More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Registered Charity Number: 1195650
MORE EDUCATION
TRUSTEE’S REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2023
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Table of Contents
More Education .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Charity Reference and Administrative Details .................................................................................................. 3 Trustees’ Report for the period ended 31 August 2023 ....................................................................................... 4 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Vision ................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Purpose ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Structure, Governance and Management ........................................................................................................ 6 Operational Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Financial Review ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Grants, Fundraising and Sustainability ........................................................................................................ 9 Reserves ....................................................................................................................................................... 9 Activities, Achievements and Reflections ....................................................................................................... 10 Reflections .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Future Vision .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of More Education ................................................................. 12 Receipts and Payments Accounts for the period ended 31 August 2023........................................................... 13 Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 August 2023 .................................................................................. 14 Notes (forming part of the financial statements) for the period ended 31 August 2023 .................................. 15
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
More Educaton
Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 August 2023
Charity Reference and Administratve Details
| Trustees | Charlie Portlock | Appointed 14thJune 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Laverty | Appointed 6thMarch 2020 | |
| Rebecca Belbin | Appointed 6thMarch 2020 | |
| Christopher Rist | Appointed 29thNovember 2021 | |
| Carly Considine | Appointed 9thMarch 2022 | |
| Kelly Wilkie | Appointed 27thJune 2022 | |
| Kate Grifn | Appointed 10thMarch 2022 | |
| Melanie Phipps | Appointed 20thApril 2023 | |
| Charity Secretary | Rebecca Belbin | |
| Charity Treasurer | Victoria Laverty | |
| Charity Chairperson | Charlie Portlock | |
| Registered Charity No. | 1195650 | |
| Principal Ofce | 23 Springfeld Close | |
| Andover | ||
| Hampshire | ||
| SP10 2QR | ||
| Independent Examiner | Miss S - Accountng for Purpose CIC | |
| 68 Privet Rd | ||
| Fareham | ||
| Hampshire | ||
| PO15 6SP | ||
| Bank | CAF Bank | |
| 25 Kings Hill Avenue | ||
| Kings Hill | ||
| West Malling | ||
| Kent | ||
| ME19 4JQ |
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Trustees’ Report for the period ended 31 August 2023
The Trustees present their report and the independently examined accounts for the period ended 31 August 2023.
Objectves
The charity exists to meet the following objectives:
1. To advance the education of children and young people aged between 5 and 16, in particular those who are neurodivergent, but also physically disabled children, through the provision of a special school or schools.
2. To relieve the needs of neurodivergent individuals, their families and carers, in such ways as the trustees may from time to time decide.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Vision
We continue to aim for an inclusive society where neurodivergent young people, adults and their families are able to live safe, sustainable and independent lives.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Purpose
To support and advocate for all neurodivergent people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by providing safe spaces (whether in person or online) and educational opportunities. Also to provide awareness, and promote acceptance as a trusted, authentic and professional neurodivergent-led charity.
We continue to provide support to neurodivergent families and adults, through peer support groups via the Koala Hub (a community hub for our beneficiary groups). Peer support groups ranged from Toddler groups to Teen groups, adult groups and parent support groups (both online and in person).
2023 also saw the development of the Koala Academy (distance learning and tutoring opportunities).
Structure, Governance and Management
Andover Neurodiverse Adults Group began in August 2019 as a small adult peer support group. During the pandemic it was quickly realised that the lack of in-person support, available for neurodivergent people and their families, was a real barrier to safe and independent living. The Charity was then incorporated on 27[th] August 2021 as More Education. The Trading Name ‘Koala Community Hub’ and ‘Koala Academy’ are used to provide services under the Charity name More Education.
All Trustees of More Education are volunteers and recruited following an open application process. Trustees hold office until the conclusion of the meeting of Trustees in the calendar year of the third anniversary of their appointment by may be re-appointed at that meeting of Trustees.
The charity is guided by the charity’s constitutional document.
The Trustees are pleased to report that the current Trustee Board comprises a broad spectrum of relevant experience and professional skills to govern the charity effectively; this was further reinforced by the appointment of two new Trustees in the reporting period. Following the resignation of Trustees Kelly Wilkie and Kate Griffin, the trustees would also like to take the opportunity to thank them for their service and wish them every success for the future.
The Trustees maintain a formal risk review process whereby risks to the charity’s activities are captured, assessed, assigned an owner, and what action is to be taken towards mitigating these risks. This ‘Risk Register’ is reviewed at each meeting of the Trustee Board and a full internal risk assessment is incorporated into the annual planning process. At all times the Trustees give due regard to the Charity Commission guidance CC26, ‘Charities and risk management’.
The More Education Trustee Board meets quarterly; in the reporting period the Trustee Board met four times. Every meeting of the Trustee Board considers reports on the operation of More Education services and fundraising activities, management accounts, safeguarding, risks to ongoing service delivery, and specific
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
items for decision. Between the quarterly meetings, the operational team and trustees met regularly.
