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2025-09-30-accounts

Annual Trustee Report

October 2024 to September 2025

01/10/24 - 30/09/25

Contents

1. Aims and Description of the charity

Gecko Community is a registered Charity (1195860) providing innovative teaching, therapeutic projects and mentoring. We are a Neurodivergent led Charity and we are uniquely skilled in supporting neurodivergent young people. Our Mentors and Teachers are highly skilled and experienced. We understand our young people from a neurodivergent perspective as most of us are Autistic, ADHD, PDA and/or dyslexic. We work 1:1 online with our students.

We have expertise in:

We support young people aged between 5 -25 who are

Young people can be with us because they’re out of school, while they wait for a placement or as part of their EOTAS package. We support neurodivergent young people for as long as they need.

We aim to inspire, support and educate young people who have been let down by mainstream education and who need alternative teaching methods.

Young people attend online with the choice to be on or off camera, speaking or typing, emailing or sharing communication through music, film, stories or gaming platforms.

Mentoring sessions

Mentor sessions are led by the young person. The aim is to support them in exploring their neurology through a neurodivergent-affirming lens, re-building self-confidence, helping them re-discover their love of learning (on their terms) and act as a positive Neurodivergent role model. Mentors also support young people who are in crisis, have cPTSD and work therapeutically with them to process trauma.

All sessions are student led. Self-discovery and recovery is achieved through the therapeutic relationship between the mentor and the young person. The length of this process is determined by the young person and is organic, not time limited or prescriptive.

All mentors use a trauma informed framework (PACE).

Academic Sessions

With an expanding staff and student profile, we now offer sessions in English Literature and Language, Drama and play therapy, Art, History, Science including Physics, Computer Science, Biology, and Maths.

We offer GCSEs in English Language and Literature, Maths, Computer Science and Biology.

We have staff members running ASDAN programmes, subjects include short courses in Animal Care, English, Environmental, Expressive Arts, Foodwise, History, Living Independently and Mathematics.

We have 2 staff members trained to teach Bronze and Silver Arts Awards.

Update

We moved our registered address as our Placement Coordinator moved house and our registered address is her home. We do this so that Gecko’s post can go to her.

2. Staff

Description

We believe that Gecko needs to work for us, too. We do not believe in tiers or hierarchies and treat all staff as equals and part of our team. People do not work for Gecko Community, they work with Gecko Community.

Although all appointments are open to Neurotypical people and Neurodivergent people alike, currently all our staff members are ND. Staff are Autistic or ADHD or both. This means that we truly understand how our brains and our young peoples’ brains work and can empathise with their journeys, adapting to a learning style that best suits them. All staff understand that Gecko is entirely student-led.

Update

3. Students

Description

Any student can join us. Referrals come in through Families, Schools, Local Authorities or the Third Sector e.g. Social Services.

Update

4. Rivers

In September 2024, we opened an alternative provision site for six to eight neurodivergent children in years four and five. We called this Rivers. Our previous report was sent when Rivers was running but we unfortunately had to close it at Easter 2025.

We encountered many difficulties. Foremost was the lack of finances. We had planned to raise £20k but were unable to and the project continued to run at a deficit. We found volunteers to help us fundraise and some staff even volunteered their time to but unfortunately, though we sent off over thirty bids, none were successful.

Our Placement Coordinator’s time was also dramatically taken with Rivers and we needed her to run our main business, our 100 online students and 16 staff.

5. Finances

Description

Update

6. Safeguarding

Our young people have been through traumatic experiences in their school time. Some have a diagnosis of PTSD, all of them have heightened anxiety. Some of our young people self-harm and some young people have tried to tired to take their own lives or have suicidal ideation. All our staff have annual safeguarding training and we have two Designated Safeguarding Leads (Level 3 trained).

7. Our support and what this means

We are widely recognised and acclaimed within the Autistic community. We are currently oversubscribed with a waiting list and are full this academic year. With us, our students are able to learn about their true selves through a Neurodivergent lens.

