STUDENTS4STUDENTS ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 STUDENTS 4STUDEN I S
“My tutor has helped me achieve my goal and now I feel much more confident reading. Also, the sessions each week have been so fun!”
Primary School Pupil, Durham
“S4S engages children who want to improve - they support children where they are and work to improve their confidence and ability.”
Primary School Teacher, Wolvercote School Oxford
Students4Students
Students4Students is a charity registered in England and Wales with charity number 1186813 www.students4students.org.uk
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Welcome from Trustees
For the second year in a row, schools across the UK have faced significant disruption, impacting millions of children across the country whose education has suffered as a result. Whilst schools have remained open, the need to self-isolate and high teacher absences due to illness has meant schools have still struggled to deliver a ‘normal’ year of teaching. As with the previous academic year the level of disruption has not been felt evenly; those with additional educational needs or those from lowincome families have faced greater challenges as other youth services (outside of school) have either not yet resumed or the provision has been limited.
The need for services, like ours, which provide additional support to pupils who most need it, is therefore more important than ever. However, as with schools Students4Students has also had a challenging year with COVID restrictions continuing to limit our ability to conduct ‘normal’ activities. Unfortunately, the number of pupils we are working with is still less than pre-pandemic driven primarily by difficulties recruiting partner schools. In addition, we have noticed a reduction in the number of tutor applications – particularly in our Bristol and Durham branch where tutoring did not resume online in the summer term of academic year 2019/20. Finally, our costs this academic year have also been higher than average (per hour tuition delivered) due to the continued need for online facilitators.
However, due to the continuing ingenuity and hard work of our volunteers we have still had some fantastic stories of success:
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We have increased tuition delivery in Oxford, compared with pre-COVID restriction numbers. This is almost entirely down to the fantastic relationships our volunteers have built and maintained with local schools which enabled us to pilot our online delivery in Oxford.
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We have successfully launched of a new resources section on our website for families who have children self-isolating, which has attracted thousands of views.
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A healthy financial surplus, enabling us to rebuild our reserves so we can better respond to future shocks, make strategic investments in our Monitoring and Evaluation capability and look for growth opportunities as covid restrictions hopefully ease.
We are also seeing the green shoots of growth in Durham and Bristol as we continue to scale our delivery of online tuition to schools. We are hopeful that the return of schools to a semblance of normality in September will enable us to return to regular delivery of our services.
On behalf of the trustees,
Will Clare Chair of Trustees
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Structure for remainder of the report
Charitable aims and objectives ............................................................................................. 5 Meeting our Charitable Objectives ............................................................................................... 6 Financial Summary ............................................................................................................... 7 Key Metrics ........................................................................................................................... 8 Branch Updates .................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix 1: Provisional financial statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2021 .............. 10
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Charitable aims and objectives
Students4Students’ vision is a society where all children irrespective of their background are able to achieve their full potential and where young people play an integral role in achieving this.
Students4Students’ aims to harness the potential of young people to tackle unequal levels of access to resources and support, to enable all school pupils to achieve their full learning potential. It does this by empowering young people to deliver educational change in their local communities, primarily through the provision of high-quality, one-to-one tuition, delivered by university students, that increases the pupils’ attainment, confidence and enjoyment in learning[1] .
Students4Students seeks to tackle unequal levels of access to resources by widening access to the benefits of one-to-one tuition, in order to support more pupils in reaching their full learning potential.
Students4Students’ ambition is, through training, support and volunteering opportunities, to increase the number of young people who are actively involved in making positive change to educational outcomes in their local communities.
The charity’s aims are to advance education for the public benefit by:
(a) providing tutoring for primary school pupils who have been identified as being at risk of failing to reach their education attainment targets in literary and numeracy, with the aim of removing barriers to their continuing education;
(b) providing training, support and opportunities for students engaged in further or higher education, so that they can provide tutoring as a means of facilitating the removal of barriers to continuing education, thus empowering primary and secondary school pupils to achieve their learning potential;
(c) empowering students engaged in further or higher education, through training, support and opportunities, to make positive changes in their local communities
Students4Students works with non-selective state primary schools where, compared with the national average, a higher proportion of pupils are on free school meals (FSM) and/or a higher proportion of pupils who are leaving school without reaching the national standards in Maths and English. Within these schools the charity works with children who are at risk of leaving school without reaching the national standard in either Maths or English.
Students4Students works with young people who are in higher or further education aged 16-25.
