Trustees’ Annual Report
From: 23 September 2023 To: 22 September 2024
Charity Name:
Sci4Us
Other names charity is known by:
N/A
Registered charity number (if any):
1195906
Charity’s Principal address:
27 Sheringham Road, Penge, London, SE20 7YH
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:
| Trustee name | Ofce (if any) | Dates acted if not for the wholeyear |
Name of person to appoint trustee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs Julie Catherine Simmons |
Chair | ||
| Mr Amit Sharma | |||
| Mrs Imelda Manful | |||
| Miss Amara Lalemi- Jacobs |
|||
| Miss Jessica Opoku- Afriyie |
|||
| Miss Kemi Bowley |
Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document :
Constitution
How the charity is constituted :
CIO – Association
Trustee selection methods :
Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually
Additional governance issues:
Sci4Us is an engaging STEM Club, led by two young female scientists, who volunteer their time to encourage children aged 5-18, to enjoy and persevere in STEM subjects. We believe that ‘Science is for All of Us’ and hope to inspire and lead the future generation into STEM. Sci4Us provides the necessary STEM learning children need, but is set up in a way that it does not feel like an extension of school.
Resources are provided and tailored to children across the UK, in particular the more commonly over-looked segments of the wider community that typically wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience hands-on STEM focused learning.
By offering these resources, children are able to experiment and experience STEM in the wider society, in turn, increasing children’s science capital.
The trustees represent the voices of the community and help in deciding what activities should be ran by Sci4Us, or where they believe any funding received should be allocated. There is a child protection policy in place and before trustees have direct contact with the children from Sci4Us a Criminal Records Bureau Check is carried out in line with statutory requirements.
All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.
Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document:
The promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning for the public benefit of children aged between 6 and 16 years in England and Wales by raising more awareness of the subject and its benefits, advancing children’s STEM education and supporting their school learning.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects:
The main activities undertaken are as follows:
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Produce educational material to assist children in their STEM learning
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Provide classes, workshops, assemblies, trips and other similar activities to improve children’s understanding of STEM, the benefits of studying a STEM subject and the enjoyment of the subject.
-
Work alongside other clubs, schools, community groups to support, help and advice on the promotion of STEM learning within their organisation
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Organise tuition for young people to further advance their STEM knowledge
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Train and develop volunteers
Undertaking these activities benefit the children by helping them to become aware of the possible merits and advantages of studying a STEM subject even for their future careers too. We also help to create a cycle for the young children whereby they learn STEM and understand the importance of it which in turn as they grow older are happy to volunteer and pass that same learning and understanding down to the younger children. We help and welcome ALL young children between the ages of 5 and 16, regardless of personal background, faith, gender or personal circumstances.
Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year:
We believe that ‘Science is for All of Us’ and hope to inspire and lead the future generation into STEM.
Our mission statement is ‘to create, inspire and spread the love and appreciation of STEM from a young age’ .
We are able to qualify how well we have done in the year by measuring our success against 5 different pillars:
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Access: Increase access to STEM to the groups most underrepresented- focusing on individuals from low income backgrounds, minorities and females.
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Increase science capital: Raise children’s Science Capital- Give children unique experiences and open mindsets, minimising stereotypes associated with STEM.
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Career: Showcase the transferable skills STEM has to offer in all careers, and how STEM skills are vital for society. ‘Not all scientist' wear white lab coats.
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Giving Back: through our STEM club we are able to give back to the community - providing STEM sessions for children and providing opportunities for leadership and volunteering.
A) Access:
There has been an increase in the number of children we have reached both in our physical centres and also in our online sessions.
For our online students, from September 2023 to June 2024, we taught over 30 online sessions even introducing new topics such as Lego Engineering this year too.
Every one of our classes have been at full capacity to the point that we now have a number of children who sit on the waiting list wishing for a cancellation.
This was one of our goals for 2023 and it is clear to see that we are on track with this. One reason for this is because we have really understood that Facebook continues to be our main source of intakes.
Through our physical reach, we have been providing sessions in the Mountfield Community Centre, Orpington/ We have seen the numbers in both our centres fluctuate since we resumed in January. We have also started to do more after school club sessions and now have Science University Students teaching at primary schools.
B) Increase Science Capital
This year we decided to have University Students do teaching, this helped to increase the children’s science capital. The children were able to be taught by student who are currently studying STEM subjects. In addition to this we signed our students up to take a science leader course, opening the doors to opportunities in the future.
C) Careers
We continued to deliver a series of videos showcasing Sci4Us children interviewing STEM professionals. The aim of the series was to allow children to really understand the range of interesting STEM careers out there. We have edited the videos so they are available on YouTube and across the different social media platforms too.
Through the help of Amit, one of our trustees, these videos were circulated to The LEP Network which enabled them to reach and educate a number of children across England!