This was made very evident when our Placement Coordinator sent out a request for testimonials and the Gecko inbox was flooded with replies. We have copied them all into Appendix A. Our Placement Coordinator sent these onto the relevant staff as they came in. It was wonderful to receive these and great for staff to see so clearly the impact of their hard work.

8. Going forwards

We want to increase our wages. We are going to try and fundraise however this relies on fundraising every year / every two years. A more sustainable approach is to have more fully funded students but one of our central aims is to support low income families. This is going to be a discussion point over the next few months and how we can sustainably increase wages.

Signed by the Chair of Trustees

Vikki Mead

14th November 2025

Appendix A

Testimonials from parents

“Gecko community has offered my autistic child hope when there was no hope elsewhere, connection when no connection was available, a moment of normality when routine and school was gone.

Gecko community is unique- therefore the waiting list is far too long, but that wait is so so worthwhile. Everyone is so understanding of the trauma experienced by our neurodiverse young people and the exhaustion and emotional pain suffered by families. Our young people finally find their tribe- a place to be themselves, a place to be accepted and a safe place to explore their identity.

My child’s journey out of school has been four long years- organisations and authorities that should understand, that should help, that should find solutions- don’t. Without Emily and Piers at Gecko I would have felt totally isolated and alone - we cannot thank them enough.”

"Gecko has been THE only alternative provision that my child has successfully been able to access in the last 7 years. Their working practice and ethics are inclusive, neurodivergent and gender affirming and trauma-informed. Their tutors listen to my child's needs and incorporate them into the sessions, making reasonable adjustments for him, ensuring he is finally able to access education. Without them and their working practices, I doubt my child wouldn't have had any secondary education. I can't thank them enough."

“Gecko stepped up for us during a very difficult time in our lives. Our daughter was unable to access school, had very low self-esteem and poor mental health. We did not receive any support from education, the LA or NHS.

Gecko staff just “get it” and there is huge value and support in the way Gecko runs for both young people and parents/carers. Neurodivergence is accepted, pressure is reduced and the mentors and tutors are role models.”

“Without Gecko, my daughter would not be engaging in any traditional provision. The mentors' approach to supporting her and their flexibility is unmatched, across all various alternative provisions I've been involved in, nothing has had the same level of success as Gecko.”

“Gecko has been a lifeline for my boys, helping them gain confidence in themselves and their abilities, supporting and guiding them as they nurtured their belief in themselves and helped them become the strong and confident boys I knew they were before the mainstream education system broke them down.”

“It's hard to put into words just how valuable Gecko's provision is. Our son has had mentoring with Mel since 2021. He was incredibly isolated and in deep burnout. Mel has been his lifeline and they continue to meet weekly, including during the holidays. His confidence and happiness has improved significantly with Mel's support. In the past couple of years he's felt safe enough to engage with 3 brilliant Gecko tutors; Cindy, Dan and Jo. Thanks to Gecko, our son is enjoying life again, and gradually achieving the goals that are right for him. We are beyond grateful for everything the team continues to do for us.”

“Gecko Community is an incredibly important organisation for so many. It both changes, and likely contributes to saving, many young people’s lives. A validating, affirming and brilliant bunch of people working hard to make education inclusive.”

“My child has mentoring, with Gecko. Having access to a fellow non binary Autistic person; with shared life experience, has made them feel so much more secure in themselves. Their mentor has given incredible advice on creating safe boundaries in friendships and helped them to be able to advocate for themselves in social situations.”

“As a family we couldn't have made it through the last few years without your support , understanding, knowledge, care and patience. The space you hold at Gecko for Our daughter is made of safety , complete understanding and compassion, there aren't many organisations like yourselves. The tutors' ability to adapt to our child's needs is above and beyond and at the same time what was so lacking before your world opened up to her, creating a world of future possibilities.”