Operational management, including the management of fundraising, employment and volunteers is Managed by Tori Rist, CEO. Trustees, at all times, retain oversight and make decisions affecting the delivery of the charity’s objectives.
Our work would not be possible without the support of our core volunteer team, which has grown since our last reporting period. We are fortunate to be supported by a reliable group of 12 people (mostly neurodivergent themselves) who want to support and grow what we offer to the community. Our volunteers totalled 336 volunteer hours in our first year of operations, which rose to nearly 1,500 hours during this period.
Pivotal to Koala’s activities is providing a safe and secure environment at all of our Groups and other activities for our community. Safeguarding is a top priority for all Trustees, staff, and volunteers. More Education policies include Safeguarding and this is also integrated into role descriptions. Safeguarding training is given yearly to all Trustees, Volunteers and Staff and is bespoke to More Education and Koala’s activities. At all times the Trustees seek to follow the Charity Commission ‘How to’ guide, ‘Safeguarding children and young people’. The Trustees also ensure that the charity is always guided by the Department of Education’s ‘Keeping children safe in education 2022 Statutory guidance for schools and colleges, 1 September 2023’. Specific measures to ensure effective safeguarding of young people and vulnerable adults are as follows:
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All activities are supported by at least three adults, including paid staff, and trained volunteers in safe locations.
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All staff and volunteers working in direct contact with young people (and vulnerable adults) are fully and regularly trained in safeguarding; all Trustees attend a safeguarding awareness course which is regularly reviewed.
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All Trustees, staff, and volunteers are subject to annual Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service checks to ensure their eligibility for their role.
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Safeguarding is integrated into the regular reporting to the Trustees and is a standing agenda item at every meeting of the Trustee Board.
Operatonal Overview
More Education trades through the names Koala Community Hub and Koala Academy. Koala Community Hub is the community-focused provision.
Koala Community Hub currently offers both in-person and on-line peer support groups for all ages, parents and carers where a diagnosis is not necessary to access our services.
This is achieved through offering a sensory-safe, trauma-informed and demand free physical space where our community can interact with their peers and other professionals. We also expanded our on-line provision to include adult peer groups – ensuring that we could meet the needs of autistic adults across Hampshire.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Other projects, for this period, included a pilot for Adult mentorship support (funded by Hampshire County Council’s Local Solutions Fund) alongside the development of a co-produced Self Advocacy programme (in Partnership with the Hampshire and IOW NHS ICB).
This financial period saw a sharp increase in the demand for Koala’s services. There was a 200% increase in the total number of adults and young people supported in the first half of 2023 when compared to the second half of 2022. An astounding 2249 peer support group spaces were allocated from January to June 2023, compared to 1169 places in July to December 2022.
Ranging from age 15 to adults, we have been very lucky to have had volunteers join us from all areas of our community – the majority of whom are also neurodivergent. The Trustees would like to formally thank each volunteer for their hard work and dedication to the charity.
This financial year saw the opening of our education offering 'Koala Academy', the charity is focused on improving autistic and neurodivergent people's lives - through education, training and community enablement. At year close, the education project was supporting 5 young people through a mixture of 1:1 tutoring and our distance learning programme ‘Learning without Walls’.
We can confirm that all projects have followed the guidance issued by the Charity Commission regarding public benefit.
Financial Review
We have been extremely fortunate to have received funding from a number of different sources for this period. However, the support that we have been shown by grant giving organisations, fundraisers, and working hard to develop the ‘Koala’ name has been pivotal to being able to continue our work.
The Hampshire and IOW NHS ICB provided us with further funding towards our peer groups for young people, totaling £24,969 and we were extremely fortunate to receive support through an anonymous donor. These donations insured the sustainability of the hub and education provision as we navigated the second year of operations.
The largest change to the charity is the commencement of employment of staff members. These staff have been employed across both the community and education arms of the project and, at the end of this period, the charity had 3 full-time and 3 part-time members of staff. The staff members have been funded through grants, fees paid to the education project and the extremely generous donations of an anonymous donor. Without these supporters we could not have moved the charity to the next phase of development and the trustees are extremely grateful for their support.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Grants, Fundraising and Sustainability
The Trustees would like to thank Sovereign Housing, Hampshire County Council, Hampshire and IOW NHS ICB, Powells Limited, the Greenham Trust, the Rotary Club Andover, Ringland Opticians, Tesco Groundworks Fund, and all of the individual fundraisers for their support and funding during our second year of operations.
The charity was also extremely fortunate to be named as ‘Charity of the Year’ twice during this period. The first was through the generous support of Kate Underwood HR who provided pro bono HR support for the charity from January 2023 for the period of a year. This support was pivotal to us being able to recruit our first paid staff.
