2025-02-28-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod
From	Period start date			To	Period end date
	Day 01	Month 03	Year 2024		Day 28	Month 02	Year 2025

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Aspire2

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1200410 Charity's principal address

c/o Aspire2 Blagdon Nursery School Blagdon Road, Reading. Berkshire. RG2 7NT

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole **year **	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	Charlie Clare	Chair
	David Shepherd
	Martin Salter
	Louise Harris
	JackySteele	Vice chair
	Frances Lancaster
	Molli Cleaver
	Talia Hickey

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

We are a CIO, Charitable incorporated Organisation, incorporated How the charity is constituted since 1[st] September 2022. We have maintained our Partnership relationships and Trustee Management Board elected from South Reading School governing bodies, Head Teachers and other local Education agencies and professionals working in the area. Trustee selection methods Elected annually at the AGM, or the first Management Meeting following the AGM.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

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December 2022

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

• the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

• relationship with any related parties;

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

• Procedures for the induction and training of new trustees.

All Trustees are DBS checked. We have a Safe guarding policy in place, which is reviewed annually and an induction pack for new trustees, our Chair or manager undertakes a 1:2:1 meeting with new trustees to provide an overview of the charity, our key aims and ethos. Provision of the Charity Commission booklet 'The Essential Trustee' is also handed over.

• Aspire2 Organisational structure:

• Management committee – comprising of all Trustees.

• Partnership committee - formed of all Trustees and nontrustees (Partners), who wish to support the charity for specific programmes/events, or who may not yet wish to become a full trustee.

The charity through our manager works closely in partnership with the Whitley Excellence Cluster (WEC). The Treasurer, Chair and Vice Chair of Aspire2 have no links with WEC and any conflict of interest is declared at the beginning of each meeting and Trustees leave the meeting as appropriate.

• Related parties:

• Whitley Excellence Cluster – Collaboration of the schools based in Whitley Ward, South Reading, managed by a Partnership of the head teachers and our Chair and manager attend meetings.

Reading Borough Council , Aspire2 works with RBC departments and officers based in South Reading, to ensure a holistic programme of support for our school holiday programme and links in to other community activities.

• Major risks:

• Any risk arising from a conflict of interest between Aspire2 and WEC is mitigated by our management procedures – i.e. two signatories needed for approval of any expenditure, from either the Chair, Treasurer or Vice Chair. All bids submitted have to be agreed at a Partnership/trustee meeting, trustees are our only mandated signatories.

• All of our Trustees and Partners are volunteers, and by linking with other organisations, such as WEC and the local authority, we are able to ensure that the programmes we support link in with other initiatives, thereby maximising benefit for the community, rather than being 'standalone'.

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o Our young people are our future and being from an area of high economic and social deprivation, it is essential that their life aspirations are raised, so that they are able to secure employment and become good parents. We also work closely with our community to ensure that their views inform our fund-raising programme. o We have financial and budgetary reports prepared and presented by our Treasurer at each bi-monthly meeting, these enable us to evaluate and plan future activities, whilst monitoring the cost of programmes to budgets and the benefits accrued. Because the funds secured are usually for specific projects, and therefore restricted, we do not hold large reserves.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

In Partnership with local schools and organisations, we fund and facilitate the provision of enrichment activities and other programs aimed at developing the skills and capacity of members of the community so that they aspire to having a greater stake in society through improved education,choice,opportunityand challenge.

Aspire2 was established in 2007, in order to support activities for families whose children attend the Whitley cluster of schools and for those living in the South Reading community. In planning our activities year on year, we keep in mind the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit, and this underpins the decisions taken at Partnership meetings regarding which activities we will support. Our focus is unchanged and remains on the development of the personal skills and aspirations of the children, young people and the wider community of South Reading. We continue to lease under a 5 year period the 2 x 17-seater minibuses, this has been a considerable success helping support our stakeholder schools, we are now entering the fifth and final year and we are fund raising at every opportunity to allow is to purchase these minibuses. The minibuses have allowed us to offer free use to the Whitley schools, this provision has been highly prised by the schools, providing opportunities for the schools to make more frequent educational visits to local Berkshire events and further afield educational/fun centres. So, this future purchase has been one of our significant focal points this year and will be for 2026. We have been able to continue to offer a variety of extra-curricular enrichment activities including weekly Nursery Early Years music lessons; a very successful Drumming mentorship programme; Poetry and Public Speaking competitions at the University of Reading for all Key Stage pupils (KS1 and above) and a day visit

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for all year 5 pupils to the University of Reading; Workshops at an animal reservation; days at an outdoor education centre. and we continue to work with a selection of Reading’s arts groups in the production of the Whitley Carnival’25.

