Charity IEgistration tiumbci.: 1189151 WMVS Children in Care Foundation CIO uiual Repoit and Financial Stateinents for the Year Ended 5 April 2025 WMVS rhildren in Core WMVS Cliildren in CarL Foundation CIO Contents Refei'eiice and Admittistrative Details Tt￿stecs, Repori 2to 14 Independeiit Exaniii)erfs Repoit 15 Statement of finwcial Activities 16 Balance Sheet 17 Notes to the Finaiicial Statein¢nts 18to25 WMVS Children in Cal'e Foundation CIO Reference an(1 Adiniiiistrative Details Chttli. S Rivei's Triisteos S Rivers B Baiiis S Bui'nage M Carrasco J Chick LGill J Giten J Kelly D Mooi'ey A Oliver-Adains M Saltei. L M Sinitli M Stiles E Thoinas L Thompson A R Wright 1189151 Charity Registratilbll NU￿ber Principal Office clo Office Suite I Shrieves Walk %tiatford-Iipon-A von WaiTrvick.%hÈrc CV37 6GJ Independent Examiner CBSL Accountants Limited C.liailered Atcouniani Rowan Floiise Noi'ih l The Professional Quarter Shrewsbiiry Bllsiness Park Shrew5bury ShiDpshire SY2 6LG Page I Trustees, Annual Report W.M.V.S for the year ended 5 April 2025 Chlldren in Core Registered Charity No. 1189151 Chair of Trustees: Sarah Rivers Vice-chair of Trustees: Mathew Stiles Trustees (date appointed, if during year): Michelle Salter Mikaela Carrusca12111112024} joanne Kelly Balwant Baines {1911212024) Mathew Stiles Lorraine Thompson (1911212024) Emma Thomas Deena Moorey Joanna Clare Chick Sarah Rivers Samuel Burnage Lisa Marie Smith Joanne Green Andrew Richard Wright Lesley Gill (11412024) Alecia Oliver-Adams rovider Area of res Governance Administration, Communications, Website Bookkeeping, Accountancy, Independent Examination Arts Link co-ordination Active Now co-ordination onsibili Geor e Stroud Sets uare Creative Solutions CBSL Accountants Performin Perfectly Energize STW Think Active Active Black Country Active Herefordshire and Worcestershire Together Active SERCO (Birmingham Community Leisure Trust .1.. Intro(JiJciirJn trnm our Lhair l am delighted to take on the role of Chair of WMVS CIC Foundation. I have seen the charity develop since its inception to become the thriving organisation that it is today. At our core is dedication to developing the highest quality arts, culture and sport opportunities for children in care across the West Midlands. As a recently retired Virtual Head I have seen the Incredible impact this work has had on individual children. It can be transformative and support our children to develop talents and interests for life. A personal highlight this year has been seeing our children take over our Regional Conference for professionals supporting children in care. They were generous in sharing their experiences to shape a piece of theatre. They hosted panel discussions with the CEO of a large academy trust and a Director of Children's Setvices. They delivered keynote speeches with their call to action. One of our key priorities 90ing forward is to build on this work and support our children to have a greater voice in the work of the Foundation. Our Creating Chances work enables us to offer CPD at a regional level ft)r professionals and carers supporting our children. There is strength in our unique collaboration between fourteen Virtual Schools in the West Midlands. By sending out a shared regional message we have facilitated natiorbal engagement with our work. We now look forward to collaborating with the National Govemors Association to develop training for school governors. We will actively continue to Share the lessons we have learned together in the hope that this work will be available to all children in care nationally. The Foundation is working alongside others as part of a national call to action to ensure all children in care have ac￿sS to a culture entitlement. As a charity we have had some success in securing funding regional work by organisations such as The Arts Council, Women & Theatre and The Mighty Creatives. We are proud to have been part of work with the Share Foundation to produce the Stepladder App that Is available to all children in care nationally. It is our aim to further strengthen our range of partners and to widen out funding opportunities for this important work. We will do this by building on and sharing the research and impact evidence that we have collected over the years. I would like to thank Matt Stiles, who has Chaired the charity over the last year with a real focus on strengthening our governance and oversight, and the trustees who give their time with passion and commitment to make a difference for our children. Sarah River5 WMVSCIC Foundation Chair i.. vvho Mie arp. The WMVS Children in Care Foundation exists to broaden horizons and raise aspirations for children and young people in care across the West Midlands. Our work brings together fourteen of the region's Virtual Schools to create opportunities in the arts, sport, learning and wellbeing - supporting care-experienced young people to thrive, belong and believe in their potential. In so doing, we