2024-08-31-accounts

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CHEFS IN SCHOOLS ANNUAL REPORT For the year ending 31 August 2024

WELCOME

CONTENTS
Welcome	3
Vision, mission and why our work matters	5
Highlights	7
Recap on our 2023/24 goals	8
Our approach:
- Lead: Transforming school food and food education	14
- Enable: Powering up school food revolutionaries	22
- Inspire: A community for the superheroes of school food	32
Partnerships and Impact	34
Organisational development	40
Looking ahead: The plan for 2024/25	42
Trustees report	44
Independent auditors report	52
Statement of financial activities	56
Balance sheet	58
Statement of cashflows	59
Notes to the financial statements	60

Registered charity 1178964

Registered company number 11356489 (England and Wales)

Before we can blink, another school year has gone by. Our work is now reaching more than 100,000 children nationally. That’s enough children to more than line the entire London Marathon course. This incredible milestone has been achieved by nearly doubling in one year, our reach in the previous five years added together.

All of this is only possible because of the Chefs in Schools team, teachers, chefs, funders and advocates, who care deeply about our mission and are determined to tackle a deep-rooted issue. Tackling the way that children everywhere access and understand food will fundamentally change their lives and a broken food system for the better. Passing on a love and passion for delicious nutritious food, and the skills to make it and enjoy eating it, will turn that system on its head.

COLLABORATION

We continue to work closely with partner organisations towards turning the tide on access to quality school food, in particular as co-conveners of the School Food Review. This is a coalition of over 40 organisations including NGOs, teaching unions and governor associations,

campaigning together for better quality, access and funding. We were delighted to have appointed a senior programme manager this year, to drive this work forward.

As our profile has risen, we have a wave of momentum to help us make the argument that every child, everywhere, should have access to and education about real food. We have done this publicly and privately, working with politicians and policy makers to increase awareness of the possibilities and impact of improving the way children eat and learn about food.

A GROWING ORGANISATION

This year, to help us deliver an ambitious programme of scaling our impact, we’ve grown our team to 23, recruiting six new members of staff as we invested in our frontline delivery and communications teams. Our delivery teams are now catering directly to demand, delivering training to a diverse group of school chefs in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, London and Yorkshire - with senior leadership providing strategic direction for the programme.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

In line with our ambition to build a thriving, supportive community for the people who work in school kitchens, we have been busy developing our Membership programme for school chefs. This year, we appointed a Membership Director to provide strategic direction and lead our Membership and procurement team.

Recognising that our team have valuable perspectives that a narrow leadership group couldn’t hope to encompass, we introduced more delegated decision making to enable team members from across the charity to input into shaping the direction of the organisation. These working groups provide input on strategy, people and culture and organisational development, ensuring we shape decisions from positions that better reflect the diversity of perspectives within the organisation, and beyond.

In a year in which the external environment, nationally and globally, has offered so many challenges, we have remained focused on working towards a brighter future for the UK’s school children. We remain hopeful that a new Government, with a new sense of purpose towards health prevention, could provide space for our ground-up revolution to spread to many more schools across the UK. We simply can’t afford to continue with the status quo. Every school lunch we eat in partner schools, surrounded by excited children, makes us even more certain that change at scale is possible and very much needed.

Kids are our future, let’s feed them like it .

Dr Tamsin Cooper, Co-Chair of Trustees and Henry Dimbleby, Co-Founder & Co-Chair of Trustees

Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive and Nicole PIsani, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer

VISION, MISSION AND WHY OUR WORK MATTERS

HOW WE DELIVER

VISION

We recruit chefs and train school kitchen teams to make tasty, exciting meals that kids enjoy, packed with fresh, nutritious produce. We support schools to embed good food culture, educating their pupils about food in the dining room and the classroom. We inspire and enable others to follow our lead, and we use our expertise to inform policy and campaigns that seek to tackle systemic barriers to progress.

Our vision is that every child has access to quality, tasty, exciting, nutritious school food and food education – and therefore is equipped with the knowledge to choose, and make, nourishing food throughout their lives.

MISSION

Our mission is to transform kids’ health through food – plate by plate, class by class, school by school.

WHY DOES OUR WORK MATTER?

Our work matters because currently, one in three children in the poorest parts of England are growing up with obesity. This is double the rate of more privileged areas, however even there, food related ill health is a persistent and pervasive issue, blighting the lives of children.

In schools, we have 190 days every single year, to not only feed children well but also teach them about food. We can normalise a diet that isn’t consistently considered the norm, or always easily accessible, beyond the school gates. We can provide children with the skills, knowledge and love for the bountiful world of food.

In schools, we cannot entirely solve the challenges posed by the modern food system. We can’t eradicate poverty or banish food deserts. But we can nourish children in the short term, and set them up for a lifelong understanding and appreciation of food. We can spark a curiosity about food that children will take into life as future adults, consumers and voters.

You cannot change a system with one action. But equally, you cannot change a system without actions. Provision of quality food and education are both fundamental long term routes to improving the food system. Children are the future of this country, and we must feed and educate them like it.

HIGHLIGHTS

16 NEW SCHOOLS

16 new schools were supported through our School Transformation programme reaching over 6,000 pupils

100,000

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70%
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76 CHEFS GRADUATED

82%

More than 82% of school leaders reported an improvement in pupil behaviour

MORE FRUIT & VEG

More than 70% of school leaders reported they have developed their food education curriculum

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6
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NEW FOODS

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100%
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Of the chefs we worked with through our School Transformation programme, 100% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their job

Results taken from our annual survey to school leaders and chefs who have participated in a Chefs in Schools programme.

RECAP ON OUR 2023/24 GOALS

In early 2023, we finalised our four-year strategy. We also celebrated turning five and beating our target to transform 100 schools within the first five years. Our aim now is to scale our work with

schools and chefs, transforming food and food education across the country and creating a tidal wave of change that influences the whole school food system for the better.

Our core objectives are centred around three pillars of work:

LEAD

Our transformational, hands-on work will be our beacons of best practice and ongoing innovation centres.

ENABLE

We will confirm our position as the authoritative voice on quality school food and food education, training school chefs across the UK. We will use our expertise and voice to shape local and national policy, to influence more schools.

INSPIRE

We will build a national network that school chefs will aspire to join, building a nationwide community of change-makers and giving them the tools to deliver better, consistently.

School leadership buy-in: The school leaders who are engaged, are highly engaged. Those who aren’t, aren’t interested at all! This has particularly been the case with onboarding Multi-Academy Trusts and caterer partnerships - two of the quickest routes to achieving impact at scale.

At the end of this financial year, we can proudly report on impressive growth, although circumstances were challenging and we wanted to achieve even more.

Our key reflections are:

Demand: In a complex operating environment that sees school leaders having to balance competing priorities, schools are reticent about assuming more perceived risk.

As we take stock, we continue to develop our engagement plans to work with more schools who are ready to join the school food revolution, and keep spreading the word that better is possible.

The economy: The economic climate

and increased pressures on school budgets have made it harder for schools to participate in some programmes.

We are proud to have achieved the following progress towards our long-term ambitions.

LEAD

We continue to deliver our flagship Transformation programme to establish centres for excellence and innovation, providing inspiration for the catering industry and schools to follow our lead. We worked with another 16 schools nationally, reaching another 6,303 children. These schools were a mix of primary and secondary schools, with an average 35% free school meal entitlement. Within this programme, we have started developing innovative new delivery models to help us scale our approach to new settings - including those where schools do not, or cannot, run a kitchen on site.