We have no barriers to age, faith, gender or personal circumstances, our programmes are open to all – the only proviso being safe-guarding, so the requirement for DBS clearance (for those helping) and the preparation of full risk assessments are built into all of our programmes.

Aspire2 Partnerships

• All Whitley Schools - daily use of the Aspire2 minibuses

• • University of Reading - Year 5 pupils’ Open day and our Poetry and Public Speaking competitions.

• Wellington College - a significant partner who are funding the employment our manager and governance costs and have funded our Mini Beats Nursery Early Years music project.

• Earley Charity – a long-standing significant partner who have been grant funds to aid many of our events including the Carnival.

• John Sykes Foundation – a significant partner that provided initial funding for the mini Buses and continues to support us.

• Beale Park - funded workshops

• Berkshire Maestros Mini Beats

• Joe Burgess and Nathan Ledden-Fletcher – Drum mentoring

• Beautiful Creatures Theatre - Carnival June 2025

• David Jones Company – Payroll services

• Englefield Estate – Mini Beats grant

• Shanly Foundation – Carnival grant

• Field Seymour & Partners – Mini Beats grant

• Miles and Daughter Funeral Partners – Carnival

• John Lewis Partnership – Grant

Wellington College

We remain very delighted to continue to receive the support from Wellington College, they fund the employment of our Manager, and have also provided ticket access to theatre shows and funded the transportation from Whitley for our children to attend.

The Earley Charity

We remain extremely grateful to the ongoing financial support of the Earley Charity and the grants they award, which are instrumental in helping us to delivery enrichment activities for children in Whitley and significantly the carnival. Their continued involvement is much appreciated.

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John Sykes Foundation Aspire2’s partnership with the John Sykes Foundation really has opened up the wider world for Whitley children. Their generous funding towards our minibus leases has enabled us to commit to providing transport for all Whitley schools for a total of five years. We have seen a huge demand for the minibuses, meaning children can go on trips and adventures that otherwise would be financially unachievable. This project has already made a fundamental difference to Whitley children and we are very grateful for the freedom it offers them. Arts Council of England - Carnival Aspire2 is delighted to have successfully bid for funds again towards the 2025 Whitley Carnival. This funding along with financial contributions from ourselves has allowed us to put on the Carnival. Reading Borough Council Over the years Aspire2 have built good relationships with several different departments in the council, and has benefited from council funding towards project and core costs. We are continuing to strengthen and build on this relationship and are grateful for the ongoing support we receive from across the council. The CEP The Reading Cultural Education Partnership supports Aspire2 by providing links to arts organisations, enrichment opportunities and vital advice and support. We are grateful to the CEP for inviting Aspire2 into their community. Leighton Park School We have developed a strong relationship with Leighton Park, and very much appreciate their support in offering sporting, cultural and artistic opportunities to pupils in our Whitley schools. WCDA We continue to work closely with the Whitley Community Development Association to deliver our projects with the people of Whitley, and in association with the local community. Child Beale Trust We continue to build on the relationship with Child Beale Trust with running workshops for our Schools.

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Section D Achievements and performance

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December 2022

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

We remain focused on fundraising, but the economic climate is still proving very difficult. Our new manager has been able to focus on bid writing for Grant access and fundraising alongside strengthening our relationships with our Whitley Schools, Reading Borough Council and Wellington College and our charity governance.

Minibuses

Our minibuses remain a success for Aspire2 and provide the WEC schools with a significant free resource and again to be extremely popular, thanks to our partnership with the John Sykes Foundation. The minibuses are available for all Whitley schools to book throughout the year, to use for school trips, events and activities that open up easier and cheaper access for new opportunities to pupils.

