Sevington Victorian School
Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 2021-2022
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 the 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.
After a prolonged closure during lockdown, Sevington reopened in September 2021 and bookings are slowly beginning to come in. Schools are understandably concerned about the risk of infection but arrangements are in place to keep everyone safe. The teaching team have responded to the challenge magnificently and we are very grateful for their resilience and determination to make things work. Special thanks are due to Nikki, as team leader, and Sue as bookings secretary. We are very lucky to have them.
Plans for the solar farm have been approved, despite opposition from residents and from the trustees to the impact on Sevington of the heavy construction traffic. It seems likely to cause considerable disruption during the building stage but we are hopeful that it will not prove too intrusive once the building work has been completed.
This year sees changes to the trustees as the Chair and Treasurer step down. We thank them for their service and are delighted to welcome Lesley Palmer, an old friend of the trust, to the board.
Achievements and performance
Due to the Covid epidemic the school was only open for a total of 55 school days during the last school year. There have been one adult visit and three talks to outside organisations. The three Open Days in the summer of 2022 proved very popular.
The film company returned for another two days filming and we are now registered with Bath film unit and hope similar opportunities may come our way in the future.
The trustees have discharged their second responsibility, to maintain the property, by setting in hand necessary repair and maintenance work including repairing the wash house roof.
Booking Secretary’s report
During the Autumn term 2021 we welcomed schools on 28 days. Low temperatures and the necessity for ventilation obliged us to close for December, January and February.
We reopened in March and schools visited on 9 days during the remainder of the Spring Term. The Summer Term saw 18 days booked.
All bookings were, and continue to be, taken on a penalty-free cancellation basis in the event of Covid related problems, this policy applying both to visiting schools and to ourselves. So far we have had no cancellations due to Covid.
The academic year 2022/23 has already seen an encouraging and increasing number of bookings.
Sue Dann, Booking Secretary
Teaching Team Leader’s Report
We re-opened the door to the schoolroom in September 2021 following an 18 month closure due to the pandemic. We decided for the safety of both teachers and visiting school children to introduce some mitigating factors, such as good ventilation (we kept the windows and door open!) and lots of handwashing. To date these measures have been effective.
Because of the requirement to ventilate, we decided to close through the coldest months of December, January and February but since September of this year we are teaching largely as pre-March 2020 but still conscious of keeping all visitors and staff safe. This of course is due in no small part to the professionalism and goodwill of the teaching team. This year our newest recruit, Alison Parker, has been a most welcome addition to the Sisterhood and she has settled in well, no doubt helped by her years in amateur dramatics and background of working with children at Langley Fitzurse Primary School and in Wiltshire libraries.
One of the highlights of teaching at Sevington is the sense that children have a wonderful day whilst learning. We ask all visiting schools to complete an evaluation to see how we might improve the day and the most frequent comment refers to the sense of having stepped back in time. A recent school noted that “no other trip does this for the children.” Another teacher said that “both teachers led and created the environment of the Victorian school incredibly well. This remains my (and many others’!) favourite school trip.” A further comment from a different school refers to “a rich multi-sensory historic experience” and this we hope helps the children to have a more profound learning experience.
Nikki Wright, Teaching Team Leader
Treasurer’s Report for Financial Year 2021/2022
Income and Expenditure Statement
A budget was attempted in May 2021 in line with the Charity’s normal budget setting and pricing policy but as we had no idea what to expect, nor even when to expect it, the figures do not bear scrutiny. The last school to visit before Covid 19 was on 19[th] March 2020 and we were not able to resume ‘normal service’ until 18 months later, on 16[th] September 2021.
Income:
This school year we have hosted 55 school days and it would have been more except that the increase in fuel prices has put the cost of transport to a point where some schools cannot afford the day. One school from Bristol who has visited us for four days each year in the past had to cancel for this reason. Only 11 of the 55 schools used the shop which has been another good source of income.
Sevington has not increased its fees, being mindful that this will further exacerbate the problem. We have, however, increased the remuneration paid to our teachers. To cover this, the Trustees are hoping to increase the base of Friends, hold money raising events and look for support from other organisations.
The big increase in ‘Group Visits’ is mainly down to a small film company making two visits.
