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2022-07-31-accounts

THE FRIENDS OF THE CHERWELL SCHOOL OXFORD

Registered Charity 1183779

friendsofcherwell.org

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 July 2022

The trustees present their Report for the year 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022. This Report should be read in conjunction with the attached financial statements for the same period.

Legal status

The charity was established by a Constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘Foundation’ model constitution) and entered on the Register of Charities by the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 7 June 2019 with the registered number 1183779.

Registered address

Pennwood House Pound Lane Cassington Oxfordshire OX29 4BN

Bank

The Co-operative Bank plc PO Box 250 Southway Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Independent Examiner

Camerons Accountancy Consultants Ltd 9 Worton Park Cassington Oxfordshire OX29 4SX

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Objectives and activities

The objects of the charity are: To advance the education of the students at The Cherwell School Oxford by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities for education and educational wellbeing at the school.

The charity raises funds through donations and general fundraising activities in order to provide grants to The Cherwell School Oxford to help provide facilities for education and educational wellbeing at the school in all areas of the curriculum, including arts, sciences and sports.

Structure, Governance and Management

The charity is governed and managed by its trustees in accordance with its Constitution. The trustees met four times during the year with an overall attendance level of 90%. Meetings continued to be held remotely online throughout the period because of the ongoing legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, as allowed in the Constitution. There are no committees nor sub-committees and in the event of decisions being required between meetings all trustees are consulted and involved by group email.

Eight trustees served during the year:

Catherine Aldridge (resigned 9 March 2022) Jo Harris John Hemingway - Chair Jennifer Ingham Niall McWilliams (retired/reappointed 8 June 2022) Alex Thomas - Secretary Jackie Weaver (retired 8 June 2022) Lucy Wells (appointed 8 December 2021)

During the year one trustee (Catherine Aldridge) resigned due to pressure of other work, one trustee (Jackie Weaver) retired, and one trustee (Niall McWilliams) retired and was reappointed for a further period of three years. One new trustee (Lucy Wells) was appointed on 8 December 2021 for a period of three years and has served since that date. Our grateful thanks were given to the two trustees who resigned or retired during the year for their great contributions to our work.

Volunteers

The trustees would like to thank the many volunteers at Cherwell School who continue to assist with advice, support and fundraising initiatives, including parents, staff members, and especially Headteacher Chris Price. In addition, we would like to thank two independent professionals for their very generous gifts-in-kind of time and expertise:

Amy Hemingway, Associate and Tutor Coordinator at Oxford Tutors, for creating and maintaining our website and providing ongoing promotional design services;

Ellen O’Donnell FCA, Head of Camerons Accountancy Consultants, for acting as Independent Examiner of our annual accounts.

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR

This was our third year of operation and the COVID-19 pandemic legacy continued to have an impact on our activities. Opportunities for face-to-face contact with parents and other potential donors did begin to revive during the year, and we were able to invite all our donors to a well-attended Spring Celebration in May 2022 to showcase the new North Site Library and staircase wall displays. The newly constituted PTA was also able to hold two successful social events for parents and staff which raised funds for The Friends. But our fundraising was still largely dependent on electronic methods, and it was again a major advantage that our software enables us to communicate with people on a regular basis.

To enhance our communications activities and support Cherwell’s further development ambitions we commissioned a short video from the professional production team at the River Learning Trust, which is being shown at the school’s open events and parent evenings and is also available to view on our website. Amongst Cherwell’s parents, staff and alumni the level of awareness of The Friends, and the impact we are making, continued to grow.

Our Impact for the School

Throughout the year we continued to increase steadily our total number of Friends, both amongst current members of the school community and amongst alumni, following the trajectory that began in earnest last year. We also produced another very creditable financial result, and owe massive thanks to all our supporters and donors who made this possible.

During the year we gave grants to the school of just over £48,500, which takes our overall total of grants paid during the last two years to £90,460. In addition we committed a further £20,000 to support ongoing projects which the school was not able to complete within the year. These are on target to be completed during the year ahead. All our grants to the school are paid on the successful completion of projects that fund improvements to benefit the education of its students.

We focused our grants to make an impact for the students by:

Thanks to a significant donation from a charitable trust we were also able to establish a dedicated Student Support Fund to help further the education and educational wellbeing of individual students with particular needs.

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Creating a new North Site Library

Fully funded by The Friends, the school opened its new North Site library in autumn 2021. Space had been identified by the school to convert two little-used rooms in the art block into a new fiction library, with a small sanctuary of calm alongside for any student needing a quiet place to work and research. This new facility is proving very popular with students.

Refurbishing the South Site Library

Students on South Site can now enjoy a far more welcoming and better equipped library. It has been redecorated, with new carpet, blinds and furniture, some Chromebooks for online research, and a growing selection of the latest books both fiction and non-fiction. Building and improving the collection is an ongoing commitment by The Friends.

4

Wall art displays in Science, English and Maths

In the KS3 Science block on South Site, striking wall displays now bring subjects to life for the students, with engaging and memorable images. We also funded similar displays to support English and Maths teaching in the North Site block. Professionally designed and installed wall graphics help to inspire learning and add a ‘wow factor’ to each subject.