This programme is intensive and requires significant school leadership buy-in, which limits the number of schools who feel able to be a part of it. This year, we reflected on our core objectives for this programme – to prove that better is possible in every area and setting, to provide gold standard examples, to research new methods of delivery and prevent stagnation by pushing boundaries for what it is possible to achieve. We intend to move away from numbers-based targets for this programme, and focus single-mindedly on providing high quality examples of best practice to help us shape programmes and initiatives that drive change at scale.

ENABLE

Our School Chef Educator programme, aimed at empowering and upskilling school chefs to deliver outstanding school food, has continued to grow from strength to strength, reaching new parts of the country and more than doubling our reach from 2022/23. This year, we had 76 chef graduates across 126 schools who gained vital skills and knowledge to improve school food - reaching 36,414 children.

Our core challenge in scaling this programme is growing our reputation as collaborative partners with the catering industry who employ the majority of the school kitchen workforce. We seek to build constructive relationships with them, working towards a mutually beneficial end goal of a well trained, motivated workforce who feel recognised for their skills. This work continues and will be strengthened in 2024/25 by the recruitment of a School Engagement Manager who will engage with schools and catering providers.

INSPIRE

The focus this year has been developing the model and business case for our membership network. We recruited a Membership Director to lead this work and after intensive research, we have developed a model to launch in 2024/25. Our intention is to initially invite our existing community of schools, chefs and kitchen teams and pilot test events for school chefs, with plans to launch and start bringing members onboard over the next year.

field. We aim to be the leading voice on school food with the media, decision makers, schools and the food industry to tackle change at a systemic level.

Whilst we haven’t met some of our headline targets, we are proud of the continued growth that we have experienced as a charity and the impact created in school kitchens and dining rooms across the country. We will take forward the learnings into our future years’ planning – whilst remaining ambitious and on track to deliver our long-term strategy.

We have further cemented our place as leaders, influencers and experts in our

LEAD: TRANSFORMING SCHOOL FOOD & FOOD EDUCATION

Our Transformation programme has seen us continue to forge collaborative and inspirational partnerships with schools across the country whose pupils have had delicious, nutritious school meals dished up in their dining halls.

We are excited to have expanded our work

into the South West, with the generous support of our funding partner, Riverford. Over the next two years, we will be continuing to grow our footprint working with more schools - just like The Grove in Totnes - to improve food and food education in Devon and Cornwall.

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THE GROVE SCHOOL’S TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

JANUARY AT THE GROVE

Students are tired and less receptive after lunch.
• The food isn’t sourced with sustainability or seasonality in mind.
Costs are rising significantly.
Children’s taste palates are unadventurous and food waste is high.

Headteacher Hilary Priest knows her kitchen team has the passion to serve great food, but they need support. Hilary turns to the charity Chefs in Schools, experts in transforming school food and food education.

ONE YEAR LATER

FIRST STEPS

Chef trainer Nerissa visits to work out what support is needed.
The school and charity work together to recruit Marco as Head Chef Educator.
Marco wants to make a difference and has bags of experience - he’s worked in renowned restaurants and cooked for the Queen.

SECOND PHASE

Nerissa passes on expertise about child nutrition, menu planning, the school food standards and kitchen skills.
Nerissa & Marco design and test new menus and source excellent local producers.
Food education becomes a daily occurrence.
Children are eager to try a variety of foods.
School meal uptake is higher.
Costs remain unchanged.
Veg and herbs grown onsite.
Children know more about where food comes from.
After lunch they’re energised and ready to learn.
The Grove wins a national award for their incredible food.

“I have two very cautious eaters but they have both told me they want school lunches every day!”

“Thank you for making this change happen - I don’t doubt how complicated it is to change what the children are eating. They are talking more about the food, how it’s made and where it’s from. Our daughter insisted on making fruit salad and yoghurt for breakfast today as she said it had been so delicious at school.”

“My child is enjoying the new lunches. He’s tried everything (even lentils!) and has said how delicious everything is. I love knowing how adventurous he’s being at school, and that he’s also receiving such tasty, nutritious food.”

Parent testimonials

“This is one of the most precious jobs I’ve ever had in my life. You know, feeding all these kids has a different meaning to feeding paying customers. An early education in a better diet is vital. And if I get to inspire these children for the rest of their lives, I can’t ask for more.”

Marco, Head Chef Educator

“It’s marvellous. The way to most people’s hearts is certainly with food. Now we are educating the children in food, which we weren’t really doing before. Chefs in Schools has helped us to take that brave step. The kids really believe this is the most amazing thing to happen to our school.”

Hilary Priest, Headteacher

INNOVATION

As we continue to evolve as an organisation, we are focusing on driving innovation and culinary creativity in order to address stubborn problems of quality in school food - such as supporting schools who don’t have kitchens, or developing more nutritious breaktime provisions for secondary schools. Nicole Pisani, our CoFounder, has moved into a new role as Chief Innovation Officer to spearhead this area of work. The year started with planning, prioritising and agreeing innovation aims and objectives. Some of our new and emerging projects include:

HUB KITCHENS

In 2024 we have been working on the launch of a new ‘hub kitchen’ model in Hackney with Primary Advantage Federation (PAF), working with three of their primary schools. After a number of months of negotiation, collaboration and stakeholder management in partnership with PAF, we designed a model that could work. The concept is built around a flagship centralised kitchen designed to deliver high-quality, nutritious meals to smaller neighbouring schools, with sustainability at its heart.

The model aims to deliver high quality, planet-friendly and cost-neutral meals where people and planet are at the forefront of our thinking. Using our

expertise in building sustainable, low impact, kitchen environments, we believe hub kitchens could not only address the current financial challenges small schools face but also set a new standard for food excellence in delivered meals, making sure we keep to our brand of excellent food quality.

Meals will be delivered using electric bikes and we will reduce carbon emissions from the three schools by lowering the number of deliveries made with vans.

In terms of the food menus, we will introduce more sustainable meats and recipes, such as venison sausages and mild madras mutton curry. We will also be using an app called Klimato to calculate the carbon footprint of recipes in order to improve sustainability.

The hub kitchen in Hackney is expected to go live in 2025 and has promising potential to be a blueprint for other schools, especially in rural communities where resources and access to kitchens can be limited.

In May 2024, Nicole and members of the kitchen team were interviewed for Radio 4’s The Food Programme - a proud moment for us to highlight the innovation we are seeking to bring with this new model.

BREAKFAST

We have been focusing on breakfast provision - recognising the need for more nutritious breakfasts, but also easy and or quick to prepare options that can be delivered in schools. Most breakfast clubs are delivered in spaces such as halls, without full use of kitchen facilities and without kitchen staff involved. We held recipe development days with our team of chef trainers to explore recipes that balance budget constraints with nutritional value, and will be advocating for policy changes to ensure all students have access to better breakfast choices with less sugary options.

We are proud to be shaping a future where every child has access to nutritious meals and food education that empowers them to thrive.

ENABLE: POWERING UP SCHOOL FOOD REVOLUTIONARIES

TRAINING THE KITCHEN TEAM WORKFORCE

This year, following a successful pilot, we launched our first School Chef Educator programme in the South West thanks to the new partnership with Riverford, training eight chefs with a reach across 31 schools, serving school meals to 7,101 children. In Hull, our partnership with William Jackson Food Group enabled us to train 18 chefs from 16 schools, reaching a further 6,479 children. We developed partnerships with a few local authorities in London to deliver training to schools within their boroughs with in-house catering.

To further raise our profile and awareness of the training programme, the team presented at education sector events such as the Schools and Academies Show, attended trade shows including EdExec Live and hosted stands at regional events including the Royal Cornwall show. The team invested a lot of time ahead of the first programme deliveries into the development of our online resource, videos and recipes hosted on our training portal that plays a pivotal role supporting participants throughout the course. We built on our existing materials, enhancing our current modules such as meeting School Food Standards and reducing waste, and adding a new expanding tastebuds module to the programme.

