Openmind.ed CIO
registered charity (England & Wales) 1185048
Trustees’ Report for 2024
This report is for the Charity’s financial year 1 January to 31 December 2024.
In 2024 the Trustees and Members of Openmind.ed CIO (“the Charity”) were:
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Chair: Luke Menzies
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Trustee and CEO: Clare Short (resigned 31 December 2024)
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Trustee and Treasurer: Isabel de Salis
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Trustee and CEO: Chereece Ryan (appointed 24 September 2024)
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Trustee: Stacey Gabriel (appointed 22 October 2024)
The Trustee appointments
General
The Charity, a CIO, is governed by its Constitution as approved by the Charity Commission. The Charity operates on a simple and informal basis, run by its board of trustees. It delivered its charitable activities (services to clients) during the year through the voluntary work of its Chair, Treasurer and Secretary and fee-paid work of the CEO, Operations Manager and by several Associates.
The Charity is governed, and managed at a high level, through periodic trustee meetings and occasional less formal meetings. There is also a management team. The CEO leads on matters of policy and direction. Financial affairs are handled by the Treasurer and governance oversight provided by the Chair. The Operations Manager is responsible for correspondence and records of trustee meetings, as well as administrative activities. The Charity is developing its policy for the recruitment and appointment of new trustees.
The Charity’s work focusses on undertaking and funding activities to promote good mental health and wellbeing amongst those in Education, with a current focus on school students and university students in Bristol. This includes working with school staff, students and their parents. The work includes facilitation of reflective practice groups, running workshops, providing one-to-one mentoring, speaking at school assemblies and holding discussion sessions with parents of students. In addition, the Charity provides occasional funding to small projects aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing of young persons.
Main achievements this year
The main achievements of the charity this year are:
The successful transition in leadership, with the appointment of Chereece Ryan as CEO (September 2024) and Tracey Pegden as Operational Manager (October 2024). These appointments have provided consistency and stability at a time of significant change, helping to strengthen the management and day to day running of the charity.
This has been a year of consolidation and streamlining following a period of organisational change. Our focus has been on stabilising operations, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and
reviewing our projects and partnerships to make sure they are sustainable and remain true to the charity’s purpose and values.
Alongside this internal work, we have continued to deliver our core reflective practice supervision and wellbeing support for education staff across schools and universities. This remains at the heart of what we do, supporting those who hold the wellbeing of others in complex and demanding roles.
Other areas of development and achievement this year include:
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Continuing our family work and mentoring work, supporting SEMH and SEND families around school attendance and engagement. This has included mentoring and parent work aimed at strengthening relationships between home and school and improving outcomes for children with additional needs.
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Exploring new partnerships with local authority partners to deliver CPD and reflective practice support to headteacher and leadership clusters.
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Developing a new training and resource pack to support reflective practice in key areas of need, including autism, safeguarding, and mental health.
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Working with SENCO networks and attending sector events to promote the importance of reflective practice in schools managing complex safeguarding and mental health issues, and to encourage a more systemic and relational approach within education.
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Experimenting with new supervision and support systems for Associates, particularly in remote working contexts, integrating CPD and opportunities to share learning from different areas of practice.
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Trialling group supervision formats including group work and collaborating with voluntary sector organisations delivering complementary education and wellbeing programmes.
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Exploring different models of reflective practice, including the Balint model, to deepen the quality of supervision and peer learning.
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Recruiting new Associates to replace outgoing practitioners and to broaden the range of expertise across the team, helping to secure capacity and continuity in delivery.
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Capturing and evidencing the impact of our work to better understand outcomes and strengthen how we communicate our impact to partners and funders.
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Reviewing and refining operational processes to improve how we work, making systems more efficient and supportive of the team.
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Strengthening governance and management oversight to help ensure long term stability.
The trustees are satisfied that the charity has continued to deliver public benefit in line with its charitable objectives throughout this period of transition and have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
Future plans
The focus for the coming year is on embedding stability and building strong foundations so that we can sustain and grow our work with confidence. This includes:
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Continuing to provide high quality reflective practice supervision and wellbeing support for education staff.