“Gecko has been such a positive experience for Z, at a time when he was very unsupported by education professionals, Gecko came in to his experience and without pressure were able to get him to engage with a positive interactions and he now enjoys sessions with Eliza twice a week and Abi doing science which is leading to an ASDAN qualification. The effect on his mental health and self image is simply amazing.”

“My son feels safe with Gecko, because he knows he’s understood. The relationships with the teachers and mentors mean that he feels able to engage with his learning, even though it’s still very hard for him. He’s been supported through times when progress has felt impossible, and other teachers have given up on him. The mentoring has helped him feel able to discuss his needs and feel proud of his identity.“

“Our son was utterly traumatised by his experiences in mainstream education. Working with a specialist mentor over the last two years has enabled our son to heal and begin to enjoy learning again. They authentically ‘meet the child where they are’. Many professionals say this but it isn’t true. At Gecko it is and that makes all the difference.“

“My daughter has been attending sessions with Gecko for several years after experiencing extreme burn out which we now know was due to being autistic which she masked for years. She started out hating herself and at the time was not leaving the house at all. We were desperate for help and all the people whose job it is to help us disappeared and chose to blame my parenting, telling me that my daughter couldn't possibly be autistic because she was quiet and kind and she was likely anxious because I was making her anxious. I reached out to Emily at Gecko in desperation to find someone who understood and we absolutely found that. Emily allowed us to have a part funded place and matched us with a mentor for P who helped her to rebuild her confidence and engagement in life. It was so good to finally find a team of people who understood what it is like to have a brain that worked a bit differently. As a parent I found it saved my life and for the best part of a year was the one and only hour my child spent with any input other than myself. The style of engagement was always geared around my daughter's needs and interests. It is hard to put into words the incredible work that Gecko community does but when we desperately needed help, they were there for us 100% and I couldn't be more grateful.

Thanks to the support of Gecko community my daughter is beginning to re-engage with life again and she no longer hates herself. As a parent trying to navigate a broken system it's rare to find the glimmers of hope when everyone is blaming you. I am so thankful to Gecko community.”

“We're coming to the end of our journey with Gecko. A has now moved on to uni and is in his second year physics, which would never have happened without Jo's steady and unwavering support in maths for the 2 years that he was in Sixth form, they made him drop maths and physics which sent him into a self-destructive tail spin. Jo's patience and trauma informed working ended up being the steady base we were able to build on to get him back onto the path he had set for himself despite the harm mainstream education did to his mental health.

M is still with you for the remainder of this academic year, with Jo still supporting him through his GCSE maths resits in November.

M started his second year in college last month in full time education after an absence in mainstream of 3 years. Again Jo has been the only constant for him together with Slade who came in a little later. Assisting him in his trans journey and guiding him and us as parents from a place where we were on suicide watch and where self-harm was an almost daily occurrence, to a firm plan in place for his trans journey. He is so much more at ease with himself and all that internal turmoil is now not needed anymore because, we as parents, have a much better understanding of what support is needed and possible. So thank you for educating us alongside our children. Also all the help and patience with dealing with the Local Authority has been invaluable. M is now doing an Access to HE course with Jo's help, and is looking forward to going to uni next year. With Slade's help, he's in the process of finding his surgeon.

We can only be grateful for finding Gecko all these years ago and for all the unwavering support you have shown us. What else is there to say? The results speak for themselves.”

“About half an hour ago S came off his morning mentoring with Mel and ran to find me to announce “that was the best session ever”! He wanted me to email Mel to tell her this! But instead I am emailing you instead as I thought it was so fitting ahead of you presenting….

S is with me nearly all day, every day give or take a few random hours here or there. This has been pretty much standard since he went into burnout at the end of 2023.

So finding Gecko Community , finding S the right kind of provision (after so much wrong provision from education previously) has been absolutely huge for him and all of us! I know that on Monday and Friday morning, he is in a safe space with Mel and I know their time together is something he looks forward to and enjoys tremendously.