36,000 CHILDREN EVERY DAY

The training portal was further developed to reflect participant feedback, making changes to the length and order of some topics, and updating how tasks were submitted and reviewed to improve the accessibility of the programme.

Across the country, the team delivered training to 76 chefs who work across 126 schools, reaching over 36,000 children.

“All the staff are more mindful in regards to garnishes on the food, how to make it look more attractive, how to be more courteous, kind and smiley on the counter and how to interact more with the children. The team are all very enthusiastic, hard working and eager to learn. It makes a difference to the whole team, We are all working together to produce some really nice food and working with excellence in our kitchen. This course has really helped us a lot. The enthusiasm I have with my staff who have been on this training programme is excellent, they’re very onboard, throw out ideas and there’s a unity there that wasn’t there before. I’ve also grown and learnt through this and I think overall my team has grown as well”. School Chef Educator graduate

“We are unbelievably proud. Not only does this award recognise our team, but also the incredible school chefs, head teachers and business managers who are working with us to feed the future. School food gives us a vital opportunity to share with children the fun and joy of a varied and creative diet. The value it offers cannot be underestimated.” Nicole Pisani, Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

OUR RESEARCH ALSO FOUND:

INFLUENCING AND CAMPAIGNING

We have further cemented our place as leaders, influencers and experts in our field testifying at the House of Lords and at the youth parliament, supporting the Greater London Authority (GLA) during the roll out of universal free school meals and presenting at the World Nutrition Conference.

The year started with good news for us and other campaigners who’ve long called for action to end child hunger in schools, with the introduction of universal free school meals for London’s primary-aged children. To help schools meet increased demand, we launched a new toolkit, which passed on tips and tricks for increasing quantity while maintaining quality. The GLA also invited us to speak at a webinar assisting the roll out.

Alongside organisations and charities such as Biteback 2030, the Food Foundation, Sustain, Impact on Urban Health, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and School Food Matters we urged the Government to expand eligibility further

across the country to those living in food insecurity or poverty.

In October, our work, ethos and campaigning on school food, received national recognition when Chefs in Schools was crowned winner of the BBC’s Food and Farming Derek Cooper Outstanding Achievement Award. The award recognises those who bring about real change in relationships with food. The BBC Food Programme’s presenter, Sheila Dillon, said we’d found a solution to something that felt intractable, and that many in the room were inspired by Chefs in Schools.

In November, our campaigning accelerated with the release of our polling by Survation, which revealed the increasing number of families unable to pay for lunches. A third of parents told us school meals were now out of their price range, and 58% felt the current Free School Meals system, where eligility varies depending on location and age, was unfair.

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Parents were choosing cheaper, less nutritious
41%
packed lunches because of rising food prices
Parents wanted eligibility expanded
83%
Parents said they would be were more likely to vote
62%
for a party which promised to expand access
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Parents shared stories of shame at no longer being able to afford a hot school lunch for their child because of the cost of living crisis:

Addressing the findings, our charity said: “We now have growing inequality, where age or location determines whether a child is fed in school. It’s unjustifiable.”

“We are both working parents and still can’t afford to pay for school dinners.”

“Eating a meal in school goes beyond immediate hunger, providing powerful fuel for learning too. Yet, parents are struggling to afford hot school meals or nutritious packed lunches. There would be no better investment this Government could make.”

“It makes me feel terrible and guilt ridden as she’s no longer able to sit with friends that do have school meals.”

In March, the Youth Select Committee published its report on the impact of the cost of living on young people, quoting evidence from our Chief Executive, Naomi Duncan, who said that:

“There has been a significant uptick in the number of children coming into the dining hall who are not entitled to a free school meal, yet they’re coming in without sufficient food from home”.

Thanks to the evidence given by Naomi and other leaders and organisations working in the sector, the report recommended that the Government

expand the eligibility of free school meals to include the estimated 900,000 young people in England who are currently living in food poverty but do not meet the current criteria. It also recommended that Government ring-fence funding for free school meals so that there is consistent provision.

That same month, Naomi was invited to give evidence to the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee. Naomi made it clear that:

Naomi presented case studies of best practice, setting out the beneficial impact of feeding children well in school and making every day in the dining hall and education in varied diets. Afterwards Naomi said:

“I am honoured to have given evidence, now we need ambitious recommendations from the committee that match the scale of the issue at hand.”

In June, we unveiled our manifesto, calling on Government to:

Enforce and strengthen the existing school food standards.
Train all school kitchen teams on child nutrition, culinary skills & the school food standards.
Provide sufficient funding to ensure only quality produce is served in schools and that every child accesses and enjoys a school lunch.

Our manifesto made it clear that food fuels us, we all know this but when it comes to school food we sometimes forget it. We called on politicians and the incoming Government to forget it no more.

MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS: IN THE SPOTLIGHT

headteacher querying the quality of food his team were able to serve, highlighting what we are doing to bring about change.

From our campaigning to our work in schools, our charity continued to hit the headlines during 2023 and 2024. Highlights included the Financial Times telling readers our ambitious work was part of a wider movement turning the tide on UK obesity rates, transforming school food culture with a radical programme of food education and fresh food, made from scratch.

Dame Prue Leith’s new show, Cotswold Kitchen, went behind the scenes in a school kitchen, showing the team at Redriff Primary School offering a daily food education from the produce grown onsite to the creative ways of preparing it.

The year-long Times Health Commission featured case studies of our schools, saying that we were addressing the most urgent challenges facing health and social care, citing us as a new approach to school food.

Membership Director, Sam Phillips, was featured in the Times, setting out our position on the recent headlines about a

“Attitudes to school food needed to shift from it being a drain on finances to a vital investment in child health.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

This was an exciting year for Chefs in Schools with social channels growing and hitting new heights on all platforms. We are now officially verified on Instagram, a milestone for us!

Our posts have been reaching more people, taking the school food revolution to a wider audience. We’ve received feedback from the community, including heartwarming messages from parents whose kids have been feeling much better after school thanks to improvements in the school’s food.

Thanks to a number of exciting media moments, we’ve gained even more

visibility. When Thomasina Miers, one of our trustees, appeared on Pointless Celebrities, which aired in April 2024, resulting in a £1,500 prize for the charity (received in 2022/23), stories on Instagram boosted our social presence. Over the year, Thomasina and other high profile supporters, including Bill Prince, Sally Clarke, Blanche Vaughan, Amica de Moubray, Jeremy Lee, Heirlooms and Wood Spoons have highlighted our work to a combined tally of hundreds of thousands of followers. Our corporate supporter, Riverford, has also showcased our work in their Wicked Leeks blog, while mentions on The One Show and on the Sorted Podcast took our work to new audiences.

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Local newspapers, ITV and BBC regional news highlighted our collaboration with Riverford to ‘vegucate’ children in the southwest. While Radio 4’s flagship Food Programme spent time in Devon and London learning what our charity does, how we support schools and why it matters.

Schools we support hit the headlines. The Grove, in Totnes, won the All Party Parliamentary Group Excellence in School

Food Awards, a prestigious award which sees schools across the UK recognised for their excellence, innovation and commitment to feeding kids well. Rushey Green Primary School, in London, was the runner up. While Head Chef Russ Ball and the team at Pokesdown Primary in Bournemouth won the Rising Star Award in Jamie Oliver’s Good School Food Awards 2024. A proud moment for us and all of them.

“By fostering this kind of food environment directly to the classrooms, eating nutritious food has become the norm. We have seen significant impact in mood and behaviour, stable energy levels during the afternoons and crucially, better concentration.”

