2025-08-31-accounts

Colyton Foundation

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 August 2025

The Colyton Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered in England and Wales

Registered charity number: 1206838

Principal address: Colyton Grammar School, Whitwell Lane, Colyford, EX24 6HN

Independent examiner/auditor: to be inserted

Trustees who served during the year:

Name	Role	Role	Date of Appointment	Date of Appointment
Barry Sindall	Chair		01 February 2024
Professor Janice Kay CBE	Trustee		25 March 2024
Camilla Chandler-Mant	Trustee		12 March 2024
Timothy Johnson	Trustee		29 February 2024
Neal Whitfield	Trustee		01 February 2024
Timothy Harris	Trustee		01 February 2024

Structure, governance and management

The charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee and is governed in accordance with its Memorandum and Articles of Association. These set out the charity’s objects, the powers of the trustees, and the arrangements for their appointment, retirement and removal.

Trustees are recruited for their expertise in education and/or other professional skills that support the charity’s aims. In line with the governing document, trustees are appointed following a skills-based assessment to ensure that, collectively, the board has the knowledge and experience needed to oversee the charity’s work effectively.

Objectives and activities for the public benefit

The objects of the Colyton Foundation are

For the public benefit, to advance the education of children and young people in the South West of England who are identified as having high academic potential but face barriers in progressing their educational aspirations due to social or economic disadvantage.

The Charity Trustees have given due regard to the guidance issues regarding public benefit and the summary of the main activities addresses this clearly.

In 2024/25 we pursued our charitable objects through two distinct strands.

Strand A – Your Future Story (YFS)

Your Future Story is a long-term, school-centred cohort programme supporting high-attaining pupils from under-resourced backgrounds from Year 7 to university entry.

During the year we secured the coalition and underwriting required to launch the programme for a pathfinder cohort in September 2025. We completed programme design, including the Theory of Change and Evaluation Framework and established governance structures. Finally, we completed recruitment of schools, with collaboration agreements in place.

Note: all YFS pupil-facing delivery falls after the year-end and is therefore reported as a post-balance-sheet event elsewhere in the report.

Strand B – Other Foundation activities

With Atom Learning and the South West Institute for Teaching SWIFT we offered free access to Atom Home, a responsive online learning platform for Key Stage 2 pupils, to all pupilpremium recipients across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

We provided professional development for teachers and advisers, alongside direct pupil support, to South West Sixth Forms with limited experience of the most competitive university and course applications.

We developed Leading High Attainment – a sustained CPD programme for school leaders – and recruited participant for delivery beginning in September 2025.

We undertook advocacy for high-attaining disadvantaged pupils across the South West, speaking at regional events and conferences, and meeting with key partners including the Department for Education, schools and multi-academy trusts, charities, businesses, universities and other stakeholder groups – to build support for sustained, school-centred improvement.

Achievements and performance

Strand A – Your Future Story

In 2024/25 we completed the theory of change and programme design for a ten-year, school-centred cohort programme that will support 1,000 high-attaining young people from under-resourced backgrounds to remain on the pathway to higher education from Year 7 through to university entry.

The programme also aims to structurally improve outcomes for disadvantaged high attainers across the region by developing school leadership and professional knowledge – strengthening school-led provision so high attainment is identified, supported and sustained.

The model is evidence-based: it draws on research linking prior attainment to HE progression, on widening-participation evidence that multi-component, sustained interventions are most effective, and on the specific challenges of rural and coastal contexts (dispersed deprivation, educational isolation, and low density of peer support for high attainers). These insights shaped the school-centred, cohort approach with Teacher Champions, leadership development and structured supra-curricular enrichment.

We established a coalition of partners across schools, higher education and the charitable sector to support the programme. This coalition includes the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Exeter; Downing College, Cambridge; the Sutton Trust; the South West Institute for Teaching (SWIFT); and Leading Schools South West. Programme governance structures were put in place to ensure effective oversight and to draw on the collective expertise of this partner group. These included a Programme Board and delivery, evaluation and fundraising panels.

To ensure rigorous impact measurement, we created a detailed mixed-methods evaluation framework with ImpactEd Evaluation – aligned to the theory of change and covering quantitative attainment data, validated surveys (motivation, HE knowledge, belonging) and qualitative insight from pupils, parents and Teacher Champions, with an annual synthesis to inform improvement.

We secured grants and partner commitments totalling £145,625, plus additional in-kind support, to deliver the programme’s first year in 2025/26 – working with c.34 schools and a pathfinder cohort of c.130 Year 7 pupils.

Finally, we recruited 34 secondary schools in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset to take part in the programme from September 2025. These schools were drawn from 14 multiacademy trusts and 6 local authorities, with a particular emphasis on schools affected by rural and coastal under-resourcing.

