2024-08-31-accounts - Encounter Christianity

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encounter christianity ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITYCIO ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Charity Number 1188680

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Page 2	PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Page 2	PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Page 2

	CONTENTS PAGES Trustees’ Report 3 – 8 Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees 9 Receipts and Payments Account 10 Statement of Assets and Liabilities 11
	CONTENTS	PAGES
	Trustees’ Report	3 – 8
	Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees	9
	Receipts and Payments Account	10
	Statement of Assets and Liabilities	11

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Page 3

The Trustees of Encounter Christianity are pleased to provide our Annual Report, covering the 12-month period ending 31 August 2024. This is the first report following the change to align our financial year to the academic year, bringing it into line with internal reporting and typical reports to funding bodies.

Charitable Purposes, Activities and Achievements

The purposes of the Charity are:

The advancement of the education of the public in the Christian faith and Christianity; in particular but not exclusively by:

providing specialist teachers to deliver education lessons in schools and colleges;
assisting and training non-specialist teachers in delivering Christian religious education;
promoting Christian religious education lessons in schools and colleges; and
making resources available for these purposes.

The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities.

“I learnt so much from the lesson. I didn’t know any of that! You explained it so it was easy to understand.” Year 3 teacher

Why we exist

Encounter Christianity is made up of a passionate group of four teachers who want to bring the Christian faith to life in the classroom. We want to demonstrate that Christianity is a livedout, active faith, shared by people across the world.

We want to help teachers to teach the Christian elements of the RE syllabus well and we want children and young people to be able to interact with Christians, hear their stories and be able to ask them questions about faith and spirituality. We also want pupils to have the space to reflect upon and debate their own beliefs.

Our team of teachers works to enrich the RE curriculum and the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of pupils in schools, through the provision of specialist people and resources. We also seek to build positive community relationships between schools, churches, volunteers and other charitable organisations.

“A really brilliant visit, which was so useful for my A-Level students. Encounter Christianity brought the theory to life with their personal testimonies and dynamic presentation.” Year 12 teacher

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

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What we offer

Encounter Christianity provides dynamic and engaging RE workshops for Primary, Secondary and SEND schools, based on the national curriculum and in partnership with schools, tailoring our sessions to the schemes of work they follow. Our sessions are free to schools.

All our workshops are highly interactive with the aim of providing children with the opportunity to find out for themselves what Christianity is about. For some, this is the first time they have encountered genuine Christians sharing their stories.

“An engaging lesson for the whole class. The children have developed their knowledge through enquiry and loved learning in an interactive way. Both leaders were enthusiastic, encouraging and explained tasks clearly. Thank you! We loved it!” Year 6 teacher

Schools

In this reporting period, we delivered 126 primary sessions to approximately 3,780 pupils and 48 secondary sessions to approximately 1,460 pupils . We also delivered 6 new SEN workshops to approximately 150 students . We delivered 1 teacher training session.

By August 2024 we were linked to 69 schools in Bristol, South Glos. and Swindon.

Primary

The primary team continued to plan more investigative based sessions to replace carousel lessons. A highlight this year was teaching 420 children about the Trinity. We have been encouraged by the positive feedback we have received, particularly as many of our volunteers have shared personal stories about how their faith impacts them.

Secondary

Our updated lesson entitled ‘Jesus as an Inspirational Figure,’ has been received extremely well in secondary schools this year. It includes content on how Jesus’ death and resurrection inspires Christians and has given us the opportunity to share our own stories about how Jesus inspires us as practising Christians today. We have also been able to answer the young people’s questions on the Christian faith. We were excited to deliver new sixth form lessons on the key beliefs of Christianity and the English Reformation.

SEND

One of our key projects this year has been to extend our work in schools for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We have developed and delivered new multisensory sessions on Creation, Christmas and Easter. The sessions have been extremely well received by both staff and students, and we are discussing with the schools how we can input into their curriculum with further sessions.

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

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Team

Our team underwent a great deal of change during this reporting period. One of our Primary teachers was on maternity leave from December to May. We created a new Classroom Assistant and Administration role to cover this leave and employed a new member of the team during this time.

Our Lead Teacher left the role in April to relocate to another city, and the new role of Charity Director and Lead Teacher was created to replace the previous position. Following a successful interview process, one of our current team secured this role. This left a vacancy for a Primary teacher, who we have now recruited and who will be in post in September.

Community Relationships

We have formed relationships with new local churches and have visited two churches to speak about our work, as well as meeting with the leaders of two further churches to talk about how we can better engage with them. We have begun drawing up plans for a new joint project with a partner church to be run in the coming academic year.

We have maintained a committed group of volunteers who have worked with us this year. We have also liaised with Bristol Schools Connection (BSC) to link volunteers from churches with their local schools. We joined with BSC to meet Youth Workers in the area who might like to accompany us into secondary schools.