“I’m not sure if something has recently changed about how school lunches are made, but we’ve noticed our daughter feels so much better after school and is talking really positively about the food she’s been having for lunch recently.”

Parent testimonial

Russ Ball, Head Chef, Pokesdown School

INSPIRE: A COMMUNITY FOR THE SUPERHEROES OF FOOD

THE MEMBERSHIP

Our procurement team have been working on multiple procurement exercises, and overcome many challenges to ensure we can recommend suppliers who offer excellent quality at great value. We have successfully procured the supply of fish and dry goods, introducing the suppliers across our network. Within four months of recommending a fish supplier we saw uptake across 21 schools, equating to around £30,000 of spend, and a 66% saving on skinned coley, which belongs to the cod family, through our recommendation versus the market price in June and July. Further procurement exercises are underway and learnings from the initial trials will further support schools in our network and future members.

Over the last year we have developed and refined our strategy to launch a national membership, to underpin the long term sustainability and impact of our work.

The membership will provide ongoing and unparalleled support to those working in school food and food education, from kitchen teams to senior leaders. As well as access to an online community hub, resources, recipes and menu support, in person support will include onsite visits by our chef trainers, workshops and a kitchen exchange programme. Members will also have access to a network of recommended suppliers, committed to feeding the future well. A regular challenge that appeared time and time again during our initial research was the lack of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) for the kitchen team, with limited training opportunities available. Therefore a large proportion of the membership will be dedicated to training events, online training resources and an annual school chef conference.

We carried out further surveys with chefs from across our partner schools to gain insights into their job satisfaction and to support the development of the membership.

Findings included:

We asked chefs about what would • help them further in their role; 72% said access to food education initiatives, 67% said access to training •
and opportunities for professional developments and 50% said access to more recipe and menu ideas
• 83% observed an increase in meal uptake, up from 66% in 2023
When asked about the best part of the job 100% reported working with children, with 83% referencing the work/life balance
83% of chefs would recommend working in a school kitchen to a friend

100%

100% reported feeling satisfied or very satisfied with their job, up from 87% in 2023 100% are proud to work with Chefs in Schools 100% say their work gives them a sense of personal accomplishment

PARTNERSHIPS & IMPACT

OUR APPROACH

As our organisation continues to expand in line with our ambitious plans for growth, our core costs are increasing. In order to support the delivery of our transformational work with schools, chefs and kitchen teams, we take a strategic approach to raising funds.

Consolidating our unrestricted core funding, including vital ongoing support from committed partners such as Impact on Urban Health, has enabled us to invest in key areas of organisational development. This included recruiting additional operationally-focused team

members, further developing our data and analytics function and creating our Membership offering for school chefs, which will launch in 2024. We recognise the security that unrestricted funding offers our organisation as we seek to build a firmer, broad base of income over the next three years to ensure long-term financial stability.

Our main fundraising activities are securing grants from charitable trusts and foundations, corporate partners and philanthropists.

“This initiative represents a crucial step towards ensuring every child enjoys the benefits of fresh, vegetable-rich diets. It’s about more than just feeding children; it’s about teaching them and their families the value of good, wholesome food.” Guy Singh-Watson, Founder, Riverford

£1,548,528

THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS

We are proud to be working with Riverford to ‘vegucate’ the future. We launched our partnership in February 2024 and our aim is to train a total of 255 school chefs, to carry out in-depth kitchen transformations and to reach 40,000 children in the South West of England over the next four years. We will be supporting schools to ensure the food on offer is the best it can be: colourful to look at, flavourful to taste and the perfect fuel kids need to learn. Together with our friends at Riverford, we are sowing the seeds of a veg fuelled future!

This year, we also held our first major fundraising event. Renowned chefs Skye Gyngell, Thomasina Miers and Jeremy Lee donated their time and cooked up a school food inspired storm, which was so generously hosted by The Fishmongers’ Company who kindly made their banqueting hall available to us. Beautiful produce donated by Natoora made for the perfect table decorations. We had 190 guests join us for the evening, which also included a live auction.

We are immensely thankful to an incredible team of volunteers who formed a committee to work alongside our fundraising team to make this event happen and to conjure up incredible auction prizes, which were all so very generously donated. With so many generous pledges later, we were thrilled to raise a game-changing £286,725 to help us improve school food for children across the country.

We are hugely grateful to our loyal supporters who made a contribution to this event, and all our fundraising activities this year. It is only with their commitment and invested interest in our mission that we can continue to strive for better food and food education in schools across the country.

HOW WE WORK

We comply with the latest fundraising guidelines from the Fundraising Regulator and Charity Commission, which includes the Code of Fundraising Practice for the UK.

In order to protect our supporters’ private data, all staff undertake GDPR training and we ensure compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

THANK YOU

We are incredibly grateful to our generous supporters for joining the food revolution and for their unwavering commitment to a shared belief that better is possible. Without their essential funding, we simply could not do our vital work transforming school food and food education across the country.

We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our trust, corporate and individual donors who all make invaluable contributions to furthering Chefs in Schools’ mission.

IMPACT

Over the last year, we have been working with Impact Ed, an impact and evaluation consultancy, to create an evaluation strategy. The aim of this project was to align our organisational strategic goals and programme outcomes with a sound framework of measures and research tools that would allow us to produce quality analysis, data and demonstrable impact.

Our evaluation strategy helps us to understand the impact we are having in school dining rooms, kitchens, and society.

We believe that all children should have a right to good food and food education. To evaluate our impact, we send an annual survey to school leaders who we’ve worked with through our School Transformation programme. We ask them questions about the quality and enjoyment of food in their school. We believe that serving delicious, nourishing food can fuel positive improvements in the classroom - not just in the dining room. Our findings back this up.

We are incredibly fortunate to work with a diverse bunch of talented and passionate school chefs and kitchen teams. When we asked chefs who had worked with Chefs in Schools through our School Transformation and/or School Chef Educator programme, 77% reported being very satisfied with the support they recieved and 94% of chefs would recommend working with us.

A vital part of our work is helping to shift cultural perceptions of these important roles so that they are seen as aspirational and desirable career paths to children and are better valued in society.

As we grow as an organisation, we will continue to review our evaluation methods to ensure that We are able to demonstrate that our work is meaningful, relevant and creates long-lasting and sustainable impact for the people and communities we work with - both at a local and national level.

Our kids’ health is quite literally in the hands of the kitchen staff and chef teams that work in schools across the country.

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More than 82% of school leaders reported
82%
an improvement in pupil behaviour
More than 65% reported reported an
65%
improvement in pupil concentration
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ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

In 2023/24 we took the opportunity to take stock, after six years of growth and development as an organisation. We reflected on the need for leadership as we scale, and on ensuring that we keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to deliver in school food and food education.

We strengthened our team and realigned leadership in April 2024, bringing together our two existing programmes into a new training & transformations team under one leadership. Nicole Pisani, our cofounder, stepped into the newly created

role of Chief Innovation Officer, as well as continuing to act as an ambassador for Chefs in Schools.

We also capitalised on extraordinary success in fundraising this year, and ongoing partnership strength, to bring in further depth to our team across programme delivery and the wider organisation. This included appointing a Head of Finance & Systems, who will begin work in Autumn 2024/25, helping us to enhance our ability to manage financial risk and remain agile and effective.

During the year, we continued our work to embrace and grow the diversity of our team, whilst embedding our wider policy on equity, equality and inclusion. We worked with Be The Riot on a full review of our anonymous recruitment process, and look forward to embedding those lessons in 2024/25.