He has come away from today’s session with huge curiosity to create more in Minecraft to show her at his next session. We feel very fortunate to have found Gecko and particularly Mel.”

"Gecko Community has been supporting my family for just over three years. They've been standing beside and supporting us throughout many significant life events including; my children's medical diagnoses, death of a close family member, marriage breakdown, day to day difficulties caused by historic educational trauma and ongoing challenges that arise due to living as a neurodivergent family.

Without Gecko Community and their incredible team of neurodivergent affirming tutors, I feel sure we would have lost complete faith in finding educators and a support team who genuinely care and can adapt their considerable teaching skills to accommodate and help me get the best outcomes for my two children.

Despite the children's challenges, particularly with direct verbal communication due to Situational Mutism and Autism, the team have consistently provided adapted neurodivergent affirming interaction and communication methods, at the children's own pace, also taking into account the trauma they experienced during the years they were attending school within the standard education system.

Now both teenagers, each week we continue to rely heavily on the solid and trusting relationships they have built with all three of their tutors. Their unwavering patience, understanding, knowledge and time should not be underestimated and is clearly fostered throughout the culture of the organisation. We would be absolutely lost without them."

“Gecko Community has helped support my son with his home learning. A struggled with crippling anxiety which meant he no longer trusted adults and was unable to leave the house let alone access education. The adults that have worked with A have empowered him and made him feel safe and secure enough to access learning. A accesses science and now English through Gecko Community and he himself said, “English is my favourite subject because I get to learn English and History, my two favourite things.” This is due to his English tutor finding out about his interests and building the learning around him.

I am so grateful that Gecko Community has had such a positive impact on my son's learning, the adults are so aware of his neurodiversity and effortlessly support him.”

"My daughter started getting support at Gecko when she was 14 and she is now 19. The help that Sarah has given her, has kept her sane. This is no exaggeration because the mainstream school system broke my daughter.

Emily has also been a consult support to me with regular check ins and recommending me for 1-1 peer support, which helped me tremendously.

I believe Gecko saves young people's lives."

“For M, it's easy to look at how well he is able to engage in his sessions and see that things are amazing for him with Gecko. For me it's seeing all those before the session parts as well - where he's not struggling with the transition to start, where he's actually happy to be reminded and jumps up to get the laptop on, where he knows it's a safe space for him. And also, those days when his mental or physical energy levels or capacity is reduced, he is able to verbalise much more calmly than he used to, that he can't do the session. His autonomy is respected and that collaborative process that Gecko does, so well is all part of what makes it successful for M.

H is new to Gecko this school year. It's really hard to properly convey the difference I see when H has a Gecko session. She is herself again when she has her Gecko session. She is lively and happy and can manage to speak (a lot!), I am shooed out of the room more often than not. This is such a stark difference to other provisions where she can't manage to speak and often can't use chat functions and is anxious and needs direct adult support from me almost the whole time. I wanted to see how H responded to Gecko when she moved to EOTAS because of the positive experiences M had. We're not even through the first half term and I already want her to have more sessions with you. Her other provisions aren't 'bad' and are responsive and kind do listen and she will hopefully become more relaxed and less anxious with them too, but it's how Gecko staff are able to create that safe space for her so fast that has blown me away.

And lastly - it's the care and regard I feel as a parent that also makes Gecko feel so special. As soon as there's a wobble for one of the kids or a session doesn't quite go to plan, you are there checking in if things are okay. You're there asking "What can we do differently?". And for me, that's so refreshing and wonderful. With Gecko, I don't have to experience that sinking feeling where I'm thinking oh, god, I'm going to have to be 'that parent' again as I need to advocate for 'xyx' provision to hear and see my child or to have them meet my kids' needs. I don't have to do any of that with Gecko and it means a lot to me. So thank you for really seeing my children and thank you for lowering my stress levels :) “

“Our highly skilled Gecko mentor Slade has been a key part of my daughter's slow recovery from school-related trauma and autistic burnout. Having a consistent, experienced, empathetic person to support us has been crucial in keeping faith in the positive future that's now within sight, but has been so hard to believe in at times along the way. I'm so grateful to Gecko for getting us through the last few incredibly difficult years.

