Registered 14 August 2018 Annual Trustees Report for The Marie Sklodowska- Curie Polish Saturday School Wimbledon Putney Registration number 1179554 Governing Document: CIO Association ## **Report of Trustees for the year ending 31.08.2024** The Governors of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Polish Saturday School Wimbledon Putney present their annual report for the year ended 31.08.2024 ## **Our Aims** The School operates since 1960, teaching Polish language, history, culture and heritage to children between the ages of 3 and 18. On 18th August 2018 the School was formally registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as Association. We are members of the Polish Educational Society (registered in England and Wales - charity no 1159980) which supports Polish education in Great Britain. In February 2019 we received confirmation of registration with HMRC, which allows us to receive Gift Aid donations, with effect from 14.08.2018. We are a relatively new charity; however, we have a 60-year history as a supplementary School. We promote and teach Polish language, culture, and traditions through a specially designed curriculum for Polish Schools outside of Poland, preparing our students to take GCSE and A level exams under the AQA examination board. Through cultural events and activities, we broaden the students’ knowledge of Poland and its heritage. We aim to create an ethos of being a community in which all students and their families feel at home, respected and involved. Many extracurricular activities are designed to bring Polish history, culture and heritage closer to our students so that, when they leave our School, they feel truly enriched. ## **Our objectives** Our objectives for the year were to reflect our academic aims in our work, as well as our ethos as stated by objectives of a charitable organisation. We aimed to: - Offer a broad, relevant curriculum, helping our students to learn Polish language, history and traditions alongside achieving excellent end of year, GCSE and A level results - Broaden the curriculum through well planned and prepared extracurricular activities - Form good relationships and play a part in our community through organising charitable events aimed to help both local and national charities - Provide bursaries to families with financial difficulties to help with the payment of School fees - Provide relevant training for our staff - Strengthen our School community through events aimed to involve our parents in the life of our School, while fundraising for its needs. - The Summer Fair and cake sales are some examples of these events, and they very strongly rely on parental involvement and turn out. ## **Pupil numbers** During 2023-24 our School had 546 pupils in 27 classes (forms). The number of pupils per class varied between 15 and 23. All our forms were full. In 2023-24 we observed the following number of students in the examination classes: - GSCE year 1 – 38 students - GSCE year 2 – 46 students - A1 – 46 students - A2 – 35 students 36 teachers and 8 teaching assistants were working in the School. This included a history teacher and RE teachers. ## **Fees** Our fees in 2023-24 remained unchanged once again and were as follows: 1st child £330 per academic year 2nd child £290 per academic year 3rd child £ 140 per academic year 4th and above child- exempt from fees During 2023-24, we offered help in the form of bursaries to the amount of £855. ## **Finances** The total cash receipts in the year were £188,947 and the payments were £203,635. The accounts are presented to parents at the Annual General Meeting which usually takes place in November and are prepared on an accrual’s basis. The budget for the next academic year is also presented and discussed giving the parents and carers a chance to have their voice on such matters. The School’s main income comes from School fees £156,304. We also received support from The Polish Government, represented by ”Instytut Rozwoju Języka Polskiego im. Świętego Maksymiliana Marii Kolbego”, through direct support from its partners: “Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska” and Fundacja Wolność I Demokracja and also from Lloyds Bank, to the total value of £26,476. In addition, we obtained funds from Easy Fund of £290 and savings interest of £734. The cake sales and School fairs organised by the PTA brought in £9,401 net funding. Charitable fundraising brought £2,330. The main expenses of the School are teachers’ salaries £136,853 and rent for using the premises of Ursuline High School in Wimbledon £31,081. The School also provided School books for the students and paid for teachers training. To emphasise the value we place on continuity for families, we offer discounts where parents have more than one child in our School. To attract and retain high quality staff we offer a discount scheme for children of those employed by the School. The Governing Body aims to keep the accounts with a healthy surplus to provide additional funding in case of unexpected events such as the need to find new premises and redundancy payments if the School were to close down. For this reason a reserve facility of £50,000 has been agreed by the board. More detailed information on the accounts are available in the Accounts Report. ## **Academic achievements** During 2023-24 academic year our students gained