Strand B – Other Foundation activities

Atom Home partnership

By July 2025, 87 primary schools in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset had requested Atom Home for their pupil premium pupils; 36 schools had fully completed the onboarding process, leading to 270 parent applications and 222 children accessing Atom Home.

Work began on evaluation, case studies and alternative onboarding processes to maximise reach and impact.

Competitive HE application support

For the 2025 university application cycle, we supported five students from three partner Sixth Forms by providing practice university interviews, with one student securing an offer to read History at the University of Oxford.

We delivered training to Sixth Form leaders and HE advisors from 9 schools in March 2025 (100% of delegates rated the course 4/5 or 5/5 for usefulness; 83% 5/5). We began support for 29 students from these schools, plus two other schools, in the 2026 admissions cycle. This support included subject-specific information and guidance and 1:1 mentoring, plus admissions test and interview preparation.

Financial review

At the end of the financial year, the total funds for the charity were £64,722. This includes a surplus on activity during the year of £63,589. The majority of income received is of a restricted nature to support the Your Future Story and Leading Higher Attainment strands of the organisation’s activity.

The funds held at the end of the year were expected, and required, in order to securely launch the pathfinder cohort working with c.34 schools and c.130 students. The programme launch has since begun, and this will draw down the funds held as we deliver the programme throughout 2025/26.

All of the funds held at the end of the year are expected to be used towards the delivery of the pathfinder cohort in 2025/26 and we continue to work on securing additional funding to continue the cohort delivery from 2026/27 onwards.

Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Signature:

Name: Barry Sindall, Chair of Trustees

Date: 3 December 2025

Col¥th Foundatiort 2024125 Intome and Expendlture A5at August 202S 2023124 Yro 202412S Athal-unresiykted Restrfcted Funds FU￿d% Act￿a1-TO￿l Funds FuTrd5 lTrcome O CompetltW HEAp￿1(all0Th5 O Consuitsnc¥ L433 Genèral CPD O LeadingHi£herAttainment Your Fuiure Story O Grants O Donations L433 Totsl Incornq 1,075 075 320 320 12,700 55,000 55.0 5.000 700 75 Expendlture 0 5r¥ffinE O Safeguardlngand Oara Managernent Q Evaluailon 0 StskEholdÈr EnÉagement O Prograrnme Delivery- Annual Conferènce O Programme De1ivery- TeacherC￿mPlOll Training pro$ramme Deliwery- Leadlng HIBh Attainrnent PrograrnTne Delwery- Employer Trips Programme Delwery- VnivErsityYISits Programme DÈINÈry- 5t3ff RÈlÈasÉ 8ursarlès O Programme De1￿￿ry- Pupil VisitTransport Bur54ries O Proiramme De1￿ery-AllaiTrrne￿l5vpPort 8uia5ry O Programme Delfvery- Cohort BUi￿lnE Materiats 300 Markeiins 2,999 4,782 791 4,782 791 2599 141 22 672 O Bank CharEe5 Other C05ES Tatsl Ex Editure 22 671 1.133 Surplu$l IDrfKit} 2￿95 94 63.589 08/01/2

Colyton Foundation Balance Sheet As at August 2025 31 August 2025 Fixed Assets Intangible 355ets Tangible assets Current Assets Investments Debtors Prepayments and Accrued Income Cash at bank and in hand 1.630 63,092 64,722 Current Liabilities Creditors.. omount5folling due within one yeor Creditors Deferred Income and Accrued Expenses Net current assets 64.722 Total assets less current liabilities 64,722 Creditors.- amountslollin9 due ofter more than one year Loans Provisions for liabilities and charges Total Net Assets 64,722 Restricted Funds Restricted General Fund Total Restricted Funds 60,694 60,694 Unrestricted funds Unrestricted General Fund Total Unrestricted Funds 4,028 4.028 Total Funds 64,722 08/oq12

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees Colyton Foundation On accounts for the year ended 31 August 2025 Charity no 1206838 Set out on page8 I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"the Trust.) for the year end8d 3110812025. Re8ponslbllltles and bo818 of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance wrth the requirements of the Charrt￿S Act 2011 {'the Act'i. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under seclion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under seclion 145{51{bl of the Act. Independent I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters havè examlnor's statement come lo my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. the accounting rècords were not kept in accordance with séction 130 of the Charrties Act,. or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records., or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements Con￿rning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'lrue and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connectlon with the examination lo which attention should drawn in this report in order lo enable a propèr understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned: Date: 16 January 2026 Name: Andrew William Ritch Relevant professlonal quallflcatlonls) or body lif any): ICAS Address: Hillcroft. HIg￿r Broad Oak Road, West Hill, oitery Sl. Mary Devon, EX11 1XD