## **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: 1. Promoting the study of biology and encouraging and enhancing biology education, particularly in schools 2. Encouraging excellence in biology by organising annual biology competitions for school students 3. 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 **2** 4. Maintaining membership of International Biology Olympiad e.V. and to contribute to and participate in the affairs of that organisation 5. 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 **3** 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 **4** 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. **5** 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. **6** 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 **7** 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. **8** 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. **9** (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_| ||| ||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| |**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. **----- Start of picture text -----**
Dr Matthew Johnston Dr Andrew Treharne MBE Dr Joshua Hodgson
Chair Secretary Treasurer
5th June 2022 5th June 2022 5th June 2022
**----- End of picture text -----**
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