believe we improve value-for~money and equality of provision for care-experienced young people. The Foundation does not employ staff. Instead, we realise our aspirations through the commissioned work & 511PPOrt of key providers (see cover page). These organisations and individuals carry out our activities based on Service Level Agreements monitored by our Board of Trustees. Our charitable activity currently focuses on three key activity strands: Arts Link: established to create a high-quality arts and cultural offer which all children in care across the West Midlands can access, so that they can develop as learners, as people and a5 artists. More info.. www.wmv5cicfoundation.or challen es Active Now: aims to create an offer of high-quality sporting activities, experiences and opportunities acr055 the region. This will range from 'try it out, one-off activities, to longer 5-6 week programs and special cluster events, Creating Chances: aspires to improve educational outcomes for care experienced children by working with partners and commissloning training to ensure that the educational needs of looked after. and previously looked after children, are better understood. artslink-for- oun eo artslink- Our virtual school membership is as follows.. Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire. Schools are encouraged to appoint Ambassadors to facilitate engagement with our activity strands. We are a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered & regulated by the Charity Commission for England & Wales. Find out more about our registration here.. htt re ister-of-charities.charit commission. ov.uk en chari -search charit details 5153795 3. What we've done this year During 202¥25, we continued to build momentum across all thre6 activity strands while strengthening the systems and partnerships that enable our work to reach more ore- expeTienced young people across the West Midlands. Through Arts Llnk, led by Lesley Gill, we delivered a vibrant programme of arts and cultural activity across the region. Working closely with Performing Perfectly, we reviewed delivery arrangements in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and maintained a strong focus on participation and accessibility. Our Arts Ambassadors supported events in their local areas, with Virtual Schools providing transport so that child missed out. Ambassadors were also invited to attend termly face-to-face days. We began developin9 a new framework for data capture, which will allow us to better track engagement and attendance in future years. By spring 2025, around 200 young people had signed up for the regional circus event - a joyful milestone that reflected both appetite and trust in the Foundation's creative offer. As part of the work of the Foundation, some virtual schools took part in a pilot for Art5 Mark. This was a collaboration with Arts Council England to determine if this could be a tool used for Virtual School's - and what adaptations would be required. All virtual schools involved achieved the award and the work will now continue at a national level. You can read about it in our case stud The Active Now programme, led by Sam Burnage, consistently showed a strong uptake in outdoor and physical activities. Fccdback from young participants and carers highli9hted the value of these sessions in boosting confidence and building community. We resolved earlier issues with promotional materials and scheduling, working in partnership with Setsquare to ensure consistent, clear communication. This body of work included a significant update to our website, that now features flyer5 for upcoming events to drive participation. Towards the end of the period a new collaboration with Serco in Birmingham was formalised, bringing fresh variety and improving inclusivity to the program. Creatin9 Chances, led by Alecia Oliver-Adams, grew in Scope and reputation. We delivered the 2024 Designated Teacher Conference and commissioned follow-on work with Geese Theatre, building on the powerful themes of inclusion and empathy explored in earlier projects. Parenting and kinship-carer training with Maria Collins was delivered successfully, while early discussions with the National Governance Association explored opportunities for regional governor training. In Jvne 2025, a Post-LAC development day brought together professionals and young people to help shape Geese Theatre's next production. Partnerships, led by Andy Wright. Throughout the year, we also strengthened our external relationships by maintaining active links with NAVSH and the Depariment for Education's and by increasing regional recognition for our collaborative model. We have been an active member of the call-to-action group "Include Me, I Want to Belong" promoting the importance of arts, culture and sports. Our work aligns closely with ARC with the shared priority of developing attachment aware and trauma informed approaches which support our children to develop a sense of belonging. We supported workshops at ASCL and NAHT conferences and participated in a panel discussion at the ADCS cornferen￿. 