United Kingdom Biology Competitions
Registered charity № 1191037 53 Alexandra Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 3EA Also known as UKBC
Annual report
1[st] September 2020 - 31[st] August 2021
Trustees
Dr Matthew Johnston Dr Andrew Treharne MBE
Dr Joshua Hodgson Neil Richards Katherine Lister
Rebecca Peel Norma Broadbridge MBE David Rigby
Structure & governance
Governing document
- ➔ Constitution, 25[th] August 2020
Trustee selection
➔ Election by existing trustees
Constitution
- ➔ Charitable incorporated organisation
(CIO)
Objectives & activities
Objects
The objects of the CIO are to advance education for the public benefit of young people in the subject of Biology by:
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Promoting the study of biology and encouraging and enhancing biology education, particularly in schools
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Encouraging excellence in biology by organising annual biology competitions for school students
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Selecting, training and organising teams of biology students and leaders to represent the UK at the International Biology Olympiad and at such other international Biology competitions as may be considered appropriate
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Maintaining membership of International Biology Olympiad e.V. and to contribute to and participate in the affairs of that organisation
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Providing residential training for post-16 school students.
Activities
Trustees reviewed the Charity Commission guidance on public beneft upon appointment and also at their annual general meeting. All activities were planned in line with guidance, UKBC’s charitable objects and the business plan submitted to the Charity Commission upon incorporation.
Academic olympiads are increasingly prominent as the most rigorous and reputable academic competitions. United Kingdom Biology Competitions (UKBC) runs the British Biology Olympiad (BBO), and takes responsibility for the UK’s presence at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO). The IBO is one of the big four Olympiads with >70 participating countries. For younger children, UKBC runs Biology Challenge (BC) and the Intermediate Biology Olympiad (iBO).
The BBO, iBO and BC are three rigorous online competitions which schools arrange for their students to participate in. Students took part within their school (or at home due to coronavirus regulations) under examination conditions. Students were allocated medals based on their performance, and certificates were sent to schools.
UKBC organised online training and assessment of practical biology skills for the top performers of the BBO in collaboration with the University of Warwick. This was to select a team of four students to participate in the IBO. UKBC organised training for the IBO team covering various skills with different partners. UKBC organised for the team to attend the virtual IBO challenge, hosted from Lisbon. UKBC organised for a jury of five volunteers to accompany the team throughout IBO and act on behalf of the UK at the IBO.
UKBC comprises solely of volunteers. The most active are members of the UKBC committee, who are trustees. The competitions were written and assessed entirely by volunteers. There are approximately twenty volunteers who help write the competitions, or assist with team selection, training or at the IBO. The Royal Society of Biology administered the competitions via a services contract, including managing school registration, organising travel and accommodation, processing payments, advertising, and providing general administration support to UKBC (e.g. arranging annual general meetings). Practical training and assessment took place virtually at
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the University of Warwick. Training and assessment was carried out by two academic staff, plus support staff, from the School of Life Science. UKBC provided a mirror of its examination website to the British Physics Olympiad (BPhO, charity number 1146064) for a small fee. UKBC has an agreement to provide the BBO, iBO and BC to ASDAN China (a British educational charity, charity number 1066927) which runs the competitions in China. UKBC holds the UK’s membership of IBOe.V, the governing body of the IBO. National members, such as UKBC, have joint sovereignty over IBO e.V.
Achievements & performance
Participation
The number of individual students and schools participating in each competition are shown in the tables below. These tables do not include students or schools participating via ASDAN China. Underlined fgures indicate competitions which were disrupted by the pandemic.
| Year (number of students participating) 2017 2018 2019 2020 BC NA 48449 47336 23695 iBO 5667 6580 8282 8757 BBO 7500 7818 9465 9520 Total NA 62847 65083 41972 Year (number of schools) 2017 2018 2019 2020 BC 561 583 576 367 iBO 380 408 465 559 BBO 675 636 726 669 Total unique NA NA NA NA |
|
|---|---|
| 2021 | |
| 26793 | |
| 8873 | |
| 8462 | |
| 44128 | |
| 2021 | |
| 346 | |
| 449 | |
| 619 | |
| 880 |
Participation was hampered by the ongoing pandemic which placed schools under severe stress. The dates of 2021 competitions were changed to better accommodate this, and the BBO
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was made completely free to all schools. Trustees will assess a fee regime which will maximise participation in 2022 as schools return to a new normal. Trustees will take account of the number of students entered from each school (shown below) to do this.