We implemented a new employee committee, focused on people and culture, to ensure that as we develop and implement new policies, we are drawing on the knowledge and insight of our whole team.

In the coming year, we plan a full review of our policies, to ensure that these represent our values accurately, and all of them align with our approach to diversity, equity, equality and inclusion.

LOOKING AHEAD

In 2024/25 we will transform food and food education for tens of thousands more school pupils across the UK, launch the third key pillar of our four-year strategy to further support the school food workforce, and make key investments to strengthen the organisation and grow our impact.

LEAD

Reaching another 10,000 children in new schools nationally through our flagship School Transformation programme, as we focus on quality and codifying our approach.
Developing the hub kitchen model to test scalable, high-quality meal delivery that can influence broader catering practices.
• Refining our approach to food education.

Across the organisation we will invest time and resource into:

Ensuring the school audiences hear about our work directly, focusing on engaging the right people, in the right areas, and filling available capacity on our programmes.
Development of our internal systems and IT capability to ensure that we are maximising productivity and effectiveness.
Further development of programme evaluation to robustly demonstrate our impact.

ENABLE

Training 180 school chefs through our school chef educator programme, reaching over 90,000 children and identifying partnership opportunities for further scale.
Launching a major campaign drawing attention to the quality of school food in secondary schools, galvanising the Government to act on regulation and funding.
Strengthening our partnerships and working in coalition with others to use our collective voice effectively in public campaigns and advocacy.

INSPIRE

Refining and launching the Membership and developing a working model for a platform test with existing schools prior to national roll-out.

Activities

We work to achieve change in three main ways:

Leading from the front to directly support schools to implement our philosophy and transform the standards of food and food education offered.
Enabling others to follow; developing and delivering training and resources for chefs, schools and caterers to improve food and food education. We seek to be a leading voice on school food; within the media, with decision-makers, schools and within the food industry, aiming to change the system at its roots to improve school food.

TRUSTEES REPORT

For the year ended 31 August 2024

The Trustees, who are also directors, present their Annual Report together with the Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2024. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (FRS 102) in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives

Our mission is to transform kids’ health through food – plate by plate, class by class, school by school. We recruit chefs and train school kitchen teams to make tasty, exciting meals that kids enjoy, packed with fresh, nutritious produce. We support schools to embed good food culture, educating their pupils about food in the dining room and the classroom. We inspire and enable others to follow our lead, and we use our expertise to inform policy and campaigns that seek to tackle systemic barriers to progress.

Inspiring the school food workforce; providing access to training, procurement, resources and peer support.

Public Benefit

The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s objectives and activities and in planning future activities.

The principal activities of the charity during the year continued to be ‘to advance education in cookery and food preparation and to advance health through (but not limited to) the improvement of food standards in schools.’

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Fundraising

We remain incredibly grateful to all our funding partners and donors who help to ensure the ongoing success and sustainability of our work. Our Fundraising Policy outlines our ethical approach to fundraising activities. We carry out due diligence on prospective partners and will not work with funders who conflict with our mission or compromise our reputation.

Our fundraising strategy to date has focused on soliciting grants from Trusts and Foundations as well as a small number of companies. We are also growing our income from major donors, supported by bespoke fundraising events. We will always be honest about what we can achieve when asking for funds, submit realistic budgets, use the funds for the purpose intended and ensure that we provide any reports required, on time.

We do not engage in mass public fundraising, preferring a more targeted approach of developing meaningful relationships. We do not use any third-party fundraisers and have not received any fundraising complaints to date.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Income and Expenditure

This year we continued to experience significant growth, increasing our income by 46% on the previous year, despite the challenging economic climate. This continued income growth is a result of new funding partnerships and a very successful fundraising event. We have also been successful in growing the level of trading income secured, some of which has been deferred to the following year, aligned with the objective of reducing our reliance on fundraising.

Total income amounted to £1,654,185 compared to £1,128,444 in the previous year. During the year the charity’s expenditure was £1,245,137 compared to £1,045,978 the previous year.

The overall result for the year was a surplus of £409,048 compared to the surplus of £82,466 in 2023.

The restricted income of the charity is available only for the specific projects or purposes determined by the funders. During the year the charity received £287,869 of restricted income and spent £195,666.

Reserves policy

In accordance with its Articles of Association, Chefs in Schools holds free reserves to enable the charity to meet timing variations in income or unforeseen expenditure, to provide for contingencies or to cover core costs in the event of a shortfall in funding. Our Trustees regularly review the charity’s need for reserves in line with guidelines issued by the Charity Commission and the operating environment prevailing at that time. Reserves may be designated by Trustees for specific projects or investments, distinct from the ongoing operational costs. We aim to accumulate free reserves equal to three to six months’ unrestricted expenditure (after costs covered by designated and restricted funds are deducted), which, per our annual budget, equates to £405,000 to £809,000 (2023: £370,000 to £740,000).

At 31 August 2024, general unrestricted funds were £534,165 (2023: £430,320). The balance excluding tangible fixed assets was £531,357 (2023: £428,888). Our free reserves position at the end of the financial year is equivalent to four months expenditure which is within our target holding.

Designated funds

The Trustees have approved designating unrestricted funds for two specific projects in the coming year. £138,000 has been designated to support the continued development and launch of the Membership programme and £75,000 has been designated for further investment in organisational development, strengthening our ability to deliver

impact at scale, through improved systems to boost our productivity and promotion of our programmes to increase uptake.

At 31 August 2024, designated funds were £213,000 (2023: £nil).

Restricted funds

Restricted funds were received to support our flagship School Transformation programme, our School Chef Educator programme, and Membership programme as well as core costs, enabling continued investment in development of the Team at Chefs in Schools. The balance carried forward will be spent in the current and following financial year, fulfilling the purpose set out by funders in committing their financial support.

At 31 August 2024, restricted funds were £190,373 (2023: £98,170), details of which are set out in note 16.

Risk management

The Trustees have reviewed the major strategic, business and operational risks to which Chefs in Schools is exposed. These include the impact of high inflation and increased food costs where school budgets are already under pressure, the potential for adverse publicity as a result of campaigning activities, compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. The Trustees are confident that systems have been established to mitigate any such risks. These mitigations includes ensuring our strategy is flexible to allow us to continue to support schools through financial pressures, appropriate insurance cover has been obtained, sufficient budget is available to allow legal and professional advice to be sought as necessary and that the assessment of risks is kept under review.

The charity’s risk register is kept under constant review by the Chefs in Schools management team, overseen by the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, with key risks reviewed at least quarterly by the full board of Trustees.

Going concern

The Trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the company to continue as a going concern. The trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of at least one year from the date of authorisation for issue of the financial statements and have concluded that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, thus they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Chefs in Schools is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 11 May 2018 and registered as a charity on 27 June 2018.

The company is governed under its Articles of Association. The Trustees have a responsibility to ensure that all aspects of the charity’s activities are properly conducted and carried out in full compliance with its Articles of Association. The charity is governed by its Trustees who meet four times a year. All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Expenses totalling £433 were claimed by Trustees during the year.

Andre Bailey: Andre is Principal at Arco Academy in Camberwell, London. He is a dedicated educational leader with over 25 years of experience in primary, secondary, and special education.

Dr Tamsin Cooper, a food systems expert who has served as a Trustee since January 2023, has stepped into the role of Co-Chair. Tamsin is now co-leading the board of Trustees alongside Henry Dimbleby who has chaired the Trustees since 2018.

All Trustees must undergo a DBS check and sign the Charity Commission Trustee Declaration as well as complete a declaration of interests notice in order to be accepted onto the board.