D) Giving Back
We have increased the number of volunteers that we have taken in to help us deliver our physical Saturday sessions. We are still on track with diversifying our pool of volunteers and in the new year, we will continue to see a number of interested people enquiring on how they can volunteer with us. We also partnered to give out Christmas Science hampers to children in the community
Partnerships:
Financial Review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves:
Cash at bank at 22/09/2024 was £136.81. The main financial risk to the charity is a loss of partnerships and a main funding source. This year we were still able to maintain a partnership with Edmonton Charity but at a reduced rate. At the beginning of the year, we were able to secure funding from Charities Trust which allowed us to maintain our outgoings and also able to get some paid volunteers too. However, with the funds being very much reduced by the end of September 2024, we have had to potentially pause any operation till we get an increase in income again.
Details of any funds materially in deficit:
N/A
Further financial review details:
By the end of the year we were unable to extend our partnership with Edmonton Charity and so we have been busily applying for grants and funding from other sources too. However, even th
We received a few donations from some of the parents in November but nothing in comparison to the grants we received. We also did receive a very generous donation in Christmas of £500. Though we only received 1 grant of £660 from Edmonton Charity, we were still able to teach at the after school clubs in the Edmonton-based school and teach them a range of topics. It also meant that each child had the ability to be hands-on in the class too as we were able to provide a resource per student. This left the children excited and even more engaged in our lessons too.
Other optional information
In terms of Sci4Us’ future:
After seeing what we were able to achieve by last year, we have very high expectations of what we can achieve in a year's time.
In terms of services, as we would like to continue offering after-school sessions, we are looking in the new financial year to onboard more University-level volunteers for them to deliver the sessions. This would entail us delivering workshop days in order to train them so they are equipped with the right tools to teach them.
In the new financial year, our focus will shift to ensuring that a physical centre can run as it should without the presence of the founders. This will mean bringing in staff to ensure this can happen. For this to happen it may be likely that again in the new financial year we will have to come to a conclusion on whether we try to maintain both the Penge and Orpington centre or just focus on one for next year.
For both of the above goals to work, we will have to be able to obtain more funding. With more funding we will be able to employ staff as well as still being able to deliver our services to the high standard that we do currently.
As a charity, we will continue partnering with other likeminded charities and organisations. With more funding we will also be able to start utilising LinkedIn Ads too which will give us a chance to connect with even more charities than we did in the past year.
Overall, this year has been a great success and we have been able to double our reach as well as maintaining our aim of ‘ increasing access to STEM to groups most underrepresented’. We are hopeful that next year will be just as successful especially with the increase of employees that we are anticipating.
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Incomings:
| As of September 2023, current income: | £3,220.59 |
|---|---|
| Donatons: | |
| Donaton | £500.00 |
| Student Donaton | £60.00 |
| Grants | Se |
| Creatve Tuiton | £533.13 |
| Edmonton Community | £660.00 |
| Charites Truat | £2,500 |
| Total | 7,473.72 | |
|---|---|---|
| £136.81 |
Miscellaneous Annual Outgoings:
| Insurance | |
|---|---|
| DBS Renewal - Amara | 99.88 |
| DBS Renewal - Jessica | 99.88 |
| First Aid Training | |
| Training - Amara | 125.00 |
| Training - Jessica | 125.00 |
| Training - Volunteers | 100.00 |
| Ofsite Teacher Training -Sept 2021 | 164.80 |
| Ofsite Teacher Training -Sept 2022 | 304.05 |
| Financial Costs | |
| Companies House - Sept 2021 | 375.00 |
| Companies House - Dec 2021 | 8.00 |
Fixed Monthly Outgoings:
Subscriptions:
| Amazon Prime | £7.99 |
|---|---|
| Internetse - Email Provider | £483.54 |
| Bookwhen | £296.40 |
| Employees: | |
| Wages | £1,341.92 |
Total £2,129.85
Variable Monthly Outgoings:
Saturday Sessions Entertainment:
| December - Christmas Hampers Volunteeri | £644.84 |
|---|---|
| July - End of Term Party | £256.69 |
| Saturday Sessions Teaching Resources: | |
| Postage and Packaging | £537.92 |
| Printng + Paper | £37.98 |
| December - Teaching Resources | £302.87 |
| January - Teaching Resources | £322.09 |
| February - Teaching Resources | £301.98 |
| March - Teaching Resources | £759.14 |
| April - Teaching Resources | £193.12 |
| May - Teaching Resources | £161.76 |
| June - Teaching Resources | £708.91 |
| July - Teaching Resources | £154.72 |
| Maintenance and Hygiene | |
| Table Cloths | £32.00 |
Total £4,414.02
Miscellaneous Annual Outgoings:
| Insurance | |
|---|---|
| DBS - Volunteers | 330.32 |
| Teacher Training | |
| Ofsite Teacher Training -Sept 2023 | 258.29 |
| Website Updates | |
| WP Encrypton - Website | 32.27 |
| Volunteer Merchandise | |
| Volunteers T-Shirts | 172.16 |
| Total | 793.04 |