R's Gecko tutor is brilliant. After not attending school, seeing anyone other than immediate family or indeed leaving the house for three years, starting online Maths and English tutoring was a really big step, but Anjali handled it expertly and things are going really well. It's made a startling difference to R's self-esteem and confidence already, after only a few weeks. R has found speaking difficult for a long time and has surprised herself at how much talking she's been able to do with Anjali. Since the sessions started she's wanted to 'exercise' her voice more by reading aloud to me, and has begun to share more about how she's feeling. R used to love to sing, and had felt she'd lost her voice entirely; she now feels hopeful that she might one day get her singing voice back.

It's really great that Gecko can offer tutors who can teach both Maths and English GCSE, as R would've struggled much more to engage with two different people. Online is ideal; face to face teaching, or having to leave the house to go somewhere else, would be impossible for R at this point.

I've particularly admired Anjali's skill in facilitating the sessions in just the right way to make R comfortable - for example by completely avoiding small talk and never asking direct questions, which would instantly raise R's stress levels, and being very accepting, affirming and kind, so that R has been able to participate and enjoy every session.”

"Gecko community has provided a life-line for my child and us as a family when the mainstream school placement broke down. When my YP was unable to attend school due to unmet needs and resulting trauma and burnout, they also lost connection, meaningful input, joy in learning, and trust in any kind of teacher. Tuition with Gecko has picked them up where they were. First one, then two sessions introduced them to self-directed learning and taught them to trust that not all teachers will overwhelm them with demands. After about half a year of sessions, they are now able to attend an AP outside the home for a limited amount of hours, meet peers and hopefully start building friendships. Gecko has been a bridge builder for them back into the world."

“I can not thank geckos enough, especially Eliza. Before gecko JJ had completely shut down over school and anything to do with learning, especially maths. Eliza's understanding of JJ as a person and ability to adapt to his needs has meant JJ is now able to start maths GCSE along with computer science, media studies and English. He now has a future thank you team.”

“Gecko mentoring has provided our young person with her only contact with the outside world where other professionals have failed to engage with her. This is a precious lifeline giving us hope that she might learn to trust other adults and eventually engage with wider help.” “When my children have been unwell with burnout, Gecko were a life line for us all. They have helped me no end in getting my child feeling worthwhile again. They trusted that their mentors and teachers wanted to be with them, make time for them and give them purpose when the school system had left them feeling helpless and useless.”

“L was totally disengaged and unable to do anything after severe school trauma. Gecko found the right person for him and worked therapeutically in a way that he could engage in and continue to work with him in a way that he can access in a low demand way. It has shown L that there is another way and enables him to stay true to himself.“

"Gecko has been THE only alternative provision that my child has successfully been able to access in the last 7 years. Their working practice and ethics are inclusive, neurodivergent and gender affirming and trauma-informed. Their tutors listen to my child's needs and incorporate them into the sessions, making reasonable adjustments for him, ensuring he is finally able to access education.

Without them and their working practices, I doubt my child wouldn't have had any secondary education. I can't thank them enough."

“You have given my young person who is home educated a space to be accepted, validated and creative. Confidence has been built in their ability to sing, for example, allowing us to move from online sessions with their gecko tutor to in person singing lessons. Sessions are led by their interests as they evolve and continue to build opportunities outside of the sessions too. You have been able to give evidence to a neurodevelopmental assessment in a really supportive and meaningful way which has in turn allowed them to really understand themselves and know Gecko sessions are somewhere they feel emotionally safe and understood.“

“My daughter very suddenly was unable to cope in school following transition to secondary. She was unable to leave the house, or entertain the idea of learning. After a period of time, she wanted to feel ’normal’ and like her friends, but was just not able to manage with people or ’school’. Gecko and Zoe made the difference. Zoe seemed to instantly ‘get’ my daughter and she began to engage, and show delight, feeling that she was “normal” and able to learn just like her friends. To hear my daughter say “I love Gecko!!” meant more than I can put into words. Thanks to Gecko I was able to see the little bright spark my daughter had once been before.”