Through the provision of their services, Students4Students seeks to:
1. Reduce the number of pupils who leave primary school who have not reached the national expected standard in Maths and/or English
2. Increase pupil’s confidence and enjoyment in learning
3. Increase the number of young people actively involved in making positive change to educational outcomes in their local communities
4. Increase the number of young people who feel confident that they can make a positive difference in society
1 The term ‘young people’ is defined as 16-25 in full or part time education.
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
- Increase the number of young people who feel connected and a part of their local community
Meeting our Charitable Objectives
Students4Students’ has three main programmes:
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Tutor Programme
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Committee Programme
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Awareness Raising Programme
The Tutor Programme is the largest, and focuses on the provision of one-to-one tutoring, to primary school pupils, in partnership with local schools. Each pupil receives a weekly tuition session facilitated by a trained volunteer, lasting for one academic term[2] . The pupils with whom Students4Students work are identified by the partner schools, according to the criteria defined by the charity. Students4Students provides a clear framework and curated resources for our volunteers, which can be tailored to the needs of the pupils. This is supplemented by tailored information on each pupil provided by our partner schools.
The tuition provided by Students4Students is delivered by trained young adults from the local area. The volunteers commit to providing a minimum of one hour of tuition a week for the duration of the programme. All volunteers go through a careful selection process and attend an introductory training session, including child safety overviews, session before obtaining a DBS check and starting at a partner school. The volunteers are all comprised of university students, who have met the academic and skill requirements set out for their specific roles[3] .
Students4Students’ Committee Programme focuses on empowering young people, through our branches in Oxford, Durham and Bristol, to drive positive change in their local community. The three branches act as semi-autonomous divisions of the organisation and are responsible for delivering Students4Students’ activities. Each branch is led by a committee of students from local universities. These young people on these committees support the recruitment of fellow volunteers, maintain our relationships with schools, and co-ordinate fundraising and events in their local community. All committee members commit to provide at least three hours of time each week. Students4Students supports these young people with bespoke training, year-round coaching and provision of resources to help them be successful in their roles.
Students4Students’ newest programme is the Awareness Raising Programme, which focuses on increasing awareness of issues relating to educational inequality and the debates surrounding potential solutions to these issues. The activities under this programme are currently focused on increasing awareness among young people in the local areas where we operate.
2 The length of academic term varies according to the length of the university term. It is generally between 8- 10 weeks.
3 A full breakdown of the requirements to be a tutor can be found on our website.
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Financial Summary
From a financial perspective, the year ending 30[th] June 2021 was a strong one. Total income for the year was £8,032, while total expenditure for the year was £5,403, leading to a net surplus of £2,629.
The year began with £5,245 in available funds but ended with £7,934. Of these funds, £2,319 were restricted, £3,381 were unrestricted and £2,234 were designated to the branches in Oxford, Bristol and Durham.
For the second year running, Students4Students had its most successful year in terms of fundraising. This was particularly impressive given the disruption to events fundraising caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations totalled £3,771 (47% of total income). The charity’s decision to pivot towards raising money via grants was successful, with grant income reaching £3,450 (43% of total income). During the year, Students4Students gained recognition from HMRC, which enabled a further £650 to be raised from Gift Aid claims. Branch fundraising was severely affected by the pandemic, but our student volunteers still managed to raise £1,312 during the year.
Costs increased significantly in the year ending 30[th] June 2021. This was largely driven by Students4Students’ move to provide tuition online, with £1,642 of costs incurred to make this possible. 2021 was also the first full year where Students4Students invested in expedited DBS checks in order to deploy tutors to schools more quickly, and as a result costs increased in this area too.
Although it is difficult to predict the future impact of the pandemic on the charity’s operations, it is likely that the year to come will require Students4Students to operate using a hybrid model, involving some in-person and some online tuition. The experience of the past year has demonstrated Students4Students’ capacity to generate income and cover its costs in a ‘worst-case scenario’, and provides confidence of the charity’s ability to grow in challenging circumstances.
Full details of our financial performance are provided in the Appendix.
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Key Metrics
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Number of schools Number of pupils
Number of tutors:
worked with: worked with:
36 [#]
4 83
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reflects number placed in schools.
Hours tuition delivered:
----- Start of picture text -----
Bristol: Durham: Oxford:
10 117 503
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School feedback data[1] :
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100% of our partner school agreed with the statement that ‘Pupils improved in confidence and/or ability while receiving tutoring from Students4Students’.
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100% of our partner schools would recommend us to another school
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Average pupil enjoyment for the tuition sessions they received was: 4.3 (out of 5)
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84% of pupils we worked with improved their confidence in Math or English
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91% of pupils we worked with met their personalised goals
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Branch Updates
Durham
The 2020/21 academic year was a difficult year with online delivery and school closures significantly impacting our ability to deliver the level of tuition we wanted to. However, it was also an exciting period of innovation as the Durham branch led on the creation of online lesson packs to support families through online learning; these packs were shared with families at our partner schools but are accessible to everyone. Over 9 months the materials were accessed by over 1000 unique visitors to our website.