4. The dtfference we've made This year was one of consolidation and confidence. Across the West Midlands, children and young people in care accessed a wider range of arts, sport and learning opportunities than ever before. Feedback from Virtual Schools, carers and providers reflected both the quality and consistency of our offer. We saw young people discovering new interests, forming friendships across local boundaries, and developing creative and physical skills that built self-belief and resilience. Arts Link Within the Arts Link strand, regional clusters participated in professional creative workshops dijring the summer term. The Commercial Dance sessions with performer Emily Bellingham (Strictly Come Dancing) generated exceptional feedback for their inclusivity and energy. Certificates presented by Emily were Ilbrilliantly received" and contributed to participants, sense of achievement. Additionally, Emily was 'super with the young people. Age range was from 7yrs. Managed very well. Ishe had al Good sense of when dance needed to stop and needed to move on to other dance activities. Emily is now working as a regular for T&W VS leading their own little dance troupe Autumn events included 'School of Rock, workshops, offering something entirely new and popular.. "one young person was inspired after this and has now signed up for C2D- regular weekly se55ions. Usually doesn't engage as in residential Icarel" Spring sessions focussed on recycling and creative sustainability through a "Posca Recycle and Reuse project with Birmingham street-artist Roots and were also we15 attended & received. Hamilton Theatre visit Commercial Dance Workshop School of Rock R¢cycling Workshops We a150 organised two Hamilton theatre visits - first to Birmingham Hippodrome in July 20241126 ticket5 across nine Virtual Schools) and then to London's West End in August. The trips blended arts access with education.. several young people said the experience influenced subject choices and career ambitions. One participant commented.. loved the costumes. I want to do this when I'm older.11 Carers reported that some children new to the UK were 14absolutely captivated by their first theatre experi¢nce,11 demonstrating the cultural and social impact of the Foundation's arts offer. Lastly, the Foundation rolled out a peripatetic music lesson offer across all 14 Virtual Schools. This means that all children in care (years 4-61 across the region have access to funded music lessons. Creating Chances This year we delivered two key pieces of work.. the regional conference for education & social care professionaSs, and a regional training offer for carers. In May 2024, WMVS organised for young people in care from across the West Midlands to come together to share their voice. Supported by their Virtual School teams and Geese Theatre they co-produced a piece of theatre showcasin9 their stories, through a combination of drama and discussion around key themes in their lives, at the West Midlands Virtual School Regional Conference during the autumn term. In September 2024, we invited those young people to come back together again, to plan their contribution to the conference entitled Me and My Education - Who Cares7 - The Voice of our Young People. They shared their voices in whichever manner was best for them, including poetry, artwork, or to attend the conference itself and share their voices on stage. The conference took place on 23rd October 2024. Over 200 professionals attended and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.. .yOIA .Qhqd bcoJukn - US i°n46tls Vlf￿. CdL6fo&doYd_.. prC).ua of y: p(uolILQA. AJ Lvk cr￿ .. Together, these strands are helping to create a culture where care-experienced young people are seen, supported and celebrated. The Foundation acknowledges the need to collect additional feedback & impact data - and has made changes during the year to ensure this occurs in fLtture. Active Now Ensure each VS has a secure commitment from a sports partner organisation, to deliver a wide ranging and attractive offer for young people. Explore opportunities with Serco regarding the use of a central facility for a region wide Active Now event. Creatin9 Chances In the coming year Creating Chances will be working with parents of adopted children, special guardians, kinship carers and professionals facilitating exploration of their experiences of education. The findings from consultations and workshops will shape an event to be used by Virtual Schools as part of their CPD offer.. In addition, Creating Chances will be recommissioning regional on-line workshops on a range of education themes to support carers of children in care, previously looked after children and carers of children in Kinship Care. We will be workin9 Wlth the National Governors Association to expSore developing national training materials