We launched a Partnership Scheme to encourage individuals to join us in praying for our work in schools. As part of this scheme we introduced a monthly prayer bulletin to send out to participants and invited them to a coffee morning in the summer to hear more about our work.

Our annual Thanksgiving Service took place on 26 June. This was an opportunity to celebrate all that has taken place during the year, highlighting our involvement in both primary, secondary and SEND schools. We were encouraged to welcome trustees, volunteers, representatives of churches, individual supporters and those interested in our work to this event.

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Page 6

Financial Review

The charity's cash receipts for the period ended 31 August 2024 were £74,984 (2023: £25,069) principally from local churches, Trusts and Foundations, and individual supporters. Cash payments in the period were £52,492 (2023: £35,971) relating primarily to salaries, materials and expenses.

Cash Reserves

The Trustees consider it prudent to maintain cash reserves to the value of at least 3 monthsworth of running costs, equating to approximately £13,123. As of 31 August 2024, the charity’s free cash reserves were £44,441 (2023: £21,949).

Future Plans

We aim to widen our church links in the coming year by partnering with new churches on joint projects such as hosting school trips to their buildings and running Christmas and Easter Trails. We also hope to attend two local Christian Conferences to meet Christians from the area and encourage them to partner with us in volunteering, praying and giving.

We are also planning a Prayer for Schools event with BSC and Together for Bristol. This will be an opportunity for school staff, Governors, parents and those interested in school’s work to pray for schools and teachers in Bristol and South Glos.

We have noticed a large increase in non-specialists teaching RE in both primary and secondary schools and so we plan to design and deliver workshops for both settings in the coming year. These sessions will include ideas on how to deliver Christian content in an accurate and engaging way.

We are also thinking about how we can better equip our volunteers to work in the classroom with us. We hope to offer a training session for both existing and new volunteers in the coming year.

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Page 7

Reference and administrative details

Charity number: 1188680

Registered office: Redland Parish Church Halls, Redland Green Road, BS6 7HE Website address: www.encounterchristianity.co.uk

Trustees:

The Trustees serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:

A West (Chair)
P Noyce (resigned 16 September 2023)
C Salisbury
L Charles
R Powlesland
P Richardson (resigned 31 August 2024)
C Morgan
R Guy (resigned 5 July 2024)
A Long (appointed 15 May 2024)
L Quinn (appointed 1 September 2024)
R Symmons (appointed 17 May 2024)

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Page 8

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The Charity was established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 20 March 2020 and is governed by its constitution.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

New Trustees are recruited on the basis of the knowledge of the existing Trustees of suitable candidates. In selecting persons to be appointed, the Trustees shall take into account the benefits of appointing a person who is able by virtue of his or her professional qualifications or experience to make a contribution to the pursuit of the purposes or the management of Encounter Christianity CIO. Selected candidates are appointed by a simple majority of the votes cast by the Trustees at a meeting.

New Trustees receive an Induction pack appropriate to their level of existing knowledge of and involvement with the Charity. As a minimum, new Trustees receive a copy of the Charity Commission publication CC3 – The Essential Trustee: what you need to know together with the charity’s governing document and latest annual report and accounts.

Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

……………………………………… Lisa Quinn – Treasurer 1[st] May 2025

ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ENCOUNTER CHRISTIANITY CIO

PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

I report on the accounts of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation for the period ended 31 August 2024, which are set out on pages 10 to 11.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:
(a) to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
(b) to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act and the regulations made there under

have not been met;

to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Paul Brown FCIE DChA Rose & Leaf Ltd

2 Ger y mynydd Hirwaun Aberdare CF44 9RD 30[TH] April 2025

Encounter Christianity CIO

YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

Unrestrict ed Funds £ 21,095 34,560 10,777 52	Restricted Funds £ - 8,500 - -	Period ended 31 August 2024 £ 21,095 43,060 10,777 52	Period Ended 31 August 2023 £ 8,100 11,600 5,341 28
66,484	8,500	74,984	25,069
41,492 - -	5,279 1,593 258 2,705	46,771 1,593 258 2,705	32,454 1,226 211 1,463
41,492	9,835 60 252 853	51,327 60 252 853	35,354 40 - 577
-	1,165	1,165	617
41,492	11,000	52,492	35,971

24,992	(2,500)	22,492	(10,902)

24,992	(2,500)	22,492	(10,902)

Encounter Christianity CIO

AT 31 AUGUST 2024

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

2024 £ 16,949 24,992	2024 £ 44,441	2023 £ 27,850 (10,901)	2023 £ 21,949
	44,441 -		21,949 -
	44,441		21,949
	100		100
	100		100
	41,941 2,500		16,949 5,000
5,000 (2,500)		5,000

	44,441		21,949

Signed on behalf of the trustees on 1st May 2025

………………………….

L Quinn (Treasurer)