Trustees’ Annual Report
From 1[st] 31[st]
Charity name: Schools
for the period
September 2021 to August 2022
Book Clubs in
Charity registration number: 1185409
Charity’s principal address: 37 Southdean Gardens, London, SW19 6NT
Summary of the purposes of the charity
Book Clubs in Schools (BCiS) exists to advance the education of pupils at schools in the UK for the public benefit, in particular those pupils who are affected by social and economic disadvantage, through the provision of book clubs run as a peer mentoring, extra curriculum programme.
BCiS began as a Community Interest Company in March 2014 and became a charity in September 2019. The trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
BCiS aims to strengthen pupils’ engagement in reading and discussion skills, particularly for those who are at a socio-economic disadvantage. By encouraging young people to read for pleasure and discuss their thoughts on a book, BCiS helps them practise critical thinking, build interpersonal skills, and access volunteering opportunities by becoming a book club leader. BCiS prioritises schools with over 40% of pupils in receipt of free school meals.
The unique features of the programme are that it is inclusive – in that an entire year group (typically year 7) can participate in book club or it can be used for targeted intervention – and that the clubs are led by older pupils.
The full BCiS book club programme is a year-long, interactive, weekly book club for Year 7s, facilitated by older secondary pupils. BCiS provides all resources, support and training for teachers and older pupils and free books to schools which qualify (with more than 40% Pupil Premium pupils). The clubs can be run virtually but work best in person. BCiS promotes diversity through its book choices for the book clubs so that young people can relate to the characters and stories they read. We support the Diverse Book Awards.
Achievements and Performance
Since BCiS started in 2014 as a Community Interest Company, over 17,000 pupils have participated in Book Clubs in Schools from over 45 schools. Currently, BCiS delivers online and in person book clubs in 90 schools and alternative provision across London, the South Coast, the West Midlands, North East and North West.
Our schools can now access all materials and training required to run the programme including project plans, training manuals, curated book list and Question and Activity guides, letters to send to parents and the young people are all found in a subscription area of the website.
The difference BCiS makes for these young people is to provide a safe, non-judgmental programme to read and discuss a book together with older pupils.
BCiS aims to improve pupils’ ability to:
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respect others
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read for pleasure
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feel more confident in communicating verbally with peers
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facilitate and lead a group discussion (for Book Club Leaders)
The results of our self-evaluation surveys completed by all participants illustrate the achievements of the programme:
For Book Clubbers :
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70% enjoy reading more
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61% make new friends
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58% feel more comfortable debating
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57% feel more confident in speaking
For Book Club Leaders
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97% would recommend others to become leaders
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82% learn how to facilitate conversations and to be more inclusive
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76% feel more confident leading
Alongside our main programme we also ran:
Summer Book Club – Year 7 Transition - designed for use over the summer holiday, the programme provides all the materials teachers need to introduce the book, plus an activity pack which can be used in summer school or by pupils over the summer holidays as a transition activity to prepare for secondary school. We worked with Walker Books, using Twitch by M.G. Leonard who provided discounted print copies at half-price and e- books for 99p. There was a live Q&A for pupils to join in at their new secondary schools in September. Over 150 schools signed up to take part.
National Teen Book Club – designed and run by BCiS with Speakers for Schools, was an online programme for pupils aged 14-19 to share a reading experience online, discuss a book in small break-our rooms, hear from creative industry professionals including authors, publishers, art directors, literary agents etc. with the opportunity to write a creative piece. We ran this as a reponse to Covid and the demand for online provision. We ran this project until July 2022. From September 2022 we have reverted to our face to face book club model and are no longer involved in this project.
Brixton Library Q&A – Alex – Wheatle and Jason Reynolds we brought these two award winning authors together to discuss their books and life. Both authors feature on our curated book list. Our audience were School Librarians and young people and we recorded this event so that we could share it with our book clubs.
Film Funding – we are working with MediaTrust to create a film about the programme – this was funded by the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington via The Mercers’ Company.
