2021-08-31-accounts - Sevington Victorian School

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Sevington Victorian School

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 2020- 2021

Objectives and activities

The purpose of the charity is twofold: to provide the experience of authentic Victorian education for children and adults and to conserve the heritage of Sevington School buildings for present and future generations to experience and enjoy.

The first of these aims is delivered through a programme of visits for schools and adult groups. The second is managed by the trustees who maintain and supervise a programme of repair and maintenance.

Visits, both by children and adults, are conducted on a non profit making basis and comply with public benefit requirements.

Achievements and performance

Due to the COVID epidemic the School has only been open since September for a total of 28 visits by 17 schools.

No adult visits or open days have taken place this year. However, in September the School played host to a film company, providing the setting for scenes in a documentary drama about St Bernadette.

The trustees have discharged their secondary responsibility, to maintain the property, by commissioning a building survey and setting in hand the necessary repair and maintenance work identified in the survey, including the erection of a new shed.

Booking Secretary’s report

We were finally able to invite schools back at the beginning of September. This was welcome news to them as they have missed their visits and bookings have been brisk. As COVID remains unpredictable, all bookings have been taken on a penalty free cancellation basis which applies to the visiting schools and to ourselves.

The resumption of school visits has been made possible by rigorous COVID planning and the willingness of the Teaching Team to be adaptable and flexible in the organisation of the day. A new COVID Risk Assessment has been provided for the visiting schools and new procedures put in place for the running of the day. Emphasis on hand washing has continued and sanitising surfaces and equipment has been paramount. Where possible duplicate sets of equipment have allowed quarantining between schools. No costumes have been lent and the shop has not been in operation.

Key to the safety of all has been ventilation of the small spaces in which we work. Open doors and windows have facilitated this and worked well whilst the weather has been relatively mild. It may not continue to be appropriate once the weather grows colder.

Bookings may need to be reconsidered for the safety and comfort of all. The potentially affected schools have been alerted to this.

The feedback from the schools has been very positive and the children have enjoyed their visits.

Bookings are already confirmed for both the Spring Term and the Summer Term so we look forward eagerly to next year.

Sue Dann, Booking secretary

Teaching Team Leader’s report

The School re-opened in September of this year after a long break due to the pandemic. We last opened in March 2020 before being overtaken by events and felt it prudent to remain closed until the start of this academic year.

We have been pleased by the numbers of bookings taken to date and schools have been enthusiastic about being able to visit us again. It has taken a lot of effort and discussion by the Trustees and the Teaching Team to get to this point. Initially we were advised by Tim Cradock, the Trustee with the Health and Safety remit, and we were able to re-write the Risk Assessment for schools and develop a hygiene protocol to allow ourselves and our visitors to keep as safe as practicable. A deep clean was needed and then lots of hands-on help by the Teaching Team to get the schoolroom and downstairs rooms ready to accept visitors. There have inevitably had to be some compromises to our usual commitment to authenticity, but this has not detracted from the children’s enjoyment.

These are a few of the evaluations from this term:

“Children have had first-hand experience of an authentic school day.” King William Street School
“Children were focused and encouraged to remain in role. Genuinely wanted to learn and were inspired.” Clifton High School
“Staff and children had a really wonderful time. Actually role-playing Victorian life made it so real.” Courtney Primary School

Since March of 2020 we have lost one of our team, Nicky Howcroft, but she hopes to remain part of the Sevington family in other ways. We have also welcomed a new team member, Alison Parker, who has already flown solo as Miss Hannah Squire and has fitted in very well to the sisterhood. We are always interested to hear from those with teaching experience who might like to join the team.

During the two autumn terms this year we will have welcomed 28 classes to Sevington which compares very well with previous years.

Nikki Wright, Teaching Team Leader

Financial review and Treasurer’s report

Income and Expenditure Statement

The budget was set in May 2020 in line with the Charity’s budget setting and pricing policy. It was set in the early days of Covid 19 in the hope that the pandemic would not last long and that we would be able to host some 50 school days. Obviously, this proved to be wishful thinking.

Income:

As there were no school days nor adult visits, income came from few sources. Half of the government’s Covid 19 grant was rolled over from the previous year and we were able to claim the Gift Aid tax refund on donations and subscriptions from 2019. There was also an unexpected bonus of sale of booklets to the British Schools’ Museum.