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Developing partnerships with local authorities, SENCO networks, and education leaders to extend the reach and impact of our work.
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Further developing and sharing our training and resource packs to support reflective practice in key areas of need, particularly for educators working with neurodivergent students and families.
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Continuing to refine supervision and support systems for Associates, with an emphasis on professional development, shared learning, and connection across the team.
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Enhancing how we capture and evidence impact to demonstrate the difference our work makes.
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Building organisational capacity with training and support for Associates.
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Reviewing and developing projects and partnerships that align with the charity’s strategic direction and values.
Once the charity’s core work and operational structure is fully stabilised for this year, we plan to explore opportunities for steady and purposeful growth, extending our training offer, enhancing our reflective practice supervision at leadership level, and continuing to grow and strengthen our message and Associate network.
Financial
In financial terms, during the year the Charity received income of £147,978 (2023 £107,619) through donations and client fees. Expenditure was £90,925 (2023 £73,100), resulting in a surplus of £57,053 (2023 £34,519). There were no creditors or debtors at year end.
There were no material risks or uncertainties worthy of note.
The Charity’s principal source of fundings are client fees from the educational institutions it works with; donations from private individuals; and donations from other organisations. There are no restricted funds and the Charity’s policy is not to accept any restricted funds.
The Charity does not employ any person on a PAYE basis, and has no current plans to do so. Its Associates engaged to assist in the delivery of the Charity’s services are engaged on a self-employed, fee-paid basis.
The Charity has no reserves policy and no plan to accumulate substantial reserves. No funds were held by any custodian trustee.
Luke Menzies Chair of Trustees 27 October 2025
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Openmind.ed CIO 1185048
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 1/1/2024 31/12/2024
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds Last year
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Donations, legacies & grants 15,387 - - 15,387 12,478
Fees for charitable services 132,212 - - 132,212 93,154
Bank interest 379 - - 379 101
Other - - - - 1,886
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for 147,978 - - 147,978 107,619
A2 Asset and investment sales,
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 147,978 - - 147,978 107,619
A3 Payments
Bank charges 41 - - 41 22
Regulatory compliance 35 - - 35 97
Insurance 479 - - 479 447
Professional fees 50,973 - - 50,973 30,115
Travel expenses 1,646 - - 1,646 3,641
Room hire 7,183 - - 7,183 11,455
Grants & donations paid - - - - 1,301
Training 8,363 - - 8,363 2,697
Administration and operational 22,205 - - 22,205 22,453
Other - - - - 874
Sub total 90,925 - - 90,925 73,100
A4 Asset and investment
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments 90,925 - - 90,925 73,100
Net of receipts/(payments) 57,053 - - 57,053 34,519
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 60,639 - - 60,639 26,120
Cash funds this year end 117,692 - - 117,692 60,639
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CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
27/10/2025
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities |
Details Cash in bank account Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Signature |
Unrestricted Restricted to nearest £ to nearest £ 117,692 - - - - - 117,692 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which Amount due - - - - - Print Name |
Endowment to nearest £ - - - |
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due Date of |
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| Luke Menzies | 27/10/2025 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
27/10/2025
2
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
| Report to the trustees On accounts for the year ended Set out on pages Responsibilities and basis of report |
Charity Name Openmind.ed |
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| 31 December 2024 Charity no (if any) 1185048 |
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| Accounts upload (via CC16A) (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets) |
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| I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended31 / 12 / 2024. As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. |
Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
| Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): |
Date: | 27 October 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Emma Jennings | ||
| FCA (ICAEW) |
1
Oct 2018
IER
Address: 26 Blenheim Road, Bristol BS6 7JP
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
The accounts are supported by underlying accounting records, with no material differences noted. The charity has increased its charitable activities during the year and the Trustees must now give regard to VAT registration, seeking appropriate professional advice where required.
2
Oct 2018
IER