Schools were predominantly based in the UK, although schools from across the world took part in all competitions, as shown in the maps below.
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Overall, 213/880 schools were overseas. Grade boundaries were set based on UK schools alone, to protect the competitions from distortions created by growing numbers of overseas schools. Trustees will examine ways to grow overseas participation and examine fair participation fees for them.
Academic rigour
Grade distributions for each competition were excellent, with appropriate difficulty for each age-group, as shown in the figures below. Trustees will continue to work to include questions of a variety of difficulties to stretch the distributions further, while maintaining to engage students at all levels.
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The UK team won three silver medals and a bronze at the Lisbon IBO challenge 2021. The new online assessments run by the University of Warwick for the winners of the BBO were outstanding. The selected students underwent a day of intensive training before being examined on the material the following day. The winners of the iBO will attend a residential trip run by the Field Studies Council.
New website
UKBC made a significant investment in a new online examination system. The new system made it easier for teachers to sign-up, increased the variety of ways we can examine students, increased security and data protection, streamlined communication with teachers, reduced
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administration workload, is more stable, and will improve future participation by allowing better leverage of school data. Feedback on the new system was unanimously positive.
ASDAN China
UKBC provided the BC and iBO competitions to ASDAN China for the first time, in addition to the BBO. Participation rates in both were modest, but expected to grow in future years.
Volunteers
UKBC refreshed its volunteer pool by running a social event, and will appoint new trustees to replace those ending their current term. New volunteers were past participants in the IBO, and have relevant expertise for running the senior programs. UKBC will attempt to recruit more current or retired school teachers.
Financial review
Summary accounts are provided in a separate document.
Reserves policy
The trustees set a target reserve level of 1.5 years expenditure (approximately £100,000). This was set due to uncertainty during the pandemic over income and expense (i.e. whether international travel and/or residential training could take place). The reserves shrank to £178,369, from £189,000 at the start of the year. This was due to one-off expenditure on the website and making the BBO free due to pandemic disruption. Excluding one-off factors, UKBC made a small operating loss of approximately £3000, due to the fact that income generating competitions were able to go ahead largely as planned, but expenses were heavily reduced due to pandemic restrictions. The trustees will review the reserves policy and strategies to reduce them to the target level at their next meeting.
Major expenditure
The major part of UKBC expenditure (£42,000 inc. VAT) is the cost of a services agreement with RSB to provide an administrator for the competitions. This price is valid until November 2023, and must be met by UKBC unless a 12-month termination clause is triggered. Trustees have, and will continue to, streamline UKBC operations to reduce administrative workload, and evaluate the performance of the service provider at their meetings.
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In 2021, UKBC contracted the development of a new examination system and website, with a total cost of £20,000 (inc. VAT). This is a one-off expense, with only routine maintenance required in subsequent years. Trustees collected quotes from various suppliers, evaluated value for money, analysed conflicts of interest, and evaluated performance of the contractor, in line with submissions to the Charity Commission upon registration. Trustees are satisfied that the contract has been discharged, and the new system is excellent.
One-off income
UKBC received a grant from RSB of £189,000 in 2020/2021. This is a one-off grant representing the reserves of UKBC prior to registration as a CIO. The conditions of the grant stipulate the money be spent maintaining a similar frequency and nature of competitions (BC, iBO and BBO), and maintaining membership and attendance of the IBO, until November 2022.
Expenses paid to trustees
The table below details all money transferred from UKBC to its trustees.
| Trustee | Sub total Total |
Description |
|---|---|---|
| Joshua Hodgson |
£1,000.00 £1,019.00 £19.00 |
Deposit to open bank account |
| Personal travel to UKBC events | ||
| Matthew Johnston |
£1,292.69 £22,336.19 £20,000.00 £1,043.50 |
Website hosting (1) |
| Building of new website (2) | ||
| Refreshments and venues for students and volunteers at International Biology Olympiad |
||
| Andrew Trehearne |
£268.74 £268.74 |
International Biology Olympiad annual membership and participation fees |
| Rebecca Peel |
£59.46 £78.49 £19.03 |
Personal travel to UKBC events |
| Refreshments during UKBC meetings | ||
| Katherine Lister |
£138.50 £138.50 |
Personal travel to UKBC events |
| Grand total £23,840.92 |
Foot notes
(1) Includes third party costs for servers etc and a £50 per quarter retainer for continued support, upgrading, bug-fixing.