Unfortunately, the number of Friends paying a subscription was down but there were some very generous donations. The £10.19 Miscellaneous was from the Amazon Smile Charity. Thank you to those who tick that box when buying from Amazon.

Expenditure:

Although we had no visitors, we still had our expenses, many of which were covered by the government grant. Two, hopefully one-off, expenses were a new laptop for the Booking Secretary [Office Equipment] and the purchase and erection of a new garden shed [Miscellaneous]. Otherwise, we still had to keep the telephone line [Office Expenses] open and the website up together.

We had built up a surplus in our electricity account and this was rectified towards the end of the financial year with a rebate which brought that figure down.

Although inspected regularly, the building was empty for much of the year which caused the insurance premium to rise steeply. Now that we are up and running again this will hopefully go back down.

The Booking Secretary accepted a 50% fee for the summer term as she prepared to welcome schools to the autumn term 2021.

The costs of maintenance of the lawns and garden continue to be a sizeable proportion of our total expenses.

Balance Sheet:

Before transferring £2,000 to the Building Works Account, which is an internal movement of money, there was a small surplus of just over £132.

At the end of the financial year the Charity had a cash balance of £35,636.37 in the General Account and £10,002.87 in the Building Works Account.

Because of the current situation the shop is closed until such time as it is deemed safe to use and a stock take will be taken at the end of the appropriate financial year.

Edward King, Treasurer

Structure, governance and management

Type of governing document: Association with voting membership

How is the charity constituted: CIO

Trustee selection methods: Trustees selected by membership

Reference and administrative details

Sevington Victorian School

Sevington

near Chippenham

SN14 7LD

Registered charity number: 1178337

Trustees:

Dinah Starkey, Chair

Edward King, Treasurer

Isobel Moore, Secretary

Tim Cradock, Site management

Jenny Jones

Karen McCormack

Sylvia Townsend

David Witt

Sevington Victorian School

Income and Expenditure Account for Period 1st September 2020 to 31st August 2021

	Expenditure		2020/21 Current 548.99 435.60 270.00 0.00 0.00 964.00 18.00 1,472.06 1,815.73 0.00 0.00 225.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 751.00 2,000.00 8,500.38 -1,867.62 0.00 0.00	2019/20 0 440 270 90 1,011 1,865 1,781 2,909 1,818 0 765 1,350 9,933 673 0 0 0 68 875 2,000
2020/21 Current 515.00 309.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 600.00 198.57 0.00 10.19 5,000.00	2019/20 580 Office Equipment 608 Office Expenses 3,573 Website 10,472 Other Admin Expenses 6,403 Housekeeping 420 Heat and Light 65 Repairs and Renewals 866 Rates and Insurance 0 Garden Maintenance 754 Building Works 0 School Shop 0 Booking Secretary Teaching Team Teaching Resources 5,000 External Visits Publicity Publications Miscellaneous 169 Refunds to schools Building Works Fund - transfer 28,910	Budget 100 250 250 100 1,200 1,400 200 3,000 1,500 0 1,200 1,350 7,700 400 0 100 100 500 2,000 21,350	2020/21 Current 548.99 435.60 270.00 0.00 0.00 964.00 18.00 1,472.06 1,815.73 0.00 0.00 225.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 751.00 2,000.00
6,632.76			8,500.38	25,848
8,002.87 2,000.00 10,002.87 0.00 10,002.87	Surplus of general Income over Expenditure Building Works a/c expenditure Total expenditure	-3,750
				3,062

2020/21

Balance Sheet

Balance Sheet
General a/c Building Works a/c Bank account balance 31.08.2020 Plus outstanding credit Less outstanding payments Balances c/f General a/c Building Works a/c Balances check Half Covid-19 Grant c/f to 2020/21	2019/20 37,704.11 8,002.87
	45,706.98 109.00 -309.12
	45,506.86 37,503.99 8,002.87
	45,506.86
	5,000.00

General a/c	35,747.97
Building Works a/c	10,002.87
Bank account balance 31.08.2021	45,750.84
Plus outstanding credit	0.00
Less outstanding payments	-111.60
	45,639.24
Balances c/f
General a/c	35,636.37
Building Works a/c	10,002.87
Balances check	45,639.24

Other Assets

Other Assets
Property at cost	50,000.00
Shop Stock at cost	1,823.00

Property at cost	50,000.00
Shop Stock at cost	1,823.00
Increase/Decrease in stock:	0.00