Both buses continue to be booked out most days during term time – we are grateful to The Ridgeway Primary School and their caretaker for the help and support in hosting and maintaining the minibuses.

Year 5 University Day

We continued to hold our annual Year 5 University Day – hosting all of Year 5 pupils from our primary schools. They enjoyed several lectures in one of the university’s impressive lecture theatres. The children then embarked on a tour of the university campus with their teachers, and had the opportunity to ask current students questions about university life.

University of Reading Public Speaking Competition

We continued to hold our Public Speaking Competition with entries from each age group from KS1 onwards with pupils having the opportunity to deliver speeches on topics about which they are passionate on one of the major University’s lecture stages – with their parents and carers as an audience.

University Poetry Competition

We also held our annual school’s poetry competition, again hosted by the University of Reading. The standard as usual was extremely high, with significant contributions written and performed by pupils from Nursery right up to Year 10. We are grateful to the Whitley schools for holding their own internal

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competitions to make our shortlist, and to all the children who wrote and performed with confidence and poise.

Beale Park Trips

This year we have continued to able to hold workshops at Beale Park that has allowed every child in Year 2 across Whitley to experience a day out seeing the animals, countryside and (most importantly for some!) the train at Beale Park. With their entry provided at no cost by Beale Park and the Aspire2 minibuses available for transport, this was a trip that schools were able to provide completely free of charge to their Year 2 pupils.

Mini Beats/Early Years Music

Our Mini Beats Early Years Music project, which began in September ’21 has been running in all our early years settings since. This has proved to be extremely successful.

Drumming Mentorship

This year we received a £5,000 grant from Reading Borough Council to help start a leading programme of Drumming mentorship with two fantastic Leaders Joe Burgess and Nathan Ledden-Fletcher. This programme has really shown fruit for some of our more challenging school children, reports from our schools have been extremely positive and we are very hopeful to be able to run this mentoring in the coming years, grants willing.

Whitley Carnival

The 2nd Whitley Carnival took place on Sunday July 20th 2025 bringing together over 3,500 people to walk through the streets of Whitley to celebrate the past, present and future of this diverse and complex suburban community.

In the run up to the carnival event this project successfully galvanised over 35 local arts and community organisations, working together for first time on this scale to engage the widest range of people across Whitley through a massive programme of costume, arts, music, dance and music workshops in schools and community spaces.

Local people between the ages of 1 & 100 participated in Whitley carnival coming together to create this unique and participatory carnival. It truly was a transformative and memorable place making event.

Producer Danielle Corbishley of Beautiful Creatures Theatre, the design of the project, event management and artistic curation and coordinated with schools and community groups and a dynamic team of local freelancers to deliver a highly successful event.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

We build our annual budgets based around specific events and funding grant opportunities and expenditures spent relatively within any one financial year are related to those events/projects and as such our funding is and has been mostly restricted. We do not hold any land, buildings or assets, but do hold some financial investments, managed by The Charles Stanley Group.

Over the last 19 years to 2025, we have been able to generate a significant income sum of over £1.1m.

Following our change to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), this year 01/03/24 to 29/02/25 is our first standard twelvemonth period.

We started the year with an opening surplus reserve of £61,683 during the period we received income of £70,402 and expensed £52,969 and as such a surplus for the year of £17,433, therefore we finish with a closing reserve of £79,116

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None to report, no issues reported under our audit report.

Further financial review details (Optional information)

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December 2022

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

• the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Income in the 12 months to 28.2.25:

Receipts	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total
Grants & Donations	248		248
Voluntary Receipts	33	65,405	65,438
Fundraising Activities	626		626
Event Income receipts	820	3,270	4,090
Total Receipts	1,727	68,675	70,402

Expenditures for the year to 28.2.25:

Payments			Total
Fundraising Costs	58		58
Charitable Activities	3,593	23,350	26,943
Event Expenditure	5,467	19,930	25,397
Governance	571		571
Total Payments	9,689	43,280	52,969
Excess of receipts over Payments	-7,962	25,395	17,433
Transfer between Funds	940	-940	0
Cash Funds last year end	14,828	46,855	61,683
Cash Funds this year end	7,806	71,310	79,116

Investments

Our investments managed by Charles Stanley at the start of the year was £34,518 and we currently hold as at 30[th] September 2025 £7,730, having liquidated funds to meet our financial obligations in leasing our two minibuses.