Outdoor Science Ecology area

Cherwell badly needs better outdoor teaching spaces for science and ecology students at all levels, and we have been funding the ongoing renovation of a neglected area on North Site. It will bring new outdoor teaching spaces for year-round use, for whole class or small group sessions, with more equipment and tools for science and ecology research projects.

Improving outdoor seating

Sociable fresh air spaces are good for student wellbeing at all times, and we have continued to help the school to add a steady flow of new picnic tables and benches on both sites, and to repair and improve the seating area in the Humanities Garden.

Landscaping enhancements to the SEND entrance

Thanks to a very generous donation from some parents particularly grateful to the specialist teaching team at the school, we have been supporting enhancements to the landscape and general area around the SEND entrance.

5

Transformational study tour to Finland and Estonia for 32 students

Year 12 students for whom travel would not normally be possible were funded by the Turing Scheme (British Council) to spend two weeks in Finland and Estonia in April 2022, as part of the school’s very effective Cherwell Enrich programme. They partnered with local schools, learning about sustainability and culture and developing personal skills. We raised additional funds to support a wide range of educational activities throughout the tour to enhance their learning experience.

Looking ahead - the Masterplan vision

We continued to develop the overarching Masterplan vision for both the school’s sites, in conjunction with TSH Architects. Priorities are a performance hall and a sports hall, alongside new teaching and study facilities in a total learning environment that is fit for the requirements of the 21st century. During the year we worked to turn the Masterplan vision into a more detailed document ready for discussion and consultation with the local community and with planning bodies at Oxford City and Oxfordshire County councils.

The new £750,000 floodlit all-weather sports pitch at Cherwell, opened successfully in spring 2022, is Phase I of the Masterplan. This project was funded principally by the Football Foundation with support from the River Learning Trust and Cherwell School, and (before we set up the Friends of Cherwell) two of our trustees played a vital role as Chair and Secretary of the steering group that made it happen. The pitch has proved extremely popular both within and beyond the school, and this has led to a virtuous circle where the external groups who pay to use the pitch are generating a new revenue stream for the school to help further its development.

To support all the school’s much needed developments, both short and long term, we also began discussions with the school about recruiting a paid part-time professional fundraiser as Development Manager, to support our activities and dramatically increase our combined manpower resources. The school hopes to be in a position to turn this into a reality in the autumn of 2022.

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OUR FINANCES

Our Income

Our total income for the year was just under £61,000 ( last year £91,000 ). Donations from our Friends made up around half of this at almost £28,900 ( last year £58,850 ) and we also received £10,000 from another charitable body to create a dedicated Student Support Fund. One hundred per cent of every donation is in turn granted to the school to fund agreed projects to benefit the education of its students.

During the year the Cherwell School decided to transfer its existing small development fund to The Friends to manage on its behalf, to reinforce our position as the fundraising arm of the school and the focus for all future fundraising. As a result we received just over £12,800 as a donation. The long term investment bond in the Low Carbon Hub that we inherited from the former charitable Cherwell School PTA generated some £365 in interest and capital repaid. This investment produces a small annual income plus a steady payback of the initial capital over a 25 year period.

Other sources of income included PTA events that generated a donation to The Friends of £1,470 ( last year £980 ). Our ongoing accounts with online shopping schemes (Amazon Smile and easyfundraising) in total generated over £1,475 ( last year £495 ). We run a very efficient system for reclaiming Gift Aid on eligible donations and this generated just over £6,100 ( last year £13,000 ) in additional income that, together with surplus Gift Aid brought forward, more than covered all our operating costs.

Our Operating Costs

Day-to-day operation of the charity depends totally on volunteer time and resources. We have no paid staff, no premises, no equipment. We operate a website that we pay to host, but all the design and maintenance is provided free of charge by an independent professional volunteer. Our software is managed by two trustees, one of whom is a professional fundraiser with another charitable organisation. Our accounts are managed by one of the trustees, and all our trustees give their time and expertise in various ways to support the charity’s operations. Our Independent Examiner also very kindly provides her professional services without charge.

Apart from hosting the website and producing occasional promotional materials, our main costs are the software we use and the card processing fees we pay for online donations. The software we run is the leading fundraising software Raiser’s Edge NXT from Blackbaud. This cloud-based system underpins everything we do and enables the charity to minimise its overheads, to communicate easily with donors and potential donors, and to receive direct online donations simply and securely. Our total operating costs for the year were £6,730 ( last year £9,300 ).

We are committed to the principle that all our operating costs should be covered without charge to donations from Friends, and again this year we have successfully achieved this.

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Balance sheet movements

During the year we received a small repayment of capital on the long term investment in the Low Carbon Hub. Also during the year we repaid £1,000 on an interest-free loan of £3,000 which now leaves a loan balance of £2,000 outstanding. This is an interest-free loan from one of the founding trustees, made in 2019 to help cover our start-up costs and to be repaid as and when felt appropriate by the charity.

At the close of the year our total funds stood at £46,341 ( last year £42,582 ).

With continued thanks to all our Friends and supporters.

Approved by the trustees at their meeting on 15 March 2023

Signed on behalf of the trustees

John Hemingway Chair

Alex Thomas Secretary

Date: 15 March 2023

Financial Statements

The Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the Financial Statements and for keeping proper accounting records, which disclose the financial position of the Charity.

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