but a large proportion of that was due to investment in a large barn to provide shelter for people and horses, and feed and equipment storage, with the potential for future development into a year-round therapy suite and classroom/group activity area to allow the expansion of our activities in future years. As in previous years, some grants were awarded late in the financial year for services that will be provided in FY2025-26.
RESERVES SUMMARY
The charity has maintained an appropriate level of reserves throughout the financial year. As discussed above, we are aiming to continue to diversify our funding streams over time to facilitate the ongoing development of the charitable services we can offer.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Date
Position (eg Secretary, Chair,etc)
Nicola Singleton Treasurer 23/12/2025
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Out of Class
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of OUT OF CLASS ('the Charity')
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees of the Company 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 charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 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 accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those accounting records; or
-
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a “true and fair” view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
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.
Suzanne Spicer FCA
Suzanne Spicer FCA Spicer & Co UK Limited Staple House 5 Eleanor's Cross Dunstable Bedfordshire LU6 1SU
23[rd] December 2025
| Out of Class | 1177441 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts and payments accounts | CC16a | |||
| For the period from |
01/04/2024 | To | 31/03/2025 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 8,050 1,046 9,096 - - - 9,096 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ 53,949 4,774 58,723 - - - 58,723 |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ 61,999 - - 5,820 - - - - 67,819 - - - 67,819 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
| Donations andgrants | 8,050 | - | 65,916 | ||
| Fundraising | |||||
| CJRS Grants | - | ||||
| Charitable activities | 1,046 | 2,212 | |||
| - | |||||
| - | |||||
| - | |||||
| - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
9,096 |
68,128 | |||
| - - - |
|||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||
| - | |||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - |
- | |||
| Total receipts | |||||
| 9,096 | - | 68,128 |
A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wages and salaries | 6,894 | 27,265 | 34,159 | 28,725 | ||||||||
| Website | 1,065 | 30 | 1,095 | 987 | ||||||||
| Fundraisingexpenses | 34 | 74 | 108 | |||||||||
| Commissions | - | - | - | |||||||||
| Activitycosts | - | 12,000 | 12,000 | 10,817 | ||||||||
| Motor Expenses | 3,856 | 3,856 | - | |||||||||
| Insurance | 174 | 1,066 | 1,240 | 1,044 | ||||||||
| Computer and equipment expenses | 781 | 781 | 718 | |||||||||
| Professional fees | 998 | 48 | 1,046 | 445 | ||||||||
| Stationeryandpostage | - | 9 | ||||||||||
| Sundryexpenses | - | 407 | ||||||||||
| Sub total | 13,802 | 40,484 | - | 54,285 | 43,152 | |||||||
| A4 Asset and investment | ||||||||||||
| purchases, (see table) | ||||||||||||
| Timber Barn | - | 7,000 | - | 7,000 | 7,000 | |||||||
| - | - | - | 500 | |||||||||
| Sub total | - | 7,000 | - | 7,000 | 7,500 | |||||||
| Total payments | 13,802 | 47,484 | - | 61,285 | 50,652 | |||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | - | 4,706 | 11,239 | - | 6,534 | 17,476 | ||||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - | - | ||||||||||
| A6 Cash funds | last year end | 9,399 | 8,564 | 17,963 | 487 | |||||||
| Cash funds this year end | 4,693 | 19,803 | - | 24,497 | 17,963 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
22/12/2025
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at | the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
Signature Horse Trailer Current Account Cash Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details Details Laptop Horse Timber Barn |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 4,693 19,803 - - - 4,693 19,803 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Restricted funds 500 Restricted funds 3,500 Restricted funds 10,000 Restricted funds 5,000 - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Nicola Singleton |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| 500 | |||
| 3,500 | |||
| 20,000 | |||
| 5,000 | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| Nicola Singleton | 23/12/2025 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
22/12/2025
2