Role of Trustees

The Trustees provide governance and develop the key policies of the charity and accept ultimate legal authority for it. The board meets four times a year with a focus on strategic decision making, financial oversight and management of risk. The Trustees approve budgets and are responsible for the good stewardship of the charity’s resources. They work in partnership with the Chief Executive to help her achieve the charity’s objectives. The Trustees, who are also the members of the Company, each have a limited liability of £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.

The Trustees have formed two sub-committees; the Strategy and Impact Committee, chaired by Tamsin Cooper and the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, chaired by Jasbir Notay.

Recruitment and induction of Trustees

The board is responsible for overseeing its effectiveness, including skills audit, and recruitment of new trustees. A review of skills on the board is carried out regularly to ensure these are in line with the charity’s strategy. The board are also ultimately responsible for implementation of our diversity, equity, equality and inclusion plan, and ensuring the number of trustees meets the Articles’ requirements.

Trustee positions are advertised openly through Trustees Unlimited, Linked In and similar. Candidates that wish to apply for the role do so via an anonymised process, based on the Applied method, followed by interviews with the Chair, other board members and the Chief Executive.

One third (or the number nearest one third) of the Trustees must retire at each AGM, those longest in office retiring first and the choice between any of equal service being made by drawing lots. A retiring Trustee who is eligible (as laid out in the terms of the Memorandum and Articles - Article 3.3) may be reappointed. There is no specific requirement in the articles to hold an AGM. The last AGM was held in October 2022.

Role of Chief Executive

The Chief Executive provides leadership to employees and is responsible for the operational detail and implementation of the business plan and the management of the charity, including control of expenditure in line with budgets and delegations approved by the board. The Chief Executive reports regularly to the Trustees on progress against agreed priorities and objectives and seeks opportunities to expand and promote the organisation.

Key management remuneration

Key management personnel are considered to be the Senior Leadership Team. Following a reorganisation during the year, the Senior Leadership Team now comprises the Chief Executive and Chief Innovation Officer, Director of Transformations, Director of Partnerships & Impact, Membership Director, Head of Communications, and Head of Finance & Systems. Remuneration for key management personnel is reviewed annually. Benchmarking data from across the sector is considered. Any recommended increases for the Chief Executive and Chief Innovations Officer are proposed by a Trustee Remuneration Committee to the wider full Trustee board for approval. Salary increases for the remaining Senior Leadership Team are decided by the Chief Executive.

In the year to 31 August 2024, Louise Nichols, one of our co-founders, stepped down as a Trustee. We further strengthened our board with the appointment of two new Trustees:

Christina Adane: Christina is a campaigner who started her journey at the charity Bite Back 2030, as a co-chair of this youth-led movement fighting for a fairer food system in the UK.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Henry Dimbleby - Co-Chair Tamsin Cooper - Co-Chair Thomasina Miers Jasbir Kaur Notay Karen Martin Melanie Neill Louise Nichols (resigned 16.11.2023) Christina Adane (appointed 19.12.2023) Andre Bailey (appointed 19.12.2023)

Trustees

Registered Company number 11356489 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number 1178964

Registered office First Floor, River House 1 Maidstone Road Sidcup Kent DA14 5RH

Naomi Duncan – Chief Executive

Senior leadership team

Nicole Pisani – Chief Innovation Officer (Co-Founder) Anna Norman – Finance & Office Manager Alison McDade - Head of Finance & Systems (From September 2024) Danielle Glavin - Head of Communications Laura Mumford – Director of Transformations (To November 2024) Nikki Brookes - Director of Partnerships & Impact (maternity cover) Polly Praill – Director of Partnerships & Impact Sam Phillips - Membership Director

Independent Auditor

Azets Audit Services First Floor, River House 1 Maidstone Road Sidcup Kent DA14 5RH

Bankers

Coutts 440 Strand London WC2R 0QS

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP (FRS 102);
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Statement as to disclosure of information to auditors

So far as the Trustees are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware, and each trustee has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditors are aware of that information.

Approved by the Trustees on 23rd April 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Henry Dimbleby Co-Chairs of the Trustees

Tamsin Cooper

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Opinion`

We have audited the financial statements of Chefs In Schools (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 August 2024 which comprise Statement of Financial Activates, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 August 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice;

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Other information`

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006; and
have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP 2019.

`Basis for opinion`

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

`Conclusions relating to going concern`

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustee's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

`Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006`

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

`Matters on which we are required to report by exception`

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Responsibilities of trustees`

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

`Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements`

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

`Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud`

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above and on the Financial Reporting Council’s website, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.

We obtain and update our understanding of the entity, its activities, its control environment, and likely future developments, including in relation to the legal and regulatory framework applicable and how the entity is complying with that framework. Based on this understanding, we identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. This includes consideration of the risk of acts by the entity that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, we designed procedures which included:

Enquiry of senior leadership, Trustees and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims as well as actual, suspected and alleged fraud;
Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
Assessing the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations considered to have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company through enquiry and inspection;
Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
Performing audit work over the recognition of grant income and the allocation of expenditure to funds;
Performing audit work over the risk of management bias and override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for indicators of potential bias.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or noncompliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance.

The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

`Use of our report`

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

`Michelle Wilkes FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)`

For and on behalf of Azets Audit Services

First Floor, River House, 1 Maidstone Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 5RH Date:

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Notes Income from: Donations 3 Charitable activities 4 Other trading activities Investments - Interest receivable Other income Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities Total expenditure 5 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted funds £ 476,724 882,333 3,240 3,907 112 1,366,316 139,304 910,167 1,049,471 316,845 430,320 747,165	Restricted funds £ 15,000 272,869 - - - 287,869 - 195,666 195,666 92,203 98,170 190,373	Total 2024 £ 491,724 1,155,202 3,240 3,907 112 1,654,185 139,304 1,105,833 1,245,137 409,048 528,490 937,538	Total 2023 £ 311,113 810,275 5,767 1,289 - 1,128,444 59,019 986,959 1,045,978 82,466 446,024 528,490

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2023

Notes Income from: Donations 3 Charitable activities 4 Other trading activities Investments - Interest receivable Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities Total expenditure 5 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted funds £ 311,113 596,675 5,767 1,289 914,844 59,019 757,981 817,000 97,844 332,476 430,320	Restricted funds £ - 213,600 - - 213,600 - 228,978 228,978 (15,378) 113,548 98,170	Total 2023 £ 311,113 810,275 5,767 1,289 1,128,444 59,019 986,959 1,045,978 82,466 446,024 528,490

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 AUGUST 2024

Company Registration No. 11356489

Notes 10 11 12 16 Tangible fixed assets Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total net assets The funds of the charity Restricted funds Unrestricted funds: Designated funds 15 General unrestricted fund 17	£ £ 2,808 53,650 1,088,478 1,142,128 (207,398) 934,730 937,538 190,373 213,000 534,165 747,165 937,538 2024	£ £ 1,432 15,927 631,798 647,725 (120,667) 527,058 528,490 98,170 - 430,320 430,320 528,490 2023

The accounts were approved by the board of Trustees on 23rd April 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Henry Dimbleby Co-Chair

Tamsin Cooper Co-Chair

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £ £ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income for the year 409,048 82,466
Adjustment for:
Depreciation 770 5,122
Interest received (3,907) (1,289)
Assets gifted - 80,664
Decrease / (increase) in debtors (37,723) 43,625
Increase in creditors 86,731 58,486
Net cash from operating activities 454,919 269,074
Investing activities
Interest received 3,907 1,289
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (2,146) (1,124)
Net cash from investing activities 1,761 165
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 456,680 269,239
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 631,798 362,559
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 1,088,478 631,798
----- End of picture text -----

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

`1. Accounting` p `olicies`

`1.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements`

Chefs In Schools is governed under its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The address of the principal office can be found on page 50. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are set out in the Trustees Annual Report.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

`1.2 Going concern`

At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Trustees have considered relevant information, including the annual budget, forecast future cashflows and the impact of subsequent events In making their assessment.