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(2) Trustees collected quotes from various suppliers, evaluated value for money, analysed conflicts of interest, and evaluated performance of Matthew Johnston as a contractor, in line with submissions to the Charity Commission upon registration.
(1) (2) Matthew Johnston did not attend trustee deliberations or votes relating to the awarding of contracts to develop the website. The likelihood of Matthew Johnston receiving these payments was declared to, and discussed with, the Charity Commission.
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above at a vote held on the 5[th]
June 2022.
Dr Matthew Johnston Chair
5[th] June, 2022
Dr Andrew Treharne, MBE Secretary 5[th] June, 2022
Dr Joshua Hodgson Treasurer 5[th] June, 2022
United Kingdom Biology Competitions
Registered charity № 1191037
Annual accounts
26th August 2020 - 31st August 2021
Receipts
| Biology Chal Intermediate biology oly British Biology Oly Selling p Selling examination s Misc. i Payments Univ A Commit P Asset pur New onl Net |
Item Unrestricted funds Notes Initial grant £189,000 From Royal Society of Biology lenge participation fees £9,720 mpiad participation fees £11,760 mpiad participation fees £0 Made free in 2021 due to pandemic apers to other charities £26,460 To ASDAN China ystem to other charities £0 To British Physics Olympiad nc. collection of arrears £656 Sponsorship £0 Total receipts £237,596 Total receipts xcl. grant £48,596 Administration £42,000 To Royal Society of Biology Participation in the IBO £1,025 All inclusive ersity residential course £0 To University of Warwick, cancelled due to pandemic Certificates £4,489 wards ceremony /dinner £1,434 tee/volunteer expenses £1,097 Including insurance, DBS checks Legal fees £1,800 Website maintenance £1,293 ayment processing fees £218 To Stripe Account fees £105 To CAF bank Sub total £53,461 chases ine examination system £20,000 Total payments £73,461 Receipts less payments £164,135 |
|---|---|
| Initial grant £189,000 From Royal Society of Biology |
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| lenge participation fees £9,720 |
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| mpiad participation fees £11,760 |
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| mpiad participation fees £0 Made free in 2021 due to pandemic |
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| apers to other charities £26,460 To ASDAN China |
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| ystem to other charities £0 To British Physics Olympiad |
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| nc. collection of arrears £656 |
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| Sponsorship £0 Total receipts £237,596 Total receipts xcl. grant £48,596 |
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| Administration £42,000 To Royal Society of Biology |
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| Participation in the IBO £1,025 All inclusive |
|
| ersity residential course £0 To University of Warwick, cancelled due to pandemic |
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| Certificates £4,489 |
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| wards ceremony /dinner £1,434 |
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| tee/volunteer expenses £1,097 Including insurance, DBS checks |
|
| Legal fees £1,800 |
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| Website maintenance £1,293 |
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| ayment processing fees £218 To Stripe |
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| Account fees £105 To CAF bank |
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| Sub total £53,461 chases |
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| ine examination system £20,000 |
|
| Total payments £73,461 |
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| Receipts less payments £164,135 |
|
| Receipts less payments xcl. grant & website build -£4,865 |
|
Assets at year end
Unrestricted funds Cash at end last year £0 £189,000 given as grant from savings accumulated before incooperation as CIO Cash at end this year £164,135 Outstanding invoices £3,270 For Intermediate Biology Olympiad and Biology Challenge Total assets £167,405
Liabilities at year end
Deferred income £420 Outstanding invoices £147 Total liabilities £567
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the accounts above on the 5th June 2022.
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Dr Matthew Johnston Dr Andrew Treharne MBE Dr Joshua Hodgson
Chair Secretary Treasurer
5th June 2022 5th June 2022 5th June 2022
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustee$l members of On accounts for the year ended ,/og12£11 Charity no lif any) IIqIDS7 Set out on pages I report to the Iruslees on my examination charity I'lhe Trust") for the year ended 71 the accounts of the 8bove Rosponsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111"the Act"l- I report in resp8ct of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out nder section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination. I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515}Ibl of th8 Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have r.ome l(} my attention lolher than that disc.losed below ') in c.onnection with Independent examiner's slat8ment re*pert'. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which allenlion should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not 8ppIy. Signed: Date: 15 2022 Name: Relevant prof¢ssional qualificationlsl or body (if any): Address.. l £cfvJ IER October 2018