£96 of the ‘Miscellaneous’ is money sent from a school that could not fulfil all of its days and this was repaid via ‘Miscellaneous’ on the expenditure side. The other £5.01 came from supporters through Amazon Smile.
Expenditure:
With the reopening came increased expenditure as well as income. A thorough deep clean after 18 months of idleness was necessary and our insurance premiums rocketed as, evidently, an empty building is a higher risk than a used one.
The costs of maintenance of the lawns and garden continue to be a sizeable proportion of our total expenses.
The Trustees took the decision to defer the annual transfer of £2,000 from the general account into the building works account. This money, once transferred, cannot be returned and it was decided to wait and see how much of our reserves might be needed to keep Sevington going in the immediate future. This is not to say that repairs and renewals and any necessary major building works will not be carried out.
Balance Sheet:
In spite of not transferring £2,000 to the Building Works Account, the income and expenditure accounts showed a loss of £2,583, which is quite understandable. At the end of the financial year the Charity had a cash balance of £33,053.48 in the General Account and £10,002.87 in the Building Works Account.
An in-depth and up to date stock take of the shop was taken.
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 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 2021 to 31st August 2022
| Income Budget Subscriptions 600 Donations 250 School Shop 3,500 Teaching Team 10,780 Set Charge 6,720 Group Visits 750 External Visits 100 Fund-raising Events 500 Publications 50 Gift Aid Tax Refunds 250 Charity Donations 0 Miscellaneous 100 Half Covid-19 grant 23,600 Building Works a/c income Balance 31.08.21 Transfer from General a/c Expenditure Funds avaialble |
Expenditure | 2021/22 Current 27.83 439.33 270.00 0.00 2,033.84 1,269.05 335.76 3,279.19 1,629.86 0.00 703.29 1,350.00 8,624.00 622.23 0.00 0.00 0.00 232.20 0.00 20,816.58 -2,582.89 0.00 0.00 |
2020/21 549 436 270 0 0 964 18 1,472 1,816 0 0 225 0 0 0 0 0 751 2,000 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 Current 600.00 256.00 913.60 8,624.00 5,280.00 1,733.50 60.00 472.08 6.00 187.50 0.00 101.01 |
2020/21 515 Office Equipment 309 Office Expenses 0 Website 0 Other Admin Expenses 0 Housekeeping 0 Heat and Light 0 Repairs and Renewals 0 Rates and Insurance 600 Garden Maintenance 199 Building Works 0 School Shop 10 Booking Secretary Teaching Team Teaching Resources 5,000 External Visits Publicity Publications Miscellaneous Building Works Fund - transfer 6,633 |
Budget 100 250 250 100 1,200 1,750 200 5,000 2,000 1,500 1,500 1,350 10,780 400 0 100 100 500 500.00 27,580 |
2021/22 Current 27.83 439.33 270.00 0.00 2,033.84 1,269.05 335.76 3,279.19 1,629.86 0.00 703.29 1,350.00 8,624.00 622.23 0.00 0.00 0.00 232.20 0.00 |
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| 18,233.69 | 20,816.58 | 8,501 | ||||
| 10,002.87 0.00 10,002.87 0.00 10,002.87 |
Surplus of general Income over Expenditure Building Works a/c expenditure Total expenditure |
-3,980 | ||||
| -1,868 | ||||||
Balance Sheet
| General a/c Building Works a/c Bank account 31.08.2021 Plus outstanding credit Less outstanding payments Balances c/f General a/c Building Works a/c Balances check Other Assets Property at cost Shop Stock at cost |
2020/21 2021/22 35,747.97 General a/c 33,635.48 10,002.87 Building Works a/c 10,002.87 45,750.84 Bank account 31.08.2022 43,638.35 0.00 Plus outstanding credit 350.00 -111.60 Less outstanding payments -182.00 Less prepayment for 2022-23 -750.00 45,639.24 43,056.35 Balances c/f 35,636.37 General a/c 33,053.48 10,002.87 Building Works a/c 10,002.87 45,639.24 Bank account check 43,056.35 50,000.00 Property at cost 50,000.00 1,823.00 Shop Stock at cost 1,357.00 Increase/Decrease in stock: -466.00 |
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