`1.3 Income`

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.3 Income (continued)`

Income is recognised on notification of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the income and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.

`1.4 Expenditure`

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is categorised under the following headings:

Costs of raising funds are those costs incurred in attracting voluntary income;

Expenditure on charitable activities comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs allocated directly to such activities and support costs (see below).

Support costs

Support costs are those that assist the work of the charity but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office and governance costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Where support costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as an expense against the activity for which expenditure arose.

`1.5 Funds accounting`

Unrestricted general funds are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.

Restricted funds are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restriction arises when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

`CHEFS IN SCHOOLS` CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee) a company limited by guarantee)

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.6 Taxation`

The charity is registered and is therefore entitled to the exemptions from corporation tax afforded by section 505 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. Accordingly, there is no corporation tax charge in these financial statements.

`CHEFS IN SCHOOLS` CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee) (a company limited by guarantee)

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.9 Financial` i `nstruments (continued)`

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

`1.7 Cash and cash equivalents`

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

`1.8 Tangible fixed assets`

Assets costing £500 or more are capitalised as tangible fixed assets and are carried at cost, net of depreciation and any impairment.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Fixtures and fittings - 15% reducing balance Computer equipment - 20% straight line

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss.

`1.9 Financial` i `nstruments`

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised .

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.10 Employee benefits`

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

`1.11 Retirement benefits`

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

`2. Critical accounting estimates and judgements`

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The following judgements have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies that have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements:

Bad debts

Debtors are regularly reviewed for recoverability, any debts which in the opinion of management are not recoverable are provided for as a specific bad debt. There are no key assumptions concerning the future and other key sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

3. Donations and legacies Donations Gift Aid Services in kind 4. Charitable activities Fees for providing charitable activities: Lead Enable Core Grants: Lead Enable Inspire Core 5. Analysis of Expenditure Grant costs (Note 6) Current year £ Raising funds - Charitable activities: Lead 60,000 Enable 444 Inspire - 60,444	Staff costs (Note 9) £ 88,183 345,806 276,000 221,354 931,343	Unrestricted funds £ 417,059 11,600 48,065 476,724 Unrestricted funds £ 50,957 43,925 3,516 62,500 115,500 110,000 495,935 882,333 *Direct costs £ 46,697 18,637 28,773 11,543 105,650	Restricted funds £ 15,000 - - 15,000 Restricted funds £ - - - 104,515 96,800 40,000 31,554 272,869 Support costs (Note 7) £ 4,424 49,956 58,945 34,375 147,700	Total 2024 £ 432,059 11,600 48,065 491,724 Total 2024 £ 50,957 43,925 3,516 167,015 212,300 150,000 527,489 1,155,202 2024 Total £ 139,304 474,399 364,162 267,272 1,245,137	2023 £ 278,723 - 32,390 311,113 2023 £ 101,675 - - 233,500 192,860 81,000 201,240 810,275 2023 Total £ 59,019 650,966 231,832 104,161 1,045,978

- These costs were provided on a pro bono basis and shown as services in kind in note 3 above : Raising Funds - £23,000, Lead - £265

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

6. Grants payable - Institutions 2024 no. Grants to schools 2 Hackney School of Food CIC 1	2024 2023 £ no. 444 - 60,000 1 60,444	2023 £ - 52,205 52,205

See note 18 for details of grant awarded to Hackney School of Food CIC.

7.	Support costs Accountancy and bookkeeping Advertising and promotion Depreciation Premises Consultancy Design and website Evaluation Staff training Subscriptions and memberships Travel costs Other support costs Governance costs: Audit fees Other governance costs	2024 £ 11,508 2,000 770 13,011 31,623 8,955 9,917 6,616 6,757 8,243 28,395 13,051 6,854 147,700	2023 £ 9,434 37,545 5,122 7,440 13,279 1,452 - 11,306 2,733 8,175 10,579 11,120 6,700 124,885

These costs were provided on a pro bono basis and shown as services in kind in note 3 above : Advertising and promotion

-£3,920, Consultancy - £18,600, Rent £2,280 (2023: Advertising and promotion - £22,950, Rent £7,440 and Legal fees of £2,000).

8. Trustees

None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.

During the year ended 31 August 2024 4 trustees had travel expenses re-imbursed of £433 (2023 - 4 Trustees - £931).

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

9. Staff Staff costs Staff costs during the year were: Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Staff costs - employees Other staff costs Total staff expenditure Staff numbers The average number of persons employed by the charity during the year was as follows: Staff	2024 £ 788,157 79,250 37,771 905,178 26,165 931,343 2024 Number 20	2023 £ 555,055 53,938 22,345 631,338 14,838 646,176 2023 Number 15

Higher paid staff

The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer national insurance contributions) exceeded £60,000 was:

£60,001	- £70,000	2024 2023 Number Number 1 2
£70,001	- £80,000	1 -

Key management personnel

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees and the senior leadership team. The total amount of employee benefits (including employer pension contributions and employer national insurance contributions) received by key management personnel for their services to the charity was £433,928 (8 persons) (2023 - £313,455 - 6 persons).

10. Tangible fixed assets Cost At 1 September 2023 Additions At 31 August 2024 Depreciation At 1 September 2023 Depreciation At 31 August 2024 Net book value At 31 August 2024 At 31 August 2023	Computer equipment £ 2,175 2,146 4,321 743 770 1,513 2,808 1,432

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

11. Debtors

Debtors Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income	2024 £ 17,943 4,681 31,026 53,650	2023 £ 10,533 - 5,394 15,927

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

15. Designated funds (continued)

The Trustees have approved designating unrestricted funds for two specific projects in the coming year.

Organisational development

£75,000 has been designated for further investment in organisational development, strengthening our ability to deliver impact at scale, through improved systems to boost our productivity and promotion of our programmes to increase uptake.

Membership

Included in other debtors above are amounts failing due after one year of £1,406 (2023 - £nil).

£138,000 has been designated to support the continued development and launch of the Membership programme.

There were no designated funds in the prior year.

12. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Other taxation and social security Other creditors Accruals and deferred income 13. Deferred income Deferred income is included within: Creditors due within one year Deferred income at 1 September Released from previous years Income deferred in the year Deferred income at 31 August	2024 £ 4,608 31,280 6,696 164,814 207,398 2024 £ 75,862 7,733 (7,733) 75,862 75,862	2023 £ 8,510 27,124 5,041 79,992 120,667 2023 £ 7,733 21,154 (21,154) 7,733 7,733

16. Restricted funds CURRENT YEAR Lead Enable Inspire Core PRIOR YEAR Lead Enable Core	Balance at 01 Sep 23 £ 52,841 30,229 - 15,100 98,170 Balance at 01 Sep 22 £ 96,542 13,516 3,490 113,548	Income £ 119,515 96,800 40,000 31,554 287,869 Income £ 143,500 47,860 22,240 213,600	Expenditure £ (104,894) (40,233) (30,000) (20,539) (195,666) Expenditure £ (187,201) (31,147) (10,630) (228,978)	Balance at 31 Aug 24 £ 67,462 86,796 10,000 26,115 190,373 Balance at 31 Aug 23 £ 52,841 30,229 15,100 98,170

Lead

Included in deferred income is fees received in advance for services to be provided in 2024/25.

14. Retirement benefit schemes - Defined contribution scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.

This funding supported our School by School programme to help schools transform their food and food education. We help them to recruit and train chefs, develop menus and implement systems to manage their kitchen and embed meaningful food education.