for school governors. We will continue to work in partnership with ARC to support the regional development of relational approaches. SUlv11v11T AFTER CARE AFTERCARE5SauTriquecoItsboratknbÈVttEonS￿Th￿ItpvhOI￿gwSenrf￿QSb￿d GeoseTheatieC0m￿ty.offPND￿￿￿I￿s￿ht1fftl¢IhewQlIdofPrtthUS Ihlsdynomic hall4ywJlffllwVthlchfusf5thEaliÈè￿ihe0￿.V￿1l￿keY0￿OTh aniThiera(￿QmIfft¢y￿1¢hÈl1IsandAmbor.thdIvrIntsc￿re[5and1ÈIChE1s.tQE￿p1D￿E.. Tthle81(yofpre.andp05t.natalirauma,l¢sxaits¢hmeffl¢inlur*sandtraumawounds BÈha￿O￿rascommUn1CdllO￿a￿d Ihe5eai¢hlorSJlew YheclashbeThYeens(hoolsptQffl5.tUl￿& 1ndtrauma1en￿￿lFWartke. You￿4￿gOIn lThvaluableinswhisfTtsmthe16E p¢rlNman¢e an¢ thesupportln¥thEorÉt1cal￿r￿Yrt￿eS applled Trom IhEfieldsof p5Y(hDr￿. tTiuma resear¢￿ Ira￿￿￿theraPythatJrÉ wwenbepw¢enandthrouBh Iholnieracuvethealie. WhoDolkiers the Training7 Whal do Oelegale5 Say. Gry*J+ Ih*ii li s. How we're run Our Board of Trustees brings together Virtual School Heads and independent member5 who share a commitment to improving outcomes for care-experienced children and young people. Our AGM held on 19 December 2024 formalised trustee elections, re-elections and the membership register. We welcomed new trustees Balwant Bains and Lorraine Thompson & confirmed the c&option of Mikaela Carrasco. To ensure greater clarity between the role of the regional Virtual Heads forum and board of the Foundation (whose memberships overlap substantially), the AGM also elected Sarah Rivers as Chair {from September 2025). By unlinking the role from that of the Virtual Heads forum we hope to provide continuity in leadership and clarity of responsibilities. Earlier work during the previous year with George Stroud (Governance) mapping organisational structure, roles and respon51bilities led this year to the production of our first Trustee Handbook. This document will be the cornerstone of trustee induction in future, detailing as it does trustee roles and responsibilities and the various honorary offices & subcommittees. The Finance & Governance Subcommittee met regularly throughout the year, ensuring close oversight of budgets, delivered activity & development work. It continued to refine its systems, introducing structured minute-taking using Copilot, clearer pre-meeting financial reviews with Setsquare, and improvements to activity report consistency. Work also progressed on a SharePoint-based file-sharing system, improvin9 the ease with which trustees and providers work collaboratively. Collectively, these developments demonstrate our growin9 maturity as an organisation and our commitment to transparent. well-governed operations. 6. Financial overview {summary only) Subscriptions of £232,728 (2024- £160,295) were received from member Virtual Schools to deliver the programme ot Arts, Cultural, Sports & Educational events, and the Foundation conferences. This represented most of the income for the year which totalled £233,34512024- £235,618). During the year the Foundation incurred expenses of £266,541 {2024- £262,347) of which £217,619 (2024 - £224,601) directly related to delivery of its charitable programme. The remaining 18%12024- 14%) of expenditure was related to support & governance costs. The deficit for the year was {£33,196)12024 -1£26,729)) leaving the Foundation with unrestrlcted reselves of £47,757 {2024- £80,953) at year end.15 April 20251 7. Looking ahead: risks and resilience We consider the main risks facing the Foundation to be.. maintaining sustainable funding & contributions managing provider performance across multiple regions ensurin9 value-for-money from those providers ensuring the safety of participants By implementing more regu5ar, thorough finar)cial monitoringi including pre-meetings with Setsquare, we hope to improve accuracy and forward planning, Additionallyi work on a more formal reserves policy to safeguard future operations began in spring 2025. In consultation with the virtual schools in our membership we will revisit the subscription model. It is vital that it remains affordable, equable and fit for purpose such that we do not risk losing the contributions & support which underpin our valuable activities. At the same time, we need to further investigate those geographical areas where participants engage least with our offering and develop ways of improving uptake. Our updated, revised and simplified Safeguarding Policy Statement {www.wmvscicfoundation.or safe uardin olic -statement , due to be formally adopted mid-2025, implies increased formality and spot-checking of responsibilities for our contracted providers. The Arts Link and Active Now activity strand Service Level Agreements will need to be revised, in consultation with providers, to ensure the ambitions of the Safeguarding Policy Statement are realised. A working group will be set up in the coming year to make sure that this happens, in good time before revised contracts are issued in 2026. We also introduced a standing agenda item for strategic review, ensuring that our vision, mission and values remain clear and relevant. This focus on reflection and planning underpins our resilience and readiness for future growth. The number of Trustees who are not virtual heads grows year-on-year- and a forthcoming Trustee Skills Survey will help us to identify skill gap5 & recruit to our number in a more informed manner. 