The Andover Carnival also named Koala as one of two Charities who received a substantial donation of £2,500 which helped to support some of our young person groups while more sustainable funding was sought.
Koala’s peer support groups are free to attend, yet donations are encouraged where possible. These donations are used to cover the core costs of running the groups – from room rent to resource costs. In this period, attendance donations doubled from last year to £1605.
In addition to the community and educational offers from Koala, there has also been a push towards offering more outreach support to the community. This included training for local charities and schools which produced a collective income of £1895 and is a provision that we intend to grow and develop.
The Trustees aim is now to ensure that we have a robust strategy for continuing the support that Koala currently offers, as well as building the support that will be available through the charities Educational provision, Koala Academy.
Reserves
The building of reserves, to cover 3 months’ operational costs, continues to be a core aim of the charity. Whilst it is extremely difficult to build reserves in the current charity landscape, this will continue to be a priority for the charity.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Actvites, Achievements and Refectons
Koala’s community offer has continued to grow and now offers 30 monthly sessions, including 2 online.
There is a lack of knowledgeable community support for neurodivergent individuals, and their families and we are proud of the impact that Koala is having on the local community. This is an issue that is noted to be UK wide and is putting an inordinate pressure on both CAMHs and the local CMHTS. For this reason, Koala has commenced a training offer to the local community and professional organisations.
As hoped, in our last annual report, the charity has successfully navigated an Adult mentorship pilot which provided much needed support to the local autistic community. We hope to build upon the success of this pilot in the next financial period.
Our co-produced self-advocacy training has also been developed and is proving extremely successful amongst the local community. We hope to offer this to the wider community over the next year.
Impact reporting has improved greatly over this period and we are proud to now be able to offer robust analytical data to support the work that we achieve. Our 2023 year end impact report can be viewed here: htps://www.moreeducaton.co.uk/testmonials-1
Refectons
Koala Community Hub opened in an effort to combat the negative impacts and isolation that our community face on a daily basis. It was always supposed to be an ‘add on’ to the educational offer but has, in fact, become an important and life-changing support to many neurodivergent people and their families. For this reason the community hub will continue, as a project in its own right, alongside the development of the educational arm of the charity.
Koala’s provision has grown extremely quickly and we now intend to reflect carefully on the needs of the community and the sustainability of the charity as a priority.
The full-time education provision continues to be a major project for the senior management team.
Future Vision
As we move into our third year of operations, it is important that the charity find ways to become financially sustainable.
Our focus will be to continue offering support through the hub’s peer support groups but to also expand the education provision.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Koala Academy’s ‘Learning without Walls’ provision is now offering distance learning and tutoring opportunities to young people who cannot access formal educational opportunities. Both Wiltshire and Hampshire Local Authorities are working with Koala to commission these services.
Outreach and training will continue to develop, ensuring that other sustainable funding opportunities are created and developed within the charity.
The search for an educational site continues and this will also bring much needed funding into the charity – some of which will be used to ensure that the links between the community and the education provision are continued for many generations to come.
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of More Educaton
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Receipts and Payments Accounts for the period ended 31 August 2023
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Statement of Assets and Liabilites as at 31 August 2023
29[th] June 2024
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More Education Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements – for the period ended 31 August 2023
Notes (forming part of the fnancial statements) for the period ended 31 August 2023
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More Education Trustees, Report and Financial Stritements-for the period ended 31 August 2023 Receipts and Paymerts Enth"ry31 2023 41Co5h Furwts 31 knwst2023 Resiriaed 31ALVJSt 2022 Unrewicts Total FuThJ5 Unrestricted Total Funds CAF Bank Natwest BJ 10.062 366 15584 2.567 10.428 18.151 31 *wst2023 31Awst 2022 Unre5tritted Restncred Totsl FurxJ5 Unre5tri(ted Resrriaed Total Fundg Go¥wnan(e Costs SuprK>rt losts Volunteer Colls 1.200 36.527 82 37 808 1.200 54.973 82 56254 18.446 35.101 82 3518 61Cw•ffl LbIl1. Cr•thtr 51 Wst1023 R@siriu@d 31 ALVJSt 2022 Resrrided Unrestricte Total Fufvjs 750 450 Unrestrirted Toral Funds Accountsni Independeffl Emami 750 450 750 450 750 450 450 450 1.2C 1.20D 71 Related PtyTrarffjactionsand TNst¢w' Expense$ arrtl Re11n In period. Trustee Vicroria received £56.) for Dme running 5upportgroups forthe Koa Hub as Peri di5pensaDrm granted from thèrity Commi5510fL All othw Twsiees give fieeiy their timè aThJ expertise th£t any lom) ol tenneratI oi other bonefitln cash or "r1. 81 PrxwyearAdTrt The Cash 8a&rKes and Reserves at 31 August 1022 have been corretted ty E84. Page 16 of 16