In the prior year, this funding also supported a partnership between Chefs in Schools and the LEAP Federation of Schools to create a cookery school offering the local community in Hackney a range of courses to teach children and their families to grow and cook nutritious foods from scratch.

Enable

The charge to income and expenditure in respect of defined contribution schemes was £37,771 (2023: £22,345).

15. Designated funds CURRENT YEAR Organisational development Membership	Balance at 01 Sep 23 £ - - -	New designations £ 75,000 138,000 213,000	Designations released £ - - -	Balance at 31 Aug 24 £ 75,000 138,000 213,000

This funding supported the delivery of our School Chef Educator training programme for school chefs, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to feed kids well.

Inspire

This funding supported the development of our Membership programme, which provides support and community for school chefs. This includes help for schools to source high quality ingredients at the best price.

Core

This funding supported core staffing and overhead costs, enabling organisational development. It includes funding for a Senior Programme Manager supporting the School Food Review, a group of organisations working together to improve the school food system.

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS CHEFS IN SCHOOLS (A Company Limited by Guarantee) (A Company Limited by Guarantee) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

17. Analysis of net funds

Analysis of net funds Current year Tangible Fixed Assets Current assets Current liabilities Prior year Tangible Fixed Assets Current assets Current liabilities	Unrestricted funds £ 2,808 736,518 (205,161) 534,165 £ 1,432 543,672 (114,784) 430,320	Designated funds £ - 213,000 - 213,000 £ - - - -	Restricted funds £ - 192,610 (2,237) 190,373 £ - 104,053 (5,883) 98,170	Total funds £ 2,808 1,142,128 (207,398) 937,538 £ 1,432 647,725 (120,667) 528,490

CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

18. Related party transactions (continued)

LEAP Federation

Louise Nichols (Chefs in Schools Trustee until 16 November 2023) is Executive Head of the LEAP Federation of three London Borough of Hackney Primary Schools: - Kingsmead, Mandeville and Gayhurst.

During the year:

£nil was paid to the LEAP Federation as a contribution to the salary and associated costs of the Head Chef Educator of the Hackney School of Food, prior to the incorporation of the Hackney School of Food CIC (2023 - £18,941).

Amounts due to the LEAP Federation at 31 August 2024 were £nil (2023: £nil)

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)

Karen Martin (Chefs in Schools Trustee) is CEO of BBH London, a global creative agency. During the year, advertising and promotion services valued at £nil were provided by BBH (2023 - £4,950).

Amounts due to BBH at 31 August 2024 were £nil (2023: £nil)

18. Related party transactions

Donations

Hackney School of Food

The Hackney School of Food is a community cookery school and garden established in March 2020 by the LEAP Federation (a group of three maintained primary schools in Hackney), in partnership with Chefs in Schools, to pioneer seed to spoon food education. Leading up to January 2023, the operation of the school was delivered in partnership, with operating costs and income shared across both organisations.

Total donations of £25,431 (2023 - £nil) without conditions were received from trustees and related parties during the year.

19. Company limited by guarantee

The Charity is limited by guarantee and accordingly has no share capital.

In January 2023, the boards of both organisations agreed that for the long term success of the Hackney School of Food, it should be given its own independent legal status, and the Hackney School of Food CIC was created. The board of the CIC includes Louise Nichols, Executive Head of the LEAP Federation (and Chefs in Schools Trustee until 16 November 2023), Naomi Duncan (Chief Executive of Chefs in Schools) and Melanie Neill (Chefs in Schools Trustee).

The liability guaranteed by each member is £1. The authorised membership of the company is unlimited. At 31 August 2024 the membership was 8 (2023: 7).

During the year:

a grant of £60,000 was awarded to the CIC to allow a General Manager to be appointed to drive the business forward and establish a sustainable, independent financial footing (2023 - £52,205);
£6,054 was paid to hire the training kitchen and meeting room space (2023 - £2,020);
£nil was paid in connection with running costs, including the cost of a project manager to establish the CIC and postincorporation costs for marketing support, to allow the CIC to generate new income to establish financial sustainability (2023 - £45,333);
Fixtures and fittings, included within tangible fixed assets with a net book value of £nil were gifted to the CIC (2023 - £80,664).

Amounts due to the Hackney School of Food at 31 August 2024 were £60,000 (2023: £57,205)

The Forward Institute

Tamsin Cooper (Chefs in Schools Trustee) is managing director of The Forward Institute.

During the year:

£5,380 was paid in connection with provision of a facilitator for the Chefs in Schools Strategy Day, and senior leadership development through participation in the Forward Institute exchange programme (2023 - £nil).

Amounts due to the Forward Institute at 31 August 2024 were £nil (2023: £nil)

WELCOME

CONTENTS

COLLABORATION

A GROWING ORGANISATION

VISION, MISSION AND WHY OUR WORK MATTERS

HOW WE DELIVER

VISION

MISSION

WHY DOES OUR WORK MATTER?

HIGHLIGHTS

16 NEW SCHOOLS

76 CHEFS GRADUATED

82%

MORE FRUIT & VEG

NEW FOODS

RECAP ON OUR 2023/24 GOALS

LEAD

ENABLE

INSPIRE

We are proud to have achieved the following progress towards our long-term ambitions.

LEAD

ENABLE

INSPIRE

LEAD: TRANSFORMING SCHOOL FOOD & FOOD EDUCATION

JANUARY AT THE GROVE

ONE YEAR LATER

FIRST STEPS

SECOND PHASE

INNOVATION

HUB KITCHENS

BREAKFAST

ENABLE: POWERING UP SCHOOL FOOD REVOLUTIONARIES

TRAINING THE KITCHEN TEAM WORKFORCE

36,000 CHILDREN EVERY DAY

OUR RESEARCH ALSO FOUND:

INFLUENCING AND CAMPAIGNING

MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS: IN THE SPOTLIGHT

SOCIAL MEDIA

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS

INSPIRE: A COMMUNITY FOR THE SUPERHEROES OF FOOD

THE MEMBERSHIP

Findings included:

100%

PARTNERSHIPS & IMPACT

OUR APPROACH

THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS

HOW WE WORK

THANK YOU

IMPACT

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

LOOKING AHEAD

LEAD

Across the organisation we will invest time and resource into:

ENABLE

INSPIRE

Activities

TRUSTEES REPORT

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives

Public Benefit

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Fundraising

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Income and Expenditure

Reserves policy

Designated funds

Restricted funds

Risk management

Going concern

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Role of Trustees

Recruitment and induction of Trustees

Role of Chief Executive

Key management remuneration

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Trustees

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Statement as to disclosure of information to auditors

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Opinion`

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Other information`

`Basis for opinion`

`Conclusions relating to going concern`

`Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006`

`Matters on which we are required to report by exception`

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Responsibilities of trustees`

`Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements`

`Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud`

`REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF CHEFS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`Use of our report`

`Michelle Wilkes FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies`

`1.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements`

`1.2 Going concern`

`1.3 Income`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.3 Income (continued)`

`1.4 Expenditure`

`1.5 Funds accounting`

`CHEFS IN SCHOOLS` CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.6 Taxation`

`CHEFS IN SCHOOLS` CHEFS IN SCHOOLS

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.9 Financial` i `nstruments (continued)`

`1.7 Cash and cash equivalents`

`1.8 Tangible fixed assets`

`1.9 Financial` i `nstruments`

`NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024`

`1. Accounting` p `olicies (continued)`

`1.10 Employee benefits`

`1.11 Retirement benefits`

`2. Critical accounting estimates and judgements`