The Durham Branch also benefited from the roll out of S4S’ online tutoring model. This ensured we were able to deliver 80 hours of tuition, delivered solely online, and support 8 pupils to improve their Maths and English skills. Delivering online enabled us to work with new partner schools, which are further out of Durham. These relationships are ones we will continue to support in the new academic year.
Felicity Kennedy, Branch Chair
Oxford
The Oxford branch has continued to flourish over the academic year - we had a maximum of 19 tutors working with Wolvercote in the Autumn term of 2020, and 22 tutors in the Spring term of 2021. Thus, we developed a new partnership with St. Barnabas Primary School and our first tutoring sessions with them took place towards the end of the Spring term, permitting us to reach more pupils across Oxford. Tutoring online offered more convenience for tutors and also allowed extension of terms to match up with the school dates. However, we are hoping to resume in person tutoring next year as we believe this builds better relationships with the pupils.
Alongside recruiting more tutors, we have also expanded our committee to include a Schools Liaison Officer, a Tutor Liaison Officer and a Recruitment Officer, which served us well in being able to share responsibilities more evenly and coordinate more events. In the next year we plan to take this further by organising more social and fundraising events to strengthen the tutoring community in Oxford after a year of being remote.
Suna Anantharaman, Branch Chair
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Appendix 1: Provisional financial statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2021
Statement of financial activities for the period ended 30 June 2021
| Note Income from: Donations Gift Aid Fundraising Grant income Other Total income N2 Expenditure on: Tuition costs Raising funds Other Total expenditure N3 |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £ £ |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £ £ |
Designated funds Total funds £ £ |
Designated funds Total funds £ £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,621 | - | 150 | 3,771 |
|
| 650 | - | - | 650 | |
| - | - | 62 |
62 |
|
| 750 | 1,600 | 1,100 | 3,450 |
|
| 100 | - | - | 100 | |
| 5,120 | 1,600 | 1,312 | 8,032 |
|
| 1,564 | 2,123 | 536 | 4,223 | |
| 726 | 186 | 66 | 979 | |
| 202 | - | - | 202 | |
| 2,492 | 2,309 | 602 | 5,403 |
Net income/(expenditure) before other items Extraordinary items
Transfers between funds Net movement in funds
| N6 | 2,629 | (709) | 710 | 2,629 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 60 | 60 | |
| (407) | 379 | 27 |
- | |
| 2,222 | (330) | 797 | 2,689 |
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Reconciliation of funds:
| Reconciliation of funds: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward N6 |
1,158 | 2,649 | 1,437 |
5,245 |
| 3,381 | 2,319 | 2,234 | 7,934 |
The notes on pages 15 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
Notes to the financial statements for the period ended 30 June 2021
1. Summary information
Financial review
The figures provided here represent Students4Students’ first full year as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
The total income for the year was £8,032. This comprised grants, donations (both one-off and regular) and fundraising income.
The total expenditure for the year was £5,403, leading to a net surplus of £2,629. £2,629 of this surplus related to unrestricted funds. There was a surplus of £710 on designated funds, and a deficit of £710 on restricted funds.
Expenditure included the following:
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Recruitment and training costs, including DBS checks for volunteer tutors and committee members.
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Teaching resources and costs related to volunteer welfare.
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Online tuition costs, required due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Other costs, including those related to fundraising, insurance and tutor travel.
Reserves policy
The charity's policy is to hold reserves for the purpose of protecting the work of the charity in the short term, should funding targets not be met or if the charity should need to cease or curtail its activities. The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of a robust reserves policy. As at 30th June 2021, Students4Students held £3,381 of unrestricted funds in its reserves.
£2,234 was held at year end in designated funds on behalf of each of the three branches of Students4Students. It is Students4Students' policy that any funds raised by a local branch should be designated for that branch.
As part of its overall strategy to make Students4Students and its local branches self-sufficient, the charity aims to maintain sufficient reserves to cover all fixed and variable costs due in the next three months, as identified by quarterly cash flow forecasts. It was anticipated that this sustainability target would not be reached in at least two years. At the year end, reserves extended to at least 9 months
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
of projected future costs. However, it is important to stress that further work needs to be done to ensure that the 3-month reserves policy can be maintained throughout S4S' annual operating cycle.
Going concern
Students4Students had healthy positive net income for the year ending 30[th] June 2021, and reserves at year end of £7,934, including £3,381 in unrestricted reserves.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially caused significant disruption to Students4Students’ operations. The charity was required to provide tuition online rather than in person throughout the 2020-21 academic year. However, the charity has handled this transition successfully and now has the capability to provide tuition virtually or in person depending on the prevailing circumstances. Despite pandemicrelated restrictions continuing since June 2021, Students4Students has continued to provide tuition services, and expects to continue to do so going forward.