the following results: GCSE: - 32 students achieved grade 9 - 2 students – grade 8 A-Level: - 11 students achieved grade A* - 14 – grade A - 8 – grade B These are results we are immensely proud of. ## **Review of activities and achievements:** In the School year 2023-24 we took part in various competitions. - Christmas Card competition – internal competition, 10 main prizes and 5 distinctions were given and the projects printed out - Qualifying event for the XIII edition of the Polish Poetry Festival “Wierszowisko”. The final of the festival took place in June 24 and our students won 2 prizes: 3[rd ] place in the 4-6 years old category - 2[nd ] place in the 10-13 category - Spelling competition – 4 of our students took part - Great Competition of Historical Knowledge – 4 of our students took part - Super talent competition – our student came 3[rd ] and received a bronze statue of Super talent as well as a special distinction from one of the jurors. - A group of our students took part in a theatre performance at POSK Theatre for Children. Once of our graduates (and now a music teacher at the School) was also a part of the cast We have very close links with the Polish Scouts association. Many of our pupils are able to join the Polish Rainbows/Brownies and Scouts. Their activities normally take place immediately after School hours. We invite the leaders at the beginning of the School year to encourage new members to join. Close links with the Polish Scout movement in the UK reflects our ethos of cultivating our Polish heritage and Christian values. We are also supported and have close links with St John Evangelist Polish Catholic Church in Putney. The priests and nuns are employed by our School to provide RE lessons for our pupils, which form part of the curriculum. The School year starts and ends with a Holy Mass dedicated to our School community. ## **The School Structure** The School is led by the Head Teacher, Mrs Maja Brodzinska. The Head Teacher led a team of 36 teachers and 8 teaching assistants in the academic year 2022-23. The Governing Body consisted of 9 trustees (among them was the Head Teacher) and and 3 observers. ## **The names of the Trustees in 2023-24were as follows:** Maria Brodzinska - Head Teacher Dorota Lewis - Chair of Governors Katarzyna Stelmach Postigo – Deputy Chairman (resigned 23rd November 2024) Monika Zasadzinska – Treasurer Lucyna Rogowska – Secretary Karolina Cisek-Ndlovu (resigned 23rd November 2024) Grzegorz Dragula Monika Gasiecka Radoslaw Gotkiewicz (resigned 23rd November 2024) Dorota Trawinska (resigned 23rd November 2024) Rafal Borek (appointed 23rd November 2024) Daria Mroczek (appointed 23[rd] November 2024) Angelika Damasik (appointed 23rd November 2024) Agnieszka Szumlak (appointed 23[rd] November 2024) Apart from the teaching staff the School also employs an administrator and 3 duty officers. All but two trustees (Head Teacher and the Treasurer) are volunteers. We give employment opportunities to our A level graduates, who can work as teacher’s assistants in our lower School. This is on a yearly contract basis. The Marie Sklodowska- Curie Polish Saturday School rents its premises from Ursuline High School in Wimbledon, London. Lessons take place during Saturday mornings, 35 Saturdays a year. The School year is divided into 3 terms. The lessons take place between 9:00-12:30. During breaks parents on duty help to provide a secure environment for the pupils. All School staff has undergone DBS checks. ## **Charitable actions** Our School prides itself in offering support to charitable organisations. During 2023-24 our School organised events to support the following charities and organisations: - Macmillan Coffee morning - Great Orchestra of Festive Support - Wielka Orkiestra Swiatecznej Pomocy - this is a Polish Charity providing help in funding lifesaving equipment for hospitals in Poland - Christmas Jumper Day - raised money to support one family in need from our School community In total we donated £2,030. ## **Governors’ recruitment** The Governors/Trustees are elected by the parents during the Annual General Meeting or by the Body of Governors if a vacancy arises later in the academic year. The Governors/Trustees hold their position for 3 years and can be re-elected if they wish to stand again, in accordance with our Constitution. The positions are advertised to the School community and any parent can apply. Each applicant must be endorsed by 2 current Governors/Trustees. The Governors work for the School wholly on a voluntary basis. The Headteacher, appointed by the Body of Governors, is remunerated. ## **Plans and aspirations** Our School will celebrate 65[th ] anniversary in 2025. Our plan for 2024/25 was to carry out preparation for the celebration as well as to continue with the charitable events we have organised this year. Since they were such a great success, we would like them to become a fixed components of our School event calendar. ## **Professional advisors:** Bank: Lloyds Bank Sort code: 30-94-77 Account: 04231031 Insurers: Aviva Insurance Ltd Auditors: Mrs Aleksanda Zakrzewska Contact details: Mrs Maria Brodzinska Address: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Polish Saturday School Ursuline High School The Downs Wimbledon SW20 8HG Website: www.mscpolishschool.org CHARITY COMMISSIO FOR ENGLAND ANO WALE Marie Sklodowska