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	CCReceipts&Payments	CCReceipts&Payments	Report
	Charityoame:Aspire2CJO
	Charitynumber:	r2004IO
	t-ortheperiodfromO1/03/2024to		28/02/2025
	Receiptsandga.1;:rt1ehts
	Unrestricted	Restrictedfunds	flndowment	Totalfund,	wtyear
	funds		fl,ncf~
	£	£	£	£	£
Receipts
VoluntaryReceipts FundraisingActivities CharitableActivities EventIncomeReceipts Investments OtherReceipts	28) 626 0 820 0 0	65,405 0 0 3,270 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0	65,686 626 0 4,090 0 0	91,184 0 0 1,755 0 0
	1,727	68,675	0	70,402	92,939
AssetandInvestment salesetc
Totalreceipts	1,727	68,675	0	70,402	92,939
Payments
VoluntaryIncomeCosts FundraisingCosts Charitable ActivitiesCosts EventCosts Governance Costs	0 58 3,593 5,467 571	0 0 23,350 19,930 0	0 0 0 0 0	0 58 26,943 25,397 571	0 396 33,714 68,437 12,877
Assets and investments gains/losses	9,689 0	43,280 0	0 0	52,969 0	115,424 0
Totalpayments Excessofreceipts over payments	9,689 -7,962	43,280 25,395	0 0	52,969 17,433	115,424 -22,485
TransfersbetweenFunds CashFunds Last Year End	940 14,828	-940 46,855	0 0	0 61,683	0 84,166

Section A	IndependentExaminer's Jleport
Reporttothe trustees/membc, s of	Ch1111tyNiimc
Onaccountsfortheyearended	121 ~IdI 2I2Icl Charityno(ifany)IfIlIoIo14IIlo|
Setoutonpages	I (rememberto*includethepagenumbersofaddiflOnlJIshe-efs*\ , ----------------------------.J
Respectiveresponsibilitiesoftrustees andexaminer	Thecharity'strusteesareresponsibleforthepreparationoftheaccounts.Thecharity's trusteesconsiderthatanauditisnotrequiredforthisyearundersection144ofthe CharitiesAct2011(theCharitiesAct)andthatanindependentexaminationisneeded.
	Itismyresponsibilityto:
	•examinetheaccountsundersection145oftheCharitiesAct,
	•tofollowtheprocedureslaiddowninthegeneralDirectionsgivenbytheCharity Commission(undersection145(5)(b)oftheCharitiesAct),and
	•tostatewhetherparticularmattershavecometomyattention.
Basisofindependentexaminer's statement	MyexaminationwascarriedoutinaccordancewithgeneralDirectionsgivenbythe CharityCommission.Anexaminationincludesareviewoftheaccountingrecords keptbythecharityandacomparisonoftheaccountspresentedwiththoserecords. Italsoincludesconsiderationofanyunusualitemsordisclosuresintheaccounts,and seekingexplanationsfromthetrusteesconcerninganysuchmatters.Theprocedures undertakendonotprovidealltheevidencethatwouldberequiredinanaudit,and consequentlynoopinionisgivenastowhethertheaccountspresenta'trueandfair' viewandthereportislimitedtothosematterssetoutinthestatementbelow.
Independentexaminer'sstatement	Inconnectionwithmyexamination,nomatterhascometomyattention(otherthan thatdisclosedbelow*):
	(1)whichgivesmereasonablecausetobelievethatin,anymaterialrespect,the requirements:
	• tokeepaccountingrecordsinaccordancewithsection130ofthe
	CharitiesAct;
	•toprepareaccountswhichaccordwiththeaccountingrecordsandcomply withtheaccountingrequirementsoftheCharitiesActhavenotbeenmet;or
	(2)towhich,inmyopinion,attentionshouldbedrawninordertoenableaproper understandingoftheaccountstobereached.
	*Pleasedeletethewordsinthebracketsiftheydonotapply.
Signed	12~s2E3?½
Name
Relevantprofessionalqualification(s)
orbody(ifany)
Address