Based upon these factors, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the Trustees consider it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Accounting policies
Income
All income is recognised once the Charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.
Grant income is recognised to the extent that the above criteria have been met together with any performance conditions attached to the grants. Grant income is deferred only to the extent that the Charity has yet to fulfil the related performance conditions.
Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the Charity and overall governance and management of the Charity.
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
2. Income analysis by type
| Income type | Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Designated funds Total funds £ £ £ £ |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Designated funds Total funds £ £ £ £ |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Designated funds Total funds £ £ £ £ |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Designated funds Total funds £ £ £ £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 3,621 | - | 150 | 3,771 |
| Gift Aid | 650 | - | - | 650 |
| Grants | 750 | 1,600 | 1,100 | 3,450 |
| Fundraising income | - | - | 62 |
62 |
| Other | 100 | - | - | 100 |
| Total income | 5,120 | 1,600 | 1,312 | 8,032 |
3. Analysis of expenditure of activities
| 3. Analysis of expenditure of activities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct costs Support costs (note 6) Total costs £ £ £ |
|||
| Tuition support (note 4) | 3,929 | 294 | 4,223 |
| Raising funds (note 5) | 832 | 350 | **1,182 ** |
| Total expenditure | 4,761 | 644 | 5,405 |
4. Analysis of tuition support
| 4. Analysis of tuition support | |
|---|---|
| Tuition support £ |
|
| Online tuition costs | 1,642 |
| Child safety | 512 |
| Tutor recruitment | 360 |
| DBS checks | 809 |
| Tutoring resources | 189 |
| Insurance | 291 |
| Tutor welfare | 41 |
| Tutor travel | 86 |
| Support costs (note 6) | 294 |
| Total tuition costs | 4,223 |
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
5. Analysis of costs of raising funds
Raising funds £ Costs incurred seeking grants 473 Costs incurred seeking donations 218 Advertising and marketing costs 141 Support costs (note 6) 350 Total costs of raising funds 1,182
6. Analysis of support costs
| 6. Analysis of support costs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition support Raising funds Total support costs £ £ £ |
|||
| Depreciation | 203 | 102 | 305 |
| Website grant costs | 90 | 45 | 135 |
| Other admin costs | - | 203 | 203 |
| Total support costs | 293 | 350 | 643 |
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
7. Statement of funds
| 7. Statement of funds | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designated funds | Balance at 1 July 2020 Income Expenditure £ £ £ |
Transfers in/out Balance at 30 June 2021 £ |
|||
| Bristol | 537 | - | (295) | (114) | 128 |
| Durham | (92) | 62 | (307) |
401 | 64 |
| Oxford | 992 | 1,250 | - |
(200) | 2,042 |
| Total designated funds | 1,437 | 1,312 | (602) |
87 |
2,234 |
| General funds | |||||
| General funds | 1,158 | 5,121 | (2,491) | (407) | 3,381 |
| Total unrestricted funds | 1,158 | 5,121 | (2,491) | (407) | 3,381 |
| Restricted funds | |||||
| Website development | 349 | - |
(276) | - | 73 |
| St Michael's and All Saints grant | 2,000 | - | (1,876) | - | 124 |
| Welfare grant | - | 1,600 | - | 1,600 | |
| Bristol SU RAG account | - | - | - | 379 | 379 |
| Durham University Start Up Fund | 300 | - |
(158) | - |
142 |
| Total restricted funds | 2,649 | 1,600 |
(2,310) | 379 | 2,318 |
| Total funds | 5,245 | 8,032 | (5,403) | 60 | 7,934 |
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021
Summary of restricted funds
| Website development | £500 was donated on 10th September 2019 for enhancing the Students4Students website and a Mailchimpsubscription. |
|---|---|
| St Michael’s and All Saints’ Grant | £2,000 was donated on 16th March 2020 for the costs of setting up an additional group of tutors at Oxford Brookes University and the core costs of the Oxford branch – incorporating both Oxford Brookes University and University of Oxford tutors. |
| Durham University Start Up Fund | £300 was donated on 16th March 2020 for new online training resources, and further teaching resources for the Durham branch. |
| Bristol Student Union Raise And Give account |
Bank account held in trust by Bristol Raising and Giving on Students4Students’ behalf. |
| Welfare grant | £2,000 received to fund Mental Health First Aid awareness training for branch and national committee members |
Signed by : Fred Harrison-James (Secretary of Trustees)
Signed by : Alex Astley (Director)
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Students4Students Annual Report 2021