7, Looking ahead: delivering on our priorities The Foundation is undertaking an overhaul of the Sewice Level Agreements {SLAsl under which co-ordinators for the Arts and Sports strands operate. This important work aims to align expectations of providers across these strands, strengthen safeguarding practices & improve financial oversight. Making all awarded SLAS from April 2026 a minimum of 2- years will add further Stability to delivery of the Foundation's activity. This revised SLA will then undergo a consultation period with our current providers. In addition, in the forthcoming year. Arts Link Once termly cluster activities las a minimum) as well a5 one regional event. Increased theatre opportunities - and for different shows & locations to improve accessibility. Podcasts will be trialled in response to children's requests. Termly face-to-face development and training days to upskill VS staff and provide taster sessions of the activities and events available to our children. io Active Now Ensure each VS has a secure commitment from a 5POrts partner organisation, to deliver a wide ranging and attractive offer for young people. Explore opportunities with Serco regarding the use of a central facility for a region wide Active Now event. Creating Chances In the coming year Creating Chances will be working with parents of adopted Children, special guardians, kinship carers and professionals facilitating exploration of their experiences of education. The findings from constjltations and workshops will shape an event to be used by Virtual Schools as part of their CPD offer.. In addition, Creating Chances will be recommissioning regional on-line workshops on a range of education themes to support carers of children in care, previously looked after children and carers of children in Kinship Care. We will be working with the National Governor5 Association to explore developing national training materials for school governors. We will continue to work in partnership with ARC to support the regional development of relational approaches. SU*thhAIT AFTER CARE AFTtRCARElsavnlgueCvlèbofotknn bet￿t￿SumM[lP¥¢hD1wsQrVk￿S4nd LoDkedAtteiChlldrcnandthe*eyperl¥fiWSofedur4i1o￿. Th6dY￿mKh11f.d0¥tyat0I￿￿h￿￿ Tusesihealreon¢thm.WIIItth¢ytsuOn. an InlErdrt1￿1ts￿tseYvo1Il ElliS)ndhffjbEr,thelipren4 Gifwsandtpa(hEI5. loexplDre'. The¢)MPl¢￿IY0I4d￿PI￿n,￿[￿￿￿PcIfeaThd5PCc1￿1GUaid￿IIS￿￿. h&g¢uiascommunk&dDnondthe2eorchfoF5efp Theda5hbeI￿e￿sd￿lVRr￿s.rUI￿ljndtr￿￿￿￿$t￿sft￿pT￿11Ce. ¥W￿lIgarDIn¥3IU￿bIe5￿5Ights ITOM Ihe15vt PQil0rmor4cean￿thPsUPP0rIiD£l￿o￿et1c4 PQT%FQttlvtS opphe4 frO]r the10￿s0(p￿rhOIoEY, ItSe4rth.f*yi¢Pty(hdtstyJnd vaumètheiJpythat4ro WLvenbefweEnèiidtrwou8hih*lttt*raciwetheatro. li Fund Raisin9 Priorities for this year will be to explore ways to extend the range of organisations that we work with to extend our offer as well as making bids to a range of funds to support our offer. Partnerships We will continue to support the call-to action 'lnclude Me, I Want to Belong" raising the profile of the importance of arts, culture and sports for care experienced children. We will be promotin9 the uptake of Stepping Forward which children from our region helped to co- design with the Share Foundation and the bursary place at Tring Park School for Performing Arts. We have madc links with the Youth Sports Trust and Shakespeare Schools Foundation and will be exploring opportunities for regional collaboration. Nature of governing document The charity was registered with the Charity Commission as a charitable incorporated organisation on 21 Apri12020 and is governed according to its constitution. The members of the Charity have no Siability to contribute to the Charity's assets if tho CIO is wound up and have no personal responsibility for settling its debts and liabilities. Recruttment and appointment of trustees As set out in the constitution, there must be at least five Charity Trustees. At every annual general meeting of the members, one third of the Trustees shall retire from office but will be eligible for reappointment. Each new Trustee will receive a copy of the constitution and the latest annual report and statement of accounts prior to their appointment. Policy on reserves The Trustees recognise the need for a reasonable level of financial reserve5 in order to protect the Charity from the possibility of any adverse or unforeseen circumstances that could arise. U nrestricted reserves at 5 April 2025 enable the Charity to continue to deliver its charitable activites for at leagt a further 12 months in the event that there was a sign if icant drop in income. The Trustees are tal