**REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: CE027955 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1197526**
**Report of the Trustees and**
**Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 August 2023**
**for TOPIC HEROES**
Elsby & Co 155 Wellingborough Road Rushden Northamptonshire NN10 9TB
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Contents of the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
||**Page**|
|---|---|
|**Report of the Trustees**|1 to 2|
|**Statement of Financial Activities**|3|
|**Balance Sheet**|4 to 5|
|**Notes to the Financial Statements**|6 to 7|
|**Detailed Statement of Financial Activities**|8|
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 August 2023. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).
## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**
## **Objectives and aims**
Topic Heroes is an exciting way to capture creativity, ignite the imagination and engage children with writing through topic-based learning. A learning adventure like no other, it starts online and finishes on the bookshelf.
Topic Heroes® has been developed with leading literacy academics in-line with National Curriculum and offers a wide range of topics to choose from such as Monsters, Sport, Healthy Eating, Victorians, Climate Change and much more. A flexible learning resource, Topic Heroes® offers a great range of writing genres including newspaper article, poem, postcard, chronological report and autobiography. There is something to inspire and ignite every child's love for learning. Children can have so much fun on their topic learning journey. Creative topic templates are easy to use and come with cool graphics and images to choose from. Children can even upload their own images to help make pages their own.
The brilliant thing about Topic Heroes® is that every child that completes a topic is rewarded for their hard work with their very own professionally printed and personalised topic book to enjoy and share with friends and family. A physical book offers more impact, more variety, promotes sharing with others and creates lasting memories to be kept at school or at home. Most importantly, it connects with children emotionally and is a powerful way to celebrate their achievement.
The drive for our mission is based on a few reasons. People without basic literacy skills pace poorer health outcomes, welfare dependency and little social cohesion. Lack of creative resources has been cited as one reason for current poor literacy attainment. 380,000 children in the UK don't own a book.
Our mission is to provide Topic Heroes® free to every primary school aged child in the UK. We believe in igniting the joy of writing and unleashing the creativity and talent of young minds that last into adulthood.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Governing document**
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.
## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Company number**
CE027955 (England and Wales)
## **Registered Charity number**
1197526
## **Registered office**
17 London House Swinfens Yard High Street Stony Stratford Buckinghamshire MK11 1SY
Page 1
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
## **Trustees**
L Swanston I Swanston M Stefani R M Pepper
## **Company Secretary**
Approved by order of the board of trustees on 28 June 2024 and signed on its behalf by:
L Swanston - Trustee
Page 2
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Statement of Financial Activities**
## **for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
||||Period|
|---|---|---|---|
||||17.1.22|
|||Year Ended|to|
|||31.8.23|31.8.22|
|||Unrestricted|Total|
|||fund|funds|
||Notes|£|£|
|**INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM**||||
|Donations and legacies||2,596|-|
|**EXPENDITURE ON**||||
|Raising funds||300|-|
|**NET INCOME**||2,296|-|
|**RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS**||||
|Total funds brought forward||-|-|
|**TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD**||2,296|-|
|||||
The notes form part of these financial statements
Page 3
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Balance Sheet**
## **31 AUGUST 2023**
|||2023|2022|
|---|---|---|---|
|||Unrestricted|Total|
|||fund|funds|
||Notes|£|£|
|**CURRENT ASSETS**||||
|Cash at bank||2,296|-|
|**NET CURRENT ASSETS**||2,296|-|
|**TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES**||2,296|-|
|**NET ASSETS**||2,296|-|
|**FUNDS**|4|||
|Unrestricted funds||2,296|-|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**||2,296|-|
The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 August 2023.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for
- (a) ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and
- (b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company.
The notes form part of these financial statements
continued...
Page 4
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Balance Sheet - continued**
## **31 AUGUST 2023**
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 28 June 2024 and were signed on its behalf by:
R M Pepper - Trustee
M Stefani - Trustee
I Swanston - Trustee
L Swanston - Trustee
The notes form part of these financial statements
Page 5
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
## **1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## **Basis of preparing the financial statements**
The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
## **Income**
All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
## **Expenditure**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
## **Taxation**
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
## **Fund accounting**
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.
## **2. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS**
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 August 2023 nor for the period ended 31 August 2022.
## **Trustees' expenses**
There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 August 2023 nor for the period ended 31 August 2022.
continued...
Page 6
**TOPIC HEROES**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements - continued**
## **for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
## **3. COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES**
||||||Unrestricted|Unrestricted|Unrestricted|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||fund||
|||||||£||
||**NET INCOME**||||||-|
||**TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD**||||||-|
|**4.**|**MOVEMENT IN FUNDS**|||||||
||**Unrestricted funds**|Net
movement
At 1.9.22
in funds
£
£|||At
31.8.23
£|||
||General fund||-|2,296||2,296||
||**TOTAL FUNDS**||-|2,296||2,296||
||Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:|||||||
||**Unrestricted funds**|Incoming
Resources
resources
expended
£
£|||Movement
in funds
£|||
||General fund|2,596||(300)||2,296||
||**TOTAL FUNDS**|2,596||(300)||2,296||
|||||||||
## **5. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES**
There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 August 2023.
Page 7
**TOPIC HEROES**
|**INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS**
**Donations and legacies**
Donations
**Total incoming resources**
**EXPENDITURE**
**Support costs**
**Governance costs**
Accountancy and legal fees
Total resources expended
**Net income**|**Detailed Statement of Financial Activities**
**for the year ended 31 AUGUST 2023**
Period
17.1.22
Year Ended
to
31.8.23
31.8.22
£
£
2,596
-
2,596
-
300
-
300
-
2,296
-|
|---|---|
|||
This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements
Page 8