“My teen has weekly calls with her wellbeing mentor (Mel), when they first started around 3 years ago she was in a very dark place. Over time my teen found safety and connection from sharing her interests with Mel, and now being able to share difficult feelings and experiences too. Mel offers a safe space, helping my teen feel understood. Every week she looks forward to her calls with Mel, often saying "I can't wait to tell Mel", "I'm going to talk to Mel about ..... Mel will understand". Following every call she is left regulated and lighter.

As an extension of Mel's support, we as Parents now understand how best to support our daughter and home life is happier and more neurodivergent friendly.”

“Gecko has supported my son for a number of years. When it started he was massively burnt out and in a dark place at only 6 years old. The support he has received has helped him to recover, to recognise when he can not do things and to advocate for himself to this effect. He has explored topics of interest, built his confidence back up and explored different types of neurodiversity through the neuro bears programme. The support has sometimes come in the form of advocacy, that Gecko has been able to provide at meetings with the Local Authority about his education and care needs, and sometimes to nurses within the specialist nursing teams. We are extremely grateful for the support for our son.

My daughter receives support from a Gecko mentor and it has made a huge difference for her to have someone to confide in, about her challenges at school. She is finding school very exhausting and anxiety inducing with it all. Her mentor allows her to explore her thoughts and share things that she normally keeps locked away. This is helping her to make sense of what she thinks and feels about things; understanding her own feelings doesn't always come naturally. She looks forward to her sessions and seems lighter or relieved after them. We would be struggling more without the support from Gecko.”

Gecko CommunityCIO
 Gecko CommunityCIO
 Gecko CommunityCIO
CharityNo

 1195860
Annual accounts for the period
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date		 30-Sept.-25
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Gu
Incoming resources (Note 3)
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
S01
Charitable activities
S02
Other trading activities
S03
Investments
S04
Separate material item of income
S05
Other
S06
Total
S07
Resources expended (Note 6)
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
S08
Charitable activities
S09
Separate material item of expense
S10
Other
S11
Total
S12
S13
Net gains/(losses) on investments
S14
Net income/(expenditure)
S15
Extraordinary items
S16
Transfers between funds
S17
S18
Other gains/(losses)
S19
Net movement in funds
S20
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
S21
Total funds carried forward
S22
1



activity
Net income/(expenditure) before investment
gains/(losses)
Other recognised gains/(losses):
Gains and losses on revaluation of fixed assets for the
charity’s own use		 Total funds
Prior year funds
£
£
£
£
£
F01
F02
F03
F04
F05

d funds
funds
funds
- - - - -
- 358,200 - 358,200 349,590
49,795 - - 49,795 57,001
- - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
49,795 358,200 - 407,995 406,591
- - - - -
49,795 354,086 - 403,881 375,495
- - - - -
- - - - -
49,795 354,086 - 403,881 375,495
- 4,114 - 4,114 31,096
- - - - -
- 4,114 - 4,114 31,096
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- 4,114 - 4,114 31,096
32,285 81,399 - 113,684 -
32,285 85,513 - 117,798 113,684

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees Charity Name Gecko Community CIO On accounts for the year 30[th] September 2025 Charity no 1195860 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1-2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30/09/2025. Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent The charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to examiner's statement undertake the examination by being a qualified member of Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

Signed: Date: 25/02/2026 Name: Heidi Poor Relevant professional MAAT qualification(s) or body (if any): CIC Accounting Services Address: Michaelmas House Summercourt

Oct 2018

1

IER

Newquay TR85DG IER Oci 2018