Pupil referral units (PRUs) - we completed the pilot project funded by The People’s Postcode Lottery Trust to run book clubs in two PRUs. This work included visits from the author, Alex Wheatle MBE, an animation
project and a short film. We have now secured funding to roll this out to four PRUs in September 2022.
Fundraising objectives
BCiS financial year runs from 1 September to 31 August to align with the UK school year. BCiS delivers the programme by charging each school a fee. This ensures that schools are delivering the programme to its full potential as they are invested in the outcomes. BCiS has set fundraising objectives against a budget for the costs of the programme.
In the year ended 31 August 2022 BCiS raised money from school subscriptions and from foundations and trusts including: John Lyon’s Charity, Mercers’ Company, The Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards, Sir William Boreman.
We also received books for our projects from Give a Book.
Financial Review
The funding model for BCiS includes fees from schools who utilise the model and from different funders which allows the charity to expand its outreach. BCiS has been in a start-up phase for a couple of years and has been improving its financial position since that period. In the year ended 31 August 2022 the charity had retained reserves of £8,436 as compared to £3,687 in the prior year and the financial position has continued to improve.
The improvement seen has been due to BCiS gaining traction with new funders and that new schools are now enrolling in the programme. The new funders in the year ended 31 August 2022 including People Postcode Trust and National Teen Book Club, which both donated significant sum to BCiS in the year. The three year grant from the Mercers Company continues and maintains sustainability for the charity.
Expenditure continues to be monitored carefully, however BCiS recognises that sums do need to be spent on content to continue delivering the programme to its different audiences.
BCiS has retained £21,924 of cash on the balance sheet as at 31 August 2022 which is a decrease from the prior year. The decrease is due to grants being in spent in the year to which they relate as compared to needing to be carried over to future years as was seen in the Covid period.
The Trustees are comfortable with the level of reserves being retained in the Charity which meets two months of operating costs.
Structure, Governance and Management
The charity is a CIO with a constitution.
The Board of Trustees was selected to ensure a wide range of skills were included such as marketing, finance, experience of running a charity, fundraising and impact measurement as well as diversity in terms of
gender and ethnicity. A number of board members were on the advisory board from when BCiS was a Community Interest Company so were familiar with the charity’s aims and programme. We are looking to replace Caroline Reynolds.
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
Name Office Dates if not the whole year Catherine Whelan Chair Victoria Gray Alison Lambert Treasurer Richard Parkin Caroline Reynolds 2019-March 2022 Tony Smith
Beth Ginsburg and Alison Palmer are the directors who manage the charity on a day to day basis.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Alison Lambert Full name(s) Catherine Whelan Position (eg Chair Treasurer Secretary, Chair, etc)
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Nlrttr. CE018Ke BOOK CLUBS IN SCHOOLS Charfty Numb•r 1185409 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDEO 31 AUGUST 2022
BOOK CLUBS IN SCHOOLS Income And Expendlture Account For th• Year Ended 31 August 2022 Incom• 59218 136.8981 Coil of S•1 151.4981 5.491 Grou Prnfrt I IL0) 7,720 (2.9711 11,9221 Surplu• on •¢dvlle• IMfor• kft•r••f Ind oth•r Incom• 4.749 3.9 Lei•.. IrtWO11 Payatl• Surplu• on ordlmry •¢U¥l¢l•* b•lorntsx 4,749 3.569 Tax Surplu• on grdln•ry 4cllT•ltl•• ert4X 4.749 3.&89
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BOOK CLUBS IN SCHOOLS Nott$ To The Flnanclal Statements For The Year Ended 31 August 2022 A¢countlng polkle• B•Bls ol •c¢ountlng The finarKwl slalerngnts we w8p8r8d M Ihe cost ba$ of are prepar#d In wilh apF1Ka6AcCntlrKj s1#rards. D•btorn: •Thount• lallbThJ du• lIhIn y••r 2022 2021 27 27 Crethor• . •mount*f•lllng due wtthln on• y•ar 2022 2021 Tradtr Cr•thtorn 2.215 210 37.898 13.515 37.